Obsessive Compulsions and me

Written on 30th Oct 2013 by Alex Lowery

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A lot of people with autism have Obsessive Compulsions, and certain things that irritate them, that don’t irritate other people. There are some that have these Compulsions severe enough to meet the diagnostic criteria for OCD. I don’t believe I have OCD, but I still have some traits. There are certain things that I feel as though I need to do. I’m going to be speaking about how these compulsions effect me.

I find that when it comes to shelving things like Books or DVD’s , I always want to have them all the right way. I don’t want any of the DVD boxes being upside down. I don’t even like the disks in the boxes to be upside down. If they’re not the right way up then  that’ll really irritate me! I also like them all to be in sets. If there’s a series of films, or books that are in the wrong order (especially if it’s in someone else’s house) I’ll feel like I want to put them right. I’m even like this to a lesser extent with tins and bottles. When I clean the  bathroom, I try to have all the bottles facing the right way. If I go into the Kitchen and see tins upside down, I’ll put them the right way as well.

I don’t like to see things twisted unless they’re supposed to be. If I see someone putting a handbag over  their shoulder and there’s a twist in it, that’ll really irritate me. I’ll feel like I want to fix it. Yesterday, I saw my mum’s shoe had a twist in it and I asked her to put it right. I find that I don’t always notice if the twist is on me. However, I will still check and make sure there aren’t any twists on me. Even when I do up my seat belt, there’s sometimes a twist and it can be hard to get rid of it, but I try anyway.

The way a person eats can irritate me as well. I hate it when I see chips being cut up. At one point I would refuse to eat any broken chip. When I see people cutting up chips with their knife, it actually makes me feel sick! I know that it makes no sense at all, because chips end up broken anyway in your mouth, but you can’t see it in the mouth, so it’s not quite the same as looking at it. However, other people don’t seem to have a problem with it at all. If anything, cutting chips is considered the more polite way of eating them.

 

There are also certain things that I feel like I need to do. Sometimes I write words that I’ve just heard or thought about. However, I don’t write them with a pen and paper. I write them with parts of my body in the air. When I start to write a word in this way, I can’t just stop writing it. I feel like I need to complete it or else, it won’t feel right. Not only this, but if I make a mistake with the word I write, then I’ll get an imaginary rubber and rub out the mistake.

Obsessive Compulssions are something that a lot of people have to deal with, but some cases are worse than others. Stuey Jones told me about some of his Compulsions. He explained, “Cleaning – repeatedly washing my hands or wiping household surfaces for hours on end. Checking – repeatedly questioning whether my lights switches are turned off, or appliances are unplugged. Arranging – needing cutlery or furniture ordered in a certain way.”

Now the question is are these Obsessive Compulsions good or bad? Well, I know that for a lot of people with OCD, it can be very hard to handle. It can really take over one’s life!  But as far as I know, I don’t have OCD, and for me personally (I can’t speak for everyone) I don’t altogether view them as a bad thing. Sure, these compulsions can cause distraction, but some of the compulsions mean that I have a good attention to detail. Some of them aren’t positive, for example: my hatred of seeing chips being cut up.

But I don’t view my need for wanting things the right way (with DVDs or whatever) as a bad thing. When I like things perfect, it means that when I’m given a task that I’m able to do, I’d likely complete it better than others. This is true of many who have autism. A person with autism’s attention to detail can really be an advantage.

People sometimes tell me that I’m picky when it comes to DVD’s and such like, but the fact is: I think I’m just picky in a different way from other people. There are rules from other people that I don’t get. I don’t get why there’s a set way of  holding a knife and fork. I think, does it matter? I’m just picky over things that others aren’t and vice-verser.

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