To ask if you know what OCD is?

[thatsnotwhatitsusedfor]

I always see references to OCD almost exclusively relating to issues of cleanliness/hygiene.

Second to this is reference to issues of checking switches/oven turned off etc.

This is a genuinely innocent question, but I just wondered how many people understood that these things are not the definition of OCD, and are just simply one TYPE of OCD? That OCD can take many many forms? That you don’t have to have an issue with hand-washing for example to ‘have’ OCD? But rather that the obsessions and compulsions can take any form?

Genuine question, not intending to upset or offend anyone (asking as someone who has OCD but who has no issue with the above examples)

I'm with you @BreakfastAtLitanies .... my sister had real ocd before anyone knew what it was 30 years ago.. it affected her whole life from age 11 and mine too... it was a horrible responsibility being the one to tell her that her hands were clean enough all the time .... I get so cross who's stupid people say they have ocd all the time when they just like things tidy or clean ... it's is NOT the same thing !!

I have OCD, for me it's exactly what it says. Obsessions that lead to compulsive behaviours, with invasive thoughts. I cant hide it very well as I work in admin and my OCD is around order and organisation. I have sometimes made a joke about "being a bit OCD" as it does embarrass me when I know that I'm not being discreet. It had offended some people but they seem to understand when I explain I do really have it and am just explaining my "odd" behaviour

I have OCD. In my childhood it was characterised by handwashing, contamination and having to have things placed ritualistically otherwise something bad would happen. I also have emetephobia so was linked heavily to that.

It came and went in my 20s but didn't resurface again catastrophically until I became a mother. And then it became consuming. I don't have so much of the hand washing but I frightened of contamination and my emetephobia is back in spades.

Mine is focused now on obsessive thoughts and compulsions. I have to stick to certain things and don't stray from the norm. I don't take my son to soft play in case of germs. I limit his contact with other children in case he gets sick. Whenever he is unwell I obsess on a minute basis whether he will be sick. I check his temperature obsessively. I'm marginally better than I was last year (when I was so obsessive I contemplated suicide) thanks to EMDR and new medication. But I still obsessively check his health and well-being. Weirdly I am less concerned with myself.

It's genuinely the hardest phase of my life I've ever faced. I adore my child but the catalogue of mental distortion I've had since giving birth has been frankly, scary. It's completely altered how I perceived I'd be a mother and I'm much less a mother because of it.

Yes my DD has it. She had a breakdown at age 12 and that's the first we knew about it. Hers was intrusive thoughts about slitting her throat and imagining blood everywhere. She had a blood phobia and I think her realising her period would be starting triggered it.
She no longer has these types of thoughts but is writting her dissertation at the moment and is constantly checking and rewriting it.
She goes through stages of panicking she hasn't turned something off or has asking me to check her laptop is where she left it.
She must be exhausted.

I have severe anxiety disorder but thankfully not too many rituals because it must be absolutely exhausting - my anxiety alone has ruined my life completely and I'm worn out and devastated by it. OCD is related to anxiety and is an illness whereby you have routines to try to make yourself protected and safe ... both are a horrendous illness which take over your life and I don't think anyone unless they have suffered could completely understand the impact and upset they cause .. love and best wishes to all you who suffer terribly because it is so debilitating and none of us choose to feel this way

I just think of it being about obsessive, intrusive thoughts that make you act on them.

I had ocd as a teen for several years but it was the standard, need to wash my hands compulsion. Also, fear of pregnancy which meant avoiding men, never sitting on a toilet seat ect… xD it isn't a logical disease unfortunately. Spent a year or so peeing in a bucket. I can laugh now but fuck it was a difficult time. The shame that surrounded it too because you knew you weren't being rational but you couldn't not listen to the impulses and fears.

Just, grew out of it luckily for me. None of the compulsions left. Apart from I still always wash my face a certain way. But I guess that's just a quirk now haha.

Lost 40 plus years of my life to this soul destroying monster - nearly lost my husband too & my poor son has inherited it - escitalopram keeps me on track atm but the compulsions & intrusive thoughts are still there under the surface threatening to break through.

Love & best wishes to all fellow sufferers

princess1066 I'm so sorry to hear that. This also terrifies me in terms of 'what if my children have this too?' I can't let myself think about it too much or I'll spiral, but that's certainly a very very real fear. Huge hugs to you and your wonderful family xxxx

I know all too well unfortunately! Suffer from intrusive thoughts, false memories, obsessions and mental compulsions such as checking, rumination, and various other small habits that don't present much to the outside world but make me a mess inside.

When telling friends, one was very curious as they knew little about it and were totally open that they had the same stereotypical idea of it always being about hand washing and flicking light switches. Another basically dismissed it as another example of everyone having a mental health problem these days (and she's going to be a doctor!)

I am diagnosed OCD (intrusive thoughts) and I can't agree more that so many people (thanks to the media) think that it's washing your hands, lining up tins and cleaning your house.

It's so debilitating, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy!

