Typing errors (typos)

[Guest unbelievably_distressing]

Does anyone here have an obsession with typing errors (typos)? It's driving me mad at the moment. For some reason, I have the image of a perfect paragraph of text in my head, but somebody's accidently typed a 'p' after the full stop, and it's niggling me! I don't even know why this image is in my head, let alone why there's a 'p' after the full stop in the image. It's just annoying me because it's not perfectly neat. How sad and pathetic is that?! I've tried thinking about it more, but the anxiety is still there. I've tried telling myself that despite that 'p' sticking out like a sore thumb, the text within the paragraph itself is probably perfect. I have a problem with perfection when it comes to writing/typing things. I tend to proofread other people's writing a lot. I can't help it. I try not to. Any ideas for this one?

[Ashley]

Hi UD,

I don;t have this problem.. as I am sure many of you have noticed, I tend to go for speed typing rather than perfect typing, but me aside, what you are experiencing is like any other aspect of OCD. You find it difficult to accept the doubt, the risk that something may not be perfect, so like any other form of OCD you would challenge that through behaviour and exposure exercises.

I am not sure on the exact approach, that is one to discuss with your therapist, but it may be you write text without checking for more than X minutes at first, building up to not checking at all, and then maybe going for full exposure of writing text with deliberate typos in them, and not correcting them.

Wishing you well.

Ashley.

[Guest danaeonyx]

Yes, I have this! Drives me nuts. Especially when people spell 'your' or 'you're' wrong. It's so petty but it gets to me.

[Guest unbelievably_distressing]

Hi UD,

I don;t have this problem.. as I am sure many of you have noticed, I tend to go for speed typing rather than perfect typing, but me aside, what you are experiencing is like any other aspect of OCD. You find it difficult to accept the doubt, the risk that something may not be perfect, so like any other form of OCD you would challenge that through behaviour and exposure exercises.

I am not sure on the exact approach, that is one to discuss with your therapist, but it may be you write text without checking for more than X minutes at first, building up to not checking at all, and then maybe going for full exposure of writing text with deliberate typos in them, and not correcting them.

Wishing you well.

Ashley.

Thanks for the reply, Ashley. I'm suffering terribly with this at work at the moment. I don't know what to do. I can't seem to let this go.

[Guest unbelievably_distressing]

Yes, I have this! Drives me nuts. Especially when people spell 'your' or 'you're' wrong. It's so petty but it gets to me.

Thanks for the reply. I know exactly what you mean about the 'your'/'you're' thing!

[Guest unbelievably_distressing]

I really need to nip this obsession in the bud, but I'm not quite sure how to go about it. When I type things at work, I spend too much time proofreading. For example, whenever I come to a big word, say "paragraph", for example, I have to spell it out by breaking it down into chunks and muttering it under my breath, like this: "pa... ra... gr... a... ph". I can probably see if it's spelt correctly from a just quick glance, but my OCD insists I do this. Also, I always double space after a full stop, so whenever I come to the end of a sentence, I have to mutter "full stop, space, space" under my breath, or at least say those words in my head. Ridiculous things like accidently double spacing or typing a letter/punctuation mark twice also niggle me. It's so time consuming and it really annoys me. I know the first step is to stop doing these things, but this obsession is a lot more complex. I don't like the thought of having missed a mistake. I don't want to make mistakes on purpose, but I want to be at peace knowing that I may have made a mistake. Maybe it would help to speed type on here and post without checking? It might do me good to see any mistakes and deal with the anxiety of them. What do you think?

[Guest legend]

You took the idea out of my head.

How about typing a short sentence on here, at your pace, without checking !! and leaving it up and walking away from

the computer for 10 minutes, and allow the anxiety to rise ?

legend

[Guest unbelievably_distressing]

You took the idea out of my head.

How about typing a short sentence on here, at your pace, without checking !! and leaving it up and walking away from

the computer for 10 minutes, and allow the anxiety to rise ?

legend

Thanks, Legend. Okay, but I think a whole paragraph would be more effective. It would allow for more mistakes.

[Guest unbelievably_distressing]

Rihgt, okay, here fpoes. I'm gonna type as fast as I can for a few minutes, and I;m really not gonna worry about spelling mistakes and punctuation. I suppose I have to realise that things arent always perfect. Ypu just have to accept that you are human and it is possible to make mistakes, but that it's nothing to really worry about because the important things in life are health and happiness, bot silly things like typing perfectly and accuraley.

[Guest unbelievably_distressing]

Rihgt, okay, here fpoes. I'm gonna type as fast as I can for a few minutes, and I;m really not gonna worry about spelling mistakes and punctuation. I suppose I have to realise that things arent always perfect. Ypu just have to accept that you are human and it is possible to make mistakes, but that it's nothing to really worry about because the important things in life are health and happiness, bot silly things like typing perfectly and accuraley.

One thing that's really bugging me at the moment is how to use commas. I always thought that when you have a list, you do this: burger, chips and beans. However, I was told at uni to do this: burger, chips, and beans. Notice the comma before "and". Which is the correct one? At work today, I did both, but now the fact that I was inconsistent is niggling me. Just have to deal with the anxiety of inconsistency, I suppose.

Edited December 2, 2010 by unbelievably_distressing

[Guest legend]

ARRRR that imperfection feeling.....where we need to go back and check and we might get judged by what we have done.

Your typing at work is fine....but because we have ocd we get that flipping urge to do things in a certain way....and feel

anxious if it isnt right......grrr but we do need to challenge it (easier said than done!!)

legend

[Guest legend]

One thing that's really bugging me at the moment is how to use commas. I always thought that when you have a list, you do this: burger, chips and beans. However, I was told at uni to do this: burger, chips, and beans. Notice the comma before "and". Which is the correct one? At work today, I did both, but now the fact that I was inconsistent is niggling me. Just have to deal with the anxiety of inconsistency, I suppose.

if uni say that way, then do it that way !

[Guest unbelievably_distressing]

Thanks for your replies, Legend. I think I suffer from extreme perfectionism, and always have done, and somehow I need to leave it all behind me and start to embrace imperfection.

[Guest unbelievably_distressing]

Thanks for your replies, Legend. I think I suffer from extreme perfectionism, and always have done, and somehow I need to leave it all behind me and start to embrace imperfection.

The thing is, how do I go about this? I don't want to be deliberately sloppy. I just want to feel relaxed about mistakes if they do happen. I'm having a stupid thing about hyphens at the moment. Whenever I use a hyphen, it has to be space, hyphen, space, like this: "Christmas will soon be here - not long to go!" These two would start my OCD off: "Christmas will soon be here- not long to go!" and "Christmas will soon be here -not long to go!" I feel so pathetic, but things like this really do irritate me... For now, at least!

[Guest legend]

The thing is, how do I go about this? I don't want to be deliberately sloppy. I just want to feel relaxed about mistakes if they do happen. I'm having a stupid thing about hyphens at the moment. Whenever I use a hyphen, it has to be space, hyphen, space, like this: "Christmas will soon be here - not long to go!" These two would start my OCD off: "Christmas will soon be here- not long to go!" and "Christmas will soon be here -not long to go!" I feel so pathetic, but things like this really do irritate me... For now, at least!

I suppose in the same way as you would for any exposure therapy, by gradually building up and allowing the im-perfections

to be there, and allow the anxiety to rise and in time the thought of not being perfect will lose its intensity.