humm well I have ocd and the handwashing is a fairly recent thing. I repeat things over and over and I have obsessions about numbers, like if I do things a certain number of times then it's safe and stuff...and i can't do anything an odd number of times or i freak out a bit, and I compulsively count stuff. I have this thing on msn which is really irritating where there has to be an even number of smily facies on the page. Its pretty stressful. I organise things in alphabetical order, colour code things and arrange stuff at right angles. I won't eat anything blue or more recently purple. Words and numbers and days of the week and musical notes/scales have their own colours, and so do people. I have to have my keys with me all the time, and i went through a phase of carrying a holepunch around. I spend so much time turning off plug sockets...which i think is down to the obsession that someone will get electrocuted :/
I get a bit paranoid...like i start hearing stuff and seeing things out of the corner of my eye if I'm anxious, and the rituals make me feel safe, its a bit of a safety net when other stuff gets bad as well...like i'll retreat into carrying out these little rituals. Usually I just switch off if I can't find a solution to the problem, and i sort of float as a way of coping with it. I don't know anyone else who does that though :S
|