I have low levels of OCD. My main compulsion is something that's hard to describe, and just as hard to... complete? So I'm rarely satisfied, and it can lead to some frustrating experiences.

It has something to do with... lines. And like, borders of things. Basically, when I touch a line or the border of something (could be something I've touched with my fingers, or it could be something on screen I've touched with my mouse), I have to go over the whole line.

This often happens with my fingernails. I'll touch the tip of a finger nail for whatever reason, then I'll outline the whole fingernail. Then my obsession with even numbers comes in, and I'll starting outlining all the fingernails on both hands a certain number of times, outlining the corresponding fingernails of each hand simultaneously. It's actually quite annoying, and I'm doing it all the damn time.

The compulsion can lead to some strange situations. For example, sometimes when staring at my computer screen lackadaisically, my eyes will begin to cross. Then a box or something in the view of my left eye (my primary eye) will encompass something from the screen in the view of my right eye, and I suddenly feel compelled to cross my eyes in all sorts of crazy ways until the box has gone over every bit of the screen in the view of my right eye. It's really annoying and gives me a headache.

And, like I said before, my compulsion is hard to satisfy, because lines always lead to more lines. So for example the computer screen situation. The box will inevitably cross over something outside of the screen, and I'll want cross my eyes even further to keep it going over more and more things, but it's physically impossible. It's frustrating.

I've always considered my OCD and my mysophobia to be two seperate afflictions.  For me, my OCD is a set of compulsions that drives me to perform habitual and ritualistic actions; I'm aware on an intellectual level that those actions are totally irrational, yet I need to do them before I can feel just right.

I recall driving my girlfriend to dinner one night, when I hear her ask, "What the hell are you doing with your shoulder?"  I suddenly realize that I've been twitching my shoulder in my odd OCD manner.

"Oh, that's just a manifestation of my obsessive-compulsive disorder," I reply with a sheepish grin.

Yes, it's difficult.  I try to hide my condition publicly, but my compulsions can't help but slip out on occasion.

Do you not come in contact with OCD often being a doctor? Or do you work in a specific field of medicine where you don't come accross it? Anyway, it is when someone is obsessive about their environment, having lots of rituals such as flipping light switches repeatedly and washing surfaces over and over again, etc...

 Also, off-topic - I think I still may have it a bit, I had to correct dtewis spelling of superfluous in the quote, that's obsessive lol.

highwaystar101

No, i dont work in a specific field, so I should come in contact with it from time to time, but for some reason I dont. Only maybe once or twice. Maybe it's not very common in Sweden.
(of course it is, but it probably ain't on such a bad level that it drives people to the doctor. Actually some habits people describe in this thread are perfectly normal, like avoiding lines and counting stuff lol. Or at least the habits when they are mild belong to the 'normal useless spectrum' mentally, and dont stand for anything pathological).

Anyway, I wasnt familiar with the name of the diagnose as 'OCD'. First i fought it refered to 'general anxiety disorder'.

A doctor who doesnt know what OCD is?  Maybe by doctor he means chiropractor.

Oh yeah, I forgot you were swedish lol. I guess it would go by another name in Sweden.

Actually, fear of contamination is a common subset of OCD. That is why hand-washing is the most commonly associated compulsion.

I think some companies take advantage of people with OCD with products like hand sanitizers. They make it as though the instant you're in contact with germs you'll automatically catch something and that you HAVE TO get clean right away.

I'm actually quite glad I don't have OCD, what with all the stories about it here, as well as the stories I've heard elsewhere... But it does suck that I'm a medicated Schizophrenic (honestly, the only thing that sucks worse than a mental illness is usually the medicines that psychiatrists and psychologists prescribe for it; I mean half of the reason why I'm so fat is because of my medication, the other half being my lack of appetite control)...

Damn! I am obsessed with correct spelling and grammar. This really annoys me.