Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder warning signs?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve read a small (but substantial) amount of information about OCD, or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder over the last few years. I’m starting to wonder whether some things I do are warning signs for OCD…
Background info: I have ADHD and I am a 17-year-old high school senior.
Possible-warning-sign activities:

  • I usually lock my car at least twice (I have a keyless lock/unlock type deal) after I get out of it…once right after I get out, and another time after walking a few feet away and wondering whether or not I locked it already. Literally, I get out of the car, lock it, walk a few feet towards wherever I’m going, think “Did I lock the car? I’m not sure”, and lock it again. I have locked it 3 or more times on a couple of occasions, although that’s rare recently.
  • Sometimes (especially if I’m doing something I’m not supposed to be doing) I’ll repeatedly shoot a bunch of quick glances at the door and sometimes over my shoulder to see if there’s anybody watching what I’m doing.
  • When I lock a door (usually just bathroom doors, since I recently moved into an apartment where the only doors that lock are the doors that lead outside and the bathroom doors), I check it a couple of times to make sure it’s locked. Doors that unlock from the inside automatically when you turn the handle, are frustrating to me because I can’t check to see whether they’re locked–as soon as I turn the handle to check it, it unlocks.
  • When I call someone on my cellphone, while it’s ringing I take the cellphone off my ear and glance at the screen to make sure I’m calling the person I think I’m calling. I used to do this several times on each occasion that I called someone. Now I generally do it once or twice. I try not to, but it’s difficult.

There might be others that I haven’t noticed yet. Any opinions?

Pot has helped in the recent past, BTW.

(Mandatory disclaimer: Pot is illegal in most of the United States and many other nations.)

2

Oh, another possible-warning-sign thing (this one has been going on for about 2-3 years):

When I raise my hand in class to say something or ask a question, for a few seconds I just kind of really hope that I don’t forget what I was going to say, then I become afraid that I am going to forget it and I hope that I get called on right now before I forget it, then I totally blank on it for a few frantic seconds and can’t recall it and really hope that I don’t get called on then because that would be fairly embarrassing, then I remember it and hope I don’t have to go through the cycle again. I don’t know if I’ve gone through the cycle twice or more recently–I usually get called on before I have the chance to, anyway–but I’ve been called on a couple times at the precise moment when I’ve blanked out. I would basically just go “Uh…umm…uhhh…” or just kind of freeze for a second or two until I remembered it, and then I’d say whatever I was going to say.

3

Wow, I do stuff like that too.:frowning: I’ve loosened up a little over the last some years. I’m 21 now.
I’ve usually assumed it was my low self esteem, filling me with self doubt. Also my dad always nags me to no end when I don’t lock a door or turn off a burner or something similar, so I was raised knowing there would be bad consequences if I did the things wrong.
Think of what will most likely happen if you don’t lock a door. Absolutely nothing. I know people (Not my family of course, I roll my eyes! ) who leave their front doors unlocked during the day and no one has ever wandered in.

I think looking over your shoulder when you’re doing something bad and worrying about getting caught is pretty normal. The solution would be to behave.:wink:
Remember that these are just my opinions. I don’t know much about Obsessive Compulsive disorder.

4

Thanks–good to know that somebody without OCD (or at least without diagnosed OCD–I’m not too sure about my own status with it) does the same sort of stuff.

And yeah, I guess the looking over your shoulder when you’re doing something bad is normal…but I’ve taken it to weird extremes sometimes. I’m not talking about looking over just enough to see someone. I mean looking over, looking back, glancing back over, glancing over again, and again and again and again, quickly and for milliseconds at a time. And sometimes, I would be in a locked room and doing something I wasn’t supposed to be doing, and I’d do that a bunch of times and every once in a while I’d get up and walk across the room just to check to see if the door is still locked. As if it would actually unlock itself.

5

When one starts repeating behaviors such as you describe over 5 times in rapid succession and it interferes with what one wants to do, then one should worry more about OCD.

Also, if one finds oneself getting quite anxious if the ritual is interrupted, and not being able to relax until the ritual is complete, suspicion of OCD would be greater.

