When is perfectionsim not OCD?

I constantly make sure doors are checked in my house, once I have locked them I always have to step back and atleast check them two more times, just to make sure. The same with taps, I always have to make sure the tap head is around the right way after using it and keep checking it as I walk away. I get annoyed if I see certain objects not lined up in good order or overlapping each other. I have to make sure all the handles on the shelves are facing the right way or I get extremely frustrated. I also have to keep checking that ive turned lights off properly, even when I know I have. I like items to be in even order at all times, so they look organised and tidy. If somthing is not how I want it then I cant stop thinking about it until its fixed. This stuff doesnt seem to get in the way of my daily duties. Is this perfectionism or OCD to you?
In the past I have had OCD where I have had to constantly lick my lip and stroke my hair with the back of my hand but I no longer do this.
I also get really annoyed if I see a pen that is turned on and left, I have to close them or I get annoyed. I know nothing bad will happen if I dont do these things but they are constantly in mind and I want to make sure everything is how it should be.
I sort of feel proud of what I do, so maybe its perfectionism.

Well maybe Perfectionism isn't strictly OCD... but it definitely indicates some unreasonable expectations... nothing is ever perfect and certainly wouldn't remain that way for long if it was.

So, in my unprofessional opinion, I think your OCD has only calmed down. You're no longer doing unrelated rituals to deal with your OC (wish is great!), but you're still getting bothered if things aren't "just so" and you still have to check things multiple times. How long before these behaviors start to interfere with your daily life (besides just emotionally interferring)?

The people that live with me are less than thrilled with me having the same tendencies towards organization as the original poster. I'm perfectly content in my own little version of reality and it seems they are all way off......intellectually though I know that I am the one who is off. I met my match in the daughter of a teacher at the school where I work part time in the library. She is 18 and spends alternate days there helping out. She has OCD bigtime. Seeing someone else who felt the need to be hyper organized in all areas of her life was like looking in the mirror. She gets where I am at. I get where she is. Many don't get either of us but we are much appreciated since we manage to keep the chaos to a minimum.

Just like most anxiety disorders, OCD can also be quite useful given the right circumstances. So, OCD can give you a powerful almost unfair super advantage if your obsession and compulsion can actually produce useful results, in a similar fashion to the unfair adavantage of nicotine lowering stress, increasing pain resistance, causing euphoria, improving learning and memory etc (nicotine alone is actually pretty safe and not carcinogenic by the way, but it may have an indirect role in lowering apoptosis ability i.e. the ability of cells to self distruct to protect the body from cells with cancer potential, but cigarettes are carcinogenic and cause a milliard of problems) or to tall men when to it comes to romance with young women (it's a piece of cake for tall men to attract inexperienced young women). Unfortunately, with lack of the right circumstances, OCD and anxiety disorders are pretty useless and cause a lot of disturbing.

Your OCD does not sound very useful though and you'd better get rid of it.

Try inositol (it's a vitamin). You'll need as much as 8 grams per day to see results (it's expensive unfortunately). Saint John's Wort can also help or you can ask a psychiatrist to prescribe you a commercial antidepressant for managing to have sufficient levels of seretonin.

But your simply best bet is the powerful cognitive behavioural therapy. I'd suggest you to start with the easy behavioural therapy first. Simply whenever you have an obsession, don't do the compulsion. Yet, that simple. Keep doing it and it will start eliminating the symptoms. That works because you get accastomed to the stress that the compulsion eliminates. Without the stress the obsession is powerless and the compulsion is not needed.

Then you can challenge the obsession with cognitive therapy.
Ask your self: What my obsession is about? What is the belief behind my obsession? Is there truth to it? Is it realistic and objective? The answer will be "Not much", but try to persuade yourself why! Then, is there an alternative belief that is more realistic and objective? What is that and stick to it!

Your OCD will be beaten down to ashes. Soon, you will start forgetting that you ever had OCD and it will be a tiny detail of your past.

Try also other approaches. Mindfulness therapies for example are quite good (and fun to do too and a useful life skill) and seem to reduce stress quite well.

somebody wrote:Just like most anxiety disorders, OCD can also be quite useful given the right circumstances. So, OCD can give you a powerful almost unfair super advantage if your obsession and compulsion can actually produce useful results, .

It can be really good for your career. I've always had an "unnatural" focus with things at my job. I learned a reputation to be a very fast thinker and doer because of that. The problem is when you try to use meds to get rid of bad OCD, it affects the good too. I gave up Paxil 2 times after just a few days because I couldn't do my job anymore although it worked great for the useless obessions/compulsions...

I felt a little like this schizoprenic guy in A beautiful mind who was coping with his hallucinations instead of taking his meds to keep coming up with his amazing math. theories...