How do you stop being obssessive compulsive...........?!
Question: When I was younger, I used to have a habit of touching everything thrice. It stopped as I got older. But one thing never changed, that is I have the need to be perfect. I have like, 4 notebooks to write down my homework. When it's not neat, I just start a new one and rewrite everything. As I entered highschool, I started to pick at my face and scalp. Umm.. is it obssessive compulsive or something else?
Answers: When I was younger, I used to have a habit of touching everything thrice. It stopped as I got older. But one thing never changed, that is I have the need to be perfect. I have like, 4 notebooks to write down my homework. When it's not neat, I just start a new one and rewrite everything. As I entered highschool, I started to pick at my face and scalp. Umm.. is it obssessive compulsive or something else?
You can't just stop. It's a long process. When you notice that you're picking at your face, just pull your hand away. When something is not perfect, instead of starting all over completely, use white out or erase it.
When you realize you're doing something you don't want yourself to do, say out loud that you shouldn't be doing it, remind yourself that you don't want to do it.
I compulsively rip off scabs and when I notice I'm doing, I stop and out loud, I say, "Stop it, Carrie, it's only going to get worse if you keep messing with it."
You can't really do that in school, but outside, it helps a lot. Also, try writing down the list of things that you do compulsively. Put those in order from the one that isn't so bad to the worse. Start with the smallest one and work your way down the list. If you want, keep rewriting it so you don't loose track of what you're doing or what you want.
Yahoo answers is not the place for treating mental illness.
Sounds like you're displaying some signs of bi-polar. You should really see a psych professional w/ some of this stuff. I had some pretty sever OCD issues when I was younger, including a routine of scratching my face in particular order (rt of nose, lft of nose, below nose, rt of mouth, lft of mouth, below mouth) I did this so many times a day that there were scabs in those areas. I'll be honest, properly prescribed prescription drugs helped a lot & as I got older, I could decrease the drugs & learn to control these issues more myself & I managed to control most of them. That's not to say I'm not still anal about a lot of things, but not to the OCD degree.
As for hitting yourself, that's not good. Better than cutting, but rooted in the same emotional vein. & who's this friend that you're so worred about dissapointing to the point where you'd hurt yourself. Would he/she do the same for you? In the end, you have only yourself to account for and to live for; so try to live for yourself for a little while.
The best thing that helped me out of my OCD was kids. Before I was pregnant I obsessed about how my house looked, how I looked, how my car looked, ect ect ect. I couldn't stand to have someone move something of clean for me because it wasn't done by ME and so it wasn't clean or straight or symetrical. When I had may first daughter and she started and was a stay home mom for a while I slowly found out that I did not have time to be so OCD over every little thing. She needed my constant attention. My second came along and it was a little easier to say "Stop and breath, it will get done just not right now and it doesn't have to be perfect" I am still a little OCD about somethings but after having kids in and out and a husband that works out of town 3 weeks out of a month you sort of learn to "pick your battles" so to speak. LOL
you have a form of ocd called trichotillomania:this is in the ocd spectrum. thats when you pull hair or pick at skin and scalp obsessively.if i were to get deeper with you about your symptoms i could tell you if you have ocd also. the touching 3 times thing signals ocd. symptoms of ocd wax and wane but ocd cannot be cured. thats why i suspect you may have more symptoms you have not mentioned here. email me please if you have any other questions that may be able to help you.