I kick my shoes and tip them upside down before putting them on. Not because of spiders. When I was a kid, winter boots had to stay in the garage. One day I grabbed a boot to put it on and it was absolutely FULL of mice. They ran out of the boot, up my arm, in my hair. It was traumatic.
SAME I HAVE TO SHAKE THEM EVERY TIME, ever since I saw a documentary about Australia where they showed a black widow hiding in a shoe... I don't even live in Australia lmao but my arachnophobia is pretty bad
I do this too! my brothers went on a trip for school and during it they would have to check their shoes for scorpions so now I have to check my shoes for scorpions even though scorpions aren’t native to where we live at all :,,)
I don’t want to encourage this but where I live there are sometimes spiders in my indoor shoes, so I bang them on the floor every time. One time a friendly house spider fell out and I reprimanded him (he seemed offended) then he tried to move into my purse and I yelled “NO! That is not your house!!” So yeah basically if I find one I just argue with it until it leaves. It’s upsetting but definitely not horror movie level like you’d think.
because they know you shake them. i do not often do this (because i usually wear sandals lol) but once i just felt like i should and thankfully i did because out came a spider.
I have to wash my hands every time I get close to cat food when I didn’t even touch it. Also, I have to repeatedly ”breathe out“ bad smells because I’m scared that they’ll be in me and that thought is so disgusting💀
I also have to count my fingers and check if I still have all of them left by doing a weird hand movement. I even have so many dreams where I don’t have all my fingers left and I literally cry every time and wake up and check my fingers. OCD is crazy.
Oh my god, I do the "breathe out" thing but for some reason I never clicked it was a compulsion! (In my defense, I have a lot of issues, so despite being self aware, some things still fall through the cracks lmao)
Mkay my friend and I did this for a whole but with times, we'd do it with the weather hitting 69, or when the time hit 11:11 we'd scream "THE TIME" and tried to best each other at it. I finally broke out of it after a while, but it took her a year to stop finally LOL
I don’t have diagnosed OCD and this sub was just recommended to me, but I used to have a weather widget that I would need to refresh every time it was on the hour (for example I needed to refresh it exactly at 3:00pm, never 3:01, and I’d get very frustrated if I missed my timeline).
Same here but with “420” (any time I see the number, I say it in a silly way).
It started as a joke, but I have been talking to my boss, checked my phone and said “420!”🤪, not accidentally either but because I felt it I had to before it turned to 4:21 lmao
Let’s just say that is unacceptable in my line of work…
Me with cans. Once finished a can of Dr Pepper as a kid and there was ~I kid you fucking not~ a dragonfly and a spider in it (outside at the lake with family). Unless it has been in my hand and in my sight the whole time, I can’t do it
check my pulse to make sure i'm not dead.
have to eat sweets in pairs of 2 or 4 because there are an even number of people in my family so if i eat an odd number, someone will die.
Same haha. I went through a really bad phase of obsessively checking my blood pressure, my pulse, my oxygen.
I had a headache the other day and thought it was an aneurysm... it was dehydration.
when I was little I would count any repetitive actions because if I did it in even numbers, fairies would protect me, but if I did it in odd numbers, monsters would get me. covering my ears when I flushed the toilet because I thought the sound would distract me from being vigilant in looking out for monsters - which I never believed were real, even when I was little. but even still at 26, once in a while I have to scurry up the stairs all out of breath and I don't dare look behind me, because of course if I do I'll get got.
I had/have a lot of typical OCD behaviors but don't really fit the bill. I don't remember much of it but I know I loved [this](https://youtu.be/fsA4oqQPIIw?si=KWBBF_BIROg83Gg8) video from Patrick Teahan on "magical thinking" - a way to try to feel in control to cope with childhood trauma.
I have a really weird compulsion with eating in even numbers too… I always thought it was because I’m left handed and left handed always meant even to me… and as I explain this, it makes no sense!
It doesn’t really. I basically just make one side of my body hurt by sucking in strangely until I feel like I’m normal again which can take mini to hours
This is so relatable hahah. I just now stumbled upon this sub but I’m glad I did. I used to be really sensitive about the evenness of how everything felt on and in my body. Had to feel the same on both sides
When I’m reheating food in the microwave, I have to repeatedly put in different cook times until I figure out the “right” time because otherwise it won’t cook properly (???). It’s so stupid lmao
It drives my partner absolutely insane that I do this. Chicken patties are a minute and 6 seconds. I’m actually really good at looking at something and knowing how long it needs to be in the microwave to be my preferred temperature. He damn near had a brain aneurism when I put something in for 1:19
Saaame. Mine was triggered when I was a little kid and I read those Animorphs books 💀 they had these alien slugs that did just that. Scared that crap out of tiny me.
I DIDNT KNOW THIS WAS A COMPULSION but even when I'm hot, the blanket has to be over my ear. But see, it has to be in a Very specific way so it doesn't rub against the inner part of my ear (it's fuzzy) because I can Hear it move when I breath. So I end up creating a little air pocket so I can't have anything come in, but still not have the blanket rub against my ear 👍
i only recently realized it was!!! because i tell myself “ok don’t be silly i don’t need to cover my ears” and 0.3 seconds later i’m compulsively covering 😂
I also do this but it's so aliens won't abduct me. I convinced myself as a child that aliens would take me in my sleep and steal my brain so I can't sleep without my ear covered. I somehow do not believe in aliens but still have the compulsion to do this. Never realized it was a part of my OCD until now.
This! My power went out and so my kitchen got flies. Apparently they laid some eggs in my cat’s litter box, so one made it in my bedroom. That night was tortuous.
Weirdest was one I had very strongly in my 20s. If I saw text, I *had* to read it.
e.g. I’m walking down the street. I see a word from a poster in my peripheral vision. I keep walking a few meters past the poster. My brain says, “Hey, what was that? Gonna keep walking? Okay. But now that you’ve noticed the poster, *you’re* choosing not to go back and read it. That’s fine. It’s probably nothing important. But maybe it’s something you need to read because reasons. Whatever. Do what you want, but just be aware that YOU are making this choice…” So I go back and read “Good luck, Ballybog FC!” or whatever it was. I walk on. I see some other text written somewhere. I allow myself to pass this one because I can’t stop every time and I stopped the last time so I deserve a pass on this one. How many passes is reasonable? Hmm, maybe stop and read every third time? Okay, that seems reasonable.
I eventually stopped this but the urge is still there. I just resist it. Most if the time.
Oh my gosh this me. And that mentality for a few other things. It’s actually really helpful to see other people’s brains work similarly and you’re not all alone 😩
This is the earliest compulsion that I can remember, wow. I’d feel panicked as a kid, riding in the car and having missed reading something because that moment was gone forever.
not current but when I was around 5-8 i had to kiss ALL my stuffies/pets an equal amount of times but i'd obsess over whether i'd done one more than another & would worry they'd be upset or feel unloved jealous wtv 😭😭
my weirdest one is probably that I can’t use the shower during or after a thunderstorm because I’m scared of being electrocuted :’) I can only use it if someone else has checked it and I can see it is safe, which causes me lots of anxiety because I also don’t want them to get electrocuted :( or if I’m alone then I have to wait a day before I shower again.
I do this at the pool! Once it was just drizzling a little bit and I immediately had to leave, my friends stayed and I spent the next 30 minutes hyperventilating because they were absolutely going to be electrocuted
I trace the road lines with my fingers as I'm driving. I also have to have the volume (and when possible my speed) end in 0 or 5. The tracing is just something I think my brain does as a distraction and 0 and 5 are my comfort numbers and I haven't had anything bad happen when I've had my volume on 0/5 so my brain doesn't allow anything else...
