Is being a packrat a form of obsessive compulsive disorder? How about a messy ho!
Question:
Answers:
I have OCD and I have studied it extensively since I was diagnosed six years ago. From what I understand, a good number of people have OCD tendencies, but do not have the illness. the way to tell if you have the illness is "In OCD, the obsessions or compulsions are time-consuming (more than 1 hour a day), greatly interfere with your normal routine at work or school, and affect social activities and relationships.
OCD is a very disruptive illness and is different from the inflexible character traits of OCD personality disorder, such as being a perfectionist and being overly conscientious."
Basically, if the intrusive thoughts to keep things, clean the house and being a perfectionist occupies over an hour a day of your time, you may have OCD. OCD is an anxiety disorder. If your house is not clean, do you suffer from extreme anxiety. Are you not able to function and do normal things until the task is completed? Do you do things repetively? Like I have to do things in three's. If I don't do things in three's, I can think of nothing else until I do. I will have thoughts that the world will end, my loved ones will be killed or I will get in a car wreck if I don't do things in three's. It bothers me all day long until I do it. If i touch something I think is germy, I feel like the germs are burning through my skin and I will get sick to my stomach until I scrub it off. Most people I have met with OCD actually don't like cleaning their house. They don't like coming into contact with the germs. But, a lot of people with OCD will clean their houses. It all depends on the person. However, the extreme anxiety is common in almost all people diagnosed with OCD.
the somewhat good news is with medication and therapy, OCD is maintainable. It never goes away, though. It is always a battle, like an addiction. but, you can control the anxiety with medication. I never went through behavior modification treatment, though. But, I did see a therapist weekly for a few years. I am now able to function like most anyone else. I still get the intrusive thoughts, but not usually the anxiety that comes with it. I can fight the intrusive thoughts off for the most part.
If you are still concerned, watch the movie "As Good as it Gets" It is a very accurate portrail of someone with extreme OCD. It is what informed me that i actually had OCD and gave my symptoms a name for me. there are also some very good books out there explaining the illness. I provided a link to Barnes and noble. And check out the site for the OCD foundation.
Other Answers:
Yes, yes and yes.
Yep-it can take a psycologist to fix these things, and even then, people don't always get over it.
yes yes yes
wait, wait, wait, one question at a time, I can't focus on too many things at once, do I A.D.D?
yes to all of the above lol
Answers: