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OCD People - List Your Rituals!

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Originally posted by: Bryophyte
When I was a little kid, I used to have to do the 'make things even' stuff. Like if I did something with my left foot, I had to do it with my right foot.

Me too. :Q
 
Originally posted by: sao123
I check every door in my house every night to make sure its locked, even doors I havent used in weeks (like the basement)...

If i start tapping my fingers on the desk... I try to make sure every finger taps an equal number of times.

I often go off into a daze and wake up counting to 8 or 12 andrepeating.

when i leave my house, I recite...watch, wallet, keys, ring, knife, phone to make sure I have everything before I go out the door...sometimes twice.

I roll compressed balls of paper or styrofoam constantly with my thumb and first finger, and my leg gets the bounces almost daily when im sitting.

when i was a teen i washed my hands hundreds of times daily... until they were raw.

if im having a bad day...one little thing being out of place (a small pile of messy papers on the table), or a spot of dust that annoys me can cause me to go into an extreme 6 hour cleaning fit.

I shower every time I crap, and I wont crap anywhere but my house.

Despite being written in black and white, I see all digits of numbers written in an associated color. Longer strings of digits are evaluated on their color sequences which can elicit a response.... (0 = red, 1 = white, 2 = pink, 3 = yellow, 4 = blue, 5 = orange, 6= black, 7 = green, 8 = brown, 9 = black) for example...
1627 = white black pink green, is a good number...
while 5507 = orange orange red green is an ugly number...

Dang! 6 hour cleaning fits. Can you will yourself to stop, or can you not stop, becasue then it is chronic.
 
Originally posted by: sao123
I akmost forgot... I try tracing lines and shapes out of tile floors or ceilings...
often trying to find a straightline path from one corner to the other... or other similar phenomenon.

I do that too.
 
when i'm in a car, i click my tongue to the roof of my mouth between telephone poles. i get an uneasy feeling if i'm late/early and click when part of the car is in front of a telephone pole.
 
Originally posted by: DaShen
Originally posted by: sao123
I check every door in my house every night to make sure its locked, even doors I havent used in weeks (like the basement)...

If i start tapping my fingers on the desk... I try to make sure every finger taps an equal number of times.

I often go off into a daze and wake up counting to 8 or 12 andrepeating.

when i leave my house, I recite...watch, wallet, keys, ring, knife, phone to make sure I have everything before I go out the door...sometimes twice.

I roll compressed balls of paper or styrofoam constantly with my thumb and first finger, and my leg gets the bounces almost daily when im sitting.

when i was a teen i washed my hands hundreds of times daily... until they were raw.

if im having a bad day...one little thing being out of place (a small pile of messy papers on the table), or a spot of dust that annoys me can cause me to go into an extreme 6 hour cleaning fit.

I shower every time I crap, and I wont crap anywhere but my house.

Despite being written in black and white, I see all digits of numbers written in an associated color. Longer strings of digits are evaluated on their color sequences which can elicit a response.... (0 = red, 1 = white, 2 = pink, 3 = yellow, 4 = blue, 5 = orange, 6= black, 7 = green, 8 = brown, 9 = black) for example...
1627 = white black pink green, is a good number...
while 5507 = orange orange red green is an ugly number...

Dang! 6 hour cleaning fits. Can you will yourself to stop, or can you not stop, becasue then it is chronic.


I dont think I can stop if I wanted to... but im not sure
I am just a clean freak...
example...
ill come home and there is a disorganized pile of 3 day old mail (from my wife) on the steps waiting to be filed, or paid.
If its a good day, I can just organize the pile and feel better about it.

If its a bad day, I try to organize it and deal with what I can, and then proceed to dust, sweep, mop, organize a room or the entire house...

 
I shower every time I crap, and I wont crap anywhere but my house.

WTF? What do you do when you're out and you really have to go? Do you never go at work? What about when you're on vacation? Man, this must be an annoying one to have.

 
What about us unOCD people? Here's some stuff to bug you 😛

I put my wallet and keys in different places all the time, where ever it is easy to set them down. Then I can never find them in the morning.

