pluralines
- Date posted
- 5y
Fear Strikes OutFear Strikes...
- Date posted
- 5y
Perfectionism can be related to OCD or OCPD. With OCD, the anxiety that comes with the possibility of having less than perfect outcomes is what leads to the compulsions. There's a lot shame underlying this form of perfectionism. With OCPD, the person rarely experiences anxiety and does not perform compulsions to reduce anxiety since anxiety rarely exists from their perfectionistic behaviors. The reason is because the OCPD person does not think their perfectionism is an impairment in any way but, in fact, the right way of doing a task. Moreover, they strongly believe that everyone around them should do a task similarly because it the "right way." Which category do you think you might fall in, OCD perfectionism or OCPD perfectionism?
MM
- Date posted
- 5y
Fantastic distinction between the two!
kaykayykaykayy
- Date posted
- 2y
@Fear Strikes Out Both lol
bigcroissantbigcroissant
- Date posted
- 5y
personally, I just feel like I have to perfect everything. like, if I write someone a letter I make several drafts and will rewrite cards until my handwriting looks perfect and neat and the words are right. and I have the bad habit of thinking "if I can't make it perfect I have to give up entirely" for some things. like, if something isn't perfect it just isn't good enough and everyone will hate me or something. unrealistic, but that's how it feels
Mike1234Mike1234
- Date posted
- 5y
In other words it’s “my way or the highway” and if you’re not being perfect you are inferior to me....lol
Fear Strikes OutFear Strikes...
- Date posted
- 5y
Are you married? 😉
Mike1234Mike1234
- Date posted
- 5y
@Fear Strikes Out Divorced for 27 years. Married for only 5 years.
Fear Strikes OutFear Strikes...
- Date posted
- 5y
@Mike1234 Was your rigidity and perfectionism a contributing factor in your divorce?
Mike1234Mike1234
- Date posted
- 5y
@Fear Strikes Out Yes. She used to say “You think your better than everyone else”. It was just my ocd trying to make things perfect and not making waves.
Mike1234Mike1234
- Date posted
- 5y
@Mike1234 Now I’m terrified of getting into a relationship because of past failures, doubt and uncertainty. I’ve been frozen in time with previous relationships only last around 2 years at a time. The stress and anxiety makes it difficult to maintain them and I’m resigned to singleness. I feel I operate better on my own because of fearfulness and avoidance.
Mike1234Mike1234
- Date posted
- 5y
@Mike1234 It’s very painful to me. I feel like ocd has ruined my life. Like a boat anchor, it’s holding me down.
Fear Strikes OutFear Strikes...
- Date posted
- 5y
@Mike1234 Ever heard of Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy (RO DBT)? https://www.psychologytools.com/articles/using-radically-open-dialectical-behavior-therapy-ro-dbt-to-treat-problems-of-overcontrol/
Mike1234Mike1234
- Date posted
- 5y
Wow. Very enlightening. I’m going to discus with my PhD therapist next Wednesday. Thanks 😊
Mike1234Mike1234
- Date posted
- 5y
Symmetrical & precision or perfectionist ocd causes me to see everything out of place. Not lined up or not perfect from documentation to items in fridge to labels on bottles to items on walls to everyday tasks that must be completed perfectly. Things take forever to complete if done at all because they must be perfect. To relationships people not being just right to rigid standards etc... it’s an endless need to have control over everything in life. To perfect size the world. It’s time consuming and exhausting.
Mike1234Mike1234
- Date posted
- 5y
Alignment of throw carpets, pictures on the wall, coasters aligned with table corners, carpets with specks or crumbs it’s not in perfect order. Books cannot have creased covers, desktop icons must be aligned, lists and instructions laminated and typed perfectly, researching everything to perfection, items stacked just right, stamps on envelopes aligned perfectly in the corner of envelopes, projects must be done with extreme detail, can’t exercise unless everything is perfect. Binge eating, buying, gambling, hoarding everything to feel “just right”.
Mike1234Mike1234
- Date posted
- 5y
My dopamine receptors are thirsty.
Sarah26Sarah26
- Date posted
- 5y
If things are out of place around me like pictures on walls or ornaments etc I cannot concentrate properly, when I make things on my laptop for work I spend forever getting it just right, and when I put my hair up in a ponytail it takes me endless attempts and up to 80 minutes until it’s perfect, causes me a lot of stress and anxiety 😞
Fear Strikes OutFear Strikes...
