Okay, I have one thing that I do that is OCD-like, but that’s it.
I iron my money. I have to. Rumpled bills irritate the piss out of me. This keeps my wallet nice and neat, and everything easy to find. And for those who would scoff: I will be the one laughing as you try, in futility, to insert that rumply dollar bill into a vending machine, only to have it spat back at you, indefinitely. Mwahahahahaha!
Dude, I don’t even think I OWN an iron.
As for me, I find patterns in things, especially ceilings. You know how you’ll be staring at a ceiling, and the plaster or the design of the tiles will be in a certain shape? Well, I combine those shapes into things. It’s like looking for animals in clouds. I try to find letters and numbers and pictures in ceilings and walls and stuff like that.
Yes, I’m strange.
Masturbation dosen’t count does it?
When I get embarrassed (sp?), there’s a certain automatic thought that runs through my head.
But I don’t attach any special significance to thinking it, nor do I believe there would be consequences if I didn’t. So it’s just an odd little habit.
Is that like OCR or CD-W?
I have a number of behaviors that might qualify as low-level OCD.
Whenever I use a flight of stairs, I count them. If the number of steps is odd, I am strangely annoyed.
When I’m eating, I have to chew each bite an equal number of times on each side of my mouth.
When I’m reading, I make squares out of the text. For example…
(imagine this is the page of a book or magazine)
blah blah blah
blah blah blah
blah blah blah
blah blah blah
blah blah blah
blah blah blah *
blah blah blah
blah blah blah
blah blah blah
blah blah blah
I get odd satisfaction out of simply taking notice of the line marked with an asterisk. (If you remove the succeeding lines, that line and the one above it form an approximate square. This may vary based on your browser’s screen settings; it’s right on mine.) I get additional satisfaction if the square is formed with an even number of lines. The wider-than-taller shape of a computer screen means I rarely find squares in on-screen text, which makes them the most satisfying of all. In a pinch, I’ll visualize two squares side by side, forming a rectangle. Doesn’t mean I read slowly or without comprehension; this happens totally in parallel to normal reading.
There are others, but this is enough for a backstage glimpse of my brain. None of these behaviors make me nonfunctional in the real world, which is how OCD is diagnosed: Your need to perform certain tasks interferes with your ability to lead a “normal” life. All of my little habits, rather, run sort of way back in the background; nobody would know about them by looking at me.
I know, I know, some of this is just weird. I’m not crazy, really I’m not. I’ve done it all my life. I think it’s just spare neurons entertaining themselves. I hope…
I have to check to make sure my alarm clock is turned on at least 5 times a night. Every night, I get really insanely worried that I’m going to oversleep and not make it to work, even if I am absolutely positive that the alarm clock is turned on, and I just have to tell myself to calm down and snap out of it, and say to myself, “you WILL wake up, so go to fucking sleep already.” Which usually works…heh.
How 'bout this:
I can’t stand things loosely attached. If a page was torn from a spiral-bound, I must remove the fringe, especially any pieces just barely attached or any large pieces. Also, I count initial letters. For example, in the sentence ‘The dog ran and ran.’ I count 5 initial letters, and think ‘t-d-r squared-a’. I like to be able to count things and add them to 20, and kind of feel some stress if the count stops at 19. I can function in the normal world, I’m just a little more annoyable than most.
For the uninitiated, OCD is obssessive-compulsive disorder. It is characterised by being obssessed by minor, pointless things to the point you cannot function. Commonly, a patient with OCD will scrub his hands until they break the skin and draw blood. That same person will obssess over ritual behavior, feeling compelled to do meaningless things and feeling that if those things aren’t done, or are done the wrong way, something bad will happen. It’s sad, as someone with clinical OCD is consumed by his obssessions and is wracked by stress because of them. We all have minor compulsions, those with OCD take them to extremes.
I also check my alarm clock several times. Another OCD-ish thing I do is play with the metal thing on floppy disks. Whenever I pick up a disk I just hafta flick it open a few times.
Having wrinkled bills isn’t really a problem for me, but I do make it a point to keep all the bills in my wallet right side up, have all the faces facing one direction, and arrange the bills in denominational order.
Also, whenever I go to someone else’s computer, I just have to change their start menu to use small icons. I try to remember to change it back when I’m done, but, of course, I sometimes forget. But, oh well, that’s just my OCD kicking in.
MSK–my dad does the bill-ironing thing. I thought he was insane, until you came along. Now, I think you’re both nuts :D.
I’m a manic hand washer, but that comes more from culinary training and food-poisoning horror stories, more than anything else. Plus, I don’t wash 'em till they bleed.
I have these little blond hairs that grow on my chin, that are thick–they feel like whiskers, even though I can’t see them unless I’m studying my face in the mirror. I’m always feeling for hairs to pluck, especially when I’m idle–watching TV, waiting in traffic, etc.
There are levels of OCD…but its true, everyone has some amount of it.