At night I turn my alarm clock on without checking the alarm time and volume. Oh the humanity! Drives my wife crazy.

Eating seperate items one at a time? Nonsense! Try a big bite of gravy-potato-corn. Mmmmm

I've got about 40 icons strewn about on my PC desktop, and my actual desktop has about 40 different items strewn about at any given time.

I'm not a messy person, I do clean it up once a month or so.
 
I figure that enough stuff has been posted that I could just quote what applies, and comment...

Originally posted by: DaShen
If I lock my car door, I check if it is locked about 2-3 times everytime.

I will eat M&Ms a very specific way. I eat the colors until they are all equal, then I eat them one at a time of different colors to keep them the same count.

I just remember a big one of mine, when I start to see patterns on the floor or in light or something. I start to focus on it and try to see how all the patterns fit. Checkered Patterns on the floors become big pictures or mathematical principles. I try to figure out if they fit some math principle. When I see a pattern in light or on a tree or anything, I start to count it.

I also sometimes catch myself counting my steps.

I very frequently catch myself counting my steps, particularly in places I've never been to before, or have visited infrequently.

Architectural patterns are big with me... bathroom floors and ceilings are particularly horrible. If I don't realize I'm doing it, and stop myself, I'll just look at it until I can find some pattern.

You mentioned trees... I am always counting trees when I drive a particular set of machinery on the farm, used to bale hay. I've learned that I have to "watch myself" really closely, because I'll do it without thinking, and adjust my speed so that I can count easier. I can't really be a danger to anyone else when I'm on that machinery, but nonetheless... a very bad thing to do.

When I was younger, I was always watching for patterns, particularly on long-distance trips. Signs, buildings, types of trees, you name it. I would be watching for, and finding, all of these patterns at once. And then, all of a sudden, I'd get a really bad headache and get really queasy... and was thus "carsick". One I realized I had to focus on the whatever was through the windshield, rather than the side windows, I overcame it. I imagine that looking for patterns like that was what was making me carsick.

Now that I think about it, does getting drunk do anything to some people to make them start looking for patterns, or seeing them without looking? I've only been "drunk" once, and I definitely felt like I was getting carsick. I was seeing patterns everywhere... the times other people blinked their eyes, their breathing, steps other people were making, screens on TV that repeated, etc... it was all making me dizzy, I guess. And then when I started feeling repetitive motion (no, not sex), the feeling of being carsick came back, as though it had never left.

Originally posted by: Unheard
Friend of mine will make you turn the radio volume to either an even number or a 0 or 5. Example: 21 and 23 are no good at all, 22 and 24 are ok, but 20 or 25 is best.

I'm that way with my car's temperature control. Numbers ending in 1, 3, 7, and 9 are big "no-no's".

Originally posted by: Bryophyte
I have to check to make sure my car doors are locked. I have to check the grocery cart to make sure that I didn't leave anything in it when I'm done loading the car. I make myself do it only once.

Originally posted by: Czar
When I was a little kid, I used to have to do the 'make things even' stuff. Like if I did something with my left foot, I had to do it with my right foot. And I'd count stuff (steps, etc.) I forced myself to stop that before I hit my teens. God, I'm glad I did that. It was uncomfortable for a long time, but I eventually got to where it doesn't really bother me.

Whenever I drum my fingers on anything, or tap my foot, etc., it must be balanced in either a pattern or by the opposite hand or foot repeating the same sequence.

Originally posted by: fLum0x
i also have a dual alarm clock by my bed. 2 alarms on the clock and 1 on the cell phone. 3 alarms should wake me up. but i check each of them atleast a half dozen times.

I have an alarm clock, my cell phone, and my computer all set to wake me up. I check them all at least twice before I go to sleep. Oh, and if my computer isn't working right, I use my laptop... and if something would happen to it... I'd probably find another alarm clock or cell phone.

Originally posted by: anxi80
another thing is when i eat hamburgers, i cant eat it uneven. meaning if i take a bite in the middle, ill then eat the sides to the burger so its even again. repeat this until its finished. those are my only two that im aware of.

