OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)

[raven1013]

good points - it's always a question of where to draw the line that pathologises something.

One of the stances at the autism/aspergers research centre I use is that only some behaviours by some people some of the time in some circumstances are a problem.

Nice one Kath - that's exactly the point I was trying to make (in my typically long-winded way! :lol: )
thanks!

 

[colpepper1]

Something like OCD emerged in my teenage years. We were a no car family so walking everywhere was the deal. As I got older I began to walk further to get around and save cash but unfortunately many routes were familiar so to dispel boredom I'd count railings, paving slabs or see how may steps a typical road took. I mentioned this to someone in the pub and they reassured me it was very weird.

Years later I realised I'd received low empathy (but bags of rules) from my family and the whole thing drifted away. I'm predisposed to orderliness but being married to a textile artist who uses our whole floor space to compare fabric keeps my quirk in check. Having an overriding focus like painting or writing helps but I'd bet half the decoders at Bletchley had something similar so who's to say it's not a genetic necessity?

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

It's those nasty little quirks that become habits, like washing the hands all the time, for food preparation and cleaning the work surface, then washing your hands again, then cleaning the splashes off the work surface, then cleaning your hands, etc.

Or, going out closing the door and having to resist the temptation to turn back and check, once again, that you've actually locked the bloody thing. At my age, it is possible to write all this off as 'senior moments.' However, I reckon it has more to do with stress and lapses in concentration.

 

[escargot]

I carry a little bottle of handwash gel at work and 'do' my hands several times a day. This is seen by some as evidence of OCD. Maybe it is a little over the top, but in my last job it wasn't, and old habits die hard.

 

[Recycled1]

Does timing yourself with given activities count as OCD?
My son used to poke fun at me for writing down on my kitchen calendar how long it had taken me to clean whichever part of the house was on that particular day's rota!

For that matter, does writing lists and having a strict self imposed schedule count as OCD, mild autism, or just being a retired school teacher?

 

[OneWingedBird]

i think that's called being organised.

or having a bad memory and the only way you can get things done!

 

[rynner2]

I've made over 70,000 posts here - does that count?

Assuming I spent 3 minutes average on each, that comes to over 780 hours, or more than 32 days!

And that doesn't count all the hours I spend reading all the other rubbish on here!

Really, I should be locked up....

 

[LaurenChurchill]

For the sake of not repeating myself on two threads I'm conbining responses to this one and the thread mentioned at the start.

I have OCD. It's been really bad, and it's been fairly mild before. Right now it's fairly mild. Now that I've jinxed myself it's going to get REALLY bad.

It started when I was in Primary school, probably around 10 years old I think. My friends would talk about kissing and sex, and I (knowing that my parents wouldn't approve) would feel so guilty it felt like my chest was caving in. I mean bad physical pain, until I told them what we had talked about. The pain wouldn't go away, but it would lessen, until I was able to ignore it. Until I remembered it again, and would need to tell them again.

You can't possibly know how bad it is for a kid to never ever be able to keep a secret, their own or anyone elses. I would tell my parents everything, not because I didn't want to keep secrets, but because if I kept it, I thought I was a bad person. This has lasted with me even until now (I'm almost 22). If I do something that i think someone won't approve of, I need to tell them for the sake of them having all the facts about me so they can judge me correctly. This extends even to hearing about tings that people I know have done (because you can judge a person by the company she keeps), and even to stupid things, like buying a pair of shoes when I know I should save money.

The OCD mainly flares up from the normal things that people do wrong (gossiping etc.) but it's at it worst when it comes to sexual things (experiementation etc.). With things like that I still feel the incredibly pain in my chest that is so bad sometimes that I think I'm having a heart attack. I cry for days sometimes, because the guilt racks me so badly. I spend so long thinking about how I feel that I neglect the other things I should be doing - cleaning, cooking etc. Which makes me feel worse.

For a few years I was too scared to deal with people on a professional level. I couldn't ring the phone company, or the real estate. I couldn't bring myself to look for a job because i was so scared I would hate it that when it came time for the interview I would freeze and spend the rest of the day in the shower, crying.

I have good months, and bad years. Last year I managed to get a job and work through a bit of the fear. But then there was an incident that caused my guilt to go through the roof and I'm back at home, trying to work through it again. I'm not doing too badly for now. But I'm so sick of being scared all the time.

I have other issues too (yeah, believe it or not there's room for more). Most of them aren't so bad, they're just a little weird.

