Can a person with OCD "overcompensate"?

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jc6chan
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10 Jan 2012, 6:44 pm

What I mean by "overcompensate" is that in an attempt to get themselves to "think rationally" or "ignore the irrational thoughts" they go too far?

For example, would a person who washes their hands all day suddenly become an unhygienic person because they "went too far"? They might be thinking "oops I dropped this food on this dirty floor, but I'll ignore that, I might be too paranoid about eating dirty food, so let me eat it anyway."

Or they get crap on their hands and they think to themselves "don't worry about it. If I start worrying, I'm going to obsess over having clean hands again."



bucephalus
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10 Jan 2012, 7:37 pm

yeah, i reckon that happens


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Moseley
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10 Jan 2012, 7:45 pm

Eating food of the floor wouldn't be rational or hygienic, so that doesn't satisfy either condition.
So no.


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IdahoRose
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10 Jan 2012, 7:54 pm

That's more or less where I am with my OCD. It may or may not have anything to do with the heavy medications I'm on. I'm not so extreme that I eat food off the floor or not wash my hands after using the restroom, but I usually don't care about washing my hands before eating food.

My bedroom is an absolute mess 99% of the time. There's usually food crumbs, dirty clothes, half-finished drawings, notes to myself, and stuff I hoard strewn all around me. Sometimes I even have to make a path from my computer desk to the door just to get in and out of my room.

Sometimes when I do something gross like picking my nose or popping a zit, I think, "Hmm, I wonder what kinds of germs I just got on my hands? Will it make me sick? Will it make somebody else sick?" and then I don't care. Sometimes I even wipe it on my clothes or somewhere else, just to see if somebody else picks up the germs.

I went from spending most of my waking hours trying to protect myself and others from germs to becoming a living biohazard. I'm a horrible person. :(



jmnixon95
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10 Jan 2012, 8:13 pm

That's not how I am; my OCD obsessions are terrifying to me.
I guess some people can be that way, though.



jc6chan
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10 Jan 2012, 8:43 pm

IdahoRose wrote:
I went from spending most of my waking hours trying to protect myself and others from germs to becoming a living biohazard. I'm a horrible person. :(


Relax. In terms of germs and bacteria, a lot of the time its all psychological. For example, a smooth toilet seat in a public washroom has less germs than if you put toilet paper on it, since the SMOOTH toliet seat can't hold as much germs, while toilet paper is really porous.



nick007
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10 Jan 2012, 10:54 pm

I'm not sure if this is overcompensating but I tend to avoid doing certain task because I know it will take me forever due to OCD. Like I never dust my room because I know that I will worry about getting it perfect which is impossible so it's easier not to start


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jc6chan
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11 Jan 2012, 8:41 am

nick007 wrote:
I'm not sure if this is overcompensating but I tend to avoid doing certain task because I know it will take me forever due to OCD. Like I never dust my room because I know that I will worry about getting it perfect which is impossible so it's easier not to start

I guess thats a form of overcompensating.