# Obsessive compulsive



## guitarman (Dec 11, 2008)

I'm wondering how many of you DP sufferers out there have been diagnosed obsessive compulsive? Myself, I have not been diagnosed but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know somethings up. Some of my behavior is text book. For example when I leave the house for work every morning, I get in my car start it, then I have to go back to the front door of the house and double check that I locked it. Even when I know for a fact that I did lock it, I have to go back. I've sat in my car knowing full well I locked it but if I don't go back and jiggle the knob it can cause anxiety. 
The same goes for my car. I've double checked it and then I'll get a block away and have to go back and check it again.
Another peculiar behavior that I suspect is obsessive but I'm not sure, when I'm shopping in a grocery store and taking items from the shelf, like say milk, yogurt, can of soup, etc, I always have to bypass the items in front to take the second one or the item behind. I never like taking the front item.
I'm just curious if this behavior in anyway contributes to the DP. Or maybe this is just a separate issue.


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## Daphne (Apr 16, 2010)

Hello,
I'd say what you describe is not very dramatic, but better stop it, before it might get more power over you. I know such behavior of myself and the best you can do is to stop it and to bear the fear, when you don't go back to the door to see if it's really closed. You will see, nothing terrible will happen and the faer will be bearable an will go away and the compulsion will leave you, if you resist it for a few times. But I must say I also have the habit not to take the front items in a grocery store, but thats because I know, that they pack the less fresher items at the front so they will be picked up earlier by a customer and won't run to seed. So I think taking the items behind the front items is just a rational behavior, if you want to have the freshest items








Daphne


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## voidvoid (Sep 5, 2008)

guitarman said:


> I'm wondering how many of you DP sufferers out there have been diagnosed obsessive compulsive? Myself, I have not been diagnosed but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know somethings up. Some of my behavior is text book. For example when I leave the house for work every morning, I get in my car start it, then I have to go back to the front door of the house and double check that I locked it. Even when I know for a fact that I did lock it, I have to go back. I've sat in my car knowing full well I locked it but if I don't go back and jiggle the knob it can cause anxiety.
> The same goes for my car. I've double checked it and then I'll get a block away and have to go back and check it again.
> Another peculiar behavior that I suspect is obsessive but I'm not sure, when I'm shopping in a grocery store and taking items from the shelf, like say milk, yogurt, can of soup, etc, I always have to bypass the items in front to take the second one or the item behind. I never like taking the front item.
> I'm just curious if this behavior in anyway contributes to the DP. Or maybe this is just a separate issue.


I am totally like this sometimes. I think the stress of this can contribute to dp/dr. Just as Anxiety can trigger OCD, and OCD triggers Anxiety which fuels dp/dr, it is all a viscious cycle. The good news about OCD though is that it can quite easily be beaten. Like the above poster said, you can actually fight it and after the initial panic which will fade you might even feel better about yourself. Just my opinion.


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## insaticiable (Feb 23, 2010)

guitarman said:


> Another peculiar behavior that I suspect is obsessive but I'm not sure, when I'm shopping in a grocery store and taking items from the shelf, like say milk, yogurt, can of soup, etc, I always have to bypass the items in front to take the second one or the item behind. I never like taking the front item.
> I'm just curious if this behavior in anyway contributes to the DP. Or maybe this is just a separate issue.


Oh my god, I am the exact same way!! I thought I was the only one who did this. And people thought I was crazy! It's like you feel uneasy about taking the object that's in front, like there's something wrong with it. Hard to explain. Sometimes when I'm picking something out of a box or a pile, like fruit, I'll have to sift through them all and pick the one that ''looks the best'' if that makes any sense at all.

The checking of door/car locks is a common symptom of OCD. It definitely seems that you do have this disorder. The good news is that OCD can be effectively treated just as Inzom pointed out. Fighting the urges will be very difficult, but in time the anxiety from it will fade, and the urge to do that compulsion will lessen more and more. You may want to consult a doctor or therapist about different therapeutic approaches you can take to beat this thing. There's Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Exposure and Prevention Response Therapy, the 4 steps, etc. You may find that once you get the OCD under control, you will begin to experience some relief from the DP.

I've been diagnosed with OCD for 6 years now. My doctor believes that my OCD is largely contributing to the DP, and recently suggested that I go to an Intensive OCD program to work on some of the symptoms I have, which in turn she believes will greatly help reduce or perhaps even diminish the DP. She believes that the accumulated stress and anxiety I have endured from the OCD for many years, has caused me to develop DP. At first, I couldnt find a correlation between DP and OCD, as I thought, ''How could something like OCD make the brain shutdown?" Now though, I am better able to grasp the concept that OCD and DP can be interrelated to one another. They can go hand in hand. I hope you find the help you need to beat this thing.


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## guitarman (Dec 11, 2008)

insaticiable said:


> like you feel uneasy about taking the object that's in front, like there's something wrong with it.


Exactly! It feels like there is something wrong with it. Like its been touched by someone and contaminated. The fact that its the freshest is secondary. Alot of times, like on milk I'll notice its either the same date as the one farther back or a date that I wouldn't worry about expiry.
Another similar trait I have is, that sometimes if I accidentally leave a drink, like a tea or water unattended in another room, when I come back to it I'll dump it. Especially if there are people in the room I don't know. But even sometimes if there is people in the room I know and trust. 
Thanks for all the encouragement and advice everyone. Most times my behavior doesn't cause a lot of anxiety as it actually comforts me to go through these rituals. But I sometimes feel like I'm crazy and I get a little self conscious that someone is observing my behavior and will think I'm crazy.


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## insaticiable (Feb 23, 2010)

guitarman said:


> Most times my behavior doesn't cause a lot of anxiety as it actually comforts me to go through these rituals.


Same here! For example, when I'm washing my hands, I get a little anxious before doing it, but as I'm washing, I get this sense of calmness setting over me. It's like you're doing the behavior to release some steam from how you're feeling. People perform these compulsions (washing hands, checking locks, etc) as a way to relieve the anxiety they feel from their obsessions. When they do it, they feel good...relief. But the thing with OCD nature is, once you perform that compulsion, although it relieves the anxiety at first, you feel like you have to do it over and over and over again. I don't know if this is the case with you.

I also have a similar ritual like yours where you dump out the water from the cup. With me, before I drink water out of a water bottle, I have to fill it up, dump it, then fill it up again. Sounds like we have some similar ritualistic behaviors.


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