@thatsnotwhatitsusedfor thank you so much - many hugs to you and yours in return xxxx

Obsessive-compulsive disorder. When you have both obsessive thoughts and compulsions (presumably as a result of the obsessive thoughts).

I know someone whose husband found out years ago that he'd been working in amongst asbestos. He became obsessed with the thought of it and used to take all of his clothes off just inside the front door and and his wife washed them just in case he'd unknowingly worked where there was asbestos. The house would be continually vacuumed too. It then progressed to having other germs on clothing and to his wife having to take her clothes off at the door too. She had to plan when to put things in the dustbin as she would have to again change and wash all clothes after going out to it. It became so bad that their young child had to live with the grandparents as it wasn't the right environment to be brought up in.

My DH's cousin was terrified of touching trollies when he worked at an airport and he developed the compulsion of excessive hand-washing hands as a result of obsessing over it. He literally spends hours in the bathroom.

OCD can be terribly debilitating and seriously affect the quality of a person's life. It isn't something to be taken lightly although I understand when someone says "I'm a bit OCD". They do have OCD but it doesn't prevent their daily functioning.

My mum has OCD. She hoards stuff. Her house is a shit tip because she can't throw anything away.

After having CBT I was diagnosed with OCD and GAD. In a way I was relieved to have a name put to how I was feeling and what I was doing. I have had rituals and intrusive thoughts since I was a child, I’d find myself panicking if I didn’t carry out my rituals or if someone changed the order or something in my safe place (bedroom) even the door being opened would send me into a panic. I manage it better now and recognise either OCD or GAD will be in charge (never at same time as my OCD distracts me when I’m anxious and makes me feel in control). I link it back to a traumatic time in my life when I became incredibly anxious (for good reason) I also recognise all the symptoms in my parents which in turn impacted on me

TW as I'll go into detail about my intrusive thoughts relating to my DCs.

I told very few people I was suffering from postnatal OCD because my house was messy so I was worried people wouldn't believe me. I would switch off all the switches in the kitchen and check the knobs on the gas cooker to the tune of happy birthday and repeat several times, then test the smoke alarm. I believed that if I didn't check these things, we would have a house fire in the night and I could picture quite clearly in my head the charred bodies of my children. My other obessive thoughts concerned my DS2 developing herpes, I would constantly check my hands for sores , then go over to the window and check in a better light, then turn the torch on my phone on and shine it on my hands. I was constanty scrubbing my hands until they bled, then I would put plasters over the bleeding bits because the exposed membrane increased the chances of transmitting herpes. I didn't kiss DS until I sought help from the GP when he was 8 weeks old and the Dr told me to kiss him. I've never actually had hand herpes by the way. Again I could imagine DS in hospital covered in sores, tubes coming out of him and then his tiny coffin. DS1 and DH used to kiss DS2 in secret I was later told.
The behaviours associated with OCD are awful but the intrusive thoughts are something else, I thought I must be an evil person to think up such things I was seriously unwell but so lucky to have a supportive husband and a bloody good doctor who took maternal mental health very seriously indeed. I hate hearing people say they 'are OCD..'

to everyone who has suffered from this terrible illness.

Marking this thread to read properly once I have time.

There are several types of OCD, there's the real event one, the magical thinking one etc..

I have been suffering from it since I can recall. When I was little I had rituals that I had to follow or things were going to be bad (magical OCD) for me and my family. The made absolutely no sense rationally but OCD is not rational.

It went away and came back when I was really stressed at uni , I started wondering what would feel like jumping off a window of in front of a bus. These thoughts horrified me as I wasn't suicidal at all and tried to avoid beign to close to open windows or cars and buses. They came out of nowhere and I spent hours ruminating about them.

I had really bad OCD during pregancy and after my DC1 first weeks of life, when I thought he was going to die in horrible ways and had to remove all pillows from a room, stay away from windows and make sure all the sharp obects were away from sight.

I don't talk to anybody in RL, only online, as it's quite misunderstood and lots of people associate thoughts with intention to execute them.

My DD has OCD. Discovered at age 6, she's now 7. It's mainly intrusive thoughts, with mild compulsions to relieve the obsessions. Like tapping, or stopping in doorways.
Her intrusive thoughts are very scary.
But her symptoms ebb and flow.
We're crossing our fingers we manage it well enough now, that it won't spiral when she hits puberty...

I feel like the common understanding is to do with the observation of compulsive behaviours, with little knowledge of the mechanisms of OCD, the internal experience and cycle.

I do have an understanding of what OCD is now, but only properly since being diagnosed with it and doing research. If I had not been so mislead by mainstream ideas about OCD I probably could have recognised it in myself many years ago.

My friend and i have it. We both have had CBT and found it comes hand in hand with anxiety. Mine is focused on intrusive thoughts and constantly thinking on things, daydreaming scenarios and often not doing what i should be doing.

My friend is very ritualistic and will handwash until they crack and bleed.

And yes to people saying/joking they are a bit ocd due to cleaning.

Plus those thinking everyone is a bit ocd and not getting that mine/friend's is very upsetting.