I did that with all kinds of food, when I was younger... I managed to stop that, thankfully.

Originally posted by: sao123
I shower every time I crap, and I wont crap anywhere but my house.

From elementary school to early high school, I would not use any bathroom (that is, toilet, urinal, or shower) other than the one at my house or my grandma's house. I've very slowly gotten over that, to some degree, but is still the #1 reason I could never stay in a communal restroom environment for more than a day. While I'm not really paranoid about germs anywhere else... germs, and a list of other things just freak me out about public restrooms.

Originally posted by: Linflas
I don't like having my food mixed together. My cousin and I get a lot of static about this every Thanksgiving. My father (when he was alive) and my uncle both used the layer method at Thanksgiving and would constantly repeat the old "it all goes to the same place" line to my cousin and me. I never had the nerve to reply "it all comes out the same place too so what's your point?" though. 😱

I was horrible about that when I was younger. My grandpa once told me that it all goes to the same place... I didn't eat until he apologized, and told me that I could eat it however I wanted. It took three days before grandma forced him to apologize... and Thanksgiving was one of those days. lol

Other obsessions and compulsions:

I'm really particular with the arrangement of my windows, on screen. If I have multiple chat windows open, they *must* be exactly the same size. When possible, they must also be aligned either horizontally or vertically. In Firefox, I *must* have the tab bar open, even when there is only one window open.

My files must be very precisely organized, and I follow a pretty strict backup routine. If even one part of the redundant "chain" goes down... I instantly start worrying that I'm going to irretrievably lose all of my data.

My desktop cannot be a permanent storage facility for files or links. The sole exception is the Recycle Bin, which I've learned to live with, since I'm not going to change every desktop I see.

It bothers the hell out of me if I'm using another person's computer, or even see someone using a computer, and my 'policy' isn't adhered to. I'd rather leave the room than watch it.

Spelling and typographical errors bother me a *lot*... infinitely moreso when it's me that makes the mistake(s) (and I know I do, on occasion).

<edit>

Oh! And directory services! If a network directory service is set up without well-defined heirarchy, I think that bothers me more than all of my other computer-related obsessions combined. I literally lost substantial sleep thinking about how to best reorganize the directory structure at one of my previous jobs, after discovering that it was just thrown together without much thought by the original creator.
 
Originally posted by: Bryophyte
Originally posted by: bradruth
Originally posted by: Bryophyte
Originally posted by: bradruth
Originally posted by: Bryophyte
When I was a little kid, I used to have to do the 'make things even' stuff. Like if I did something with my left foot, I had to do it with my right foot.

Me too. :Q

:lips:

Kiss both sides! :|

:lips:😀:lips:

😉
 
I've got an odd sort of OCD (probably not clinical OCD, but similar). I'm not tidy at all, but I have several obsessive/compulsive quirks.

-I edit compulsively. If I glance at a person's screen and see a mistake, I tell them. They look at me like I'm a creep, but what can I do?

-When I do cloisionné jewelry (I do some jewelry work as a hobby), I have to make sure every wire is perfect. I've spent an hour straightening, cutting, and putting down aluminum wire on paper (for a .5x2" piece, so pretty tiny, too) when the final piece was to be copper on copper, so it was time pretty much wasted except testing to see how a design worked.

-When it comes to obsessions, sometimes I'll get a mental picture of a spider or centipede I'm trying to sleep, and then I can't stop thinking of them unless I focus on something else visually (as in, look at my clock or something). I hate them, so it always wakes me up.

-In some programs, say, Jeskola Buzz, I make sure that instruments of a certain type are grouped together, lined up, and spaced perfectly the same.

-I also have to keep myself from starting to count my steps, breaths, or the like, or I keep counting until I have to fully focus on something else.

-The aforementioned pattern recognition, too. I'll often force myself to see a pattern or become obsessed with a certain pattern and never stop seeing it. Like, there's a tree outside my window that resembled a face one spring, and I kept looking at it. Finally, when the leaves fell and regrew, the face was gone.

