About Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Obsessions with Symmetry in OCD

Reasons behind concerns about symmetry:

• Magical Thinking
• Dysfunctional Protecting
• Need to Feel Right

Some people with OCD have obsessions surrounding the way objects are arranged. These people may feel very uncomfortable when confronted with situations where objects are misaligned or in disarray. On a related note, some people may be made uncomfortable when something does not appear perfect. They may not be able to tolerate having written something where the letters may be shaped imperfectly. The corresponding compulsions would be ordering and arranging or compulsive corrections. When movies attempt to portray OCD, they often throw in seemingly random behaviors. But it is important for outsiders to remember that even if the OCDer is doing something that appears random, or just crazy, that is never the case. There is always some base reason, even if it seems illogical or magical.

It's Not Just Personality

People with symmetry concerns may be more likely to have other anxiety disorders or obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. People with this type of OCD typically have an earlier age of onset and are are more likely to have close family members with OCD. It is important to note that while OCPD and OCD appear to have some superficial similarities in concerns, the key difference is that those with OCPD are not stressed or bothered by their thoughts, and cannot even really be called obsessions. Whereas a person with symmetry concerns is caused great distress by their obsessions. This is called for OCD ego-dystonic (OCD obsessions are not considered reasonable, and are foreign and unwelcome) versus ego-syntonic (the thoughts are seen as reasonable and part of ones self). So, to an outsider they may appear similar, or even affect a family member or friend in the same way, but OCD always causes the sufferer more distress than even the most traumatized family member.

Magical Thinking

Individuals with obsessions about symmetry and exactness may also have magical thinking associated with their concerns. For example, they may worry that their mother will have an accident unless things are in just the right place. Since the OCD thoughts are almost always ego-dystonic, the person realizes these thoughts are ridiculous. But OCD really is the great "what if" disease, so the obsession may hear the word blind and obsess that if someone doesn’t say "you're not blind" four times they will go blind. They realize that this is ridiculous, but the person usually thinks "I might as well just in case." But by giving into the obsession, it is then fed, and comes back more frequently and stronger. What was once just a simple "what if" becomes hundreds of magical obsessions that then lead to compulsions, which start to take more and more time. This is the progressive snowball effect of OCD.

Dysfunctional Protecting

People with most forms of OCD are usually doing compulsions in response to their obsessions to protect themselves or those around them. It feels ridiculous to arrange something just perfectly so a family member doesn't get cancer, but the OCDer is usually so caring and worried that they don't want to be the cause by just being lazy. It could even go through their mind that it is some magical karma for not caring enough.

Needs to Feel Right

In other cases, the need for symmetry may just "feel right" and not be accompanied by magical thinking (e.g., just makes the person uncomfortable). For instance, a person may scratch one side of their face, but then the other side will feel weird until scratched the same way for the same amount of time. Some people without OCD may have a preference for symmetry, but the OCD will scream for symmetry and cause great distraction until satisfied. It can be hard for someone without OCD to conceptualize, but if one side of the face has been scratched a good way to understand how distracting it would be to the OCDer is to imagine one sitting on a rock on one side of their body but not the other. This is how much discomfort the nagging need for symmetry can cause.

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