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My Contemplations


Guest MargaretNONeill

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Guest MargaretNONeill

Hello All:

I am a college student at Columbia University in America. While I realize this is a UK site, it seems much more robust and sophisticated than any US forums I've found. Indeed, I presume that OCD transcends nationality, especially within the context of two very similar cultures.

I am undiagnosed. I've suffered from depression for 6 years. My psychiatrists have accredited my depression to "perfectionism" and a "sense of self-inadequacy." Yet I have come to realize that I exhibit many potential OCD manifestations. For example, every time I go to a new website, or even part of a website, I clear my history. Whenever I pick up an item, I circle it around my leg three times (and if that doesn't satisfy me, then to a greater prime number). Another manifestation is that I cannot have any garbage in my dorm room's garbage bin. If I put in one thing, I feel compelled to change the garbage bag, then rinse out the bin with warm water and soap. This is clearly irrational, unnecessary behavior.

I suppose that my question is this: if my behavior does not pose any impact on my greater quality of life, other than minor inconvenience and anxiety, is it worth addressing? Is it worth imposing stress upon my family and the undoubtable thousands of dollars worth of therapy that my mother will insist upon should I "come out" so to speak?

Thanks,

Maggie

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Guest jayjay89

Hi Maggie,

I am a Kiwi and have found this site very helpful, its an awesome community with heaps of support and knowledge.

In regards to your question, based off the limited information you have provided, -- In my opinion only!-- I have a couple of points for you to consider, the main one is that

OCD is diagnosed when the obsessions and compulsions:

  • Consume excessive amounts of time (approximately an hour or more)
  • Cause significant distress and anguish
  • Interfere with daily functioning at home, school or work, including social activities and family life and relationships.

Just off what you have said above, it sounds like you possibly have OCD tendencies, but you need to consider the impact it has on your life, to decide if you need full on OCD treatment. Keep in mind that compulsions can be sneaky little b*ggers and you may not realise that is what they are. I've been working on my OCD for approximately a year and only realised last week that one of my behaviours which I previously hadn't even thought about, is a compulsion!

I can't give you advice as to where you sit on the spectrum, but if you are noticing these behaviours, you could always implement some self help, CBT, to work on the compulsions. Even if they don't annoy you and aren't time consuming, it could be interesting and worthwhile to work at reducing them, to see if you then realise any of your other behaviours could fall into OCD or not.

If it's not causing you distress or taking up significant time, I personally wouldn't bother my family with it (assuming you are an adult!), maybe look at it as a bit of an experiment, get some knowledge and ideas of CBT, implement one action at a time and see how much success you have. If you notice that you are getting worse, your compulsions are increasing (or you recognise existing compulsions) then you can re-evaluate your situation and seek professional help if you need to - but many people have improved their severe OCD without professional help so if you don't want to jump straight to your parents spending money when you aren't sure you need it, CBT could be a good starting point.

Anyway I hope that makes sense :) If you peruse the main forum you will be able to find heaps of examples of CBT in action, also I recommend doing your own research, with OCD, knowledge is power, the more you know and understand, the more success you can have : )

Good luck and welcome!

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Hello and welcome. Not much to add really, I agree with Jayjay. I'd say you should keep an eye on any OCD tendancies you might have. If something upsetting happens it could worsen if you're already leaning towards OCD. It'd probably be a good idea to get a book and teach yourself some techniques to challenge your behaviour.

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