-I follow the floaters in my eyes.

-If I forget something, I obsess about it until I remember or fall asleep. Then, if I remember that I forgot about it, I obsess again.

-If I see a handwritten character that I think is better than the way I write it (as in, European vs. American sevens), I will retrain myself to write that way. I've moved to European sevens, German-type Js, nines done by circling from top around and then the downstroke rather than bottom of the circle up and then downstroke, and am working on the Roman-type miniscule A (a) rather than the Alpha-type (a).

Dang it, as I reread the thread I notice behaviors that others post and think "Oh, I do that." You're getting me editing!
 
Originally posted by: LolaWiz
i have to eat my eggs a certain way. I will eat the whites around the yolk first, taking the top off the over medium egg then slowing removing the "peel" of the white then slowing eating the yolk.
I also cannot eat ... anything that my hands touch.
Poor iamwiz. 🙁


:evil:

 
I always check my pockets to make sure I have my phone, wallet, and keys.

Driving at night I always check to make sure I have my lights on even if I can see their on.



 
I have OCD issues with my alarm clock.

1. Turn the alarm on.
2. Test to make sure the volume is audible.
3. Turn the alarm off and back on again, to be sure I turned it on for real the first time.
4. Check the volume again.
5. Check am/pm setting is right.
6. Turn the alarm off and back on again.
7. Check the volume again

And so on... this all vacillates back and forth for about two minutes before I'm convinced the alarm will, in fact, go off when needed.

 
If I go to take a piss & I see a wad of paper, a cig butt, a goldfish, etc., I have to sink it. I'll hold back to get direct hits & not waste ammo.

Whoever potty trained me is probably responsible for that(cheerio trick).

 
Equal M&M colors are a must. Find the offending most popular group and pare it down to equality. Then cycle around until there are 1 left of each - then consume the remainder together.

I count steps sometimes, but I also sing songs going up and down steps, one beat for each step.

I purposefully walk silently, avoiding anything that might be loud, I skirt the centers of floors to avoid squeaks.

I keep my hard drives, desktop, and all folders meticulously organized - I standardize song title formats.

I always wipe my feet off before putting them on the bath mat when getting out of the shower and I hate when someone else has wet feet when doing so and leaves the mat wet.
 
No offense, but you people need help, and medication. 😀

I used to have some minor ticks when I was younger. When I used to wear a baseball cap I had to have the bill perfectly curved and when I looked out the point where the split image of the bill (because of binocular vision) had to be basically in the absolute middle of my vision.

That's all I can remember really, I just stopped doing it because it was annoying.
 
Originally posted by: DaShen
Originally posted by: Bryophyte
I have to check to make sure my car doors are locked. I have to check the grocery cart to make sure that I didn't leave anything in it when I'm done loading the car. I make myself do it only once.

Originally posted by: Czar
If I see a glass near the edge of a table I always have to move it

I do that one too.

When I was a little kid, I used to have to do the 'make things even' stuff. Like if I did something with my left foot, I had to do it with my right foot. And I'd count stuff (steps, etc.) I forced myself to stop that before I hit my teens. God, I'm glad I did that. It was uncomfortable for a long time, but I eventually got to where it doesn't really bother me.

My friends have caught me a few times reorganizing messy books at a local bookstore while we were there. I didn't even realize I was doing it. They would be talking to me and I would be responding, but I would be setting the books at the same time.


After having worked at a bookstore as a teen, I did this for a few years after my employment whenever I was at a bookstore. Fortunately, I don't care anymore - I won't clean up, but I won't leave my books in a mess either - even, neat corners and the like.
 
Originally posted by: sao123

Despite being written in black and white, I see all digits of numbers written in an associated color. Longer strings of digits are evaluated on their color sequences which can elicit a response.... (0 = red, 1 = white, 2 = pink, 3 = yellow, 4 = blue, 5 = orange, 6= black, 7 = green, 8 = brown, 9 = black) for example...
1627 = white black pink green, is a good number...
while 5507 = orange orange red green is an ugly number...

That's so damn cool.
 
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