Neurodiversity cubed

For anyone that is experiencing OCD who also has ADHD/is autistic (or even has other neurodiverse conditions), do you think your OCD is obsessed with protecting you from the (real or perceived) consequences of your other conditions? For example, I may get stuck rehearsing in advance of social situations because I know that I am going to have a hard time reading the room and might embarrass myself. Or I might obsess over plans and check my route over and over to make sure I will not be late. Just wondering if this rings true for anyone else and if you had any tips for how to approach ERP when you have these other real factors in the mix!

ADHD and OCD

isacatm3

Date posted: 21h

This is true for me. I have both ADHD and OCD. Yesterday I was feeling kinda hyperactive after working out and impulsively spam texted two colleagues from my graduate program I’m like acquaintances. I asked them things like why are u two rooming with each other and if they were dating each other now since one of them is a guy and the other one is a woman. It probs was weird of me to ask these questions since I’m not super close to them and I ended up sorta obsessing over omg what if they stop being my friends just cause I asked questions about their relationship status when I’m not super close to them. I felt in my head this urge to want to check if what I sent them was appropriate by using ChatGPT to check the texts but I told myself not to. I basically told myself it is what it is. So I totally relate to your post here. I think to be frank it’s a balancing act. I personally told myself I rather work on my anxiety and be happy. I have found that it’s helpful to have fellow neurodivergent friends who don’t find your hyperactivity weird and are just as hyperactive. One of my best friends has ADHD and BPD and the other one has OCD depression and autism which honestly makes me feel seen. I know when I talk to those two besties I don’t have to “mask”. It’s a balancing act for sure working on my ADHD and on my OCD. BUT WE GOT THIS. Much love ❤️

isacatm3

Date posted: 21h

@isacatm3 I think that the best advice I can give is work on both. I work on my adhd social cue stuff and I also work on my OCD. Having neurodivergent friends def helps me tho cause it makes me feel like I have a space where I can unmask. U GOT THIS !!

Anonymous

Date posted: 12h

Hi, I have ADHD, OCD and am autistic. I feel the same way, and sometimes it's hard to parse out what is an obsession vs. what is a stim, or what is a normal autistic precaution. I tend to focus on how much time I spend thinking about it. I think it's normal for autistic people to do some research into a place before they go there, because we so often struggle with anxiety, sensory issues and meltdowns around confusion and stress with not knowing what's coming. But to think about it all day sounds more like an obsession. I thought my skin picking might be a stim, but then realized that while it does feel good to do it sometimes, that it also hurts, and that I worry that I do it too much and try to stop it. I don't try to stop any other stims I do. I hope this helps. Sending hugs (or absolutely no hugs if that's better :)

isacatm3

Date posted: 21h

Also btw (I told myself if I wanna be impulsive and ask weird stuff TEXT MY close neurodivergent friends instead LOL 😂 and not like my graduate acquaintances but that ITS OKAY to not be perfect) sorry for the lengthy text I did warn I got ADHD 😅

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