I think a good test would be to see if you not only engage in compulsive behavior, but whether you have an overwhelming “urge” to do it. If you stop performing one of your rituals, do you experience anxiety?
I think that’s a good distinction, especially in telling the difference between a disorder and a quirk. My need to stack loose change could be considered a quirk, but I find myself doing it without even thinking about it. If there’s a pile of change around, my hands are in it. I can’t stand to look at a spread out sea of coins. It puts me a little on edge.
I, too, feel remarkably sane after reading about everyone else’s quirks.
[ul][li]I hang the toilet paper over the front, but only because I don’t live with a dog or cat.[/li][li]I sort my CD’s by genre, then alphabetically, and the labels have to be readable when the case is opened.[/li][li]It has little to do with OCD, but I hate having food residue stick on my fingers. If I’m eating tacos or fried chicken, I’ll go through an entire napkin cleaning off my fingers, then pick up another piece and go through it all again.[/li][li]I listen to a lot of classical music, especially in the car, and I find myself trying to work out the fingerings for the 1st violin line. Of course, when I try to play it that way, it’s never as easy as I’d thought.[/li][li]When I’m not doing the above, I whistle along. Mind you, I can actually do it in tune. That one I know I picked up from my dad.[/li][/ul]
What is really pitiful, is, that since I posted earlier in this thread, and since gone on to read the other disorders, I have realized I have many, many more than the few I mentioned.
And no…I’m not going to say which ones. Suffice it to say, way too many.
I don’t have time to name them all anyway as my appointment with the mental health center is minutes away, and if I don’t show up on time, they come around with the jacket and all that. [sub][sup]It better be the grey one; the white one makes me look fat and the ties are all knotted and…uh…well…[/sub][/sup]
Man…I have got to get a grip! I feel remarkably less sane.
I feel your pain silky!!!
I aggree that socks have a preferred foot. I hate opening a new pack of socks and having to breah them in again. I too must stack all my loose change, its just easier that way.