Yeah, it's one of the main features of OCD. It turns out a focus on keeping things extraordinarily neat and orderly is actually a feature of Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder, or OCPD. People with OCD have bizarre (or non-bizarre) thoughts that "get stuck" in their minds and they cannot get rid of them. The way our friend explained it to us is that the brain misfires and has intense panic moments for no apparent reason, and seamlessly, the brain searches for some reason it's having this strong panic reaction. When there's no rational reason, hey, those cool supernatural things that everyone's fascinated with will do! Or hey, death! Some OCD sufferers get stuck on the idea that they're actually pedophiles or rapists when they're absolutely no such thing. Our friend told us that at this point, people start doing various rituals to get rid of the thoughts, and when they naturally and eventually come down from the panic, then they misattribute the end of the panic to the given ritual's effectiveness. So every time they panic, they do the ritual, and if that one doesn't seem to work, they find another one, and that strengthens the panic-response cycle, and around and around we go. And then also apparently people with OCD attach a great deal of significance to things too, resulting in hoarding.
It's just terrifying to me to hear these things coming out of her little mouth. It's really like entering the Twilight Zone. And it's weird too, for me, because my dad DEFINITELY has OCD. He has dozens of little rituals he performs daily, he hoards, he has to ask the same question somewhere about 5-6 times to calm his anxiety over any new situation... but I only ever experienced my dad's OCD from the outside, where I observed the behavior and understood his need to perform his rituals. It was always just Dad being Dad and it was fine, even endearing, that he had to have the same red, plastic cup in the same place by the sink every day, and he had to fill it with soda exactly half-way and take exactly 14 sips every time. But he never, ever shared the thoughts that drove him to do these things. Which I really appreciate right now.
no subject
It's just terrifying to me to hear these things coming out of her little mouth. It's really like entering the Twilight Zone. And it's weird too, for me, because my dad DEFINITELY has OCD. He has dozens of little rituals he performs daily, he hoards, he has to ask the same question somewhere about 5-6 times to calm his anxiety over any new situation... but I only ever experienced my dad's OCD from the outside, where I observed the behavior and understood his need to perform his rituals. It was always just Dad being Dad and it was fine, even endearing, that he had to have the same red, plastic cup in the same place by the sink every day, and he had to fill it with soda exactly half-way and take exactly 14 sips every time. But he never, ever shared the thoughts that drove him to do these things. Which I really appreciate right now.