MagicalSilverKey, I like to wash & dry money. Shucks, if you were my roomate, you could then iron it.
I don’t have OCD (I’ve got my own set of problems, thanks), but Mrs. F has a fairly significant case. (Yes, she’s seeing a doctor about it; it’s under control.)
Mishell, I gotta ask about the alarm thing. It’s no big deal if you’re checking your alarm 5 times between 10:30 and 11pm, but if you’re waking up 5 times during the night because you’re not sure you’ve set your alarm, even after checking it all the other times, that’s another story.
I’ve got some no-big-deal symptoms, like when I step on the bathroom scale, I like it to be lined up with the rectangular tiles on the floor. I can weigh myself without lining it up, but you should see me tapping the scale with my toe, to get it lined up just so, before I step on it.
OTOH, I don’t have to check the house in detail before I leave, just to make sure everything’s off. And I wash my hands about the same as anyone else.
Er… are you sure? Because I’m pretty certain I don’t have it. I’m way too disorganised and messy to have anything like that, I think.
I can’t stand to have any smells or residues on my hands for more than a minute or two. I just have to wash my hands when it happens just because it’s not how they’re supposed to smell. I also have a habit of zipping up opened bags and picking lint, etc. off of people. nothing i have to do, really, just things i tend to do.
I used to count syllables on my fingers. I’ve spent years trying to stop it, since I used to get a real feeling of dread if a sentence ended in an odd number.
I’m currently trying to get over my key obsession. No matter how many times I’ve checked to make sure I have my car keys, everytime I lock the door I’m panicked because I feel sure I locked myself out.
I figdet constantly, which generally drives anyone I live with around the bend.
When I like a song, I will literally listen to it 50 or 100 times in a row if I’m at home all day. Again, this drives everyone else nuts, so I either use headphones or fight the compulsion.
I won’t eat a food item if it touches another food item.
I also have tons of little rituals, and get a little irritable if things aren’t lined up right, done in the right order, etc. I can turn almost anything into a ritual, from the way I eat my pretzels to the way I have to fold my used bubble gum wrappers.
I also usually have mental images of horrible things all of the time. Like if I’m boiling water, I keep picturing my hand in it, etc. I hate the images, have never acted out any of them, but see them all the time like some kind of sick movie. I was actually relieved to find out that this is a sign of OCD (one of the many symptoms, although not one that gets talked about a lot).
After doing research, I really do think that I have a higher than normal amount of OCD. I work really hard at not following compulsions.
As a side note, I’ve always been popular with the opposite sex, and sometimes when a guy is acting all crushed because I’m turning them down, I think of what a real joy I actually am to live with, and if they only knew…
I also can’t stand having dollar bills together without them being the same orientation. Another one is that no matter where I am, I have to have my fork on the left and the knife and spoon on the right. The glass has to be above the knife, the knife blade facing left, and the spoon to the right of the knife. I did this even at the cafeteria at my school, getting the requisite silverware in place on my tray, even if I was only having pizza, and not using any of it. If the silverware is layed out differently, I always put it the correct way when I use it.
I’m noticing a lot of people have issues with things coming out as an odd number. Whenever I’m working, I like it if the paperwork I’m doing ha even numbers. It’s not a major source of irritation, but I do find odd satisfaction with even numbers.
Also, I’m not a materilaistic person…except when it comes to music CDs. I have a massive collection and hit the music store at least twice a month.
I keep the collection in those CD binders. I have to keep my CDs sorted by genre, then within the genre I put groups that have similarities together, then I further sort it by color. I don’t like to put disimilar CDs together and if there is a really oddball CD it’s particularly frustrating ebcause I don’t know where to put, yet get bugged if it’s on a page by itself.
The system is really time consuming because just a couple of new CDs can require a total re-organization of a genre.
MSK, you and I seem to keep turning up in the same places.
Coincidence?
I don’t iron my money, but it must be oriented the same and in value sequence. Now that they’ve come out with the “new” money, I have to separate that, too. New goes behind the old. I even did this when I ran a cash register.
Freaked out the managers! I was told once that the second most common cause of cash loss (after theft)was sloppy cash handling by employees. Maybe that’s what started it.
Java, I call those my Billy Goat Hairs. I do the same thing and try to tweeze them so my husband doesn’t keep asking why I keep skittering my fingers over my chin.
Another feature of OCD is making up little rules for yourself. I used to make these up as a child to keep me from being paralyzed by my overactive imagination (i.e. the shark in the pool couldn’t bite me if I was touching the side; the monster under the bed can’t reach up and get me if no part of me is hanging over the edge; the troll under the stairs can’t get me if the light is on, etc etc). I find myself sometimes STILL obeying these “rules.” Like if I wake up freaked out about a nightmare, it can’t come true or hurt me as long as I am safely on the bed with not a toe extended beyond the mattress.
I thought that was gonna be too weird to admit until I saw how honest other people were being…