Hey
First thing's first.. (http://invis.free.anonymizer.com/http://lumpcity.fateback.com/stuff/para01.gif)
Now, the reason for that elipse? Simple. Something bad will happen if I didn't post it. You see, at four am this morning, I woke up to see a man-sized version of n3tgraph's avatar swing open my bedroom door and tell me that I had to do it. Yea, so it was a dream, a very odd dream, but a dream none-the-less.
However, knowing it was just a dream doesn't help, and I have the gut instinct that I *need* to post that pic. If I don't, then I've convinced myself either the Mittens flight will crash or my dog will die. Now it's posted, both disasters have been averted. There's no way I want to be responsible for offing Britain's finest (and Farl).
The reason I have this "saving the world by stupidly" thing going on, dates back to the fourth of July, 1999. Me and two friends were in San Fransisco, on holiday. Jamiraquoi (spelling's probably way off) played a free concert in Union Square. Me and a friend bought T-shirts to commemorate the occasions. Now, I have the paranoia that I *have* to wear it on the fourth of July, every year. In 2001, I forgot. A plane crashed. I blame myself.
This got me thinking, tho. It's not the only paranoia I have. For instance, if I touch something with my left hand, I'll have to touch it with my right hand. Often, this ends in a complicated yet, ultimately symmetrical pattern, with me touching the thing the same amount of times with each hand. This is dumb, I know, but I feel uneasy if I don't do it. It the same with spinning around, equal spins clockwise and anti-clockwise/counter-clockwise.
Toilet paper. Another nightmare, this time involving me using exactly the same amount of sheets each time. If it rips, I have to throw it away and get a new bit. I don't know why, maybe I'm scared that my ass my fall off..
And sofas. If I lay on a sofa, my feet have to be towards the left, and my head on the right. When I tried it the other way round, I felt nauseous and started to freak out.
I have trouble walking nowadays, not from arthritus or anything valid, but because I'm always looking at the floor to see where I put my feet. I've been known to walk back down a road, purely to step on a certain paving slab that I felt I had missed earlier. Since I'm usually nocturnal, I end up walking in the actual roads, just because there's less cracks for me to avoid.
I'm sure I have many others, but off the top of my head, I can't think of them.. but, I am worried. I'm getting worse. It's not long before I either turn into the poor man's Howard Hughes, living in a hermetically sealed bubble, where everything is symmetrical.. or in a mental hospital, rocking back and forth, crossing and uncrossing my fingers and toes, worrying that the world will fall apart if I don't do it right.
Also, I've found my mother has a paranoia, walking across certain parts of roads, she'll make sure that both feet touch a certain part of it, otherwise she won't feel comfortable. She always does it, but has only noticed it recently when I was discussing some of my habits. When I asked her what would happen if didn't do it next time, she didn't know, but got kinda worried about it.
So, I have two questions. One, what paranoias/Obsessive Compulsive Habits/whatevers do you have? I'm pretty sure you have at least one, even if you don't realise it at first.. And two, what do I have to do to get rid of these short of a cocktail of psychiatric counselling and prozac?
Hugs
Iqu
Fear not Mittens people, thx to the "green elipse at jaunty angle" you journey will be safe.
I used to do this thing where I had to check a locked door about ten times, then it turned into doing this with both hands, and as time went on I felt I had to jiggle that knob more and more times...
Same thing with alarm clocks, I checked it so much it was ridiculous, and I always worried it was set wrong and I would miss work....I did other things like this too, but I can't remember them. needless to say I've always been a "double-checker" at least...
One day, I decided I needed to stop, because I knew the door was locked and the alarm was set. It really bothered me, and there were some nights I couldn't sleep, but I'm used to it now....
Weird huh?
