Viewing 24 posts - 1 through 24 (of 24 total)
  • OCD?
  • brooess
    Free Member

    Doing some reading up around personality disorders to try and resolve a problem we have at work with a senior member of staff and read some stuff about OCD which caused pause for thought on my own behaviour…

    Full on OCD is really disabling – not able to leave the house etc and we're not talking about anything like that but my Dad is really anal and I know I can be a bit – lends itself well to setting up gears and bike maintenance which is handy 😉 The official definition from what I can see is that you have a disorder when it impacts on your ability to form and keep relationships or on your day to day life which I wouldn't consider an issue – I just know friends and colleagues find me a bit anal and would prefer me to be less so…

    So my question is, how do I understand how to modify my behaviour to reduce the impact on others – not really a problem with friends and family, just work tbh.

    ourmaninthenorth
    Full Member

    A good friend's wife "suffers" from OCD, which has manifested itself in terrible paranoia and the inability to leave the house. Mind you, she had a very clean house.

    Her management of the disorder is threefold:

    1. Drugs – prozac. Stops the obsessing.

    2. Stress – avoiding it, as it is a bad trigger.

    3. A dog – they bought a dog to ensure that the house could never really get too tidy/clean.

    All three seem to work well.

    mrmichaelwright
    Free Member

    internet self diagnosis or diagnosis of others is a very dangerous thing

    you can diagnose yourself into a mild form of most psychological disorders quite easily

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
    Latest Singletrack Videos
    miketually
    Free Member

    I line up my coaster with the edge of the table. Does that count?

    djglover
    Free Member

    I have to turn the light on and off 7 times when i leave the room or my family will die.

    mrmichaelwright
    Free Member

    FG still stalking you then DJ?

    GaryLake
    Free Member

    I do what Mike mentions a lot and people make fun of it – but I'm a graphic designer so to me its just an expression… and I think you need a degree of OCD to be any good in the first place.

    However, I do things like lock the car twice and then get half way out the car park and have to run back… it's something I'm keeping an eye on but not worrying about. I'm a very stressy person (not a psycho, more of a worrier/concerned) and a bit of a daydreamer so I think it's more a genuine case of locking the car without realising I'm doing it and then needing to check.

    Either that or I'm flippin mental!

    WorldClassAccident
    Free Member

    I prefer to call it CDO and that way it is in alphabetical order

    BlingBling
    Free Member

    internet self diagnosis or diagnosis of others is a very dangerous thing

    Yup. Damn those liver flukes 🙁

    barnsleymitch
    Free Member

    I'm pretty certain that we all have our individual habits / foibles etc, but it's not until they start to impact on your day to day life that it becomes a problem. OCD can have a crippling effect on people, and regarding personality disorder, it's much the same. I currently work on a ward specialising in working with people with personality disorder, although as it's within a forensic setting, it's at the more extreme end of the spectrum. One of the main difficulties I have is the generally held belief that you cant change somebody's "personality", that it's all behavioral etc, so why bother – and this is from some nurses and medics, not just members of the general public – it really boils my p**s. The point I always try and get over is that people arent born with personality disorders, life events shape them and create these 'problems'. It's probably one of the most difficult areas of psychiatric care to work in, to be frank.

    rusty-trowel
    Free Member

    @Brooess – I have had severe OCD for the last 7 years or so, although thankfully i'm reasonably well at the moment. Before that it was smaller stuff like some people have mentioned. If you are genuinely worried about it, then OCD-UK are good guys and could be worth a call. If you want some info/advice from me, let me know and i can either email you or give you a call.

    Your GP can refer you for an assessment if you want it, which could lead to CBT, some chemical assisstance or something similar.

    Whatever you do, don't let it get out of hand as it's easier to nip in the bud before it gets too heavy. When it gets full blown it's truly awful and life consuming.

    Unfortunately the main treatment is CBT exposure therapy which pretty much means ignoring those urges and living with the discomfort until they go away. It's hard work and scary and horrible. Some of the recommended self help books are really good too.

    Unfortunately this life and family destroying illness is still seen as fair game for jokes and is easily dismissed, although anyone who knows a sufferer will confirm it's no laughing matter.

