Comments on: I’m Kinda, Sorta OCD

By: Yo dawg

Yo dawg — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:29:40 +0000

Yo dawg I heard you like OCD so I put some OCD in your OCD so you can OCD while you OCD

By: Amy

Amy — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:17:59 +0000

I respect everyone's opinions who disagreed with the "correctness" of this article, but I have to say that "Bunny" is completely out of line. It is not okay to say that someone who actually has OCD is wrong when you yourself do not have the disorder. It's rude, disrespectful, degrading, and completely out of line. Not only was this particular thing rude, but you were just rude in general.

Also, I think that there can be many different levels of OCD, just as there can be different levels of physical diseases. With a cold, you can just have a runny nose, or you can be sneezing constantly and completely miserable. Both would be described as "having a cold." With me, everything has to be completely right at all times. (Things have to be in rainbow or alphabetical order, and things must be straight.) I am definitely not saying that I have OCD on the same level as someone who must count tiles and touch things a certain number of times, and I have not actually been diagnosed, but I wouldn't say that I am being politically incorrect to say that I have some level of OCD.

Please comment with your opinions. I do not mean to disrespect anyone with OCD or any of the above commenters. Except for Bunny.

By: sarah

sarah — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:39:22 +0000

you should have named the article "I'm kinda, sorta a douche bag"

It doesn't matter if the article wasn't meant to be offensive, because it is offensive. OCD is not something you joke about.

I hate it when people are always like, "Ohhhh I'm so OCD!" when they talk about wanting to have a neat room or color coding their notes.

Having a couple obsessive quirks is totally normal. When those things take up your whole life and keep you from doing anything remotely meaningful, then it's a problem.

By: Annie

Annie — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:09:32 +0000

ONE) I can NEVER let the microwave beep when my food is done. I always have to either open it or press off before it beeps, and it has to be at a multiple of 5. I will only open it at either 5, 10, 15, 30, or 45 seconds even if my food is burning.
TWO) When I’m walking home from the bus stop, I have to step 2 steps in a block and i can’t step on a crack. And i only care when I’m walking home from the bus in the afternoon, in the morning I couldn’t care less. And aslso in the afternoon, I count the number of steps it takes to get home, it’s normally somewhere from 85-95.
THREE) I have to bubble the answers in on a test perfectly. If I get outside the lines I’ll spend as long as I need to make it perfect.
FOUR) I always have to walk on people’s right side, I’m not comfortable if I’m looking to my right to talk to someone.
FIVE) Sometimes before I write something, I have to tap the pen on the paper as many times as I need before Im ready to write.
SIX) I randomly press/pull down on the skin on the top of my fingers by my fingernail, to make it feel like it’s kind of stretching, just unitl I feel like I’ve done it to every finger the same number of times even though i don’t normally count.
SEVEN) I don’t know if this counts, but I pick my fingernail if I see one getting long, they all have to be super short.
EIGHT) I count the stairs I walk. I have 15 stairs in my house. In the staircase I use at school, it has 2 flights, all together 12 steps. So in the middle landing I have to walk 3 steps to make it 15 all together.
NINE) When Im walking, the time length of all my steps(the time my foot is touching the ground before I pick it up again) has to be the same amount for each foot by the time I am done walking. If it’s not, I’ll remember which foot had a shorter step and go out of my way to make it equal. If i feel like i took a little too long on the “makeup step” I’ll keep going back and forth between feet until it’s equal. And to end it, ill jump and land on both feet at the exact same time to make sure i won’t end my walking on one foot and just let it sit there, the time accumulating. HHAHAH! Im serious, this is probably my worst OCD habit. I only do this one when I am alone though.
TEN) When I’m putting on blush, I have to have the same number of brush swipes on each cheek.
ELEVEN) When brushing my hair, if i feel like I missed a spot I’ll go over it again, but just the tiny spot I missed. If I feel like I’ve “overlapped” brushing a spot, like I brushed it twice, it drives me crazy for a while. I don’t try to make it all equal on this one because I know it’s impossible, and if i try to fix it, it will just be more uneven. I only do this one when I’m alone, too.

My life actually isn’t confusing or anything, all of this stuff is just habit now, i don’t usually pay attention that I’m doing them. And there’s more that I either can’t think of or don’t feel like writing down.

By: Annie

Annie — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:16:54 +0000

I forgot one. This one's weird because usually I try to MAKE patterns out of everything. But I HATE HATE HATE patterns of answers on a test. Like when the answers are A, A, B, B, C, C, i had a test like that today. Sometimes on a really "obsessive" day, I'll even put the wrong answer If it'll break the pattern.

By: Body Blog: New Year, New You : College Candy

Body Blog: New Year, New You : College Candy — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:02:13 +0000

[...] year, grab some disinfectant wipes and have at it every now and then. And if your roomies think you’re OCD, tell them to go spend some quality time with the toilet seat….or just print out this article [...]

