How does your OCD present?

my OCD is triggered by anxiety related to body image and perfectionism. it manifests specifically as body focused repetitive behaviors related to my hair—bordering on trichotilomania. since I was in elementary school I would compulsively fix my hair and makeup throughout the day: running my finger through it to feel for unruly pieces, scratching and wetting it with water or saliva to smooth it. I was consistently late for school and work because I couldn’t stop straightening, hairspraying and bobby-pinning until I had a breakdown and refused to leave the house. It got worse for a while in college and now is getting better. I’ve never taken medication for it but therapy (and time alone during the pandemic) has helped me stop using heat and hairspray, and finally grow my hair past my shoulders (i used to keep it cut short because the feeling of hair touching my face, neck or shoulders drives me crazy.) I also was able to get my eyebrows tattooed which allowed me to stop plucking and applying makeup for hours each day. But even with these improvements, I’ve noticed a new tendency of pulling out flyaways and unruly hairs, sometimes strategically and sometimes unconsciously. I’m fortunate that I don’t have bald spots because my hair is so thick, and I’ve never felt the urge to pull my eyelashes. I only pick at them when I’m wearing mascara because I can feel them poking my eyes. the hardest part is that I fear people see me as conceited or in love with my own appearance when really it’s the opposite.

everything for me has to be in a very specific place or oriented a certain way and if it moves or is messed with, i hyperfocus on it and get really anxious until i’m able to fix it- even worse when i can’t. living with other people makes it especially difficult

I have to count to 4 whenever I put something down, double check everything, and I have a tic with my bracelet and necklace as well to make sure it’s on and it’s there

I got diagnosed with severe ocd at 7 lol and it’s only gotten worse. I scalp pick, I have to do certain things a certain number of times, do stuff till it feels right / or till it’s the same as the other side, I had to do things left then right, I have this weird thing with my eyes and pointy objects, it’s hard to explain but if something is pointy I have to look at it with the very right corner of my right eye. I also have really bad sensory issues all around as well (idk if that’s ocd) Wow that’s alot …

That sounds so so familiar! Touching or moving a certain way until it feels “right”. I never knew that was OCD…. Same with number compulsions! I’m almost never not counting. Holy shmoly you learn new things on the daily 😱 thanks dude!

Mine has to do with touching things a certain number of times, taking a certain number of steps, eating a certain number of pieces of food, basically lots of number compulsions. Though sometimes instead of focusing on avoiding or achieving a certain number, I will just have to touch something until it feels “right.” All of my compulsions stemmed from my emetophobia (fear of throwing up), so my thinking would be variations of this every single time, “you have to touch this lamp 18 times or you will throw up tonight for sure.”

Needing to be clean 24/7, InTrUsIvE tHoUgHtS, organizing my workspace a lot, hand washing, INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS, weird tics

Intrusive thoughts and I’m constantly smelling dishes and counters or clothes to double check I didn’t leave behind chemicals or cleaners that might “poison”me

one of my more visible compulsions is obsessive hand washing. i wash my hands 35+ times a day because i cannot function unless they’re clean. they’re constantly bleeding due to such. certain items always have to be in their proper places, i have to flicker lights twice when turning them off, and i always must skip the final stair while going down a staircase.

I’ve had a lot of obsessions but one of my worst ones is that someone is in my house, watching. My main ritual is stabbing my bed and sticking my hand in the hole I made to feel the bed spring. I also typically would sleep with some kind of knife or sharp object, and if I didn’t have that next to me as I slept, I would stay up until sunrise. For some reason my obsessions and rituals tend to be somewhat episodic, though.

I make lists. Sometimes when it’s really bad I will made lists of lists of lists. It’s my way of trying to make order out of chaos and try to control what is going on. I also try to fold and organize everything from clothes to towels so that it will fit and look cohesive in it’s cabinet or shelf. I feel like when I start certain things I need to complete them entirely before I can move on to something else. Like a chore or a task, something I’ve been wanting to do, a creative endeavor, etc.

Contamination

Mainly magical thinking for me!! I stopped taking one of my meds (not an OCD med) for like a year and a half bc my brain decided that taking it would make me severely sick. I’m back on it now thankfully, but goddamn it really messed me up for a while

At first it was over things that disgusted me or were scary, then after a while of bad therapy I now have compulsions responding to my OCD telling me the ones who traumatized me were just and my pain was not. Because any form of human flaw means I deserved it. So moral OCD touched by PTSD. Every now and then it picks up a new subtype like harm OCD and just right OCD. Those are easier for me to deal with as Ive done some ERP. Humor helps.

Obsessive thought about the same thing over and, day after day.

i have pure o so i don’t have a lot of compulsions but i get very obsessive over my relationships with others. if someone seems upset with me i can’t let it go until i know we’re okay.

Before meds, it was mostly rumination about whether my actions were moral or ethical. LOTS of asking for reassurance. When I was a kid, I also had some harm themes and would repeat the same task until it was "right". In high school, I would compulsively stay awake at night afraid a family member would sexually assault me in my sleep.

Mental compulsions like ruminating, mental review, body checking, etc.

Picking at skin and intensifying my rejection sensitive dysphoria

Before I started taking my medication I was constantly scratching up my skin, to the point where I now I have scars and my hands and forearm. Now that I’m on medication, I mainly just have a bedtime routine that I have to carry out, as well as closing doors and placing things in their correct places, also sidewalks are tricky because of the cracks and if I step with one foot I have to go back and step with the other to make it even

Before I start cooking, all the spices and cooking utensils must be in a specific order. If anyone changes this order I need to clean and organize my entire kitchen. It makes the cooking process very long.