Stress Center Peer Support

i used to have it bad. i still have it a little bit but not bad like i used to. i would have to do weird things all the time to "prevent bad things" from happening. like for instance i was unable to step on a crack in the floor beecausei was afraid i would break my mothers back. i would have to lick my floor before i went to school or something bad might happen. when i would go to work i would have to spit 7 times in order for me not to have a panic attack at work. it was really weird becasue when i had a thought about doing something i would have to do it so everything would be ok. can anyone relate?

Of course we can.
I used to have it bad too. I used to count almost everything. Did it for years and years. When I was at work, before the age of dinosaurs , and way before modern technology gave us better equipment, I'd count the time it took to develop my students' x-rays and whatever number I'd land on, that would be the age I'd be when I'd stop existing on this earth. And then, after a few years, I'd go on to worry about what on earth my kids would do without me.
Bizarre, Huh? Well, I figured it out after all these years.
My counting started as a response to some claustrophobia and complete darkness fears. I was distracting myself. Then it just became a habit. Not a very good one either.
So anyway, I'll bet you could get some really nifty stories from quite a few of us with our past and present ocd habits.
It's a habit that we can get under control. Lots of us have.

Hugs and God bless