By: bunny

bunny — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:41:15 +0000

Ha.

Hahaha

You must lead such a happy life.

By: J

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:52:38 +0000

I have an obsessive desire to beat people who are obsessed with pointing out how much better they are at others at being politically correct, especially when they (not having a disorder) tell someone (who does have a disorder) that she is not correct in the assessment of her own OCD.

I'm getting a little better at restraining myself everyday. See? I'm not beating anyone while reading these comments.

I also have a grammar tic, having a long history as an editor. My eye twitches whenever I see an absent comma or a dangling preposition. I avoid pointing out mistakes to people unless they ask, so as not to be rude. In my head, though, my mental red pen is always at work.

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 14:25:05 +0000

If you’ve ever taken an intro to psychology class, you know that when it comes to diagnostics of psychological diseases that nearly EVERYONE in the class has at least one. Granted, these are sometimes people who just recognize one or two symptoms on the list & may lump themselves into the category, I’m sure without the intention to offend- just the curiosity of what may be an explanation as to why they are a certain way. I am in no way saying that blatantly saying you have a disorder is justified if the person in question does NOT have it, but self-diagnoses are common and are usually a help when it comes to treating a disorder. (Or at least that’s been my experience.)

I wouldn’t go as far to say that I have my own rituals, but there are some things that I can’t stand if they aren’t done right…

Eating. I have to have an even number of food. Always eating on my left side of my mouth first, then my right. If there does happen to be an uneven amount, (I usually count it beforehand) I end up giving the odd numbered morsel to a friend if they’re there, or I split it evenly in my mouth. (I’ve actually found the good in this one – there’s usually an even amount of wear and tear when it comes to cavities, or so my dentist says.)

Walking. Sometimes while walking, if I’m not thinking about something very important, I’ll just start counting my steps – all the way up to the number 8, then I start over again. I think this may have come from 3 years as a hurdler, but if you know anything about hurdling, 8 steps between 100m hurdles is a lot. And it’s a rhythmic step – trying for the same distance and amount of time my foot is on the ground. If I realize I won’t get to the number 8 by the time I go into a building (where I, oddly, do NOT count my steps), I’ll either quicken my pace or elongate my stride.

Germs. I feel like I’m thinking on the microscopic level a lot of the time. If a toilet seat is up (the seat, the cover or both), I MUST close it, but with the intention to avoid getting germs, I have to lightly tap it with my foot (yeah, weird) until it bangs shut. I wash my hands or use antibacterial foam often (I hate the gel for some reason) because I just feel it necessary. I’ll get up in the middle of a meal to wash my hands if I feel like they aren’t very clean. While I’m eating, my knife can’t have any traces of whatever I just cut left on it. (Usually being a sauce of some kind.) I try avoiding holding door handles at school by opening doors just a bit until I can fit my shoe in there and swing it open.

Locks. I MUST check that I have every door locked in my house when I’m ready to leave. If there are 3 locks total, but only two are locked, I will unlock those two to lock the third. If I don’t have time to check on whether or not the locks are locked, I have to visually check regardless. I don’t live in a bad neighborhood by any means, but I’ve watched too many scary movies (where they end up getting their house broken into) to not check.

Symmetry, right angles, pushing chairs in, and straight lines are a few of my favorite things to be a little obsessive about. Of course there are exceptions to these (my messy room being one of them), but majority of the time I’m very big on making sure these are required of wherever I am at the time. I was at IHOP once & their flavored jellies were all thrown off. As usual, there were orange marmalade a-plenty while strawberry & grape were close to extinction. I’ll figure out some way to ensure that the four pillars of condiments all match up, and if not, I will be using whichever one messes it up. I love having things at right angles and it’s un-settling when they aren’t. I HATE it when chairs aren’t pushed in, so whenever I get up at a restaurant, if I happen to pass it on my escape route, I’m pushing in the chair, regardless of whether I sat in it or even at the table. Math was always a challenge when it came to graphing – if there was ever a crooked line, however so slight, I would go back & erase it to make a line that was straighter. I’m sure I could have nipped this one in the bud by using a ruler, but that was nerdy and I never had one handy.

I am by no means saying I have this disorder, but I feel like whenever I tell people about these symptoms, I get strange looks as though it’s not part of their everyday routine. I think that might be it for now.

By: Star

Star — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 13:30:40 +0000

I had OCD when I was younger and it was a nightmare. I also did develop some of my habits after watching TV shows where people mentioned they had certain habits and were afraid their parents would die if they didn't perform those habits. Then I became afraid MY parents would die if I didn't obsessively walk through doors or count things a certain number of times. I have those under control now, but it makes it harder in college because I really want to keep doing my homework over and over and I have to make myself stop or I'd never get it done.

By the way, if anyone here is suffering from OCD you might try reading the book "Brain Lock" by Jeffrey Schwartz. Even if you don't have OCD, it can help you overcome any obsessive or anxiety habits. My therapist recommended it to me a few years ago.