Same here. I never step on cracks and avoid coming into contact with people in public places. I also sit on my couch listening to the door and the windows wondering what the hell those sounds are. They're coming for me, I swear. One of them is going to stumble out drunk and out of control with a gun or knife or something. Then, I have to know exactly where my cat is at all times and what she is doing. Each drink that I drink is lined up in my pantry according to date, size, and the particular kind of drink. The have to be cleaned first. My house needs to be cold at all times. I will not allow the temperature to reach over 50. Whenever I step on the floorboards, I just know that one more step will end up with me falling through the floor and into the downstairs tenent's bathtub. And woman. I hate it when they touch my things. They get it out of place and then I have to put it back in the right spot. My alarm clock MUST be ten minutes fast, or I will have lost precious time. I keep a tarp over my car so no birds can shit on it. If I had my shotgun, I'd blast those winged freaks out of the sky. They wait until you're away, the spew their white showers onto your prized beauty. And those drunks can't fucking drive at all. They swerve down the road and speed out of their driveways and I just know that one day they will hit my house. Everything in my dresser is neatly organized. Shirts, shorts, pants, socks, etc.. Nothing can be out of place.
Sorry. I guess I got out of hand a bit...
Heh, Robert- some of those are just pet peeves. I know I have OCD somewhere in my daily routine, but nothing about organization. I'm very unorganized and somewhat trusting, regarding locked doors.
As of late, however, I have had weird routines of going places I don't even need to- simply driving downtown, walking up and down the street where all the people are going into bars, not go inside any of them, and then drive to a super market, walk the whole store 8 times and buy nothing, and then go to a coffee shop and not talk to anyone. I find this routine more preferred to my old one of staying inside all night. But this is less of OCD and more likely social anxiety.
That sort of thing I've grown out of... Walking at the mall, I'd always make sure I was stepping inside the square tiles without stepping on the edges. But I managed to notice this and would try to stop, so it eventually went away. Not much, but that sort of thing is just a weird habit. Ever throw away food because someone touched it or something, even though you can't see anything wrong with the food, and know that you won't taste anything wrong? I used to, but I noticed and decided to simply start being more lax about it.
I think it was either Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett who said something along the lines of "The strongest force in the universe is force of habit"... or something. Anyway, I think it's true, and I think it can be used to your advantage. If you're used to one thing, you can get used to something else.
Quote from: Squinky on Fri 20/06/2003 06:06:50
I used to do this thing where I had to check a locked door about ten times, then it turned into doing this with both hands, and as time went on I felt I had to jiggle that knob more and more times..
Yeah, I got the locked door thing. Maybe not 10 tens but I do stand there and jiggle the handle a few times to make sure its locked, then I walk off and wonder if I
really did lock it properly. I used to do some other obsessivey-type stuff but I've forgotten them right now.
Hey! Thanks for posting TEH GREEN ELLIPSE... I am going to take that flight. But, it was necessary to mention your bathroom habits? I have a very good visual imagination, and I´ve imagined a giant pink pirate defecating and counting the sheets of ass paper... wow...
As for my paranoias... I have allways shut up and concentrate during a minute before the whistle sounds in the football matches I play... I look to my rivals and I imagine them as my enemies. I suppose I do it because I play better when I´m in rage. My favourite tactic is to imagine them as the Nazi soccer players in that "Pelé" film.
I allways inflate my tyres before a cycling race... and I allways sprint with the elbows in a very "opened" position (That´s not really a paranoia... It works for avoiding dangerous bike contacts at 60 kms/h.)
As you can see... nothing really serious... Your is worse... You remember me Jack Nicholson in that film with Helen Hunt.
Good luck!
Quote from: Farlander on Fri 20/06/2003 08:48:16
You remember me Jack Nicholson in that film with Helen Hunt.
:o :o :o :o
I always doubted, but also always hoped.. that Jack Nicholson would one day join our community here at AGS. Welcome Jack, feel free to speak as a commoner here- we respect you and shall never exploit your reputation. By the way, I LOVED you in that movie! You and that gay guy played off of each other so brilliantly. ;)
And here I was, thinking that JACK was the gay guy. :-\
Holy crap, Farlander is the waterboy.... and now that M says he did it, I feel a littel better bout myself...Maybe we should create a ags group of all of us with ocd's or whatever you call em, heh...
Quote from: Squinky on Fri 20/06/2003 10:35:56
Holy crap, Farlander is the waterboy...
Why do you mean by that? As a non native English speaker, there are some sentences I couln´t understand... Well, the human body has 80% of water, but that doesn´t make me being specially waterboy...eeeer... nevermind.
BTW... I would be happy to join the AGS paranoids Club. I have a plenty of rituals before a bicycle race... I could tell to you all guys in the oppening ceremony of the club.
Hey, Farl..
