this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2023
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I've OCD, if that counts (not self diagnosed. I've a proper diagnosis from a psychologist and was on prescripted meds for a long time).
Most people think you're just supposed to wash hands too often, or arrange things symmetrically, or just be a cleanliness and symmetry freak in general. But that's far from true.
OCD is of many types. The one where you are a cleanliness freak is also valid if you've it to an extreme level. Unfortunately, I don't have that. I've the less popular one with random "what if" intrusive thoughts that also have their own solid almost traums inducing anxiety to go with them. Fun stuff.
TIL what-if questions result from OCD. I didn't know that. In a sense, they're a part of why I feel helpful prepping people's cues like here all the time.
It's not the "what-if" that's OCD, that's normal. Even hypothesizing about worst case, traumatic, life-altering experiences is normal, healthy human behavior; you should always plan for the worst and hope for the best. It's when it causes you anxiety/distress, and you can't stop thinking about it, and it's so persistent and invasive that you find it hard to function normally that it reaches the level of OCD.
Also, the OCD-level "what-if" often doesn't make logical sense. Ex. people think OCD is "I need to wash my hands all the time", but really it's "if I don't wash my hands, my loved ones could die in a car crash".