- Date posted
- 5y
Ever done an imaginal script for the ponytail? That is, write down your worst fears if you do not have the perfect ponytail. Then, the next time you wear a ponytail, you are only allowed 5 attempts to make it "perfect." At the end of the day, check your list from your imaginal script and see how many of the catastrophic things that you have written down in your imaginal script actually happened. This is a great opportunity to test whether your worst fears are rational or not.
Related posts
avf2000
- Date posted
- 24w
How does your perfectionism OCD manifest?
I haven't been able to read about experiences similar to mine when it comes to my perfectionism OCD so I was wondering if anyone had any "uncommon" experiences.
Anonymous
- Date posted
- 24w
A quick Vent here
I'm sry if this may make people worry or feel uncomfortable in advance! Hello everyone as u can see I struggle with ocd and I HATE IT WITH MY LIFE , it started in 2020 covid obv contamination ocd started here , I used to carry alcohol everywhere and used to wash my hands so much that it bled ( had to wear gloves to cover it so friends or family won't see it ) and everything else started since then , harm ocd with myself or friends I couldn't hold a knife..it was really hard..and I have unwanted sexual thoughts ocd , I have panic attacks bc of this..I sometimes cannot look people into their eyes and its so random and so scary..thoughts about.. 🍇..whether it's me or I'm gonna harm someone else uk..I sometimes cannot function properly.. unfortunately friends don't understand it rather think it's about " perfectionism "..I wrote those thoughts and stuff in a journal in more details ofc and doodle ( I'm scared someone will find it ) I hate myself tbh and I don't think someone will read this... I suspect I have ADHD with all this but ocd is " ur faking it " even though lots of people have hinted about it , I thought I actually killed someone for 2 years a girl..until I realized what HOCD is , I thought I faked my ocd too in fact , I have perfectionism ocd too it's bad and I HATE PURE O it's so DRAINING uk.. also idk if this has caused a problem for anyone but if y'all know the Truman show ( basically if u don't know the main character is being filmed and his life is fake and he doesn't know it ) THAT MOVIE HAS HARMED ME SO BADLY FOR YEARS that until today I have to check in the bathroom if there are cameras cuz like ocd makes me think I'm living in a fake world , I used to think people around me , everyone was like a Ai model or smth.. everytime until today I have to clean the toilet seat bc it may be dirty..I have been taking up to 5 showers a day cuz maybe I'm dirty..that's it for today tysm if u read this till the end I'd like to know ur thoughts if u got tips or have similar experiences ! 🤗 U get a chocolate bar 🍫 bc u earned it bc ik how ocd is so frustrating ( I also noticed everyone who has ocd is so nice right 😆! )
flowerpetals
- Date posted
- 23w
perfectionism ocd?
i’ve unfortunately fallen into the cycle of trying to figure out my thoughts and find answers as to why i feel so distressed. this still pertains to the situation regarding changing my room for those reading who have seen my multiple posts over the last few days. i’ve been so distressed and in so much panic about it. i’m also panicking over my other room looking so different from when i left it. it’s been making me feel crazy because to me there’s no reason for my anxiety to latch so hard onto something that seems so minuscule. i was thinking i was having anxiety over change, but it’s like symptoms of ocd too that’s making it really hard for me to let go. SO i started thinking maybe it was perfectionism ocd? i’ve realized over time that i do compulsions to where things have to feel “just right”, but i also do that with any environment i’m in. like it HAS to feel cozy to me and provide me comfort in order for me to feel at ease. and this change is causing me to panic because there’s something wrong that i can’t find an answer to. maybe the different colored carpet? but it’s also more than that it feels like. however, now it’s spreading into other areas of my house where i’ve always been fine in and possibly to just any area i’m in at all. hence why it’s making me feel crazy because there’s no reason for me to be THIS distressed over that as i’ve never really had this problem before. and when i did it would last maybe an hour to a couple of days at most, but this has been going for over 2 weeks with my really bad anxiety being this week. i’m doing a little better, but it’s still hard when i can feel that panic waiting for me to acknowledge and just engulf me in the ocd cycle. i’m also analyzing basically any feeling i have so i just feel off in general and like i’m going insane. i’ve been so hyper focused on how i feel and that will send me spiraling too. multiple themes then start coming in like existential ocd and fear of solipsism. not to mention my harm and contamination ocd that just adds on when i’m this vulnerable. then i worry if no one is real, then no one feels the way i do. or just in general that what if no one feels the way i do. honestly, i think being out of college and in my house with nothing to do is causing me too much time with my thoughts. which is why i’m so distressed about everything that pops into my brain.
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