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Hi! At this point, I'm just checking back when asked a question. When my life gets less hectic, I'll start browsing to find questions to answer. But please ask; I will answer within 24 hours.

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I'm pretty sure that I have at least borderline obsessive-compulsive disorder, but where symptoms are listed, the requirements are kind of vague. If anyone who knows more about it could give me a hint as to my own state(severity, etc.), I'd appreciate it. I'll list some symptoms. Note that this if going to be rather long, even though I've cut out a lot of detail and examples.



Hand washing - I'm... fairly obsessed... with dirty-ness... if I touch something that I think might be dirty, then I wash my hands before touching anything clean and/or at the first opportunity. A year or so ago I counted myself as washing my hands ninety times in one day, and I'm sure that it's gotten significantly worse since then.

Arrangement - I like to arrange things that I'm looking at neatly. For example, yesterday I had six bittorrent windows open, and I arranged them in a perfect grid; the top left one's top left corner was exactly on the top left corner of the screen, and all the others were exactly aligned with it(no overlap or space whatsoever between edges, corners touching).

Counting - I'll count repetitive noises. Not all of them (not keystrokes, walking footsteps, etc.), but I'll always count stairs-steps and some other noises.

Perfectionism - but only in things I care about. Not really significant, but I've been known to spend hours on a minor detail of a bad drawing.

Paranoia - I worry that people may be watching me, and about hidden cameras and suchlike. I keep all my sensitive(for example, pirated) files in triple-encrypted archives with very long passwords and worry that the government might have a quantum computer, with which such a password could easily be broken.

Random **** - sometimes I'll feel compelled to do something, for example tapping my fingers in a pattern or sequence until I get it exactly right. A minute before I started writing this I selected some icons in an order. Then I worked out on paper how to work the sequence exactly backwards and did so because I needed to balance the select-ing to put my mind to rest.

The symptoms listed in documents (like the DSM) are vague because psychiatry is a fairly new discipline, and it's highly subjective. That doesn't mean that it's not useful. People still were able to determine when to put on a coat before they had reliable and precise outdoor thermometers. :)

Another posted mentioned that it's not a problem till it disrupts your life. Generally, that's correct. However, if you are not happy with yourself or your life because of it, it's still worth looking into.

Mental illness cannot be self-diagnosed. It's the old catch-22 situation (if your well enough to suspect your ill, you can't be that sick). Mental illness also cannot be diagnosed over the internet, even if one of our columnists did happen to qualified psychiatrist.

If your quirks are causing disruption in your life, or if you would like help taking control of them, you need to talk to a psychologist. S/he can refer you to a psychiatrist if the two of you agree that medication in necessary. Medication is not always necessary, and there are many types of therapy available for OCD and similar disorders.

This is getting too long, but if you'd like more information, please ask.

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(Rating: 5) Good points all. Thanks.
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