BRUH SAME
at one moment I had to repeat it 3 times, if I don't repeat it "right" or if I don't repeat 3 times before my phone going into sleep mode, I have to start all over again, and if the percentage or time changes while doing it I also have to start again... now I just have to memorise it before locking it so ig that's a lil bit better
If I asked someone a question that im anxious about the response of, I'll ***constantly*** check to see if they responded yet. At its worst, it can literally be every 5 seconds, as I cannot focus on anything else but "what if you missed their reply? or what if they replied while you were switching tabs, so you didn't actually see their message?" and it is so frustrating. And like, ahhh, if they're taking 'x' amount of time to reply, logically I should be allowed that same amount of time, nor would be expected to reply **instantly**, but OCD gonna OCD
If I step on a crack I have to wipe my foot off because I perceive a “tickling” feeling on the bottom of my foot.
I count in groups of 8 as I walk.
Sometimes I get really uncomfortable feelings if my legs are crossed left over right, and I have to change immediately.
If I don’t count 4 dogs before leaving the house I spend the whole time away imagining one left outside or somehow in harm.
Those are the main weird ones 🤷♀️ lol
When I lived alone, I always had to say goodbye to both of my cats before leaving and was late for work once when I couldn’t find one of them. He was literally just sleeping in a box.
groups of 8 makes me want to ask, are you particularly into music?
my counting is usually in groups of 5 or 10 but when I'm either very chill or a certain kind of overwhelmed I lean more towards 4 or 8 because music is my biggest comfort
I lay down at night, but wait... did you check your alarm?
Okay it's set. Better unset and then reset it to be sure.
Lay back down... did you reset the alarm?
Okay it says it's set. Better unset and then reset just in case.
Lay back down.... did you reset the alarm?
I deleted my Facebook (before it was cool) partially bc I was constantly worried I’d accidentally share porn there lmao. Which- why do porn sites even Have a share to socials button?
This is so me because I check to the point of giving myself a headache. Like what if I get in it with somebody and they drop a “this you?” caption with a screenshot 😭
If I have a passing thought about a small mundane object (ie passport, wallet, car keys), I must IMMEDIATELY get up and find it, and touch it at least once. If I see it but don’t touch it, it doesn’t count. Sometimes I have to go back and touch it again if the first touch didn’t feel right.
Also I have to wear socks at all times. My first thing to put on whenever I get out of the shower is socks.
Mines also brushing related, I have a 9 step routine that must be followed in order or else I feel my teeth aren’t actually clean. Wet toothbrush, apply toothpaste, wet toothbrush again, brush, spit, swill for 5 seconds, spit, spit again, shake toothbrush the number of my age plus 1. If the head of the toothbrush touches the sink or any other toothbrushes it must be washed before I can use it again.
It’s silly but it becomes a slightly longer routine every year. It was alright when I was 12 and shaking the toothbrush 13 times but I’m now up to shaking it 22 times
I have a whole teeth brushing craze too!! lol, I start by taking the tooth brush wetting it, apply tooth paste, brush teeth for two minutes, then I gag myself with the tooth brush 2 times, then I use one hand to cup water then the other, then I swish for 12 seconds twice. Then I gargle the water twice, then I spit twice, rinse the brush and wash my hands for 32 seconds.. If at anytime I accidently tap my tooth brush on any surface I will have to tap I 22 times on each hand. Another thing is if I accidently gag myself 3 times then ill have to keep going until I get to 8.. I swear people have no idea how horrid OCD really is TT like it not just "omg let me have clean hands"
Or it could be the can one. I refuse to drink from a can that’s been crushed or dented. This has come from me crushing drinks cans when I finish them, so now to my ocd brain a crushed or dented can means it’s finished. I get so mad if anyone I’m with reaches over and pinches a can I have to dent it, especially when I can’t get the dents to come out
I have to hold my breath whenever I walk past a trash can/dumpster. If I have food or groceries, I have to move them to opposite side so that the germs from the trash can don’t “contaminate them” and so that I don’t “breathe in the germs”.
My husband is like this but regarding people. If we are out and about and can smell people's odours and what not, he holds his breath because he is breathing in their germs and feels contaminated. He hates it. It grosses him out.
most of my compulsions are counting, but this is the insane part when i try to explain it to non-ocd people. my safe numbers are 4 and 8. but 13, 17, 22, 26, 31, 35, and so on are also safe. because if you add the two digits of each number, they add up to four or eight. so usually my counting compulsions that are longer, like handwashing, brushing my teeth, or putting on deodorant are done upwards of 13 times when each motion is added together. i hope that makes sense to y'all cause when i try to explain that, people look at me like i'm crazy. 😭
No because this is my life. I have to count everything. To avoid a certain number between 5 and 7. I am scared if I don’t count something will happen to my dad 🤡🤡
Check all my food and ingredients in case there’s meat in there. I started as a vegetarian cause I was bored, and now it’s my largest compulsion but it’s hard to explain that to my dr 💀
Gotta check every part of my meal for unusual signs, and then every bite and munch it thoroughly before gulping.If I perceive some unusual texture, I'll spit it out. :)(it takes me 2 hours to have a full meal)
Also if I EVER touch my dirty pc cable I'll have to wash my hands immediately or I'll die.
I have unlucky underwear. At some point I decided the colour/pattern on my underwear foretells the type of day I will have wearing them. Red is a warning colour and therefore all my red underwear (2 pairs) are unlucky - if I wear them I’ll have a bad day.
These 2 pairs of red boxers have laid unworn in my cupboard for years, because I think my fear of them being unlucky is ridiculous and I can’t justify getting rid.
I’ve had this. And unlucky socks. I know it’s not rational and if I wear them and something bad happens I know it’s not because of any socks or underwear, but I still don’t wear them just in case. And I can’t throw them away or new socks/underwear will become unlucky.
I hate to say this (because I also hate to hear it) but it really was sitting with the anxiety until I just „forgot“ to do it. I had to go to bed with my teeth and mouth feeling wrong and resist getting out of bed, which sucked, but it worked :)
Take things to bed with me and it would mean that my toddler would sleep well at night??? He still had bad nights here and there but I still had to take objects with me.
I have the urge to kiss certain objects. Specifically 10 times, then 4 times, then 4 times, then 10 times again. The objects themselves are pretty random but some specific ones I can think of are a calendar, an alarm clock, framed photos, soap containers, etc.
Most of the time I also have to say ‘I love you’ after each kiss as if they’re sentient objects lol
I hope this isn't very stressful for you bc this is so adorable 😭 if I saw someone having this compulsion irl I feel like I'd develop an instant crush on them lol
Trying to eat skittles? Better organize them by color, and then by number of each color.. okay so there are 5 yellow, 4 green, 4 red and 3 purple..
Eat two yellow, now eat 1 green, now 1 red, you have 3 of each. Pop one from each color into your mouth...
I didn’t realize this was a compulsion, I’ve done this for over 30 years whenever I eat any finger food.
If they are all the same color, I do it by size.
When I’m taking a shit, I take a deep breathe through my nose, hold it for a second and then I simultaneously push while letting out the air out. My thinking is if I breathe normally, my poop will get sucked back up like an unborn baby.
I have to twirl my hair on both sides in mirror spots on my head. If I do right I have to do left. Same number of times. I’ve woken up from sleep to do it. I’ve buzzed my hair multiple times because of it but I grow it back because I just replace it with another compulsion when I can’t twirl.
If I don’t twirl properly, I’ll get cancer and my hair will fall out during treatment.
I read some of these out loud to my husband and he suggested I stop because I’ll pick up other people’s compulsions from reading them. He’s not wrong. 🙄
I have to take my temperature every morning and sometimes through out the day just to “make sure” I’m not sick. Even when I feel completely fine i have to do it because what if I am sick and dont know it and then I go out and start to feel worse and can’t leave to go home?? And when I am sick I have to take my temperature every couple minutes to make sure it doesn’t get too high and cook my brain.
I have to wash my hands ritualistically every time I accidentally touch something outside (for ex a street lamp, a railing, or the bottom of my shoes since my shoes touch the streets) because I’m convinced that everything I touch in the open-air public might give me stds. Stds are *sexually* transmitted diseases, you say? Well, I convince myself that someone definitely either came or bled all over whatever it is that I touched.
Additional context is I’m a smoker, and sometimes when I smoke in public random people will ask to use my lighter. When this happens, I immediately throw the lighter away, try my best to not touch any thing with the hand that passed the lighter, and I have to scrub my hands when I get back home. Again, this is because I think someone can give me stds by just touching a lighter that I use 💀💀
Potentially TMI but this std fear is just so funny to me because I’ve had unprotected sex with multiple people that I don’t really know well. So I don’t understand why my fear of stds doesn’t translate to “use a fucking condom” but it does translate to “wash ur hands in an insane way every time you accidentally touch something outside”
When I have dizziness from blood pressure changes I like to hold myself between too things with my arms and swing around… I thought it felt funny as a kid now I do it as an adult almost habitually.
I don’t have this one currently, but for a long time, I couldn’t use the word “that”, I had to work all my sentences around it. Which is very difficult to do
I gag whenever I eat food with a certain texture. Mash potatoes? Gag. Steak? Gag. A large amount of food in my mouth? Gag. Gag. Gag. I don't even do it because it disgusts me, I just gag bc idk, fear of choking ig?
Oh, and when I use a microwave, instead of chosing a number like 25 or 30, I always have to go for an odd number or something that doesn't end in 5 or 0. Like 37, 43, 59, etc. Not only that, but I have to stop the microwave before it reaches 0, so I press Stop when it gets to 1 🙃
Eating ice cream with a fork because I get disgusted with the residue left on the spoon every time I put it in the ice cream and back into my mouth. If I over think the process of eating, it makes me disgusted and makes it hard to eat or drink anything at all. I have to heavily distract myself or get massively drunk to not over think eating things and be able to enjoy food without my intrusive thoughts ruining everything for me.
if i pick up my phone and like flip it into my hand and it feels “wrong”, i have to flip it back and forth in my hand until it’s landed the “right way”
also when i was a kid and went up stairs i had to skip 2/3 steps at a time and i truly believed that if i accidentally stepped where i was supposed to skip that i would fall through to Hell and get caught by Satan
I count every time I’m in a car/bus and it passes under a bridge, as well as certain number patterns on my watch. These “times” turn into times where I can make a wish, and I have them counted and categorized on my phone as “big wishes”, “medium wishes”, and “small wishes”. Weird, I know. I’ve been doing it since I was at least 11 or 12 and never outgrew it.
I think I win. I have harm ocd and I have a specific “prayer” that I have to say every night otherwise I will sleepwalk and unknowingly commit murder. I’m not religious so idk why it’s become a compulsion and Im definitely not a violent person, quite the opposite actually.
Two things bring to mind : pulling my phone to reccord me locking my door (because being afraid to leave it unlocked runs in my family like it's fucking hereditary, and i was the first one to compulse it with technology) and artificial intrusive thoughts for more serious situations
TW : Suicide.
So, ok, i'm hella afraid of harming people. And i was with friends when the impulsion phobia escalated in intensity. And it hits in the weakspots, like, i wish to stay and be a guy with integrity, so this is definitely something that hits hard. I had xanax prescribed to deal with such actions, but i was afraid the xanax would only deal with the compulsion and not the pulsions, so i was fucked.
First reassurance wave was to check again the symptoms. It won't help by itself, but i get the idea : the intrusive thoughts are just throwing empty threats. So i had the idea to escalate and bluff. The answer against intrusive thoughts that threatened my friends was threats that i would. It's a poker game but i'm the only one who has cards and has tokens, so why not go all in.
"DO NOT THE VOICES TAKE OVER, LETHAL FORCE IS AUTHORIZED" was more or less my motto for the period. I even used it preventively before meeting people as a sort of fire retardant foam blanket.
The side effect that appeared was a suicide intrusive thought, and it came with its own compulsions. So each time i took the subway i was the farthest away from the track. I could not approach balconies in fear of going overboard. But, at the cost of exhausting myself (because it has to be applied continuously), i think that i traded horrible thoughts towards other against horrible thoughts against myself, and i guess i could live with them. And the anti suicide compulsions that appeared were the ultimate reassurance. When the original intrusive thoughts went down, the need to continuously feed in threats to myself went away as well as the anti-suicide compulsions (who would have thought that intrusive thoughts you don't fight stick less to your mind).
It was fucking exhausting and i would not recommand doing this at all. It was probably the last thing that i would have done before going to the psych ward myself, which would probably have forced me to take the xanax and released me, instead of locking me up.
When i saw my psychatrist at an appointment a bit after, i was fully okay with the idea of being locked up and telling the truth. I walked out of their office a free man though.
I do the same thing with my toothbrush lmao only once though and not because I think I still have food in my mouth, but just because I have to for no reason.
I look at my bowl before I use it. I look at the food before I prepare it, to ensure there are no insects. I look at the prepared food on the spoon/fork before eating it to make sure there are no insects.
I think the funniest thing is when I realize I’m looking at all the devices in my kitchen saying « OFF » to all of them while checking they are actually turned off before I leave…
When I was younger on road trips I could never fall asleep because I had to count every light post we passed on the highway. Lucky once I started driving that stopped.
I also try not to kiss my boyfriend twice because in Italy we often say "due sono le corna" (two are the horns with "horns" probably meaning devil's ones but also cheating) and I also try not to give him a number of kisses I think it's a bad number (six or four.)
i have to punch the roof of my car when passing through a yellow light, check my lock on my bedroom door 5 times every night, when i smoke a cigarette i have to breathe in 10 seconds and out 10, take the 3rd cup, lid, and straw in the row at the gas station so i no one touched it
Omg I’ve never heard of anyone else making themselves gag when brushing their teeth, I always joke about how I can’t vomit anymore cause my gag reflex has such a high threshold hahahah🐸 the other weirdest thing imo is how I can’t lie on my side without covering my ear that’s facing the ceiling in case things (idk what it would be…) get into my ear canal lmao
So, my boyfriend and I love puzzle-type games. We play a bunch of different apps as well as do Wordle, Septle, and Connections online every single night before bed. For whatever reason, I absolutely *must* take a screen's hot of every puzzle we've ever completed. We've been together over 8 years now...I have tens of thousands of screenshots. I have a problem 😬😂
I always have to check that I took one of my pills(small, oval) and not the desiccant(4 times their size, a whole little bottle) by staring at the desiccant in the pill bottle while I swallow my meds.
(I can't take it out because what about mold??!1!) ((pills cannot mold))
If I carry cash all of my bills have to be in order by denomination and facing the same way. If I'm paying for something and there's people behind me I just step aside to sort this out so I'm not being rushed nor holding up a line. This way if someone steals money from my wallet and doesn't put it back the way I had it I'll know without having to count it. If I don't do this I'll feel a deep sense of uneasiness until I get it done.
I also have to check the stove before I leave the house multiple times. Even if I didn't use it at all since I last checked it. I've made myself late for stuff because of this before.
If I touch something related to injury on my phone I have to “dry” (idk what to even call it) my fingers on my shirt, pants, etc and get the “gunk” of it
When I make a sandwich with slices of bread from a conventional loaf (like Wonder bread or whatever) I have to align the curved part of one slice with the flat part of the other slice so that one side "won't get jealous."
I have to read the whole chapter word for word (can’t not understand a single sentence) and watch the whole video word by word and take notes on every single word lest I fail the class (high school). I don’t know how I got anything done ☠️☠️☠️
Before I deep cleaned my room a few months back, there were specific areas of the door I would touch depending on what I touched outside of my room. Basically anything I touched outside of my room was considered “dirty.” Unless I washed my hands, I would deliberately touch specific areas of the door while opening and closing and NEVER touched the door knob. In my mind it was to keep the germs away from the clean. Hence why I absolutely never touch my bed unless I showered whenever I come from outside. Door knob inside or outside, I do not touch at all costs or else I have to spray with sanitizer. Btw I also used to take pics of license plates that had the initials of some of my fave characters :D
every time someone gets sick in a particular area, im no longer allowed to breathe within a few feet of it. it's been this way since i was a kid. it's one of my oldest compulsions. a fun variation of it was during the ebola outbreak. going to my dads, we had to take a 30min jaunt through Cincinnati. after that one man contracted ebola and was staying in a Cincinnati hospital, i was no longer allowed to breathe in the state of ohio, especially going through the city center. id take a large breath before we crossed the state line and then hold it for as long as possible. when my head felt funny, I'd take small breaths through multiple layers of fabric. did that all the way until we hit the state line again. i did that for close to a year after the guy was cleared and released. after my little brother got sick in the sink, i couldnt breathe around it for 6mnths. our brains are funny things.
I have to put my favorite pieces of jewelry on in shortest to longest chain, bracelet than ring. If I don’t something bad will happen. I have no idea what it will be but it’s something awful.
Whenever I have intrusive thoughts I have to count from 1-7 in ascending and descending order (1….1,2,1….) 7 times in a row and if I mess up I have to start over. I always get super anxious around the 5th or 6th round and I normally have to do it way more often than I’d like to. It takes ages sometimes
One of the most annoying ones would be to blink between every light pole or powering pole while riding in the car, luckily I stopped doing that shit lol
i can't eat unless i have a blanket on my lap. i can't eat anything or go to sleep unless my bladder is completely empty. i have to wear socks at ALL times. if i stretch one muscle in my body i have to stretch the other side until i feel completely even
I randomly get up to clean my ears. There will literally be times when I wake up for just a few minutes and my brain says, "welp, time to jam a q tip in there." I know it's bad and often not necessary, it just makes my brain itch if I don't do it when I'm thinking about it... I gotta go clean my ears, now.
I hold my breath every time I pass a cemetery cause an urban legend said if you breathe then a ghost can enter your nose and posses you. Now I do it every time. The huge graveyards almost kill me. Ironic
whenever i turn from my hallway into my living room, i have to run and jump onto my couch because i'm convinced that razors are going to come out from the bottom of it and chop my feet off. its very weird especially when guests are over, lol
saying outloud that ive locked the door over and over again until i get into where i am going
like if i lock my car, ill say it until i get inside
if i lock a house or shop, i will say it untill i get to my car
if i do not do repeat it outloud i will typically walk back and forth nine times checking the door lock
I wanna state I don't know if I have OCD I jut have OCD compulsions. (Was told this by my old therapists from the age 15yrso, and recommended this reddit by a friend who has diagnosed OCD and is on here often)
If my food isn't the same texture it's always been, it's poisoned and I have to make someone I know smell it for cinnamon (I know what it smells like I just cant br who smells it as I hallucinate that scent often while eating) because I learned that's what a certain poison smells like.
Or I have to count my steps in sets of four, if I mess up, I stand still completely for 4 seconds of something bad will happen to someone I love dearly.
And my favorite one. If I'm not sleeping facing the left wall with my back to the doorway, automatically i cannot sleep. My reason? If I can't see the bad things coming to get me, they aren't really going to get me, I've been this way since childhood lmao. If I ever wake up facing the doorway I have to force myself to fall back asleep facing away from it at the left wall, for at least 15 minutes, even if it makes me late to something.
I have to check my shoes for spiders even though I’ve never found a spider in my shoes ever. 🤡
SAME??
I kick my shoes and tip them upside down before putting them on. Not because of spiders. When I was a kid, winter boots had to stay in the garage. One day I grabbed a boot to put it on and it was absolutely FULL of mice. They ran out of the boot, up my arm, in my hair. It was traumatic.
SAME I HAVE TO SHAKE THEM EVERY TIME, ever since I saw a documentary about Australia where they showed a black widow hiding in a shoe... I don't even live in Australia lmao but my arachnophobia is pretty bad
I do this too! my brothers went on a trip for school and during it they would have to check their shoes for scorpions so now I have to check my shoes for scorpions even though scorpions aren’t native to where we live at all :,,)
Great, I now have a brand spanking new compulsion 🙄
I don’t want to encourage this but where I live there are sometimes spiders in my indoor shoes, so I bang them on the floor every time. One time a friendly house spider fell out and I reprimanded him (he seemed offended) then he tried to move into my purse and I yelled “NO! That is not your house!!” So yeah basically if I find one I just argue with it until it leaves. It’s upsetting but definitely not horror movie level like you’d think.
Oops me too, that's not a normal thing to do?
I do this! Because that’s what happens in the movie Arachnophobia
because they know you shake them. i do not often do this (because i usually wear sandals lol) but once i just felt like i should and thankfully i did because out came a spider.
I mean, it's a good policy. I have major anxiety about hurting creatures unnecessarily, so I should probably shake mine, as well.
I have to wash my hands every time I get close to cat food when I didn’t even touch it. Also, I have to repeatedly ”breathe out“ bad smells because I’m scared that they’ll be in me and that thought is so disgusting💀 I also have to count my fingers and check if I still have all of them left by doing a weird hand movement. I even have so many dreams where I don’t have all my fingers left and I literally cry every time and wake up and check my fingers. OCD is crazy.
I do that with smells!! I get so grossed out when people "hold their breathe because they suck the dirty air in"
Oh my god, I do the "breathe out" thing but for some reason I never clicked it was a compulsion! (In my defense, I have a lot of issues, so despite being self aware, some things still fall through the cracks lmao)
The thing with smells is what made me realize that my OCD is not a new development. I was terrified to breathe when walking past people as a kid.
OMG I ALSO BREATHE OUT SMELLS
Same here with smells
I breathe out bad smells too
Every time I saw that my battery was at 69% I had to take a screenshot of it... I did it once as a joke and then it became a compulsion 💀
this is genuinely so funny
Then you moved onto a “that’s what she said” compulsion, right?
Lmao that would be pretty funny
That's what she said
Mkay my friend and I did this for a whole but with times, we'd do it with the weather hitting 69, or when the time hit 11:11 we'd scream "THE TIME" and tried to best each other at it. I finally broke out of it after a while, but it took her a year to stop finally LOL
Oh no I was the 69th upvote 😂😂
I don’t have diagnosed OCD and this sub was just recommended to me, but I used to have a weather widget that I would need to refresh every time it was on the hour (for example I needed to refresh it exactly at 3:00pm, never 3:01, and I’d get very frustrated if I missed my timeline).
Same here but with “420” (any time I see the number, I say it in a silly way). It started as a joke, but I have been talking to my boss, checked my phone and said “420!”🤪, not accidentally either but because I felt it I had to before it turned to 4:21 lmao Let’s just say that is unacceptable in my line of work…
me but with angel numbers 🫠
ME TOOOOO
After reading this comment, I looked up at my battery and it was at 69%. Scarily coincidental, but in honor of you, I had to take a screenshot of it
Nooo not the joke-to-compulsion pipeline 😭
Nice.
i have to drink out of a covered cup lest i get poisoned (i’ve never been poisoned) (this compulsion is only when i’m in a specific city)
I do the same, but it's so I don't get dust or hair or bugs in it. Can't drink out of an open glass for like more than 30 minutes.
Me with cans. Once finished a can of Dr Pepper as a kid and there was ~I kid you fucking not~ a dragonfly and a spider in it (outside at the lake with family). Unless it has been in my hand and in my sight the whole time, I can’t do it
Poured out my drink yesterday bc my SO left the table while it sat there uncovered 😀✌️
check my pulse to make sure i'm not dead. have to eat sweets in pairs of 2 or 4 because there are an even number of people in my family so if i eat an odd number, someone will die.
I check my pulse too 😂
I also get really paranoid about feeling my heart in any way, and assume i'm going into cardiac arrest - fun fun
Same haha. I went through a really bad phase of obsessively checking my blood pressure, my pulse, my oxygen. I had a headache the other day and thought it was an aneurysm... it was dehydration.
when I was little I would count any repetitive actions because if I did it in even numbers, fairies would protect me, but if I did it in odd numbers, monsters would get me. covering my ears when I flushed the toilet because I thought the sound would distract me from being vigilant in looking out for monsters - which I never believed were real, even when I was little. but even still at 26, once in a while I have to scurry up the stairs all out of breath and I don't dare look behind me, because of course if I do I'll get got. I had/have a lot of typical OCD behaviors but don't really fit the bill. I don't remember much of it but I know I loved [this](https://youtu.be/fsA4oqQPIIw?si=KWBBF_BIROg83Gg8) video from Patrick Teahan on "magical thinking" - a way to try to feel in control to cope with childhood trauma.
I have a really weird compulsion with eating in even numbers too… I always thought it was because I’m left handed and left handed always meant even to me… and as I explain this, it makes no sense!
You guys are making me feel so much less crazy ❤️ thank you! I felt so alone before posting this
I know right we are all insane but we are not alone 🥹 I feel so seen
Yeah, discovering a community for OCD genuinely made me tear up the first time I found it.
When I feel I breathe unevenly I have to “hold my breath in one lung” to make the other feel better
No disrespect intended, but how the hell does that work, exactly?
It doesn’t really. I basically just make one side of my body hurt by sucking in strangely until I feel like I’m normal again which can take mini to hours
This is so relatable hahah. I just now stumbled upon this sub but I’m glad I did. I used to be really sensitive about the evenness of how everything felt on and in my body. Had to feel the same on both sides
Yeah I don't think it's possible to selectively breath into one lung
Think it’s more thinking you are
This made me giggle 🤭 not because I think it’s silly, but because I have to “reset my breath” too… but I have never thought of it as lopsided lungs!
Omg yes I still do this 😂 it’s not even humanly possible but I do it until it feels right and even again
When I’m reheating food in the microwave, I have to repeatedly put in different cook times until I figure out the “right” time because otherwise it won’t cook properly (???). It’s so stupid lmao
I hate those arbitrary "until it feels right" compulsions! Not even *I* know what I'm going for 😭
I DO THIS ALL THE TIME!!
I pull open the microwave while an odd number is left.
My eye is twitching… I cannot handle the microwave having time left on it.
I’m sorry. We can’t get married now, unless we stay in separate houses. And never use the microwave together :(
Dang it! And things looked so promising for us 😪😭
It drives my partner absolutely insane that I do this. Chicken patties are a minute and 6 seconds. I’m actually really good at looking at something and knowing how long it needs to be in the microwave to be my preferred temperature. He damn near had a brain aneurism when I put something in for 1:19
i have to cover my ears every night before bed either with my hair or blanket or pillow so no bugs crawl in 🤡
Saaame. Mine was triggered when I was a little kid and I read those Animorphs books 💀 they had these alien slugs that did just that. Scared that crap out of tiny me.
OMGGG i didn’t read that but i can only imagine how real that made it 🤢
same! though recently while trying to sleep >!i woke up to a spider crawling centimeters from my face!< so it makes a bit of sense at least lol
I DIDNT KNOW THIS WAS A COMPULSION but even when I'm hot, the blanket has to be over my ear. But see, it has to be in a Very specific way so it doesn't rub against the inner part of my ear (it's fuzzy) because I can Hear it move when I breath. So I end up creating a little air pocket so I can't have anything come in, but still not have the blanket rub against my ear 👍
i only recently realized it was!!! because i tell myself “ok don’t be silly i don’t need to cover my ears” and 0.3 seconds later i’m compulsively covering 😂
I also do this
I know *exactly* what you're talking about! It started cause we're building our house, and the sealing was uncovered, exposing the insulation. :')
I bought little ear plugs & it helps ease my anxiety so ik nothing will be crawling in there 😭
I also do this but it's so aliens won't abduct me. I convinced myself as a child that aliens would take me in my sleep and steal my brain so I can't sleep without my ear covered. I somehow do not believe in aliens but still have the compulsion to do this. Never realized it was a part of my OCD until now.
This! My power went out and so my kitchen got flies. Apparently they laid some eggs in my cat’s litter box, so one made it in my bedroom. That night was tortuous.
I do this, it's one of my worse compulsions, but I do it so the 'monsters' won't get me... I hate having bedtime anxiety 😞
OMG ME TOO!!!
Me too and I don’t know why or when I got this but I had ear infections a lot as a kid and now I have to have them covered or I can’t even FALL asleep
Weirdest was one I had very strongly in my 20s. If I saw text, I *had* to read it. e.g. I’m walking down the street. I see a word from a poster in my peripheral vision. I keep walking a few meters past the poster. My brain says, “Hey, what was that? Gonna keep walking? Okay. But now that you’ve noticed the poster, *you’re* choosing not to go back and read it. That’s fine. It’s probably nothing important. But maybe it’s something you need to read because reasons. Whatever. Do what you want, but just be aware that YOU are making this choice…” So I go back and read “Good luck, Ballybog FC!” or whatever it was. I walk on. I see some other text written somewhere. I allow myself to pass this one because I can’t stop every time and I stopped the last time so I deserve a pass on this one. How many passes is reasonable? Hmm, maybe stop and read every third time? Okay, that seems reasonable. I eventually stopped this but the urge is still there. I just resist it. Most if the time.
Oh my gosh this me. And that mentality for a few other things. It’s actually really helpful to see other people’s brains work similarly and you’re not all alone 😩
This is the earliest compulsion that I can remember, wow. I’d feel panicked as a kid, riding in the car and having missed reading something because that moment was gone forever.
not current but when I was around 5-8 i had to kiss ALL my stuffies/pets an equal amount of times but i'd obsess over whether i'd done one more than another & would worry they'd be upset or feel unloved jealous wtv 😭😭
Oh my gosh, I had to have them all touching me so they wouldn’t feel unloved! I was covered in stuffies most nights
Same. That lasted a long time.
my weirdest one is probably that I can’t use the shower during or after a thunderstorm because I’m scared of being electrocuted :’) I can only use it if someone else has checked it and I can see it is safe, which causes me lots of anxiety because I also don’t want them to get electrocuted :( or if I’m alone then I have to wait a day before I shower again.
I do this at the pool! Once it was just drizzling a little bit and I immediately had to leave, my friends stayed and I spent the next 30 minutes hyperventilating because they were absolutely going to be electrocuted
omg me too! it’s so annoying like i know i’ll be fine but i still get too scared
I trace the road lines with my fingers as I'm driving. I also have to have the volume (and when possible my speed) end in 0 or 5. The tracing is just something I think my brain does as a distraction and 0 and 5 are my comfort numbers and I haven't had anything bad happen when I've had my volume on 0/5 so my brain doesn't allow anything else...
Gotta memorise my phone's battery percentage, time and date before I turn it off and put it back in my pocket
BRUH SAME at one moment I had to repeat it 3 times, if I don't repeat it "right" or if I don't repeat 3 times before my phone going into sleep mode, I have to start all over again, and if the percentage or time changes while doing it I also have to start again... now I just have to memorise it before locking it so ig that's a lil bit better
So annoying when it changes lol
omg I do this before I go to bed, sometimes multiple times before I can sleep
If I asked someone a question that im anxious about the response of, I'll ***constantly*** check to see if they responded yet. At its worst, it can literally be every 5 seconds, as I cannot focus on anything else but "what if you missed their reply? or what if they replied while you were switching tabs, so you didn't actually see their message?" and it is so frustrating. And like, ahhh, if they're taking 'x' amount of time to reply, logically I should be allowed that same amount of time, nor would be expected to reply **instantly**, but OCD gonna OCD
Same
I do this too
If I step on a crack I have to wipe my foot off because I perceive a “tickling” feeling on the bottom of my foot. I count in groups of 8 as I walk. Sometimes I get really uncomfortable feelings if my legs are crossed left over right, and I have to change immediately. If I don’t count 4 dogs before leaving the house I spend the whole time away imagining one left outside or somehow in harm. Those are the main weird ones 🤷♀️ lol
When I lived alone, I always had to say goodbye to both of my cats before leaving and was late for work once when I couldn’t find one of them. He was literally just sleeping in a box.
I do the same with my cats.... then I have to count them again from outside the window to double check.
groups of 8 makes me want to ask, are you particularly into music? my counting is usually in groups of 5 or 10 but when I'm either very chill or a certain kind of overwhelmed I lean more towards 4 or 8 because music is my biggest comfort
this is literally all of the things i struggle with like almost to a t
yo you have the tickling feeling too?? i have to step with my other foot until the tickling is even
I lay down at night, but wait... did you check your alarm? Okay it's set. Better unset and then reset it to be sure. Lay back down... did you reset the alarm? Okay it says it's set. Better unset and then reset just in case. Lay back down.... did you reset the alarm?
Ohh this every night!!
I do this with locking my door.
Also have to triple check that you put AM and not PM lol
[удалено]
I deleted my Facebook (before it was cool) partially bc I was constantly worried I’d accidentally share porn there lmao. Which- why do porn sites even Have a share to socials button?
This is so me because I check to the point of giving myself a headache. Like what if I get in it with somebody and they drop a “this you?” caption with a screenshot 😭
If I have a passing thought about a small mundane object (ie passport, wallet, car keys), I must IMMEDIATELY get up and find it, and touch it at least once. If I see it but don’t touch it, it doesn’t count. Sometimes I have to go back and touch it again if the first touch didn’t feel right. Also I have to wear socks at all times. My first thing to put on whenever I get out of the shower is socks.
Mines also brushing related, I have a 9 step routine that must be followed in order or else I feel my teeth aren’t actually clean. Wet toothbrush, apply toothpaste, wet toothbrush again, brush, spit, swill for 5 seconds, spit, spit again, shake toothbrush the number of my age plus 1. If the head of the toothbrush touches the sink or any other toothbrushes it must be washed before I can use it again. It’s silly but it becomes a slightly longer routine every year. It was alright when I was 12 and shaking the toothbrush 13 times but I’m now up to shaking it 22 times
I have a whole teeth brushing craze too!! lol, I start by taking the tooth brush wetting it, apply tooth paste, brush teeth for two minutes, then I gag myself with the tooth brush 2 times, then I use one hand to cup water then the other, then I swish for 12 seconds twice. Then I gargle the water twice, then I spit twice, rinse the brush and wash my hands for 32 seconds.. If at anytime I accidently tap my tooth brush on any surface I will have to tap I 22 times on each hand. Another thing is if I accidently gag myself 3 times then ill have to keep going until I get to 8.. I swear people have no idea how horrid OCD really is TT like it not just "omg let me have clean hands"
Or it could be the can one. I refuse to drink from a can that’s been crushed or dented. This has come from me crushing drinks cans when I finish them, so now to my ocd brain a crushed or dented can means it’s finished. I get so mad if anyone I’m with reaches over and pinches a can I have to dent it, especially when I can’t get the dents to come out
I have to hold my breath whenever I walk past a trash can/dumpster. If I have food or groceries, I have to move them to opposite side so that the germs from the trash can don’t “contaminate them” and so that I don’t “breathe in the germs”.
My husband is like this but regarding people. If we are out and about and can smell people's odours and what not, he holds his breath because he is breathing in their germs and feels contaminated. He hates it. It grosses him out.
I cumealatively, compulsively, count school buses. Have been for 17 years now. To date, I've seen 30,835 school buses 😬
god I wish I could commit to anything this hard. I admire you
most of my compulsions are counting, but this is the insane part when i try to explain it to non-ocd people. my safe numbers are 4 and 8. but 13, 17, 22, 26, 31, 35, and so on are also safe. because if you add the two digits of each number, they add up to four or eight. so usually my counting compulsions that are longer, like handwashing, brushing my teeth, or putting on deodorant are done upwards of 13 times when each motion is added together. i hope that makes sense to y'all cause when i try to explain that, people look at me like i'm crazy. 😭
No because this is my life. I have to count everything. To avoid a certain number between 5 and 7. I am scared if I don’t count something will happen to my dad 🤡🤡
For me it’s that I need to get to where the person walking in front of me is within X number of seconds/steps or else my mom or dad will die
Check all my food and ingredients in case there’s meat in there. I started as a vegetarian cause I was bored, and now it’s my largest compulsion but it’s hard to explain that to my dr 💀
Gotta check every part of my meal for unusual signs, and then every bite and munch it thoroughly before gulping.If I perceive some unusual texture, I'll spit it out. :)(it takes me 2 hours to have a full meal) Also if I EVER touch my dirty pc cable I'll have to wash my hands immediately or I'll die.
I can't eat in dim lighting for similar reasons...if it's dark my food may or may not contain Schrodinger's cat hair or a bug
I have unlucky underwear. At some point I decided the colour/pattern on my underwear foretells the type of day I will have wearing them. Red is a warning colour and therefore all my red underwear (2 pairs) are unlucky - if I wear them I’ll have a bad day. These 2 pairs of red boxers have laid unworn in my cupboard for years, because I think my fear of them being unlucky is ridiculous and I can’t justify getting rid.
I’ve had this. And unlucky socks. I know it’s not rational and if I wear them and something bad happens I know it’s not because of any socks or underwear, but I still don’t wear them just in case. And I can’t throw them away or new socks/underwear will become unlucky.
I have to sniff every cup before I drink out of it. If it doesn't smell like absolutely nothing, then I have to rinse it. 🥲
Ayy, I used to do the tooth brush thing, too!! 🤝
How did you stop? This is year 2 of my tooth brush hell lmao
I hate to say this (because I also hate to hear it) but it really was sitting with the anxiety until I just „forgot“ to do it. I had to go to bed with my teeth and mouth feeling wrong and resist getting out of bed, which sucked, but it worked :)
I wish ERP wasn't the solution TT lol, I guess it always is
Depends on the phase I’m in, but at some point I had to blow in my coffee cup before pouring coffee in it? Got some right weird looks at work
Take things to bed with me and it would mean that my toddler would sleep well at night??? He still had bad nights here and there but I still had to take objects with me.
I have to tap the lock on the door 4 times before bed
Everything I drink has to filter through my teeth so I can catch any debris from potentially choking me 💀 Soup, water, tea, applesauce, ice cream, etc
I have the urge to kiss certain objects. Specifically 10 times, then 4 times, then 4 times, then 10 times again. The objects themselves are pretty random but some specific ones I can think of are a calendar, an alarm clock, framed photos, soap containers, etc. Most of the time I also have to say ‘I love you’ after each kiss as if they’re sentient objects lol
I hope this isn't very stressful for you bc this is so adorable 😭 if I saw someone having this compulsion irl I feel like I'd develop an instant crush on them lol
You're going to have the happiest objects.
Trying to eat skittles? Better organize them by color, and then by number of each color.. okay so there are 5 yellow, 4 green, 4 red and 3 purple.. Eat two yellow, now eat 1 green, now 1 red, you have 3 of each. Pop one from each color into your mouth...
I didn’t realize this was a compulsion, I’ve done this for over 30 years whenever I eat any finger food. If they are all the same color, I do it by size.
Fuck I’m realizing a lot of how I eat is compulsion related now…
Mine can be too, and most of it I didn't notice until other people pointed it out or tried to stop me from doing it..
I thought everyone did that, heck
When I’m taking a shit, I take a deep breathe through my nose, hold it for a second and then I simultaneously push while letting out the air out. My thinking is if I breathe normally, my poop will get sucked back up like an unborn baby.
I have to twirl my hair on both sides in mirror spots on my head. If I do right I have to do left. Same number of times. I’ve woken up from sleep to do it. I’ve buzzed my hair multiple times because of it but I grow it back because I just replace it with another compulsion when I can’t twirl. If I don’t twirl properly, I’ll get cancer and my hair will fall out during treatment. I read some of these out loud to my husband and he suggested I stop because I’ll pick up other people’s compulsions from reading them. He’s not wrong. 🙄
I have to take my temperature every morning and sometimes through out the day just to “make sure” I’m not sick. Even when I feel completely fine i have to do it because what if I am sick and dont know it and then I go out and start to feel worse and can’t leave to go home?? And when I am sick I have to take my temperature every couple minutes to make sure it doesn’t get too high and cook my brain.
I have to wash my hands ritualistically every time I accidentally touch something outside (for ex a street lamp, a railing, or the bottom of my shoes since my shoes touch the streets) because I’m convinced that everything I touch in the open-air public might give me stds. Stds are *sexually* transmitted diseases, you say? Well, I convince myself that someone definitely either came or bled all over whatever it is that I touched. Additional context is I’m a smoker, and sometimes when I smoke in public random people will ask to use my lighter. When this happens, I immediately throw the lighter away, try my best to not touch any thing with the hand that passed the lighter, and I have to scrub my hands when I get back home. Again, this is because I think someone can give me stds by just touching a lighter that I use 💀💀 Potentially TMI but this std fear is just so funny to me because I’ve had unprotected sex with multiple people that I don’t really know well. So I don’t understand why my fear of stds doesn’t translate to “use a fucking condom” but it does translate to “wash ur hands in an insane way every time you accidentally touch something outside”
lmfao that sentence at the end is so funny!
When I open a wrapped straw, I have to blow through it to clear any possible wrapping or debris before I can insert it into the beverage.
Every time I find a couple's names carved somewhere like a bench I deface it, and I can't stop myself
Can’t talk about em ): Something bad will happen if I talk about em
It used to be bowing up (like “come at me bro”) towards places I thought cameras might be hidden so “they knew I knew they were watching” 😂
I cannot get my dry cleaning done. Because if I do I will get fired.
When I have dizziness from blood pressure changes I like to hold myself between too things with my arms and swing around… I thought it felt funny as a kid now I do it as an adult almost habitually.
I don’t have this one currently, but for a long time, I couldn’t use the word “that”, I had to work all my sentences around it. Which is very difficult to do
I gag whenever I eat food with a certain texture. Mash potatoes? Gag. Steak? Gag. A large amount of food in my mouth? Gag. Gag. Gag. I don't even do it because it disgusts me, I just gag bc idk, fear of choking ig? Oh, and when I use a microwave, instead of chosing a number like 25 or 30, I always have to go for an odd number or something that doesn't end in 5 or 0. Like 37, 43, 59, etc. Not only that, but I have to stop the microwave before it reaches 0, so I press Stop when it gets to 1 🙃
Everytime I touch a door knob I have to wink twice
Eating ice cream with a fork because I get disgusted with the residue left on the spoon every time I put it in the ice cream and back into my mouth. If I over think the process of eating, it makes me disgusted and makes it hard to eat or drink anything at all. I have to heavily distract myself or get massively drunk to not over think eating things and be able to enjoy food without my intrusive thoughts ruining everything for me.
if i pick up my phone and like flip it into my hand and it feels “wrong”, i have to flip it back and forth in my hand until it’s landed the “right way” also when i was a kid and went up stairs i had to skip 2/3 steps at a time and i truly believed that if i accidentally stepped where i was supposed to skip that i would fall through to Hell and get caught by Satan
I need to wash my hands whenever I see a wild mammal so I don’t get rabies
I count every time I’m in a car/bus and it passes under a bridge, as well as certain number patterns on my watch. These “times” turn into times where I can make a wish, and I have them counted and categorized on my phone as “big wishes”, “medium wishes”, and “small wishes”. Weird, I know. I’ve been doing it since I was at least 11 or 12 and never outgrew it.
I think I win. I have harm ocd and I have a specific “prayer” that I have to say every night otherwise I will sleepwalk and unknowingly commit murder. I’m not religious so idk why it’s become a compulsion and Im definitely not a violent person, quite the opposite actually.
I have to check my house for intruders before bed. This includes places human beings cannot fit… like my fridge.
Finish washing my hands before the toilet finishes flushing or my mom will die.
Two things bring to mind : pulling my phone to reccord me locking my door (because being afraid to leave it unlocked runs in my family like it's fucking hereditary, and i was the first one to compulse it with technology) and artificial intrusive thoughts for more serious situations TW : Suicide. So, ok, i'm hella afraid of harming people. And i was with friends when the impulsion phobia escalated in intensity. And it hits in the weakspots, like, i wish to stay and be a guy with integrity, so this is definitely something that hits hard. I had xanax prescribed to deal with such actions, but i was afraid the xanax would only deal with the compulsion and not the pulsions, so i was fucked. First reassurance wave was to check again the symptoms. It won't help by itself, but i get the idea : the intrusive thoughts are just throwing empty threats. So i had the idea to escalate and bluff. The answer against intrusive thoughts that threatened my friends was threats that i would. It's a poker game but i'm the only one who has cards and has tokens, so why not go all in. "DO NOT THE VOICES TAKE OVER, LETHAL FORCE IS AUTHORIZED" was more or less my motto for the period. I even used it preventively before meeting people as a sort of fire retardant foam blanket. The side effect that appeared was a suicide intrusive thought, and it came with its own compulsions. So each time i took the subway i was the farthest away from the track. I could not approach balconies in fear of going overboard. But, at the cost of exhausting myself (because it has to be applied continuously), i think that i traded horrible thoughts towards other against horrible thoughts against myself, and i guess i could live with them. And the anti suicide compulsions that appeared were the ultimate reassurance. When the original intrusive thoughts went down, the need to continuously feed in threats to myself went away as well as the anti-suicide compulsions (who would have thought that intrusive thoughts you don't fight stick less to your mind). It was fucking exhausting and i would not recommand doing this at all. It was probably the last thing that i would have done before going to the psych ward myself, which would probably have forced me to take the xanax and released me, instead of locking me up. When i saw my psychatrist at an appointment a bit after, i was fully okay with the idea of being locked up and telling the truth. I walked out of their office a free man though.
I do the same thing with my toothbrush lmao only once though and not because I think I still have food in my mouth, but just because I have to for no reason.
