# Do you have obsessive compulsive behaviors? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 31, 2008, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-obsessive-compulsive-behaviors/479315 "2008-12-31T03:58:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2008, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-obsessive-compulsive-behaviors/479315/21 "2008-12-31T21:36:27Z")
> [@Stauderhorse](#): > > The recycle bin on my computer has to be empty at all times. I don’t know why, but it bugs me if I look at the icon and see that it has something in it. If I delete something, I’ll go to the recycle bin and empty it out right away. If you right-click the recycle bin, you can change its properties so that it automatically empties itself when you put anything in it. Just be sure you never change your mind or make a mistake. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-obsessive-compulsive-behaviors/479315/22 "2009-01-01T03:18:40Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > When you make a sandwich, do the pieces of bread have to be in the same order and orientation in the sandwich as they were in the bag, or can one of them be upside-down, backwards, or sideways relative to the original position? I’m pretty sure making a normal looking sandwich is not an OCD behavior. I do generally line things up, I guess–more aesthetically pleasing that way, and contains the sandwich filling better–but it wouldn’t really bother me if a sandwich was made with the bread turned around. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-obsessive-compulsive-behaviors/479315/23 "2009-01-01T03:44:49Z")
> [@samm](#): > > Weird about you guys with the clocks! Our favorite cafe has a binary clock [just like this one](http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/giftsforhim/59e0/images/561/). It draws my eye like nothing else, and I always have to calculate what time it shows. Unfortunately, they recently moved it but didn’t reset it, so now it’s about 20 minutes off. I’m dying to go fix it, but I’m probably the only person who can tell that it’s not right . . . ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-obsessive-compulsive-behaviors/479315/24 "2009-01-01T04:35:28Z")
> [@Quasimodal](#): > > 1. This may sound a little gross, but its the reason I think I have some OC going on. I pluck hairs…usually when I’m tired or stressed. I’ve been doing it in some manner since I was about eight years old. I can’t kick it…I merely limit the damage. I go through good and bad phases. I thought I was the only one. It seems no matter how much I reduce my stress, I can’t kick that habit totally. I wish I could. I have lots of OC behaviors, but none that are major, like Monk level. Just lots of little things like how I always have to turn off my white noise machine before my fan when I get out of bed. And I have a place for everything, from keys to DVD’s to knick-knacks. And I like things in even numbers. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-obsessive-compulsive-behaviors/479315/25 "2009-01-01T06:46:08Z")
No. I have a few behaviors that I have forced myself to stop from will. When I was a kid, I was, like **GilaB** obsessed with making the two sides of my body totally even, but now I resist the urge. I also worked in a bookstore for awhile and after spending all my time alphabetizing books, I began to compulsively arrange my own books. I separated them into fiction and non-fiction sections, and then I started to separate the non-fiction in smaller sections (history, science, biography, etc.). It was very upsetting that this didn’t always work right, for instance if one book was too big for a shelf, I had to rearrange the whole thing so that the entire section was on a shelf with more space. Eventually I decided this was crazy and one day I rearranged my books to have no order at all. They’re still like that. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-obsessive-compulsive-behaviors/479315/26 "2009-01-01T07:07:07Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > It was very upsetting that this didn’t always work right, for instance if one book was too big for a shelf, I had to rearrange the whole thing so that the entire section was on a shelf with more space. > > Eventually I decided this was crazy and one day I rearranged my books to have no order at all. They’re still like that. Oh, I know exactly where you’re coming from on this one. I’ve spent whole days just rearranging books and cd’s. Sometimes if I get a new cd or something that won’t fit where it needs to go, I’ll have to rearrange everything to make it all work. It’s not quite as bad anymore, since I’ve become a bit of a minimalist, but I do still have everything in its place. Maybe I should adopt your idea and just put them all in random order. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-obsessive-compulsive-behaviors/479315/27 "2009-01-01T07:15:49Z")
I almost always have to go back and check to make sure I locked the door behind me. Of course, I am fairly absent-minded so it’s not completely OCD. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-obsessive-compulsive-behaviors/479315/28 "2009-01-01T07:19:27Z")
> [@GilaB](#): > > I sometimes get a little obsessed with balance on the two sides of my body, especially if I’m thinking about OCD, so now I’m a little twitchy. If I contracted a muscle on the right side of my face, I need to contract the exact same muscle on the left side with the exact same amount of force for the exact same amount of time, which is nearly impossible, so I end up moving back and forth between the sides, trying to ‘fix’ the last attempt. I’ll also do this with my feet, with stepping on a sidewalk crack of the same size with the same part of my other foot with the same amount of force, something I can remember trying to do as a little kid. It’s not disabling, and come to thing of it, until this thread got me going, I don’t think I’d done it in months. I do this, except if I’m a passenger in a car it transfers to that, as well (i.e., a filled crack that only goes under one wheel will bother me.) Fortunately it doesn’t affect me when I’m busy driving, so I suspect it has more to do with my brain coming up with things to do than me being actually crazy. Right? (I do the clock thing, too.) ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-obsessive-compulsive-behaviors/479315/29 "2009-01-01T12:32:16Z")
I don’t even choose to bite my fingernails. Something stronger than my will forces me to. It’s way beyond the realm of “bad habit” and halfway across crazy street. I can’t even describe the overwhelming compulsion to bite my nails if they are the appropriate biting size. Trimming them won’t do, either. Only biting. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-obsessive-compulsive-behaviors/479315/30 "2009-01-01T13:05:25Z")