I think he likening you to Adam Sandler. Which isn't exactly a good thing.
The Pelé film: Escape to Victory.
The greatest escape film ever. It had Bobby Moore, Michael Caine and Sly Stallone in, too. An unmatchable combination, even today.
The Club. Count me in. As long as it's germ free.. and symmetrical.
Hugs
Iqu
Hmm.. I remember seeing in a show that Howard Stern had a similar problem, and that it isn't physical but phsycological.
Ahhh! So, I´m Adam Sandler... I know why Squinky said that, yeah, I´ve seen the film... And, yeah, I need to rage for playing better, I´m no offended with that funny comparision :)
And, yes, I knew the name of the Pelé´s fim, but I don´t feel very secure when translating the names of the pictures I´ve seen in Spain because sometimes the translations have nothing to see with the original names (For example, Die hard in spanish is "The crystal Jungle", would you understand me if I talk of the Crystal Jungle, lol, I think not...)
BTW... my german teacher told me once... Hey! you´re Simon, the fag!... because of a resemblance he find with Greg Kinnear in As good as it gets... I think this thread is now about three movies...
Escape to victory (crazy guys who preffer to play soccer during 45 min. than freedom)
As Good as it gets (A crazy man who travels with a waitress and a gay)
The Waterboy(A crazy football player).
This i s a very insane thread...
Warning... heavily edited quote
Quote from: Squinky on Fri 20/06/2003 06:06:50
I used to do this thing where I...
both hands...
I had to jiggle that knob more and more times...
there were some nights I couldn't sleep
Most teenage boys have this ;)
I’ll be in the club to, I’m agoraphobic so I might have problems getting to the meetings tho, I can see why Iqu posted the eclipse, 3 times in my otherwise boring life some one has sed “I hope you fall off your bike†3 times I’ve obliged within 48 hours! One of which I was hit up the ass on a 3 lane motorway and ended up doing the old ground, sky, ground, sky thing across 3 lanes :'(
the bike's on the road in a few weeks, therapy for the phobia ;D i just hope no one sez....
Paranoia
I had to post it. If I didn't bad things would happen. I have prevented them. Lives have been saved.
Yea, if I hadn't posted it things might have been the same, but I'm not reckless and daring enough to test that theory. Ergo, my mental deficiency has made me a hero.
I've got a couple peculiarities that fall into the above-mentioned types. However, I can trace most of them to some point of origin. For instance, I have a tendancy to eat foots in even bites, evenly distributed between right and left sides. This began when I was about 6. I figured that even with brushing and flossing daily your teeth would still rot in the meantime. So, I started chewing food primarily on one side, favoring my right side for cavity-prevention. However, as time went on, I realized that I would look ridiculous with no teeth on one side and a full set of shiny whites on the other. So, I started making sure I chew the same amount of food on each side. It's a habit I can't really shake as it's become instinct by now.
Now both my in-laws actually have forms of OCD. My father in-law is a compulsive collector that won't allow anything to be thrown away. He still has advertisements from 1965. My mother in law is compulsively clean in the kitchen but everywhere else feels the need to prevent any sort of cleanliness.
At least your not totally alone in your peculiarities.
Hm.. Collections.
I've just realised I do the same. I've never thrown a magazine away, rarely chuck newspapers, have every single toy from when I was a kid (these will *never* leave), have bits of blank paper that used to be receipts about ten years ago but all the ink has faded and keep every bus ticket, cinema ticket and travelcard I've ever used. I think I've got some other people gave me which were already out of date.
I also have a 5kg bag of pasta a friend won four years ago. It's use-by-date was 2001. I'm too scared to chuck it.
I have a broken TV and VCR from the eighties. I think I even have the keys to the old locks on my old house somewhere. I have a used lollipop (popsicle) stick collection somewhere, too. Also, all the schoolwork I've ever done since I was 4.
Hugs
Iqu
Quote from: Iqu on Fri 20/06/2003 11:36:34
I think he likening you to Adam Sandler. Which isn't exactly a good thing.
*mumble*, *mumble*, Punch-Drunk Love, *mumble*, *mumble*.
It's all pychological, I remember walking inside the squares at the shopping center when I was a kid, I even remember today going to the Same shopping centre and remembering that exact thing, but couldn't be bothered to concentrate that hard.
