Posted on 08/01/2005 7:39:59 PM PDT by The Other Harry
While I am on the subject of health, I'll try this.
I compulsively count everything I do. I count the stairs, even though I already how many there are. I count the dishes when I put them into or take them out of the dishwasher.
Everything.
Any of you amateur or professional psychologists care to comment on this?
Order me off this thread please before I involve someone.
hey MONK..is that you ?
I won't order you anywhere. You must do what you think is best. The man needs help.
I tracked him... I see he either seriously needs serious help, or he has a wicked sense of humor. I'll ask questions in the morning.
Take two aspirins & call me in the morning.
Usually when I'm bored, if I see a series of numbers I feel compelled to add them quickly in my head and find the average, over and over again. I epsecially like to do this with three digit numbers. And I can't stand seeing chaotic piles of crap lying about (which makes me think of Ted Kennedy and Michael Moore). Everything should be in its own tidy stack. I've been known to tidy up a host's coffee tabIe during a visit and not really be conscious of it. It mildly annoys me that my wife always puts my shirts on hangers buttons-right; I want them buttons-left. Truly inconsequential and silly stuff.
My youngest brother is a cleanliness freak and his pet obsession involves eating. His face starts twitching and grimacing like Chief Inspector Dreyfuss's (Pink Panther) when he hears people eating noisily, so my other brother and I have been known to nonchalantly but quite intentionally to chew, spit, and smack saltine crackers and peanut butter, and slurp water in his presence until he catches on. It's great fun.
But then we believe our mother suffered from an undiagnosed mild case of Tourette's syndrome (throat clearing) . She kept a spotless, squared away house and we knew if we shifted the kitchen clock 1/32nd of an inch off perfect center, she'd make a beeline for it and tap it back perfect, usually without breaking the stream of conversation she was engaged in at the time. Life in our family was rarely dull.
But I'm not truly obsessed, and I can turn it off and easily ignore it once I'm aware of it.
There has been a lot of recent work into cognitive therapy as a means of overcoming OCD. As I understand it, the "secret" is to develop a habit of resisting the urge and to find something to distract your attention over and over again until the pathways in the brain rewire themselves.
OMG so do I. I hate it when things end up odd. If I'm counting words, and it's only a few of them...I count the numbers of the letters instead of the words.
I know about this.
I think I saw this on a "Cheers" episode once, when they got Kevin McHale counting the bolts in the floorboards at Boston Garden.
Yeah, you're nuts. It's called obsessive compulsive disorder. Get professional help.
Thats funny. Ketchup is my problem. I will throw-up if I smell it. I've been like this since I was a kid.
Ain't it sad trussell? ;o)
Nope...I don't agree it's sad, I think it's cute!! such a wonderful couple...obviously in love! I neglected to ping you to my last comment, please check out post #25.
Keep up the cute! I thoroughly enjoy the thought that maybe, somewhere out there, there may be another for me! You two give me hope that someday I may find him!
Simple. You are nuts. ;-)
How sweet! You made my day trussell :-)
My father in law has undiagnosed OCD, and most likely, he also has Tourettes (no spontaneous cursing, he just has a tic where his shoulder twitches when he gets nervous). He frequently takes his wallet out and counts his money, and one of his more prominent obsessions is that he dates EVERYTHING. He will even write the date of purchase on the inside band of his underwear! And it's guaranteed that somewhere on his shoes, he'll have a date on them. I've actually adopted some of this, in that I will place the date of purchase on major appliances, but don't date any of my clothes or other inconsequential items.
"I hate it when things end up odd"
I do that as well. I tend to count letters in sentences to see if they add up to an amount divisible by four. I don't do this often, only when I'm bored and a sentence someone says sticks in my head. This seemed to start when I started taking typing in high school. But it never got disruptive or in the way of my life. That's where men came in! lol
These kinds of small tics are completely normal as long as they don't run your life.
Is getting onto FR and seeing what bizarre vanity TOH has posted considered a weird tic? Should I seek help? Freepers, you make the call.
Tourettes is one of the more interesting conditions. I'm pretty sure I have at least a mild version of it myself.
It's very difficult to get a handle on.
I make me with OCD, depression, and Tourettes. The latter is the most difficult to figure out.
The booze is there also, but that isn't all that interesting.
J'ever notice you never see any nuns with Tourette's?
Why is that?
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