AnthonyClifton at one point said

When people come into my office and talk to me, I find myself obsessively 'typing' what they say on my computer keyboard without actually pressing the keys down. I'll just sort of lightly tap my fingers on the top of the appropriate keys.

Yeah I do that too. My typing isn't quite that high but I put that down to the fact that I can't type like normal people do. I use my hands and move them both all over the keyboard. It's easier for me that way.
Also, if I hear music, I will "play" it on an imaginary piano in front of me. I think that harkens back to piano recitals when I was little and I would practice all the time, even when it wasn't in front of me.

andy_just_andy said

Also had another strange behaviour, where if someone was speaking to me I had a strong desire to yell obscenities at them. Didn't matter how I felt about that person or what they were saying. Thankfully I never did it. I believe this is related to OCD

I had almost the same thing, except it wasn't necessarily obscenities. It was whatever I thought would insult them the most. If someone was overweight I wanted to yell about being fat. If they were African or Aboriginal I would want to yell racist insults at them. I could genuinely like these people, consider them my friends, not agree at all with what I wanted to yell at them and yet still want to say it. I never did it though, thank god.

On the other thread, DschingisKhan said

I've always had a fascination with words, when I write poems I'm very careful about choosing the words, some words I'll never use because there's something about them that turns me off or even disgusts me.

Ditto to that too. I hate the word "scum" with a passion. I hear it and I just want to throw up. I can feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing up as I think about it. There are other words but I can't think of them right now. There are also words I really like, for one reason or another. The word "pointy" makes me giggle. God knows why.

Some notes when I play them on the piano feel wrong and I don't know why. Icky, I think is how someone put it on the other thread. It's the best description I've heard of it so far.

Some people, instead of picturing their faces when I think of them, I picture a colour. My best friend makes me think of black. Probably because she only ever wears black. Uncle Keith is grey. I don't know why at all. I think maybe because he's softly spoken and unassuming, like I see the colour grey being.

Anyway, I have an audition to go to so I better take off for now.

Hopefully I haven't made you all think I'm a complete basket case. I'm actually not so bad to know. I don't think I freak my friends out or anything. I do have friends, and they're not imaginary so I must be at least a little socially acceptable.

 

[Novena]

For a few years I was too scared to deal with people on a professional level. I couldn't ring the phone company, or the real estate. I couldn't bring myself to look for a job because i was so scared I would hate it that when it came time for the interview I would freeze and spend the rest of the day in the shower, crying.

I have good months, and bad years. Last year I managed to get a job and work through a bit of the fear. But then there was an incident that caused my guilt to go through the roof and I'm back at home, trying to work through it again. I'm not doing too badly for now. But I'm so sick of being scared all the time.

I have that too - I find it incredibly difficult to phone people up and much prefer to send emails if at all possible. If there's no other option when I'm at work, I have to really psyche myself up to even pick up the phone. I will try EVERYTHING before phoning. And if I get an irate caller I find it impossible to counteract the feeling that it's me personally who has caused their problem. I have incredible feelings of both guilt and anger, and sometimes I have to go out of the room and get it out of me before I can go back. Some weeks/months are worse than others, like you say, but there's always that underlying fear to a greater or lesser extent.

 

[Yithian]

Experts from University College London believe it is the first time a patient has blamed themselves for a major terrorist attack.

Kind of tricky to verify this belief.

For some reason, an initial misreading of the headline has had me running through chaos-esque explanations of how a 9yr old boy could actually caused the 9-11 attacks by not stepping on a white mark.

Now, that would be Fortean.

 

[stu neville]

I'm very lucky - I don't have any particular compulsive or ritual behaviours. I do have to make sure the downstairs windows are closed when we go out or to bed, but that's entirely due to a burglary we suffered years ago where they gained access via an ajar kitchen window (and consequently Churchill, the jowly insurance hound, said "Oh no", and refused to pay up .) I only check them once, though.

...The word "pointy" makes me giggle. God knows why...

Coincidentally, I was at a christening yesterday morning, and at the point that they started with the anointing, I could think of nothing but The Man With Two Brains, and the poem:

O pointy birds, o pointy pointy,
Anoint my head, anointy-nointy.

..and just started snorting uncontrollably, and after a minute or two had to go outside (not entirely voluntarily - repeated distaff glares just made it worse..). Inappropriate laughing is my problem .

 

[Novena]

Coincidentally, I was at a christening yesterday morning, and at the point that they started with the anointing, I could think of nothing but The Man With Two Brains, and the poem:

O pointy birds, o pointy pointy,
Anoint my head, anointy-nointy.