What you've described is Obsesive Compulsive Disorder without a doubt, but if it helps you though your day, I can't see a problem with it,
It's all about rationalising things to yourself, and feeling comfortable within your own mind about it, just as long as you don't leave out a vital part that may turn you into a raving lunatic.
Just don't take any acid, cause that's the way people using that think, to more extreme levels than that.
Back in the time when I was of middle school age, I had an OCD with clocks. If I was to look at a clock (digital) and look away, and happen to look back again and it was the same time... I would punish myself. (Not disturbingly) but I would force myself to keep watching the clock till not only the minute changed, but the next minute had passed. I did this for awhile, and although I know have an impecable internal clock, I realized that what I was doing was stupid...so I forced myself to look at it and away and back and away. Just to prove to myself that I was in control and some stupid clock time was not.
Another thing was that I killed a cricket on the last step going down into the basement, and then I felt remorse, then I placed a curse on that step so that everytime that I would step on it, more crickets would come into the house... even today I still skip that last step going down sometimes, but I just grew out of it seeing how silly of an idea it was.
It definitely sounds like OCD, and I think you should seek some more information about it and/or look into treatment.
When I was a kid, I used to rub one ear on my shoulder, and then I would have to do the other ear, to 'even it out'. I think I grew out of that one naturally.
More recently, if I turned 360 degrees clockwise, I would feel uncomfortable unless I turned back the other way. I made myself stop doing that when I realised it was irrational, and now I'm fine.
The worst OCDish thingy I had was a period where I had to wash my hands all the time - if I touched a flat surface at all, stroked the cat, before I ate a biscuit, etc. Eventually, the skin on my hands started to flake. I made myself stop doing that (with difficulty) when I realised it was completely nuts!
And now I'm free of irritating habits.
/me picks his nose.
i do the same thing with my hands that Iqu does, i just have to do things symmetrically otherwise i think the muscles in one side will get bigger than the others, but i only do that if i'm doing something stupid like moving my fingers in a weird way.
i can't burp without saying "pardon me" either, i've tried but i just feel bad if i don't.
i also used to have thing where i couldn't go to the toilet if there was somebody in the room next to it or anywhere else where they might hear me.
a few years ago i would never drink from the same side of glass or cup twice either, but i stopped doing that.
i have other little things like not throwing stuff away, getting things in the exact right position when i put them down and other stupid things, i am also pretty paranoid about leaving the house, i always think people are staring at me or laughing at me...
OCD can be a really scary thing.
I've heard of people who become obsessed with things like washing their hands to the point where they do it so much they bleed.
And of course there are the cases where people become obsessed with germs and end up locking themselves in a closet for the rest of their lives.
I don't think Iqu's problems are at that level or anything, but they do seem a little more extreme than the everyday habits most people have.
I usually try to rationalize (sp?) these kind of things, so most of times i convince myself that they just have no sense, for me it´s hard to believe something that you cant prove. But there are some things that i cant avoid. I always carry my keys with me, even if i am in another city, i carry them, dont know why. i dont feel good if i dont. Also, i do the thing about stepping in the squares, or only stepping in the white stripes of the pedestrian crossings, but i think that almost everyone has done that.
About making things with both things, or chewing with both sides the same amount of times, i also do it , but in a special way: if, say, i chew 10 times with the left part, i cant just make it 10 times with the right, cos its not "even", i mean, i have to distribute it in a kind-of-logarithmic way: 10 times left, 6 times right, 4times left, 3 times right, 2 left.... dont know why.
In public places, i like to be in a corner facing to the center, so nothing can get close to me without me seeing it.
I have a neighbour that cant touch anything with the hands, she always carry a tissue or wear plastic gloves for opening doors, or pushing the elevator button, etc. She pretends to be waiting for someone, or carry two bags for other people to open the doors, etc.
A month or two ago, i started to see strange things, like if your sight is tricking you, some shapes moving and so. And one day, i was alone at home, an i saw a man in my house. I got scared for a second, it was strange, because i KNEW that i was alone, i didnt thought that someone broke into my house or anything like that, so i thought that it should be my mind, and he dissapeared. that happened in less than 2 seconds. Two or three days later i opened te door of my closet (sp?), and he was also there, and a week later i saw a woman, so i began to think that something bad was happening to my brain, but from that day so far, i saw just the visual tricks, and then nothing. Dont know what was it, but it bothers me.
