- Date posted
- 3y
Are there any strengths associated with ocd
Anyone try to make traits of their ocd into something good, ie creativity, ambition?
Anyone try to make traits of their ocd into something good, ie creativity, ambition?
Resilience, empathy, a sense of humor… Off the top of my head. And those come with in recovery.
@Nica Thank you. These are exactly the traits I desire to have most in my life ❤️
@Nica Creativity/resilience, empathy and perspective I think. These are things I’m struggling with right now.
I am able to show a lot of compassion and support to people to suffer from mental health issues. Me suffering from a sever mental health issue made me value depth in friendships/relationships and despise superficiality. I think it's not OCD, but struggling internally made me develop those traits, so any mental health issue could have caused that.
Depth in friendships, I like that
From what my therapist has told me, this disease serves no one. Not that it can't give you a point of inspiration and I would think it actually makes some of us more empathetic. But generally there's not many good attributes to this disease.
The disorder itself is of course bad but I think it might be a chicken and egg type of thing when it comes to personality traits. I mean I get that this can develop and change over time and that genetics also play a role, but I'm sure about the rest, probably an interesting topic for psychologists/researchers
@A23 *not sure
@yup_its_ocd I have thought this for an extremely long time… but I have to think everything could have positive consequences too, just a matter of looking at things differently. I really struggled because I heard ocd was lifelong but I think conscientiousness directed in the right ways and self direction and awareness can help it be very very mild maybe? I don’t know. I just want to become a more positive influence so I’m trying to challenge beliefs i held
@Hayhay22 Yeah I saw someone else use the term analytical on a different post and that reminded me that I found a study of anxiety and analytical ppl. To get even more scientific now that I think about it, strengths can be "associated" like in the stats definition. When it comes to OCD and productivity the treatment ideally should help us become more productive. I've ocassionally though about OCD being like misapplication of problem solving skills, so if that's possible imagine what those skills can be applied to in productive settings. But ofc no guarantees, sometime it takes time to figure things out and that's ok
@A23 *thought about
@A23 I feel like ocd is either associated with analytical traits and conscientiousness or agreeeableness (compassion and wanting others to get a long) depending on the subtype. But yes everyone’s different so I shouldn’t make generalizations. I think I do agree with you though that it’s misapplied mental energy
The really positive trait I have experienced from relationship focused OCD is the ability to persevere through hardships with the end goal in mind which I believe is key to a successful marriage. I believe if I can get through OCD and other issues I may face in my relationship moving forward will be easy compared which is reassuring. So yeah I’d say mental strength, perseverance , empathy and makes you kinder as softer hearted and more aware of your words and actions to others cause you realise how impactful and triggering people’s comments could be
Thank you for these encouraging comments. <3
I’ve seen wayyyy too many negative posts on here (I totally get it)…but can someone please share some positive experiences? Doesn’t have to be so grand, it could be just that you achieved a small goal with your ocd! I don’t want to continue feeling drowned by this debilitating disorder. I want to see what has helped some of you! So we can all encourage each other! 😊
One of my best coping mechanisms somedays is to remember that while my OCD causes a lot of mental distress, it also can be a strength of mine. OCD has allowed me to thrive in my job, I tend to pay attention to small details and be in very good control of my work. I know exactly what is going on and often think before I say or jump to anger. I tend to apologize when something is truly wrong and be more genuine. I just know we all get in the habit of OCD being this absolutely terrible thing,,; and often it is,, but it also can be a strength in some. It shows I have empathy, am loyal, and a hard worker based on my attention to detail and want for control (even with my thoughts) ♥️♥️
TLDR: The title. I often feel rush or excitement and curiosity about my OCD thoughts, and I am not shy of it. Do you have experience like this? I think I often feel a lot of excitement when I start to engage with some obsesive thoughts and when obsesive episode starts for me. Like I often find the idea or image very interesting and I am curious about it. But often there is a neat line between excitement and anxiety. Also often it may at first start with excitement but after a while I may feel anxious or traped of being in the loop and then also being anxious about the idea itself and possibilities or ruining things I care about or loosing them. And those aspects can come in various successions or sometimes multiple at once. I encountered some materials about people enjoying their obsesive thoughts but it was usually something else. They had this obsesive fear of possibly enjoying those obsesive thoughts. But I have it different. I know I do have this excitement, rush and curiosity. I know I may somewhat like them. And I do not shy away from that. Also sometimes enjoy compulsions, even lone compulsions without link to obssesions. Like I very rarely need to organize stuff or order them or place them perfectly, but sometimes I just get into it and it is more like I find it fascinating and funny that I can try for the impossible precision and I can feel urge to do it for nonsensical amount of effort. (But I am usually very messy, disorganized and careless about organizing physical stuff) The ocd is still very debilitating and taking a lot of time. And the OCD is still very anxious and sometimes desprate-like experience. The excitement about the ideas might be a good thing because maybe I might accept them better or perform some kind of exposure through it but it may also reinforce a loop. But it is fact that I sometimes enjoy my OCD thoughts, invite them, await them at smallest glimpse. It is just mostly matter of fact. And I am curious what this might mean for me and my OCD and for how I can work I'm with it and interact with it's what changes and options it gives. I am 30 year old and I struggle with OCD from at least 15 years old. I got myself officially diagnosed quite recently and I am on waiting list for a therapy. I have mostly pure or predominantly obsesive OCD but I still go through many mental compulsions and compulsive behaviors. I experienced many subtypes of OCD although not so much of the more traditional ones. My first subtype of OCD was a kind of meta-ocd. I remember how I like the character of detective Adrienne Monk. I liked the character. I did not have it formulated for myself at that age but he was so sensitive, fragile, perceptive, clever and a sort of inventive. The ocd seemed fascinating. Although his neuroticism regarding his environment would be total pain for me, since I was and I am a very messy and disorganized person. But I still vibed with him and sympathized with him. I felt interest and curiosity in being possibly sort of like him. But I felt fear of it as well. I feared I was like him or that I would have ocd. I feared performing rituals and I would sometimes perform them,.sometimes as the relief of confirmation sometimes as examination, sometimes as a sort of exposure therapy before knowing what exposure therapy was. I just had this conflicting fears, obsessions and compulsions about the prospect of having ocd. That was when I was around 15 years old. But through my whole childhood before that, I was already focused a lot on managing and controlling my own emotions to keep away from disappointments. And I was very socially and romantically anxious and had sort of low confidence or fear of low confidence. So those were childhood experiences that were not yet obsessive-compulsive like but which were on the way there. Also know that it is very probable I have some form of ADHD. My mother and siblings have it diagnosed. And I exhibit almost all classical symptoms despite being conflict-averse and diplomatic and therefore considered well behaved child. But doing some less serious and shalower testing with one psychology consultant, I scored way higher and clearer on ADHD test than on OCD test. I also just love novelty, and experimentation and exploration. And I may sometimes engage with obsessions and compulsions out of procrastination. Also my obsessions and compulsions are often chaotic, I often encounter dilema where I don't know what course of action would be compulsive and what would not. Or I am not sure If I am exposing myself and getting familiar with unwanted thought or if I am actually just fulfilling some other compulsions. Like if I am not turning exposure into another obsession. Like anything can become anything. And honestly? I probably do. And why not. Yes I am sometimes perfectionist in the most nonsensical ways. Thanks for reading through this whole thing and paying attention to what I had to say.
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