#questions about ocd

[fitzs-trained-monkey]

So, apparently I'm OCD...

Just got diagnosed today. Professionally. But I just want to make sure I'm not getting screwed over by capitalism. (Wouldn't be the first time. Thank you America.)

So, for my peace of mind...

I'm not looking to start a fight or offend anyone. I'm just weary of the American healthcare system because it's screwed me over in the past. I'm not paying $150 per appointment for giggles, okay?

Spread this around please? I really want to know.

[incognitopolls]

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[morganbritton132]

I like that sometimes you’ll be doing something your whole life like it’s normal and then you’ll meet someone and they’re like, no. That’s actually an insane thing to do be doing.

[macbethz]

i feel like i really drew the short straw with my ocd now i didnt know some people were getting gay sex variants :/

[in-sufficientdata]

Why the Konmari method is pretty useless for people with genuine problems with hoarding and OCD, or OCD tendencies, at least without some caveats and definitions:

Hoarding is defined by a persistent emotional attachment to inanimate objects. Clutterers and hoarders often have an unconscious need to save items, whether for an imagined future ideal use, or just because otherwise they would end up in the landfill.

People with these issues often have difficulty discerning the difference between a truly useful item and something that should be given or thrown away because of their emotional attachment to the item.

They see themselves as the best curator of the items, which may range from useful items like craft supplies, display items, sentimental items, and stuff that is truly just junk.

"Sunk costs" is a term from economics that means that a cost that has already been incurred and cannot be recovered. Although the original term refers to finances, the sunk costs of the time and effort someone has put into an item can influence their decision to keep the item.

Therefore, another factor in this attachment is the sunk costs of money, effort, and time that a person has put into an item. A person may no longer be personally attached to an item, but will keep it because they have always meant to use it or simply because it's not yet ruined.

This is also a reason those with fewer economic advantage tend to be hoarders more than those with a comfortable financial situation. Someone like this realizing they've obtained two of an item will take on the responsibility of curating both instead of getting rid of one.

Because of all these factors, the expression that was translated as "sparks joy" in the English version is too easy for a clutterer to confuse or redefine in their own mind as they work to sort through their items.

In my case, for example, I had a situation where the basement, which was full of our excess saved items, needed to be cleared so the cracked foundation could be repaired. I had to decide what to save in the limited storage space we still had, and what to throw out or donate.

If Konmari had been in vogue at the time (this was in 2004) I'm certain I would have kept far more items than I should have. This language is too easy for a clutterer to massage and redefine in their own mind based on what the item is.

First, clutterers need to be clear-eyed about the fact that they suffer from excess emotional attachment to objects. Flylady's declutter method was in vogue at the time I engaged in this declutter session, and she has a whole checklist of questions to ask oneself about an object:

Do I love this item?

Have I used it in the past year?

Is it really garbage?

Do I have another one that is better?

Should I really keep two?

Does it have sentimental value that causes me to love it?

Or does it give me guilt and make me sad when I see the item?

This may seem needlessly complex to someone who is not a hoarder or clutterer but this addresses many of the reasons that a sufferer would keep an item that they shouldn't.

Another factor is that they are perfectionists. This seems at odds with the idea that they may have a huge mess in their home, but what happens is they often can't deal with their persistent need to have a perfectly clean home that matches their vision.

Because of this they put off starting on the project until it can be done perfectly.

This is why methods like Flylady and Unfuck Your Habitat (which is really just Flylady without the cutesy rhetoric) help these people so much, because people with differences such as ADHD become clutterers because they don't know how to regulate their own time or how to organize.

The emotional attachment to their possessions is, incidentally, why decluttering on behalf of your hoarder friend is a very bad idea. The person will need to work through this process on their own, in order for it to stick.

Getting rid of these items can be intensely emotional and difficult for someone with these tendencies.

Time limits, routines, consistency, and persistence are the best tools for someone who needs to declutter. Don't try to do this all in an afternoon. Not only is it a difficult process, it should become a consistent habit.