    Best thing you can do is get out on the bike and ride as it genuinely helps in lots of ways.
    Good luck and let me know if you need any help.

    ton
    Full Member

    does my compulsive bike buying mean i have ocd…….. 😉

    ourmaninthenorth
    Full Member

    I line up my coaster with the edge of the table. Does that count

    So that's what made you ill when you came to Manchester – sitting in the pub at a round table with square coasters..!

    😀

    sobriety
    Free Member

    If you're OCD and you know wash your hands! As one of my friends who has fairly severe OCD says!

    GJP
    Free Member

    I am not sure I would describe someone being "anal" and displaying "OCD behaviors" as the same thing although I am going to struggle to put my perceived differences into any coherent sentences on a forum.

    I guess I would see being "anal" as a broad personality trait that reveals itself in a multitude of contexts both personal and professional at home and at work etc.

    Whereas, my limited knowledge of OCD is that is is predominantly very focussed on a single issue (e.g. hand washing etc), is very personal and centered on themselves with an underlying fear that they will come to some direct harm.

    I would describe myself as suffering from mild OCD. Double, triple, quadruple checking that windows and doors are locked is my weakness. Unlike GaryLake I can't put mine down to day dreaming etc. I know very well I have closed the windows and already checked twice but I will still go back for a third or fourth time.

    Mine is part of a much wider anxiety/depressive/bi-polar/some other psycho label of the day disorder and in the grand scheme of things is perhaps the least of my worries!

    beamers
    Full Member

    I have to keep on checking this forum.

    Maybe I'm just idle and its not OCD.

    GTDave
    Free Member

    I have completed COD-MW2 3 times. Rocking. COD-OCD, just what I need! 😀

    PJay
    Free Member

    I've had severe OCD all my life (or at least as much of it as I can remember) and it can be pretty awful. I've done a fair amount of work on things (groups, counselling and more recently a year long psychotherapy group) and seem to be able to manage with a balance of medication and learnt skills. The CBT type of approach can be effective.

    I'd disagree though that OCD tends to have a single focus, it covers a broad spectrum of behaviours of which I have traits from several although the main one for me is intrusive thought – not disimilar to the "I have to turn the light on and off 7 times when i leave the room or my family will die" (or worse).

    At worst OCD can be terribly disabling (as the OP mentions) but it is workable with. I tend to try and see it along the lines of diabetes – a lifelong condition that can be managed with medication and lifestyle/behavioural changes. It's a real sod though!

    Just something though, OCD isn't a personality disorder (I think it's an anxiety disorder) although there is an OCD Personality Disorder, I believe they're very seperate things though.

    GJP
    Free Member

    PJay – you are right, OCD is an anxiety disorder, hence the reason why SSRI type anti-depressants are sometimes prescribed as part of a treatment plan.

    I could be, and most probably am, completely wrong about the single focus bit – that is probably just more to do with the way it is portrayed in the media.

    rusty-trowel
    Free Member

    As the previous poster says, it doesn't necessarily single out one issue. I have many different situations that raise the anxiety levels and require neutralisation and checking. Some are interlinked, some are a bit random; that's the problem when it gets serious, that it becomes all consuming and disables you from carrying out your life how you would like.

    Medication and behavioural techniques allow me to lead a relatively normal family life thankfully and, subject to popular belief, everything in my life isn't all in neat rows as my work colleagues would confirm (my desk looks like a warzone). Obviously my vinyl and cd's are in alphabetical and chronological order, but that's not OCD, that's just the way things should be! 🙂

    MulletusMaximus
    Free Member

    everything in my life isn't all in neat rows

    You should see the state of his bike van, you need to wipe your feet when you get out!! 😉

    rusty-trowel
    Free Member

    Fair cop MM! 🙂 You around this weekend?

    MulletusMaximus
    Free Member

    I'm crimbo shopping tomorrow and a family meal on Sunday so I'm out at 7am tomorrow morning for a ride. Could meet up Saturday night if you're about?

    rusty-trowel
    Free Member

    I'll call you later MM

Viewing 24 posts - 1 through 24 (of 24 total)

The topic ‘OCD?’ is closed to new replies.