I’m not making a diagnosis, or even a complete list of OCD characteristics, just trying to give a bit of background.

**Symptoms **:

Obsessions

  1. Intrusive distressing thoughts, impulses, or images such as
    Contamination (50%)
    Pathologic doubt (42%)
    Somatic (33%)
    Need for symmetry (32%)
    Aggressive (31%)
    Sexual (24%)

  2. Obsessions are not related to real-life problems

  3. Attempts to ignore, suppress or neutralize obsessions

  4. Recognition that obsessions are product of own mind

Compulsions

  1. Repetitive behaviors as a response to obsessions, like
    Checking (61%)
    Washing (50%)
    Counting (36%)
    Need to ask or confess (34%)
    Symmetry and precision (28%)
    Hoarding (18%)
    Praying
    Repeating words silently

  2. Compulsions are intended to reduce distress
    Not connected realistically to preventing obsession
    Excessive measures

From:http://fpnotebook.com/PSY6.htm

A more layman friendly site can be found here: http://www.ocfoundation.org/ocf1010a.htm

6

Here’s an online test: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/ocd/index.shtml

I used to do the worrying-when-raising-my-hand too. Do you notice that in more comfortable situations you’re a lot less worried? For example, if you were talking to a good friend about something important, and you had a question that you wanted to ask them, but didn’t want to interupt, would you worry less about remembering that?

I think a lot has to do with self esteem. You think you’ll make a fool of yourself if you forget the question, right? And you spend so much time worrying about that that you often end up forgetting the question?
But again, I’m no psychologist and these are just my opinions.

You can e-mail me if you want at jen2@jenniger.com

7

Thanks a ton to both of you–two very interesting and different viewpoints.

QtM, thanks for the medical advice. I’ll keep the 5-times-or-more thing in mind. (BTW, it may be interesting to note that I had an obsession with symmetry from maybe third to fifth grades, and it’s come back every once in a while.) Another BTW: I’ve heard that intense psychedelic drug experiences can bring out latent psychoses–do you think, knowing what you do about my background, that I would stand a risk of OCD surfacing from within somewhere if I experiment with strong psychedelic drugs? I’ve tried a legal hallucinogen called Salvia and had a very intense experience with it (the walls and ceiling pulsated in blue waves, and I experienced the entire lives, from birth to death, of probably several hundred people (saw everything they saw, did everything they did, etc.), all while lying still on a bed, in about 20 minutes), and found that for the next week or two the effects of Salvia would come back mildly whenever I smoked pot (that eventually went away, thank god–I had been getting a little freaked out about it), but I don’t seem to have any lasting effects except for a couple of profound realizations I made during my hundreds-of-lives journey.

Thylacinewas taken, thanks for the URL, for sharing your experiences, and for the email offer. I will be emailing you.

8

You can take the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale test here. This is likely the test a practioner would start with to determine if you need further evaluation.

I am not a psych, just an OCD patient with two OCD daughters and a phD psycho for a sister. :slight_smile:

9

Thanks for the link and the input! BTW, would you mind telling me more about your experiences with OCD? I understand if you don’t want to. What I’m looking for is things like: When did you first wonder if you had it? Why? What are/were your obsessions/compulsions? Did any of your obsessions/compulsions sound like mine? Thanks in advance.

I scored a “Moderate” on the Yale-Brown test, and the BBC test said that I probably don’t have OCD. However, I recognized a few of the symptoms QtM listed as being a part of my life currently or in the past, and I think that although I probably don’t have severe enough symptoms for a positive diagnosis of OCD, it’s something to think about, and I’m definitely going to keep the 5-times-or-more thing in mind.