I can’t think of any that would be considered OC. ---
**Author:** ![Lightning\_Tallulah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Lightning\_Tallulah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightning_Tallulah)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-obsessive-compulsive-behaviors/479315/31 "2009-01-01T13:08:56Z")
Sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![nikonikosuru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@nikonikosuru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikonikosuru)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-obsessive-compulsive-behaviors/479315/32 "2009-01-01T13:46:20Z")
Like somebody else mentioned, I could listen to a song about 30 times in one night. It tends to happen most after I’ve first bought the song or downloaded it after hearing it for a long time. I’ll listen to it over and over and over before it gets added to my collection like a regular song. I know a guy who listens to songs HUNDREDS of times over. I’m glad I’m not that bad. I have a counting thing too. When I’m walking, biking, cooking, or doing pretty much any other menial task I catch myself counting each step/pedal/stir/etc. It’s weird. I also have this thing while working out on cardio machines where I MUST end on an even 5 or 0 number. If I can, I like to end the amount of calories burned at a 00/25/50/75 mark. No decimals. Otherwise I feel weird. ---
**Author:** ![Casserole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b77776/32.png) [@Casserole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casserole)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-obsessive-compulsive-behaviors/479315/33 "2009-01-01T15:56:56Z")
**nikonikosuru** , it just might be the satisfaction of stopping at a “round” number. For me, five divides equally (that is, twice) into ten, and 2 is a fundamental divisor. As for those who like biting their nails and want to stop? Interesting idea: How about getting a manicure? Might be a waste of money if you don’t notice yourself doing it, though. Alternatively, my parents used aversion therapy to deal with a similar situation (thumb sucking, when I was a baby). They put [mentholatum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mentholatum) on it, which tastes pretty bitter. As for my own OCD-ish tendencies… for the longest time, I had to step on and off stairs with my right foot… and when eating, my chopsticks always had to be aligned so that the right chopstick stuck out a tad father than the left chopstick (so the right side was ‘winning’). I also stepped on cracks (or over cracks) with my right foot. I’ve since made the conscious decision to stop, so perhaps I don’t truly understand the inability to stop. I’ve had a relationship ruined by OCD once… ---
**Author:** ![Snnipe\_70E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-obsessive-compulsive-behaviors/479315/34 "2009-01-01T19:40:06Z")
> [@shallora](#): > > Am I obsessive compulsive? > > Yes. > Yes. > Yes. > Yes. > Yes. > Yes. > Yes. > Yes. > Yes. > Yes. > Yes. > Yes. > Yes. > Yes. > Yes. > Yes. > Yes. > Yes. > Yes. > Yes. > > … I mean, well, maybe. 😉 You are not really OCD if you can accept that you are OCD. My wife insists that is wrong, it should be CDO, "you have to put the letters in order. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-obsessive-compulsive-behaviors/479315/35 "2009-01-01T20:02:06Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > Our favorite cafe has a binary clock [just like this one](http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/giftsforhim/59e0/images/561/). It draws my eye like nothing else, and I always have to calculate what time it shows. Unfortunately, they recently moved it but didn’t reset it, so now it’s about 20 minutes off. I’m dying to go fix it, but I’m probably the only person who can tell that it’s not right . . . I would be hopelessly lost forever if I ever get one of these. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-obsessive-compulsive-behaviors/479315/36 "2009-01-01T20:06:24Z")
Also, OCD helps in being a pilot or you just have to make it a habit to do things in a certain order. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-obsessive-compulsive-behaviors/479315/37 "2009-01-01T20:15:47Z")
I don’t have compulsions, but my thoughts will occassionally loop in bizarre and strangely soothing ways. For instance, my mind will spend an inordinate amount of time repeating “I love you” or “I want to see you smile” over and over again. That’s when I’m not anxious. When I’m anxious or depressed, I have very intrusive violent imagery and thoughts. I used to be bothered by these thoughts, but now I’ve become desensitized. Which may or may not be a good thing. For awhile I was in denial because I’d like to think I’m in full control of my mind. Also, with the exception of schizophrenics, OCD suffers are the laughing stocks of the mental health ward. But now I’m starting to accept that I probably have a mild form of pure-OCD (no compulsions, just obsessions). As long as it doesn’t get worse (and I’m not sure it won’t), then I guess I’ll be okay. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-obsessive-compulsive-behaviors/479315/38 "2009-01-01T20:26:39Z")
I can’t quite get used to owning a car with a blipper. So when I lock my car with the blipper I’ll pull the handle to make sure it’s locked. Sometimes I walk away from the car, and if I’m less than 95% sure I’ve checked, I’ll walk back and check again. I think it’s the only OCD thing I have, unless you count liking to wash my hands a lot (usually after eating) ---
**Author:** ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-obsessive-compulsive-behaviors/479315/39 "2009-01-01T20:27:36Z")
> [@Snnipe\_70E](#): > > You are not really OCD if you can accept that you are OCD. In the name of fighting ignorance…this is incorrect. People with undiagnosed OCD commonly worry about whether they are mentally ill, and those who are diagnosed understand their diagnosis. People with Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder refuse to believe their obsessive and compulsive behaviors are abnormal. [[Cite](http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000929.htm)] ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-obsessive-compulsive-behaviors/479315/40 "2009-01-01T21:20:36Z")
I have to check my alarm clock a few times before I fall asleep. I check the time, that it’s on “buzzer”, and that the volume knob is turned loud enough. I’d say I check it twice, on average, after initially setting it each night. I’m fairly sure that’s the only one I do. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-obsessive-compulsive-behaviors/479315.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-obsessive-compulsive-behaviors/479315.md?page=3)