For resources and further reading please check out Squalor Survivors (archive.org link).

[catkin-morgs-kookaburralover]

questioning sexuality is so exhausting

[crimson--freak]

@ people who’ve been professionally diagnosed with ocd:

This question comes from my (second-hand) knowledge of the way in which diagnoses such as autism can impact on a person’s life, such as potentially barring them from accessing gender-affirming healthcare, or immigrating to certain countries, or other things like that.

Do any of you think there are particular problems like this that arise from an ocd diagnosis? For example, could getting an ocd diagnosis lead to similar problems with accessing healthcare and the like? I know having a diagnosis will most likely significantly impact the way people around me, such as coworkers and employers and health professionals, treat me as opposed to if I don’t get a diagnosis.

On the other hand, are there any benefits to getting a diagnosis (besides that you know that there’s a confirmed second opinion that you do in fact have ocd)?

[pumpkinpartytails]

Odd problem I've noticed, but people really don't like when someone uses their post as a starting point to talk about a different topic. That in itself isn't odd. But my problem is, as someone with AuDHD, when is a topic different? I genuinely can't tell.

My brain is always jumping around from topic to topic on what, to other people, seem like very loose threads, that to me seem a perfectly reasonable throughline. I'm afraid to respond to a lot of posts now because I don't want to derail them, and I don't know how much of a topic shift is too much. Everything in the universe is tied to everything else, every event that's ever happened is bound in an endless chain of cause and effect; things have to be separated from other things to garner separate meanings, and people have to do that because things don't just come pre-separated, so how do I separate stuff? Do I just have to guess and hope that it aligns with OP's own separations? To me, two things will seem very closely related, and to someone else it'll seem like a nonsense jump to a completely different topic out of nowhere. What's the criteria??? How do I tell??? Do I just never respond to anything now unless my response is exclusively about the exact thing in question and never anything related to it no matter how closely? I don't know how else to avoid accidental post topic hijacking other than to just completely disengage, and then I feel like shit every time I see a post that I want to respond to but don't know if my response is on-topic enough.

[icewindandboringhorror]

proofreading an email for 2 hours straight just on the off chance that sometime between the 14th and 15th rereading the text has magically been replaced with a bunch of slurs and images of dead animals or something that I somehow entirely missed before

[incognitopolls]

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[garlic-and-cloves]

I think I might have OCD.

I really have no other explanation for any of this. But I'm also already diagnosed with plenty of other things and I can't possibly have everything in the DSM so I feel like I'm making it up. But every time I research anything about it I just feel like it matches and I have no reason against it.

I have been told by at this point 6 unrelated people that I should consider it and I feel like that's a little ridiculous for something I've been denying any possibility of having. And I'm able to function much better than my aunt so I must be fine right? (Except I know I'm not functioning and it's genetic)

And I know in the end it doesn't really matter and I'm definitely overthinking this and have no reason for the panic attack but if it is OCD I think I need to change the way I'm engaging with this (maybe I do anyway). Maybe some of these things I'm doing are actually harmful to me (I know they are). Now I'm not sure what to do about that but it definitely can't be blamed on not liking changes in routine when how did it get this way in the first place

[caitas-cooing]

Okay so context to this question is that I was playing persona 3 reload and my littlest brother was watching me and I said something about how I have to level up characters as evenly as possible or else it made my brain itch, and he did not understand what I meant by that. So like do you know what that means or should I find another way to explain this

[psalm40speakstome]

Day after tomorrow I have a phone call with a potential OCD Therapist that I’ve been emailing.

Any thoughts, prayers, good vibes, really anything would be appreciated.

[privatejoker]

dude im so okay right now

[rainbowsparklecur]

i think a lot of my problems could be solved if i learned that someone having a different opinion isnt a direct threat to me

[kyorru]

personality psych is fun but it will Never be abnormal psychology