OCD and difficulty reading comics.

[Guest aaronthegreat1989]

Hi there everybody, my names Aaron, just joined today in the vain hope that someone out there might have the same problem i have been experiencing. For the past 3/4 years i have been experiencing OCD since i was 22(Now 25) and since then it has progressively gotten worse. It began with light switches where every time i turned off a switch i would stare at it for a good 2 minutes, almost 'believing' that the switch was still ON. I also kept checking my front and back door to see if they were still locked, because i believed them to be UNLOCKED. And now the for main topic pf this post - It has now *Crept* into my comic reading hobby, when i read a page to look at the illustrations and wonderful drawings etc... i find it difficult to move off one particular region of the illustration in fear that i might 'MISS something'and thus can't progress on to the next page. I now find it difficult to read my comics, and i fear i can't read them again because every time i have attempted to. The same thing happens again. So i don't go anywhere near them now. I believe i may have a severe case of OCD. If anybody understands what i'm talking about or has these similar problems out there... Please let me know if these are classic symptoms of OCD. Any help would be appreciated on how i can overcome this problem. What is the best medication? for this type of problem.

Thank you! Look forward to hearing from anybody.

-Aaron

This is actually a repost from 'I'm new here' forums. So i can get more exposure.

Anybody else have these problems? Thanks again, ladies and gentleman.

[Guest PaulM]

Hi Aaron,

Welcome to the forums! I've experienced something similar. I was asked to read The Sandman graphic novels by Neil Gaiman and found it extremely difficult. The artwork is beautiful and very detailed. But I found the flow difficult and I would look back at whether or not I had all the details before I felt it was okay to proceed.

After I gave up on The Sandman I was reading FreakAngels and found it to be quite a bit easier. Even then, however, I found if I missed a detail it made me look over a frame a few times.

I haven't tried the Neil Gaiman books since. But I should and perhaps approach it that is does not matter if I don't see or remember every detail, I can still get through the story.

A bit like watching the film Donnie Darko - every time I would watch it I might pick up on another detail. Fortunately, the pace of a movie is decided by someone other than me. So, while I may not get all of the details the first time around, as long as I enjoy it does it matter? If I enjoy it (I watched Donnie Darko nearly every week for about a year not because of OCD but for comfort after a life change) that matters more than each and every detail. Tough to put into practice when I'm in control of the length of time.

Edited January 29, 2015 by PaulM

[Guest aaronthegreat1989]

Hi Aaron,

Welcome to the forums! I've experienced something similar. I was asked to read The Sandman graphic novels by Neil Gaiman and found it extremely difficult. The artwork is beautiful and very detailed. But I found the flow difficult and I would look back at whether or not I had all the details before I felt it was okay to proceed.

After I gave up on The Sandman I was reading FreakAngels and found it to be quite a bit easier. Even then, however, I found if I missed a detail it made me look over a frame a few times.

I haven't tried the Neil Gaiman books since. But I should and perhaps approach it that is does not matter if I don't see or remember every detail, I can still get through the story.

A bit like watching the film Donnie Darko - every time I would watch it I might pick up on another detail. Fortunately, the pace of a movie is decided by someone other than me. So, while I may not get all of the details the first time around, as long as I enjoy it does it matter? If I enjoy it (I watched Donnie Darko nearly every week for about a year not because of OCD but for comfort after a life change) that matters more than each and every detail. Tough to put into practice when I'm in control of the length of time.

Hi there Paul, thank you, i was hoping i wasn't the only one who suffered with this problem. I have recently been diagnosed with OCD but i also have a long history of aspergers syndrome, so that doesn't help either. I feel at the moment as if i'm a freak, a rational and logical person should be able to proceed with such a simple task as reading a book. I had no problems before.....I'm currently on mirtazapine(30mg) but that doesn't seem to help one bit in the slightest. I'm hoping that a different medication maybe available for me.

Thank you for the reply. Much appreciated.

-Aaron.

[Guest PaulM]

Hi Aaron. I think there are quite a few people on here who would agree reading isn't easy.

Self help books are a struggle for some of us. I had tried to read Brainlock but ended up buying the audio book on iTunes instead. Not that my concentration is spectacular either.

I used to be fairly good at reading. I even enjoyed it. I did really well when I did computer engineering in post secondary studies. But now I think I'd have a difficult time making it through the Beano or Dandy (are they still around or am I showing my age?).

Edited January 29, 2015 by PaulM

[Guest eden1616]

Hello

I have trouble reading and checking things too. You shouldn't feel like a freak at all. Have you tired seeing a therapist? CBT is recommended for OCD so I would try and find a therapist trained in that area or at least one who knows about OCD.

