Imagine you’re in a house alone, with all the windows open. The devil is walking around the house, trying to see you. You have to hide, or do odd rituals, to avoid him. You do this for your whole life. That’s a bit what OCD is like—trying to avoid the things that start the cycle of uncontrollable thoughts and the compulsive actions that dispel them.
Usually OCD manifests itself in these common ways: repeated hand-washing, counting, hoarding, germ or demon obsessions, checking doors, locks, and paths.
So here's a couple of odd manifestations. With me, it's:
--can't be around friends or family when they’re eating without wanting to leave instantly and hit myself in the head with a 2X4, or kill them--just obliterate them, like with a shotgun at close range.
--can't be around other people typing without wanting to leave instantly and hit myself in the head with a 2X4, or cut their hands off with an axe (thanks, Gimli!).
Since I'm otherwise sane, I'm not going to kill anybody or cut their hands off. I take paroxetine (Paxil) which slightly takes the edge off of it, but I still have to:
--get away from other people when I eat.
--avoid being around people typing, which makes it difficult to feel comfortable at work
--not look at intricate hand movements such as knitting, crochet, people who stick their whole hand up their goddam nose in an endless booger crusade, people using palm devices. Next I suppose I’ll want to cut people’s thumbs off when they’re texting.
Also, I have to distract my brain from noticing when I eat or type. I make sounds while I eat so that my brain will think I’m talking. Background noise in the room is essential. People wonder why I have so many electric fans. When I type, I type in a rhythm that doesn’t sound like typing, and squint so I can’t see my own fingers moving.
I have difficulty being around people, because the better I know them, the more sensitive my brain is in recording and being obsessed by their sounds and movements. I can go out to a restaurant with co-workers and vague acquaintances, but not with friends. Definitely never ever with family.
Every time one of you sticks your hands out over the keyboard, I’m thinking about how nice it would be to WHACK your hands off with a big axe. Understand that I don’t really want to do that, I’m not violent and blood makes me want to faint. It’s just the compulsion talking.
I got a diagnosis of severe OCD from a local shrink, and got a second opinion from another one. Currently there’s no cure for OCD, but it can be dulled to some extent by Paxil or similar SSRI’s. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can help a little—I imagine it works better for some than others.
So, any other odd manifestations out there?
>Imagine you’re in a house alone, with all the windows open. The devil is walking around the house, trying to see you. You have to hide, or do odd rituals, to avoid him. You do this for your whole life. That’s a bit what OCD is like
Sounds a bit more like a psychotic delusion than OCD.
I think it's an analogy. :-)
>>2
I'm not OP, but this is actually, a pretty simple way of explaining it.
So whats the actual problem?
I don't have OCD but I have some weird traits. Like I always unplug the toaster when I see it (otherwise it would start a fire, which is fairly illogical if it's going)...and other weird stuff.
The toaster thing sounds pretty OCD to me. People get locked into doing OCD actions because they fear that if they don't do them, then bad things will happen to them/the people around them. So while theres nothing wrong with unplugging a toaster for safety, if you find you cant avoid unplugging one then thats a different story.
how about dishwashing? after washing a dish, i wash it again. then after every dish i rinse out the soap from the sponge, then add more soap and start washing the next dish.
or is that stupid?
how about dishwashing? after washing a dish, i wash it again. then after every dish i rinse out the soap from the sponge, then add more soap and start washing the next dish.
or is that stupid?