Is there anyone else on here that does a lot of physical compusions? I always thought that to have OCD you would have to also do something to neutralise your anxiety for example open and close a door so many times before walking through it. It is only since being on this app that I have learnt thay a lot of people here don't do physical compusions and I actually haven't spoken with anyone who does
I think mine are mental with a few routines I feel I can't skip.
So. Many. Physical. Disorders. That. Are. Compulsive. You’re not alone. I have three physical compulsive disorders. It’s the worst. Stay strong❤️❤️❤️
Can I aso what your physical disorders are?
@Joe87 Of course! Hair pulling, skin picking, nail biting, and I also talk out loud to reassure myself. It’s hard.
@✨Pennyroyal✨ Do you have to pull your hair and pick your skin so many times and in a certain way and is it also okay to ask if you do this to prevent something bad from happening? My compulsions are really strange and it's all about stopping bad things from happening like me becoming ill or dying suddenly and I also feel like doing my compusions will ensure that I go to heaven whenever I do die. Its honestly terrible and stopping the compulsions is the hardest thing I have ever tried to do. I could write a list of how bad and how many compusions I have but it would be so long. To give you an example I have to repeat every single physical action than I do. I have to sit back down and get back up a couple times before I can actually get up and walk...then I have to pull on the door handle a couple of times before I can open it and walk through it and I normally have to close the door twice and then pull on the door handle a couple of times before I can continue walking. The same thing goes for my car door, starting and stopping the car, flicking the switch on the kettle or light switches, getting changed. Every single physical action that I do has to be repeated a certain way until everything feels just right but then the horrible feeling of anxiety and that something bad is going to happen literally returns less than a second after doing it. I'm sure you can imagine this makes doing anything extremely difficult.
@Joe87 Apologies if my reply triggers you or anyone else. I ask because I have read a lot of your comments on others posts and it seems that you have a really good understanding of OCD so I'm hoping that you might be able to offer me some advice
@Joe87 Not at all! I have to pick to relieve stress. If I don’t it drives me nuts. I understand your form of compulsions and I am sorry. Are you in active therapy?
@✨Pennyroyal✨ Your OCD sounds horrible too although I dont know how its possible that it couldn't be. Can I ask on average how much of you're day does this take up? I see you have a conqueror badge. Are you on top of it now? So one of the thing is find really strange with OCD and I would value your opinion on is that there must be grey areas with regards to what is and what isn't if that makes sense? So like skin picking for instance. I used to have a wart type thing on one of my fingers that I must of picked at every day for around 5 years. This thing never caused me great distress though and I wasn't picking it to neutralise any intrusive thoughts or to prevent anything bad from happening. I purely picked at it because it was a bit of a nuisance and I suppose it did feel a little bit calming and therapeutic in a way but it definitely wasn't to neutralise any intrusive thoughts. I used to do it for no longer than 5-10 minutes at a time and as I was always so busy at work I probably only did it 3-4 times a day and mainly in the evenings. I eventually had it removed so it isn't there anymore. Now would you say that me picking at that thing was OCD or not? I would say that it wasn't because as far as I know for something to be classed as OCD whatever compulsion or ritual it is that you are doing needs to be to make yourself feel better about an instrusive thought/anxiety? I hope you don't think that I'm saying that your skin picking isn't OCD btw because I'm not. I'm just trying to work out in my head which things are OCD and which things aren't as I'm beginning to think that maybe my OCD goes back further than I realise and I think it would definitely help me to understand it better.
@Joe87 Yes. I believe that could be OCD. A lot of the things you just said do apply to me. It doesn’t take up too much of anything. It doesn’t take up anything of my day. It just causes me to be a bit distracted. I am on top of it now, although I use it as a stress reliever for every day school stress. You don’t realize it, but you probably had OCD from day one, and as you get older, and start remembering more of your childhood memories, and putting the pieces of the puzzle together you’ll realize it. I would recommend putting on some hats or covering up the place that you pick Your skin at. I also have this thing that I use sometimes where if I don’t do X compulsion for Y number of days I get a treat, or I get to treat myself. Keep asking questions if you need to
You’re definitely not alone. I have a mix of mental and physical compulsions, and in fact one of my physical ones is slightly opening and closing doors a certain number of times *after* walking through them. I guess “traditionally” OCD has been associated with physical compulsions but now there’s more awareness of mental compulsions as well so more people are talking about those.
I do them, i have a daily tv schedule that i sit in a specific way on the couch and watch, and washing my hands i have a routine that i do, im try to quit and do less but yeah
I haven’t started ERP yet. But just curious from others who have, How do you sit with compulsions when they’re mental compulsions? Or just “let them pass”? It seems it’s going to be impossible since none of my compulsions are physical/tangible 😓
I know the truth deep down but I am just doing compulsions to try and convince myself that I have OCD. I try to look up and find things exactly the same and me in experiences how I feel and everything else and it becomes worse when I can’t find the same person as me. I know people do compulsions to make sure they love there partner but I feel like I do compulsions to CONVINCE ME it is ocd
Usually my compulsions are always motivated by fear. I feel like a child when I have compulsions. Like for example, my brain convinces me that someone is in my house and I need to open every cabinet and all the shower curtains, and do tons of other crazy things like march instead of walking so that if someone where to shoot at my legs they'd have less of a chance of hitting me. How do I stop it? I am just going about my day and I can see in my head, myself getting attacked or something and so my only option to calm myself down is to do a bunch of random actions that will keep me "safe". Does anyone else experience this? Or convince themselves that they are under Milo Murphys law? That anything bad that can happen to them will, so they need to never do anything that could result in anything bad, and avoid everything? And how do you convince yourself you're not in danger?
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond
