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Are Compulsions Contagious?


Jinxsta

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....ok let me explain myself..... went out with my step-mum (well ex step-mum) a few days ago and she was telling me about her boyfriends OCD features, and they were ones that i have heard of before... but since she said them, i've found myself doing them too standing-up, sitting down,standing-up, sitting down, until it feel "right" and stepping off the kerb up down up down...... also my pre-exsisting ones seem to have got worse or more frequent and prominent should i say....doing more things in threes.... has my OCD latched on to it, or am i getting myself at it? I know ive picked up more germ obsessions from others but thats because they have said things ive never thought about before like wearing clothes from the shop newley bought, they now have to be washed first in case someone dirty tried them on... but to pick up compulsions is that possible?

XxXxXx

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I'm no expert, but i think it is very possible. If somebody has OCD compulsions I think is is very likely that another person will pick them up simply because of the nature of OCD. My bf has it so i have read up on it-but as i say, i'm no expert from reading a couple of books and articles on the internet.

I have very mild OCD but my sister and my mum are more severe. I find myself copying some of the stuff they do. For example, the dishwasher has to be loaded exactly right, all the mugs facing the same way and only one fork allowed in each compartment. Nobody can make my sister a cup of tea, because only she can do it right-all in the right order, and i have become that way with my coffee. If someone makes it i still drink it, but its not right-if that makes sense, even if it tastes identicle.

Sorry i don't have any real answers for you or any proper advise.

Ruthie

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It isn't contagious, and if it was you would have to be in the same room as the other person. It can run in families and that would be because children see their parents with OCD and they end up doing the same.

It is more than likely that your OCD has latched on to these *new things* and that is why you are now doing them.

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Hi Ruthie and Sioux,

Thanks for ur replies, it is hereditory and my mum blaintenly has it but undiagnosed and also 4 out of 7 of my aunts and uncles.... i see OCD as a monster, separate from me so i feel like the monster takes advantage and says like "haha, now im gonna use that one on u!".... i been out tonight to the pub to watch my team lose (again)...and was soooo ocd, everything lined up, fag breaks on 20min intervals... had to use the toilet with my already weird ways (not touching the handles, taps, locks toilet seat etc, all elbows and cuffs) then when i washed my hand i noticed lots of dust on the sink...went to walk out and i couldnt, had to go back and clean the sink with tissue and handwash...then i was like WTF??????...get out of here.

Oh i got my things with tea and coffee too...have to have two coffees one tea in the morn but if someone else makes one, it dont count...coz of course they dont do it "right".

XxXxXx

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Sioux, although i said yes, i hope you didn't mean i though 'contageous' as such.

I mean its easy yo pick up on other people's behaviours. I hope you didn't misunderstand what i meant

Ruthie

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NO, sterotypies, that occur as part of OCD, or any other repetetive behaviour affect people who are predisposed to act in certain ways in response to certain stimuli that might cause anxiety, stress, boredom or not being able to perform natural behaviour due to restraint or incorrect stimuli and environment.

studies have shown that it is to do with the disregulation of the basal ganglia.

So although, you may have behaved in a way that mimicked what you had seen, you needed to be predisposed to this type of behaviour in the first place. that is why some will do it and others willl not.

Animals have these predisposed behaviour stereotypies too.

best wishes

Saffron

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Hi Saffron,

So basically coz i already have ocd, and carry out simular compulsions... these others were already in me, but have come to the fore front because of stress or boredom?

XxXxXx

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Hi

could be, I beleive Its a coping mechanism.

I know Ive generalised it a bit but it does make sense to me. and I am not trying to make it sound invalide or something simple to deal with as I am sure it is not.

but, Do you find that you are worse when in times of stress or boredom? the theory is that if you improve these contributing factors, or take them away, then the adverse coping mechanisms that some display are also improved or stopped. :) (sorry if that makes it sound like im saying its easy, no offense or patronising meant) it is said also that trying to just stop a coping mechanism by physical means when the underlying cause is still there will make the problem much worse.

Saffron

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