- Username
- pluralines
- Date posted
- 4y ago
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?
Fantastic distinction between the two!
@Fear Strikes Out Both lol
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
In other words it’s “my way or the highway” and if you’re not being perfect you are inferior to me....lol
Are you married? 😉
@Fear Strikes Out Divorced for 27 years. Married for only 5 years.
@Mike1234 Was your rigidity and perfectionism a contributing factor in your divorce?
@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.
@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.
@Mike1234 It’s very painful to me. I feel like ocd has ruined my life. Like a boat anchor, it’s holding me down.
@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/
Wow. Very enlightening. I’m going to discus with my PhD therapist next Wednesday. Thanks 😊
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.
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”.
My dopamine receptors are thirsty.
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 😞
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.
My therapist brought up the concept of perfectionism. I never had considered this in my ocd but wow was he right. I see it as I reflect. I thought I was strictly pure o (HOCD, SOCD). What’s everyone know about the manifestation of perfectionism in OCD?
Does anybody have any ocd intrusive thoughts success stories? Like what helped you the most, and how you’re doing today. Please share
*Q + A* Hi Everyone! My name is Kerry and I have suffered from severe OCD since 2008. It came on after a bad car accident and I had shown no signs prior to that. I was 17 and now I’m 28. I saw many therapists untrained in OCD, and it wasn’t until I met an OCD Specialist and went through weeks of intensive therapy using ERP that I started to really question the connection between my obsessions and the effect I had on my reality by performing my compulsions which were totally random (anything you can think of!) I mainly suffer from magical thinking OCD which is basically like “superstition on steroids” - it follows along and targets with my everyday anxieties and my obsessions try and tell me if I perform certain, ever changing compulsions, that I can make or prevent things from happening. This has morphed into multiple themes of OCD, but also follows along with my real life which is hard. BUT I can honestly say I am in a state of ongoing recovery from OCD because I truly understand it’s sick game now and I am able to stop it in it’s tracks before performing compulsions. I’m not perfect and will always have OCD, but I wanted to open up a Q + A session today for you all to ask any questions you may have for me. To give you all some hope, I just published my OCD memoir “The Obsessive Outsider” and I’m so thankful to have added a resource to our world from a sufferer’s perspective. My goal is to eventually help you all get to a point where you can share your stories like I have because it’s so empowering. Hit me with your questions, friends!
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