..and just started snorting uncontrollably, and after a minute or two had to go outside (not entirely voluntarily - repeated distaff glares just made it worse..). Inappropriate laughing is my problem .

I too just started snorting uncontrollably at that!

 

[inkedmagiclady]

..and just started snorting uncontrollably, and after a minute or two had to go outside (not entirely voluntarily - repeated distaff glares just made it worse..). Inappropriate laughing is my problem .

I did that at the funeral once. It was for the owner of the business I worked for. His still alive daughter was my boss.

 

[rynner2]

'Driven mad' Rubik's nut weeps on solving cube... after 26 years of trying
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 8:51 AM on 12th January 2009

Puzzle fan Graham Parker breathed a sigh of relief as he finally solved his Rubik’s Cube – after 26 years.

The father-of-one, 45, has been trying to solve the riddle of the cube since buying one in 1983, enduring wrist problems, backache and sleepless nights.

The builder, of Portchester, Hampshire, said: ‘It has driven me mad over the years - it felt like it had taken over my life.

'I have missed important events to stay in and solve it and I would lay awake at night thinking about it.

'Friends have offered to solve it for me and I know that you can find solutions on the web but I just had to do it myself.'

Graham finally managed to conquer his personal Everest after more than 27,400 hours of tireless pursuit, and says it was 'all worth it'.
'When I clicked that last bit into place and each face was a solid colour I wept. I cannot tell you what a relief it was to finally solve it.'

Long-suffering wife Jean, 47, said the cube has frequently put a strain on their marriage, causing blazing rows between the pair.

Jean even admits at times it has felt three has been three people in their marriage for the past 26 years.

'When I met Graham he was already obsessed with the cube - spending hours on it every day,' she said.

'I have often thought about getting rid of it but I knew he would not rest until he had solved it, which thankfully he has done.'

Donald's success has reached the governing body for Rubik's Cube competitions, the World Cube Association (WCA).

Ray Hodgkin of the WCA said: 'I think this is definitely the longest it has ever taken someone to complete a Cube.

'I am impressed by Donald's dedication - the Rubik's Cube can be a very frustrating thing. The WCA would like to congratulate him on his achievement.'

The Rubik's Cube was invented in 1974 by Hungarian sculptor Erno Rubik but was originally called the Magic Cube.

More than 300 million have been sold worldwide and there are an astonishing 43 quintillion different possible configurations and only one solution.

Support group 'Cubaholics' was set up in 1980 to help addicts kick the habit and Rubik's cubes are so compulsive they have given rise to two medical conditions - Cubist's Thumb and Rubik's Wrist.

Erik Akkersdijk of the Netherlands holds the record for a single solve with a time of 7.08 seconds.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... rying.html

 

[ramonmercado]

This guy has OCD & Tourette's. Unusually it has emerged at age 46.

A life transformed by Tourette's
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/engl ... 293233.stm
By Paul Costello
BBC News, Newcastle



Cannot play media.You do not have the correct version of the flash player. Download the correct version

Mr Stevenson recorded himself after the symptoms developed and also playing with his children just weeks before they were 'triggered'

Former nightclub bouncer Paul Stevenson was busying himself as a stay-at-home dad when Tourette syndrome turned his life upside down at age 46.

Until the start of this year he had shown no signs of the expletive-laden and often "bizarre" outbursts which now form a constant part of his daily routine.

The father-of-three now shouts "I'm a gay man" as he wakes next to his wife in the morning and can't prevent himself from swearing in front of his young children.

He also battles with violent body jerks, some of which can leave him feeling like he has suffered whiplash in a car accident.



Mr Stevenson with his wife Carol and son Harvey
For the vast majority of sufferers the early signs of the syndrome are noticed in childhood, with tics reducing in severity as the person gets older.

But the ex-doorman believes certain mild symptoms were not spotted in his youth and that his now severe condition was triggered by the trauma of his best friend committing suicide in March.

Mr Stevenson, of Scremerston, near Berwick, Northumberland, said: "He was like a brother to me, so the news of his death hit me really bad.

"At the crematorium I could not stop my legs from moving and at the wake I got the vocal tic for the first time, I started grunting and making other noises.

"Week by week it started getting worse and when I went to my GP he did not understand what was happening. I thought I was going mad."

In August he was finally diagnosed as having Tourette syndrome with Coprolalia, which is the form of the condition which involves involuntary swearing.


