Obsessions change as your life changes???

06-30-2005, 07:06 AM

I have lived with OCD for 11 years now. I have been in and out of treatment (seeking professional help) off and on. I do however remain on medication. I have accepted who I am and I try to cope with my obsessions. I have noticed that within the last 11 years my obsessions have changed. I was 12 when I was diagnosed. My obsessions started with arranging and organizing. Then when I entered high school they went from arranging and organizing to list/note making and organizing my thoughts. Repeative thoughts over and over again. I was terrified I would forget something. I also have this obsession with numbers. I prefer even, although this isn't all that bad. I number my thougts in my head. It helps me remember what I was thinking so that when I had a pen and paper I could record my thoughts. These thoughts usually consist of agenda/to do lists or little reminder notes. When I was a freshman in high school I used to stay up all night and even into the morning completing and checking off my to do lists/agendas. I even wrote out conversations I would have with my friends (like what I wanted to talk about). I didn't understand that it was ok if you didn't complete something on your list and you could complete it the following day. Needless to say I still have the obsessions with writting notes/lists. I try to control it though. I would hate to lose a job because I wrote notes/lists and it effected my job preformance. I have learned it's ok if something doesn't get done...Tomorrow is another day! I still count in my head as a reminder of what I want to write. Like 6. It helps me remember I have 6 things to wirte about. Like the number 6 helps me remember...Oh yeah, thats my shopping list, I have 6 things to shop for. Sounds strange, doesn't it??? I hope I'm not the only one with this obsession. Please give me your input?

Like I have said, "As your life changes so do your obsessions in some degree or another." It can be a good thing!

07-07-2005, 05:00 PM

I think it's true, that you can overcome OCD, and in *some* cases, grow out of it. I've been OCD for as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, I did the humming, picking, touching walls, holding breath, obsessing, germs, blinking and all those common ones. When I got a little older, my issues kind of reverted to depression, but I also had paranoid obsessive thoughts. For example, I thought my mom was reading my journal while I was at school, and the thought made me so sick I had to call her to come pick me up. I also had religious OCD, and was delusional. I thought I was going to hell. Then I got on antidepressants and most of my problems went away. Now that I'm past all of that, I've gone off the antidepressants, and I'm *pretty much* normal (still have a little OCD, but it's not life-altering).

I think I was helped by a few things: the antidepressants, understanding how the brain works, keeping a tight rein on your actions and thoughts and realizing that these issues don't go away without any effort on your part, and just growing up. I think having a healthy, low-stress lifestyle with a good support system is about the most important thing you can try to do.

Oh! The lists! I do that too. I make a grocery list for just a few items as well. I make several lists every day--what to do the next day, all the outfits I will wear for the next week...a few times I've even made lists of what I needed to make lists of..I swear I'm not kidding. But, I am also really scatterbrained so I almost HAVE to do that. I think I have ADD, but then again, it could be my OCD mental-hypochondria. Argh. It never ends!

07-07-2005, 05:12 PM

Definitely in me. However, not in all people. Some OCD-ers will literally be washers or checkers their entire lives. Some people like me though, seem to have changes every few months or years with some basic fears always prevalent. For example, I've never rhythmically counted until this past April. I've also seen an increase in the compulsion to stop at something when it "feels right," and I can spend hours a day on the computer, wasting time, waiting for this. I've always had some obsessional slowness in the form of procrastination, and I hope I can get rid of it before college...

Anyway, five years ago, when my OCD was most severe, I had the most trouble with sexual and aggressive thoughts with some occasional blasphemous thoughts thrown in. Now, the blasphemous thoughts are the daily occurrence, I sometimes have aggressive thoughts, and I almost never have sexual thoughts, other than "What if I'm gay?", which is totally stupid because I've know all my life that I'm straight. But, yes, in some people, obsessions and compulsions change because the disorder tends to wax and wane in severity- especially true for me! LOL!

-GatsbyLuvr1920-

Obsessions change as your life changes???

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