10

fetus relax…everyone has wondered if something was locked or turned off or left on. My wife drives me crazy sometimes with the questions, “Did you do this, that or the other.”
You said right off that you were attention deficit. In other words, you’re not exactly paying attention to what you’re doing sometimes. You unconsciously do things that are habit, like locking a door, or turning off a light. Then you don’t recall doing them. So you have to check and make sure. That is normal behavior, everyone does this, more often even than they are aware. You have a little more prevalence of this behavior and it scares you a bit. Don’t obsess on the behavior…just focus more on what you are doing at the time.
Usually when I catch myself doing this kind of stuff it is because my mind is on something else.
Looks like you’ve gotten some good info. thus far. So don’t worry about it too much at this point. Granted any kind of diagnosis via the internet isn’t worth much, but considering the criteria list and your description, it doesn’t appear to be much more than behavior attributed to attention deficit.

Disclaimer
I am not a doctor…but I have taught alternative education to troubled teens, many of which were ADHD. I also mastered at UT in psychology. So that is, for what it’s worth, MHO.

BTW Smoking pot doesn’t really help. It does two things.
One, it just makes you focus more on what you are trying to do because you are stoned and don’t want to fuck up.
or
Two, it’s too late…you’re already too stoned to give a shit whether the door is locked or not.

Been there :wink:

good luck fetus regards t-k

11

fetus, I’ll bet a mint that you don’t have OCD. Lots of kids want to distinguish themselves in weird ways. For them, it’s a delightful fantasy that they might have mental issues, it adds a dramatic element to their lives.

12

Everyone has their own set of obsessions and compulsions. I always check my contact lens case about eight times to make absolutely sure that my contacts made it in to the case right. We all worry about locks or the oven and stuff like that.

Although medical thinking defines OCD as a straightforward disease, in reality it isn’t quite so well defined. Obsessions and compulsions only become a disorder when they disrupt your life signifigantly. Do your check your locks so many times that it makes you late for work? Are you unable to study for school because of an overwhelming fear of being watched? Do you avoid making important phone calls because the stress of worrying about dialing the wrong number is too much to handle? Have your family members commented that your behavoir is making you seem less happy and less productive? Most likely not. If not, and your actions arn’t making you overwhelmingly unhappy, you arn’t dealing with OCD.

13

Well, fetus. (Dammit, I so much want to spell your name “foetus” - sorry!) I had a phase of, when I went to bed, having to get up and check that the door was locked, something like 20 times. :frowning: That would be even if I had not opened the door that day. Ditto with checking that that cooker was off - I might not have switched the cooker on, using the microwave oven instead, but…all the same. :frowning:

Yes, sorry about possible overuse of silly icons, but it seems to help express that I was very annoyed with myself for this, and knew it was stupid, but just had to.

So, seems to me that you are not doing nearly as bad as I was at that time, so maybe you can control it before it grows. I think, if you are 17 and presumably in the last year or so of school*, then this must be a stressful time for you. Not that saying that kind of thing helps - for the record, I was, I think, 40 when this happened. (Yes, I did eventually see a medic, who treated me for anxiety and panic disorder), although, in fact, that particular problem (about locking, and switching off things) had just about gone then, but, well…other panics…)

I also understand the “walking back to the car” thing, although I do not know, nor did I ever, hold a driving licence - oh - look, eco-friendly me - well, impecunious me!) I have done the same thing when having to go to brother?s place to check on mail when he was away for 2 weeks. Lock door about 3 times…all safe…walk away a bit…need to return to check. Possibly have to return a second time to check…
I think, though, that your thing there is not too bad, but do please bear in mind that Celyn is no doctor. Perhaps irresponsible of me to comment? In that case, I do sincerely apologise. Better advice will be coming along, and, given the slowness of my ISP, no doubt even before I post this!
*I am in Scotland, and not familiar with the intricacies of the U.S. school system, but I am assuming this wuld be a year that is very important vis á vis exams, getting to university etc.

14

Thanks again to all that responded.

Celyn–you’re right on the mark in that this is the last year before college, and stress can run high. However, I already know what school I’m going to, and I’ve been accepted there, and I’ve even set up some fantastic ADHD resources for myself there. Also, the symptoms were worst in late elementary school (3rd to 5th grades–ages 8 to 10 by quick estimate) and sophomore and junior year of high school (ages 15 to 16).