TOURETTE SYNDROME
Named after French neurologist Dr George Gilles de la Tourette
Often inherited although its cause is not yet known
Could involve abnormal processing of brain chemicals including dopamine
It is estimated about 300,000 people have the condition in the UK
Believed to affect up to one in every 100 schoolchildren
The symptoms usually emerge between the ages of five and 18
Fewer than 15% of people with the syndrome display the obscene language tic
Sources: TSA and Tourettes Action UK
Before this year, the only clues to the severe vocal and motor tics he now suffers had been body spasms that he had experienced a "handful of times" from the age of 15.

His parents have also since recalled that he would sniff and touch his face excessively as a child.

Consultant neurologist Dr Paul Goldsmith, who is treating Mr Stevenson at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary, said there was often a "forgotten history" of childhood tics when symptoms presented in adulthood.

He said: "The prognosis for childhood Tourette's is good, with most improving into adulthood.

"For the rare cases with adult presentations, the prognosis is more variable. Some wax and wane, some improve, some persist."

He said it was difficult to draw any meaningful conclusions about whether the severe symptoms had been triggered by trauma.

Mr Stevenson, who is originally from Darwen in Lancashire, said he was determined to come to terms with the dramatic change in his life, despite admitting to a current reluctance to leave his home.

He said: "Other than attempting to suppress the urge, I have no control over what I'm going to say and the tic is like a lottery machine in that it just says what pops into your mind.



John Davidson has given the former bouncer "pep talks"
"I was speaking to a police officer recently and shouted out 'I sell drugs to kids'.

"I realise that it is bizarre and that it can be humorous but I can despair at times.

"People have followed me in the street thinking it's funny and obviously some people just stare at you like you're from a different planet.

"Luckily my wife Carol is fantastic and we tell our children that I can't help it and that they are not to repeat what I say."

He says his life would be even more difficult if it had not been for the BBC's QED programme John's Not Mad, which brought the condition to national awareness in 1989.

Indeed, John Davidson, whose Tourette's was the focus of the documentary, is now advising him on coping with the condition.

Both are members of Tourette Scotland, a charity based in Perth, which provides information and support to sufferers.

Support Worker Janice Mylan, who has two sons with the syndrome, said: "It makes a big difference to meet people who have gone through the experience.

"It can be very isolating as you are told you have something rare and that can be scary."

Mr Stevenson, who is also battling with obsessive-compulsive disorder - a common accompaniment of Tourette syndrome - is now being treated with anti-depressants.

 

[little_my]

hello i am new to this board and was glad to see there was already a link for this because i really needed to get some advice. i think i have ocd of some sort but i'm not sure if everything i'm experiencing is pure ocd. i have to count things in counts of four, i have aversions to typing or writing numeric characters only the word form, odd numbers give me the horrors! if i see a number, say fourty two, i have to count the four and the two together, which makes six, six is not such a good number because halved it makes three, and three is a bad number, the best numbers are like two, four, eight. i have ritual ways of doing things like washing my hands and placing things especially on my desk at work. if anyone comes along and puts things on my desk i can feel the tension and rage mounting and i often have to walk away until whoever it is has gone and removed their paperwork, then i clean my desk with antibacterial wipes. i can go through whole tubes of hand gel in one or two days. recently it has been so out of hand that i feel like i'm actually going crazy, every few seconds another compulsion will enter my head, i have compulsions to harm myself, to repeat things, i'm worried all the time that people can hear my thoughts. i often think i'm upsetting people without even speaking because i may think something a bit mean (say if someone has been rude to me) and then i believe they know what i've thought and i have to counteract that thought with something nice.
i feel like my head is so noisy i'm going mad, i have loads of thoughts about drowning or falling off things from a great height which is not helped by the fact i work next to a river and about three bridges! some days all i can think about are those two things and it's very hard not to feel so drawn to them. sometimes i feel like someone else is running my brain, like i'm there too but someone overrides it and keeps talking over me - not an audible voice but like another thought living alongside my own which has it's own motivations and sometimes gets frightening.
i have a psychiatrist but whenever i go in to speak i freeze up, the second thought seems to tell me i'm sounding stupid and i start thinking my psychiatrist is thinking bad things of me, like i'm a time waster or stupid and seeing me is pointless. i have been in and out of psychiatric care most of my adult life and have gone from one problem to another but this undercurrent remains the one thing which has stopped me finding peace.
i hope i haven't blathered on too much for a first post but i'm just struggling so much at the moment and i'm getting no answers from my psych - just suggestions that i start medication but it all sends me nuts and i really would rather not go down that route. to most people around me i appear normal and okay but my day to day life is so erratic and my thoughts bother me so much i sometimes find it hard to cope.
any advice would be greatly appreciated
xx

 

[rynner2]

hello i am new to this board and was glad to see there was already a link for this because i really needed to get some advice. i think i have ocd of some sort but i'm not sure if everything i'm experiencing is pure ocd.