[Guest aaronthegreat1989]

Hi Aaron. I think there are quite a few people on here who would agree reading isn't easy.

Self help books are a struggle for some of us. I had tried to read Brainlock but ended up buying the audio book on iTunes instead. Not that my concentration is spectacular either.

I used to be fairly good at reading. I even enjoyed it. I did really well when I did computer engineering in post secondary studies. But now I think I'd have a difficult time making it through the Beano or Dandy (are they still around or am I showing my age?).

Is it a wide array of books? Or is it just comics? For me it's just graphic novels/Comics. At first i thought i was just fascinated by the illustrations, but then it got gradually worse. Almost to the point now where i look so much at one single image, my eyes go bloodshot. Haha, you ain't showing your age paul. i'm 25 and i do remember the beano lol.

-Aaron

[Guest aaronthegreat1989]

Hello

I have trouble reading and checking things too. You shouldn't feel like a freak at all. Have you tired seeing a therapist? CBT is recommended for OCD so I would try and find a therapist trained in that area or at least one who knows about OCD.

Hi eden, thank you for the kind words. that's good to know that there's someone else out there that has this too... What sort of books? Could you possibly elaborate a bit more thank you. I apparently start my CBT sometime in February i really hope it works as i'm getting pretty desperate now and feeling like my life is spiralling downwards.

-Aaron

Edited January 30, 2015 by aaronthegreat1989

[Guest eden1616]

Hi eden, thank you for the kind words. that's good to know that there's someone else out there that has this too... What sort of books? Could you possibly elaborate a bit more thank you. I apparently start my CBT sometime in February i really hope it works as i'm getting pretty desperate now and feeling like my life is spiralling downwards.

-Aaron

well for me it isnt just books it is everything. i have to re-read everything to make sure i wrote the write thing or to make sure i read the right thing. also most of the time have trouble concentrating so that makes reading difficult too. but mostly for me it is just checking what i have read or written to make sure i know what it is. sometimes i will even go back later and check that it is the same thing i read before. although i know i shouldn't be doing it but sometimes i dont realise i am doing it.

it is good to know you are going to start CBT soon. that out of control feeling is the anxiety that the ocd produces it feels terrible but it is just anxiety.

[Guest aaronthegreat1989]

well for me it isnt just books it is everything. i have to re-read everything to make sure i wrote the write thing or to make sure i read the right thing. also most of the time have trouble concentrating so that makes reading difficult too. but mostly for me it is just checking what i have read or written to make sure i know what it is. sometimes i will even go back later and check that it is the same thing i read before. although i know i shouldn't be doing it but sometimes i dont realise i am doing it.

it is good to know you are going to start CBT soon. that out of control feeling is the anxiety that the ocd produces it feels terrible but it is just anxiety.

That's exactly what i do but probably more so myself. I actually count how many time i re-read/look at one illustration, which i've been told is not good as it heightens the anxiety. I really wish there was a 'magic pill' out there, however this not going to happen. I have also been told i should just read one page of a comic and then not go back to it and try the same thing the next day until you progress up to maybe 5 pages at a time. Are you currently taking any medication to combat your OCD?

Thanks

-Aaron

[Guest PaulM]

Is it a wide array of books? Or is it just comics? For me it's just graphic novels/Comics. At first i thought i was just fascinated by the illustrations, but then it got gradually worse. Almost to the point now where i look so much at one single image, my eyes go bloodshot. Haha, you ain't showing your age paul. i'm 25 and i do remember the beano lol.

-Aaron

For me it's a wide array of books to varying degrees. I made it through half of a novel before I got frustrated enough to stop for a while. The Sandman stuff - maybe a quarter of the first book? For Brainlock I lasted about 30 pages.

That said, I did manage to read the first 3 chapters of The OCD Workbook. But I found reading the electronic version broken up into small screens on my iPod easier to manage than an entire page of the physical book. That was a bit strange but maybe it had something to do with it being in smaller, easier to manage segments. Also, it was easier to tote around and I'd find the odd place to tuck in and read a few pages at a time.

[Guest eden1616]

That's exactly what i do but probably more so myself. I actually count how many time i re-read/look at one illustration, which i've been told is not good as it heightens the anxiety. I really wish there was a 'magic pill' out there, however this not going to happen. I have also been told i should just read one page of a comic and then not go back to it and try the same thing the next day until you progress up to maybe 5 pages at a time. Are you currently taking any medication to combat your OCD?

Thanks

-Aaron

No I am not taking medication at the moment for various reasons.