Although this wasn’t necessarily about obsessive-compulsiveness, last year I was really off for a while and my parents and psychiatrist were so concerned about me they thought I had gotten addicted to drugs or something (they actually drug-tested me too–thank god I hadn’t been introduced to my friend Mary Jane yet). I think a large part of that was that when I was home I was always afraid of being caught slacking off or not doing work…so I would spend all my time slacking off on the computer and pretending to study, looking over my shoulder for my parents, fingers at the ready to Alt-Tab at any time so I would look like I was working. Because I was always afraid to be ostensibly slacking off, I could never set aside a certain amount of time for work and a certain amount of time to slack off–so I would just be slacking off and looking like I was working all the time I was home. I’ve always blamed it on my dad, but I’m not sure. I think part of it really is his fault in that I would get penalized if I were slacking off when he thought I should be working. I still do it, somewhat. I haven’t gotten any work done at home in a long time, now that I think about it. (I usually hang out with my friends at a coffee shop or at their houses, in ‘study group’ fashion, when I really need to get work done outside of school.) I guess that’s something to work out with my dad and the psych.

15

Thanks. This helps :slight_smile:

I wasn’t saying that being stoned helps, I was saying that being a stoner helps. (Although I don’t do most of my obsessive/compulsive behaviors when I’m stoned anyway.) What I meant was that smoking pot seems to have helped me when I’m not stoned–I seem to be generally more relaxed about things in general, including obsessive/compulsive stuff.

It’s funny, when I told one of my friends about the classroom hand-raising thing, he said, “Don’t smoke so much pot” (as in, you probably forgot things because you’re a pothead or somesuch)…but I’ve been doing it less since I started smoking, and I generally don’t do it when I’m stoned.

16

I am a diagnosed (untreated) OCD sufferer. You asked Calliope about some of her experiences with OCD, so I’ll just go ahead and tell you about some of mine.

I have to wash my hands all the time. Like, all the time. Before and after everything and in between, just to make sure. It’s getting better now though. I used to have the water so hot my hands would burn (not seriously, but they’d be awful red for a while). The temperature is still hot, but I do add a bit more cold to prevent injury. I think I probably wash my hands more often after having a baby.

Speaking of baby… He has 8 bottles (2 four ounce, 2 eight ounce, and 4 nine ounce ones; I know this because I’ve counted them 12,000 times). If they’re all dirty, it can take me more than an hour to wash them. I use a bottle cleaner (which I replace at least once a month) and wash them. As I’m rinsing them in the hottest tap water you can imagine, I rub them vigorously because I can never rinse them completely. As I rub, I can see tiny little soap bubbles indicating that they’re still soapy and therefore unsuitable for my son to be drinking out of. So I wash them again, without using any detergent, scrubbing at them with the bottle brush to get all of the soap off. I repeat this 36 times (8 bottles x 4 parts per bottle (bottle, ring, nipple, cap)). It’s not that bad with regular dishes though.

I have two loveseats, a couch, and a reclining chair. I recently rearraged the living room like this; entertainment center on south wall, square between two windows, loveseat A on east wall, directly centered under window, loveseat B on west wall directly across from loveseat A, and couch directly across from entertainment center on north wall. I was so close to tossing out the chair because I didn’t have anywhere to put it, but That Guy (the other name under “Property Owner”) said no. And now the whole room looks like shit. (entertainment center still in place, loveseat B still in place, couch on east wall not anywhere near center, loveseat A on north wall seperated from chair with a small end table)

There are a few other, little things like constantly checking to make sure things that are supposed to be in the middle are really in the middle (like the flowers on the dining room table, the lamp on my nightstand, Malcolm, etc).

So there. Now you have a few examples of real OCD behavior. Hope it helps.

17

Silver Fire – thanks, it does help. Just out of curiosity, why did you decide not to treat it? FWIW, I don’t think I would either if I had OCD–I’m not a big fan of psychiatric drugs, and unless there’s an OCD drug that’s as unobtrusive as the Strattera I take for my ADD, I don’t think I would want to medicate the condition. Are you going through any kind of therapy? If so, have you found that it helps?