Well, sorry for the long post, but i felt i had to tell that to somebody, and seeing that this post was appropiate, i just did :)
Quote from: M on Fri 20/06/2003 08:34:11
Quote from: Squinky on Fri 20/06/2003 06:06:50
I used to do this thing where I had to check a locked door about ten times, then it turned into doing this with both hands, and as time went on I felt I had to jiggle that knob more and more times..
Yeah, I got the locked door thing. Maybe not 10 tens but I do stand there and jiggle the handle a few times to make sure its locked, then I walk off and wonder if I really did lock it properly. I used to do some other obsessivey-type stuff but I've forgotten them right now.
Heh, I do this every morning. Not ten times, maybe 2 or 3 but sometimes I walk down to the car and then I don't remember if its locked and I HAVE to go back and check it. I've double and triple checked locks, for as long as I can remember.
Annoying :-\ but what can you do ._.
I don't have any other OCD behaviour....that I know of....(http://web.ecomplanet.com/X2923/ServerContent/MyCustomImages/X2923CustomImage0105923.gif)
Oh yeah, just remembered, I used to do that whole 'balance' thing when I was younger. Like if I'm placing stuff then it has to be equal on both sides. I just put that down to perfectionism tho. (http://web.ecomplanet.com/X2923/ServerContent/MyCustomImages/X2923CustomImage0096865.gif) But it seems I grew out of it. :)
Oh, I'm familiar with all this. I know I have some of these habits, but the one I can think of right now, is the "skip certain tiles on the floor in malls" sort of thing, that I used to do all the time when I was younger, but which I try to control these days... Ahem...
I do have one thing, that I don't know if it's a OCD or not, but it's sort of an ritual. Every time that I exit the toilet after using it, I have this urge to switch the light off, even though I know that the bulb is broken, my hand just automatically reaches for the switch by the door...
Fascinating subject, though - I had no idea that it was so common.
Rince, I think that light switch one is just a habbit, little bit different, it's a good habbit that can save electricity if used in other rooms of the house.(that have light switches)
but yeah, everyone seems to have that walking in the tiles at the mall one, I guess it starts from being bored as a kid going to clothes shops with your mum, you have to create a little game with yourself to help pass the time.
I think everyone has some of these types of habbits but it only becomes OCD when you have to do it, to feel normal or safe.
eg. those people who wash their hands till they bleed, that's a serious problem, how do they wash the blood off?
I heard I story on the radio a while ago of people that feel odd to have limbs, and in their mind would feel normal if they had them amputated.
Some people actually had the surgery performed, others just chopped off toes, one by one themselves and had ambitions for more. I guess that's serious OCD or some form of a more serious mental disorder.
Damn this thread, now I have to make a post in it once a day, or it will fall off the page.
Quote from: Proskrito on Fri 20/06/2003 21:55:41
A month or two ago, i started to see strange things, like if your sight is tricking you, some shapes moving and so. And one day, i was alone at home, an i saw a man in my house. I got scared for a second, it was strange, because i KNEW that i was alone, i didnt thought that someone broke into my house or anything like that, so i thought that it should be my mind, and he dissapeared. that happened in less than 2 seconds. Two or three days later i opened te door of my closet (sp?), and he was also there, and a week later i saw a woman, so i began to think that something bad was happening to my brain, but from that day so far, i saw just the visual tricks, and then nothing.
Mmm... confess... WHAT did you smoke? ;D
I used to do the sidewalk think as well (not step on cracks, step on the tiles evenly, etc.), then I later started to do a variation where I could step on the cracks, but I had to make sure that my left and right feet always stepped on the same amount of cracks. So for every crack my left foot stepped on, my right foot would have to step on exactly one as well. What's really odd is that I would add these up unconsciously in my brain--it wouldn't have to be left, right, left, right; it could have been left, left, left, right, right, left, right, left, right, right, etc. That type of thing is usually how it ended up because of how my feet would happen to fall. Then I realized how silly it was and I had to make conscious efforts to stop. I still do it occassionally, but I can snap out of it pretty easily now.
