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Many healthy people carry out daily rituals consisting of different tasks that they otherwise might forget, such as checking doors and windows are locked, appliances are turned off or the house is left tidy before going out and most people consider this as routine. But for people with OCD these rituals spiral out of control to the extent they might be late for work or they end up going to bed later than expected because they are repeating and/or checking these tasks about 100 times due to an obsession. The types of OCD symptoms can vary from person to person. Here is a combination of the following traits.
Touching Repeatedly
Touching Repeatedly
Touching furniture and walls before sitting down; touching things a certain number of times; touching things in special patterns; touching things constantly or touching things out of the ordinary. Those whose condition includes these symptoms can be seen to do one or more of the following:
Moving in a symmetrical or special way - Looking and glancing at something in a special way - Moving in special ways while carrying out certain activities - Having to step in a special way or on special spots when walking - Reversing your movements - Repeating certain activities (i.e. sitting down, getting up) a special number of times or until you feel just right - Touching, moving or handling possessions a certain way before using them.
Washing Hands Repeatedly
Spending unnecessary amount of time washing your hands again and again. Do you think about all the dirty things you touched earlier that day? Washers and Cleaners have an irrational fear of contamination. They compulsively avoid potential contaminants. They have obsessions concerning contamination by germs, dirt and viruses. They live their daily lives with the constant thought of becoming contaminated or contaminating other people. Washers and Cleaners will often wash and clean their hands, clothes and houses innumerable times a day, though they never feel safe or clean from contamination.
Counting Repeatedly/Numbers
Counting anything and everything such as how many steps you're walking. If you miss a number because you got interrupted, you go mad and get stressed, and have to go back and count all over again. Do you count your fingers a number of times, do you feel you have to buy certain things in two's or three's when you’re out shopping?
Superstitious/Always Having Doubts
Do you keep having doubts about things all the time? Do you constantly repeat the same questions again and again to people until they get sick and tired of you? Do you repeatedly use phrases like: what if, should I, or maybe not, what if I did it this way? Some people have superstitious beliefs or doubts about walking down a specific road as they feel something might go horribly wrong, or always want reassurance from someone to make them feel better, maybe you want reassurance that you said or did something correctly. In most cases it doesn't matter how much reassurance a person gives them, they still won't feel satisfied or comfortable.
Perhaps you have a fear of saying/thinking certain words, numbers or colours because you feel they may be associated with being negative. For example, the colour red being danger or unlucky numbers like 13 and 666. Maybe you don't like to associate anything to do with these because they represent unpleasant thoughts or they may have negative consequences if you do so.
Hoarding
Hoarding
Hoarding has been linked with several psychological disorders, it is most commonly related to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Most people with OCD have a compulsion to hoard things which results in them keeping large volumes of items that otherwise are considered excessive or worthless. It involves the acquisition of and fear to throw away accumulated items that appear to be useless or of limited value.
People who are known as having a problem with hoarding tend to be rather older than other OCD sufferers though most specify that their hoarding behaviour started when they were at a young age. Subsequently the average age of onset for these symptoms is unknown.
The obsessional fear related with hoarding is the importance of something that might be lost by departure such as an out-of-date newspaper. The most commonly saved items include newspapers, magazines, clothing, bags, mail and books they believe may be needed in the future. Obsessive hoarders don't just save stuff, but they regularly buy or obtain new stuff.
Hoarding is always accompanied by excessive acquisition of possessions. This may consist of both compulsive buying as well as the compulsive acquisition of free stuff. For instance, a sufferer may visit the local newsagents daily to get hold of going spare magazines or newspapers. Often, sufferers are unable to abstain from buying bargains, even though they have no use for them. Other forms of compulsive acquisition include picking up handouts, leaflets or other free offerings, and even picking through other people's rubbish.
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