Again, you don’t have to tell me any of this if you don’t feel comfortable letting that kind of information out in this forum.

18

It wasn’t really a conscious decision to go untreated, I just never asked. I don’t even really know how to go about treating it, or if there even is a drug. I was already in therapy for severe depression when I was diagnosed about six years ago, but left soon after because I didn’t agree with some of the techniques my therapist used to treat my OCD. (Or my depression, for that matter, which is also (as of about 3 years ago) untreated.)

I would like to be magically cured but I don’t really see that happening. I’ve become very controlling over my depression though. I’ve indentified some of my “triggers” and I can usually tell when I’m about to slip. It’s hard sometimes though so, when I need to, I treat my depression with writing and music (but not writing music… I’m not that good :wink: ). I used to self-medicate with illicit drugs (not weed, if that’s any indication) but, in the end, it only made everything worse.

I haven’t figured out how to control the OCD yet. I suppose I’ll let you know when/if I do. I haven’t burned that chair to a crisp yet, so I guess that’s a good sign. :slight_smile:

19

Silverfire, just an FYI. Certain members of the class of medications known as SSRIs are in general quite useful to treat both depression and OCD. Especially when used along with therapy. I’ve seen both Prozac and Luvox reduce OCD symptoms by 90% or more.

It’s not a cure, but it sure can reduce the behavior.

QtM, MD

20

Silver Fire, I’ve also heard of SSRIs working well for OCD (I’m surprised the doctor or psychologist who diagnosed you didn’t tell you about OCD pharmacotherapy options); actually, I did a project for Psychology class last semester concerning psychiatric drugs. Let me dig up that file and I’ll try to find the drugs that I found that are used for OCD (based mostly on the American Psychiatric Press Textbook of Psychopharmacology, 2nd ed), which you can then ask your doctor about, plus the drugs QtM mentioned. I will list them in the format:
Generic name (Brand name), Drug type (any other useful info)

Clomipramine (Anafranil), Antidepressant/antiobsessional (tricyclic)
Sertraline (Zoloft), Antidepressant (SSRI)
Fluvoxamine (Luvox), Antidepressant/antiobsessional agent (SSRI)
Fluoxetine (Prozac), Antidepressant/antiobsessional/antibulimic (SSRI)
Paroxetine (Paxil), Antidepressant (SSRI)
Trazodone (Desyrel), Antidepressant (I apparently listed this as a benzodiazepine but talked about it as an SSRI in the project, and Google isn’t maknig it any clearer, so you’re on your own here)
Nefazodone (Serzone), Antidepressant (Doesn’t seem to fit in any conventional antidepressant categories; related to trazodone; pulled from the market in Canada due to liver health concerns, not sure of US status)
Venlaxafine (Effexor), Antidepressant (Note: I’ve heard horror stories about this drug; it’s supposed to be pretty unpleasant and extremely addictive, IIRC, and I clearly remember hearing from my friend and reading from other people online statements like “I would rather have my depression back than take Effexor another day, but I can’t stop”. I would personally recommend that you turn around and run if your doctor tries to prescribe Effexor.)
Lithium, Bipolar disorder drug (efficacy in treating OCD is unproven AFAIK, but it’s been used successfully for bipolar disorder and (I think) depression for a long time)
Dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine), Stimulant/Amphetamine (This is speed–I’ve found that it makes me depressed, as it does for a minority of the population…for everyone else it’s an upper, as you probably know)

It seems that some MAOIs were listed as being prescribed for OCD, although I can’t find the specific ones. MAOIs interact badly with a lot of drugs and food (although the newer MAOIs are better about this), so some people choose to avoid them.

This is probably not a complete list, but that’s what I know about OCD pharmacotherapy. Regarding Dexedrine, I eventually decided that I’d rather deal with my ADHD on my own than take that drug, because of its depressive effects on me. YMMV and probably will, because a lot of people take the same stuff recreationally. (BTW, my psychiatrist eventually prescribed Strattera for my ADHD, as I’ve mentioned before, and I’m pretty happy with that.)