There are some other random symmetry things I had too, such as tapping my fingers (or hands, or whatever) in equal amounts. So if I was drumming on a table with the fingers in my hand, I would mentally make sure that each of the five fingers hit the table in equal amounts; again, this could be out of order as in the sidewalk example above. That's just one example, though; I've also experienced some of the ones others have mentioned, like turning around equal numbers of degrees each way and so forth, stuff like that.
Pros: I always take my keys with me too. Even when I'm away at college and I don't have my car, I carry my car keys around with my college dorm keys and my house keys (for a house located hundreds of miles away). It feels weird otherwise.
I also used to feel really weird when I wasn't wearing my watch. Years and years of wearing a watch on my left wrist has accustomed that arm to the slight extra weight, so when I recently stopped wearing a watch (it became redundant as my cell phone tells time) it took a few months for my arm to stop feeling so annoyingly light.
Except for the keys thing (which I don't mind since it means I never have to change my keychain around), I'm over all that other stuff except for short random episodes which end as soon as I become consciously aware of them and stop.
Looks more like a life crystal to me.
Woohoo! Free therapy!!
I've gotten a little more paranoid about being watched. I'm having to recheck window blinds to make sure they're closed because I just know someone can see me. I can be standing in the room, seeing every blind is down, but having to check them anyway and then stepping out of the room because the windows are driving me nuts. This is when I'm alone. When the folks are home with me, I try to occupy a space that would keep me as hidden from view as possible. But the urge to shut those blinds eats at me and I eventually just head for the basement.
I'm currently sleeping in the 'family room' in the basement, because my bedroom keeps flooding everytime it rains. My room is free of windows, but there's one in the family room, small though it is. It has a small lace curtain that I can see through, so I hung a heavy rug in front of it to block any outside person's view. But I have a little trouble falling aslepp because I know that window is there, and that someone is looking through it and can see me despite my eforts.
I have to check the toilet repeatedly, because I can never remember if I flushed it. I'll check it 3 or more times before I feel confident enough to let it be, and then I'll run over events in my mind to see if I really remembered, or if I've got a big floater in there. :)
I've got a lovely eating disorder where I must eat food in pairs. One stick of string cheese is bad luck, gotta get 2. If I'm eating chips and I have an odd number of peices, I have to break a piece in half or dig in the bag for another peice of equal size to make things even. I can't eat in front of people, because that makes people unhappy. I can't eat out, because anything from a restaurant or fast food chain has either a) spit b) hair c) unkown, unsavory, inedible substance or the staff doesn't wash their hands.
I have a need to purposely sabotage any goal I set. If I were to succeed...... I don't know. Something wrong woul happen, and I must avoid wrongess at all costs. I'll make a goal, I'll stick to it a while, but I absolutely _must_ make sure I never complete it. I've got craft projects from god-knows-when collecting dust because if I finished them something would be amiss.
I do collect junk, though it's not such a bad habit. I toss out garbage, but I keep broken jewelry, good cardboard, and bottles of various sizes. I also recall avoind certain tiles and cracks, but if I remember correctly, it was just a game I played because shopping with mother was incredibley boring.
QuoteThat sort of thing I've grown out of... Walking at the mall, I'd always make sure I was stepping inside the square tiles without stepping on the edges. But I managed to notice this and would try to stop, so it eventually went away.
I've had this, along with a million other small things like tapping my fingers on say, a table in a random manner, but always keeping track of how many times each finger taps and trying to keep the tally the same for all the fingers, or always trying to have my middle lower teeth touching my middle upper teeth and nothing else.
I never gave all those small neurotic tendencies much thought.
I don't do those things very much...in the pollen season when I'm allergic, I keep scratching myself in various places, and sometimes until it bleed, but it's getting better.
When I'm poorly shaved, I rub my the middle section of my fingers on my chin, resulting in red rashes and more itching.
I don't know if that passes as compulsory disorder, but it's pretty much all I have.
I've never cared for walking perfectly within the pavement tiles, or checking the door handle to see if I locked it a hundred times, or thinking that devil will take me to hell if I sneeze and nobody says God bless you....I'm pretty happy for that, since I've understood it can be really hard to stop it
The only problem I have with this is when I'm trying to get to sleep.