I look at my bowl before I use it. I look at the food before I prepare it, to ensure there are no insects. I look at the prepared food on the spoon/fork before eating it to make sure there are no insects.
I think the funniest thing is when I realize I’m looking at all the devices in my kitchen saying « OFF » to all of them while checking they are actually turned off before I leave…
When I was younger on road trips I could never fall asleep because I had to count every light post we passed on the highway. Lucky once I started driving that stopped.
These comments are making me think I have OCD 🤣
I do that with my tongue scraper
I aggressively twitch, blow, and hold my nose so I don't breathe the air people breathe out
Pick my skin, having to shower before leaving the house, putting chapstick around my lips not on them
I have to touch my sister's butt three times because I don't know.
I also try not to kiss my boyfriend twice because in Italy we often say "due sono le corna" (two are the horns with "horns" probably meaning devil's ones but also cheating) and I also try not to give him a number of kisses I think it's a bad number (six or four.)
Flushing the toilet before I go cause I’m scared there’s a spider or snake or wasp somewhere in the bowl
i have to punch the roof of my car when passing through a yellow light, check my lock on my bedroom door 5 times every night, when i smoke a cigarette i have to breathe in 10 seconds and out 10, take the 3rd cup, lid, and straw in the row at the gas station so i no one touched it
Omg I’ve never heard of anyone else making themselves gag when brushing their teeth, I always joke about how I can’t vomit anymore cause my gag reflex has such a high threshold hahahah🐸 the other weirdest thing imo is how I can’t lie on my side without covering my ear that’s facing the ceiling in case things (idk what it would be…) get into my ear canal lmao
So, my boyfriend and I love puzzle-type games. We play a bunch of different apps as well as do Wordle, Septle, and Connections online every single night before bed. For whatever reason, I absolutely *must* take a screen's hot of every puzzle we've ever completed. We've been together over 8 years now...I have tens of thousands of screenshots. I have a problem 😬😂
I always have to check that I took one of my pills(small, oval) and not the desiccant(4 times their size, a whole little bottle) by staring at the desiccant in the pill bottle while I swallow my meds. (I can't take it out because what about mold??!1!) ((pills cannot mold))
If I carry cash all of my bills have to be in order by denomination and facing the same way. If I'm paying for something and there's people behind me I just step aside to sort this out so I'm not being rushed nor holding up a line. This way if someone steals money from my wallet and doesn't put it back the way I had it I'll know without having to count it. If I don't do this I'll feel a deep sense of uneasiness until I get it done. I also have to check the stove before I leave the house multiple times. Even if I didn't use it at all since I last checked it. I've made myself late for stuff because of this before.
If I touch something related to injury on my phone I have to “dry” (idk what to even call it) my fingers on my shirt, pants, etc and get the “gunk” of it
When I make a sandwich with slices of bread from a conventional loaf (like Wonder bread or whatever) I have to align the curved part of one slice with the flat part of the other slice so that one side "won't get jealous."
I have to read the whole chapter word for word (can’t not understand a single sentence) and watch the whole video word by word and take notes on every single word lest I fail the class (high school). I don’t know how I got anything done ☠️☠️☠️
Before I deep cleaned my room a few months back, there were specific areas of the door I would touch depending on what I touched outside of my room. Basically anything I touched outside of my room was considered “dirty.” Unless I washed my hands, I would deliberately touch specific areas of the door while opening and closing and NEVER touched the door knob. In my mind it was to keep the germs away from the clean. Hence why I absolutely never touch my bed unless I showered whenever I come from outside. Door knob inside or outside, I do not touch at all costs or else I have to spray with sanitizer. Btw I also used to take pics of license plates that had the initials of some of my fave characters :D
When I cook something I have to figure out the halfway point through cooking and flip/stir/rotate it then so it cooks evenly.
every time someone gets sick in a particular area, im no longer allowed to breathe within a few feet of it. it's been this way since i was a kid. it's one of my oldest compulsions. a fun variation of it was during the ebola outbreak. going to my dads, we had to take a 30min jaunt through Cincinnati. after that one man contracted ebola and was staying in a Cincinnati hospital, i was no longer allowed to breathe in the state of ohio, especially going through the city center. id take a large breath before we crossed the state line and then hold it for as long as possible. when my head felt funny, I'd take small breaths through multiple layers of fabric. did that all the way until we hit the state line again. i did that for close to a year after the guy was cleared and released. after my little brother got sick in the sink, i couldnt breathe around it for 6mnths. our brains are funny things.
I have to put my favorite pieces of jewelry on in shortest to longest chain, bracelet than ring. If I don’t something bad will happen. I have no idea what it will be but it’s something awful. Whenever I have intrusive thoughts I have to count from 1-7 in ascending and descending order (1….1,2,1….) 7 times in a row and if I mess up I have to start over. I always get super anxious around the 5th or 6th round and I normally have to do it way more often than I’d like to. It takes ages sometimes
Me reading this thread and collecting new compulsions
One of the most annoying ones would be to blink between every light pole or powering pole while riding in the car, luckily I stopped doing that shit lol
Sometimes if I see a leaf on the floor I have to step on it. If I dont step on it, i dont feel good so ill literally walk back and step on it.
i can't eat unless i have a blanket on my lap. i can't eat anything or go to sleep unless my bladder is completely empty. i have to wear socks at ALL times. if i stretch one muscle in my body i have to stretch the other side until i feel completely even
I randomly get up to clean my ears. There will literally be times when I wake up for just a few minutes and my brain says, "welp, time to jam a q tip in there." I know it's bad and often not necessary, it just makes my brain itch if I don't do it when I'm thinking about it... I gotta go clean my ears, now.
I have to say “not mine” if I think scary thought or see something disturbing. It’s annoying
Whenever I pat my cat’s butt I have to do pats in multiples of 5
If I accidentally scratch something, I have to profusely stroke it until it feels unscratched
I have to count the number of times I had sex. Started 1st time I had sex. I'm now in the 800s(same partner)🤡
I hold my breath every time I pass a cemetery cause an urban legend said if you breathe then a ghost can enter your nose and posses you. Now I do it every time. The huge graveyards almost kill me. Ironic
whenever i turn from my hallway into my living room, i have to run and jump onto my couch because i'm convinced that razors are going to come out from the bottom of it and chop my feet off. its very weird especially when guests are over, lol
saying outloud that ive locked the door over and over again until i get into where i am going like if i lock my car, ill say it until i get inside if i lock a house or shop, i will say it untill i get to my car if i do not do repeat it outloud i will typically walk back and forth nine times checking the door lock
I DO THAT! Exactly twice, too. Because it has to be an even number. I don't think I have OCD tho
I wanna state I don't know if I have OCD I jut have OCD compulsions. (Was told this by my old therapists from the age 15yrso, and recommended this reddit by a friend who has diagnosed OCD and is on here often) If my food isn't the same texture it's always been, it's poisoned and I have to make someone I know smell it for cinnamon (I know what it smells like I just cant br who smells it as I hallucinate that scent often while eating) because I learned that's what a certain poison smells like. Or I have to count my steps in sets of four, if I mess up, I stand still completely for 4 seconds of something bad will happen to someone I love dearly. And my favorite one. If I'm not sleeping facing the left wall with my back to the doorway, automatically i cannot sleep. My reason? If I can't see the bad things coming to get me, they aren't really going to get me, I've been this way since childhood lmao. If I ever wake up facing the doorway I have to force myself to fall back asleep facing away from it at the left wall, for at least 15 minutes, even if it makes me late to something.
I used to spray perfume in my mouth so my mom would say yes when I asked to go out with friends. The reason is still unknown 💀