I'm not sure that a MB is the best place to get help with OCD problems, and I'm sorry that your psychiatric 'help' is not helping.

I think OCD is a wide-spectrum disorder. Probably many of us suffer from it to a certain extent.

I have to take pills to counter my osteo-arthritis. I had a ritual about how I use the pills from a blister-pack. I always used the pills nearest the edge first. Then I whittle the remainder down to a diamond shape, and then to a hexagon shape (7 pills), and so on. Is this OCD? Or does it just reflect my interest in mathematics?

Anyway, my doctor has (unwittingly!) cured me by changing my prescription, so my pills now come in a 2x7 pack, which doesn't allow for diamonds or hexagons!

 

[PeniG]

Copy and paste that post to a word processor, print it out, fold it up, and give it to your psychiatrist next time you go in. That way you can't second-guess your way out of it. Remind yourself that it's your psychiatrist's job to listen to you. If it's pointless, well, he's just being paid to listen to you be pointless, isn't he? But it's not. You have a problem. It's his job to help you fix it. If he doesn't seem interested enough in doing this, find one who does.

I know how intimidating chemical roulette is, but the best-coping mentally ill person I know (and I've known a few) is the one who views her illness as an organic, physical thing, not a question of her personal flaws or weaknesses, and is always looking for the best combination of meds, rest, work, and play to keep herself functioning properly. You take aspirin for headaches, right? You take decongestant when your nose is stuffed up, antihistimine when it's running, and experiment when you have multiple symptoms? If you had diabetes, you'd watch your diet and take insulin. This is exactly the same thing.

Messageboards are not the best place to go with problems like this; however, there probably is an OCD forum out there. If you're more comfortable communicating personal problems via a screen, you need to hunt it down. Good luck.

 

[little_my]

thank you for your reply, i know it's probably not the best place to have done this in hindsight but i was wandering the message board and when i saw this topic it just all came out - i just felt very pent up. but yes definitely a good plan to take this along with me next time (it feels like i just get that 'oh' response every time i speak but otherwise my psych is a nice person and not intimidating. anyway i shall endeavour to find an OCD forum
many thanks

 

[Twin_Star]

i totally agree with peniG there, little my. print your post off and take it in. then go from there. good luck

 

[Fluttermoth]

I've got OCD too, Little My; you have my sympathy; it's a nightmare
Here are a couple of good OCD forums for you;

Stuck in a doorway;

http://www.stuckinadoorway.co.uk/

OCD Tribe;

http://www.ocdtribe.com/

Remember; it's only the OCD making you think that the psychiatrist hates you or that what you want to say is stupid! It does that to you

Do consider taking medication; there are lots of different ones you can try until you find one that works for you, and you can always come off them again. Even if it's just to give you a rest from all that stuff in your head and let you get some peace and sense of perspective.
Best of luck!

 

[uair01]

Anyway, just curious. Any OCD suffering historic figures?

I know of a documented and illustrated medieval case of Tourette. But too lazy to search for the history book now

 

[EnolaGaia]

OCD as we think of it today is a relatively recent construct for identifying or categorizing certain behaviors. This means that attributing OCD in the modern sense to past historical figures is more a matter of allusion than analysis. Having said that ...

A number of well-known individuals throughout the last few centuries, including Martin Luther (the leader of the Protestant Reformation in Europe), Charles Darwin (Evolution of the Species), Howard Hughes (whose life story was told in the movie The Aviator), and Katherine Hepburn, all are now considered to have suffered from OCD. Additionally, the spectrum nature of OCD has led it to be classified at various times as a number of distinct, unrelated conditions.

https://www.ocdhandbook.com/history-of-ocd/

 

[escargot]

Here's a BBC R4 programme about OCD, an episode of the series Is Psychiatry Working?
'Dom' is a sufferer of OCD who had terrible experiences until he was admitted for inpatient treatment at a specialist clinic.

The programme explains why OCD can be dangerous to people's health and well-being. For example, sufferers might be afraid enough of using possibly dirty toilets to develop incontinece or kidney failure.

OCD and Dom

OCD and Dom
As the numbers of people seeking treatment for mental health disorders rises globally, what do we know about the treatments on offer? Where did they come from, how strong is the evidence that they work and what will the future of mental health care look like?