Sometime's I'm almost asleep, and I realize that I didn't close one of my dresser drawers all of the way. I try to ignore it, but eventually I have to get up and close it all of the way. Then, since I'm up, I check all of the electronics to make sure that they're off. If one of them is on, I turn it off and check everything else about three more times, making sure that all of the right lights are on (just the dim ones, none of the bright ones)
And then we come to the floor. I do have quite a bit of junk on the floors, but I keep it organized in the right way. If somethings not quite right, I move it around to where it's in a place where I can accept it being. And if there's other peoples stuff in there, I either return it (if they're in the building) or at least get it out of my room.
It's not as bad as it used to be, though. I used to have to check the windows and doors and stuff, but then we got an alarm installed on all the windows and doors and such.
I don't think I'm so much paranoid as I am just nervous.
My most weird OCD is that whenever I hurt someone, I just say sorry... It isn't much of a problem, but when you're fistfighting with someone, then it's a bit weird...
Currently I have OCD, that whenever I go to sleep (or out of the house) I keep checking if other rooms have light turned off and doors leading out locked...
I had handwashing OCD last winter, luckily my hands didn't start bleeding, but they went awfully dry...
Quote from: Bob the Hun on Sat 21/06/2003 21:27:31
The only problem I have with this is when I'm trying to get to sleep.
Sometime's I'm almost asleep, and I realize that I didn't close one of my dresser drawers all of the way. I try to ignore it, but eventually I have to get up and close it all of the way.
Hehehe, you just reminded my of my cabinet door obsession. I don't like open drawers or open cabinets. I close them even if I have to open them a minute later. It just doesn't look right! :P I doubt I could sleep knowing there's a cabinet door open somewhere in my house.(http://web.ecomplanet.com/X2923/ServerContent/MyCustomImages/X2923CustomImage0124076.gif)
I also have a problem with untied shoestrings...if I see a pair, either on someones feet or just laying there, I just have to tie them...The same thing foe the windows with me too, I just can't stand to have any light come in...
I also have this weird thing where I can't cross running water, or get near garlic...and man, do I freak out at church, woo, you wouldn't believe it....And don't get me started on the whole sleeping in a coffin thing....
I have two OCD's that I've been doing for years. My first one is the collection of coffee satchels from various places. I'd travel around alot and to keep a memo of where I'd been, I get a coffe satchel from the where ever it was we were staying (or a cafe around town if the place was cheap and didn't supply free coffee). So now I've probably got the largest collection of rationed instant coffee.
The second was actually forced upon me, and I'd like to thank Subways for this (damn idiots didn't even pay me proper working wages). Because of Subways hygene standards, I'm now stuck with the habit of washing my hands before and after I do something, usually resulting in me washing my hands around 20 times a day. It's also prevented me from eating any fast food ever again (do you know how many fast food stores do not make their employee's wash their hands or wear clean gloves during food preparation?).
Please don't call your obsessive habits OCD's.
OCD is a constructed disorder used to sell drugs, but it has real implications for people, and is deeper than one or two unbreakable habits. It's a pattern of obsessive compulsions that go beyond the "have to do" to the point where it may be harmful to the self. And not just one but a series. It's actually a fairly clinical description, whether invented or not. You can't have "an OCD" but you can have "OCD" if you have a persistent pattern of obsessive compulsions that endanger yourself or others. The guy in "As Good as It Gets" probably does not have OCD, other than the extremely dulled down version hollywood uses. He's compulsive, yes, and obsessive, yes, but that doesn't mean he has OCD.
It's like when kids don't like food and say it's an alergy. The metaphor has taken over the reality.
Oh, and also, Sczicophrenia (spelled wrong) is also a precise condition and is not synonymous with 'multiple personality syndrome'.
Hey look! I've got some more wet blankets over here!
That's a pretty good point, although like some of these people are saying, they had gotten to the point where it was bordering on OCD(eg the washing hands till they bleed bit).
I don't think either of what I said I do are part of a disorder, they're just habits. I'm pretty sure many people double-check locks, anyone who lives alone and is careful. If one day I find that I get to the point where I go somewhere and come back just to check if all the cabinets in the house are closed, then it'll be OCD time. (http://web.ecomplanet.com/X2923/ServerContent/MyCustomImages/X2923CustomImage040537.gif)
/me checks to be sure he is wearing pants. When he is convinced, he checks again. When he makes it an absolute fact in his mind that he IS wearing pants, he checks again. Then, he puts some on.
Debating the existence of OCD is like debating the existence of stress.
Or any other psychological condition.
Lets not call obsessive habits OCD. My obsessive habits are -
I have to check every 10 seconds that the train ticket is still in my pocket even if it has no way of getting out of there.
I have to wash my hair after someone else than me touches it.
I have to step only on white lines on zebra crossings.
I keep at a distance from other people, I have a bigger personal space and I hate if it's invaded.
I used to feel watched all the time, especially I hated my alarm clock, since it's digital it looks like a pair of eyes staring at me at 10:01. I got over it.
I necer buy anything from a McDonalds unless I'm dying of hunger and if that happens I buy orange juice because I don't trust them fast food restaurants...
Everyone has habits like these. Does that mean that everybody has OCD? After all, if everybody has it it's no longer a disorder...
Man, I know EXACTLY what some of you mean. Its weird, I thought I was the only one that had to even out the number of times I spun around each direction. Sometimes, I look like a total idiot when I do this because I end up spinning around constantly.
I also know what you guys mean about the alarm clocks, and how random objects MUST be where you think they should be.
I usually end up not sleeping with a knife in my hand sitting up in a chair late at night because I hear the smallest sound and think someone might me trying to kill me or break into my house. I know that it won't happen and its usually just my dog, but I still do it for some reason.
I check my alarm clock 5 times, espescialy the volume knob. Then, seven minutes later I check it again.
I also do the thing where you check your lock 3 times but then when you leave you come back and check it again. Just to make sure.
When someone yawns, I have to yawn, but it has to be a real yawn.
Why do I have these stupid habits?
Actually, yawning like that is natural and not a stupid habit. I don't know the details, but if you yawn the person next to you is likely to yawn too.
Whenever I go to a public toilet, I always wipe the seat before sitting.
I don't think there's any OCD drugs for my condition.
Maybe a placebo would work.
Mmmm..... placebo.....
Femme, when I read your post I yawned. Is that natural? Just yawned again.
I do that do DGMacphee .
Yawning just means you need more oxygen, so yawning let's you get a larger breath of air, hoping that there is some oxygen in it and not a vacuum.
My crappy vampire joke was lost on you guys....
Why do I feel compelled to poke fun all the time?
/me goes to get some form of trendy medication
Quote from: TìmosÃty on Mon 23/06/2003 15:12:22
Yawning just means you need more oxygen, so yawning let's you get a larger breath of air, hoping that there is some oxygen in it and not a vacuum.
Ahaha, but that doesn't explain why yawning makes other people yawn.
My theory is that yawning is an involuntary mechanism to equalise air pressure inside and outside the body. As one yawns, the air pressure inside you increases or decreases to match the ambient surroundings. However, this also has an (smnaller) effect on the ambient air pressure. Therfore people who were maybe close to yawning now have a greater air pressure difference and are also compelled to yawn. This can again cause the first person to yawn, as the ambient air pressure may chnage again.
What do you think? ;)
something like that possibly or similarly, maybe there is less oxygen in that particular spot (or more CO2) which inturn effects people in that immediate area.
But coughing is a similar thing, like when your in a lecture theatre and one person coughs , so do many others all over the room, I just think people decide subconciously 'well they coughed so I won't seem odd if I do too', also it probably just reminds you to.
Quote from: TìmosÃty on Mon 23/06/2003 16:03:31
But coughing is a similar thing, like when your in a lecture theatre and one person coughs , so do many others all over the room, I just think people decide subconciously 'well they coughed so I won't seem odd if I do too', also it probably just reminds you to.
I coughed when I read your post :) Seriously!
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_309.html
Stop making me yawn! ;)
I have an OCD when I have to touch my penis when I watch porno movies.
Haha Goldmund.
Seem just like that one book "Kissing Doorknobs"
But I have to do the same thing..
:If I'm cleaning my nails I have to do it at the same time and it has to have the same sensual feeling or I get distracted from what I'm doing.
:If I see something different I have to touch it, and if it's dangerous.. I touch something that might feel the same.
OBD..probably..but that shirt thing..that's just weird..