requested post / What is ocd?

I will be pleased if any of you can provide me some valuable suggestion on below:
I have presented my problem in third person as below(as briefly as possible, not to miss out anything):
Seth was a complex child from beginning- extremely shy, deep thinker, very obedient and sensitive, he always stood first in class and other co curricular in school, he had few friends, and loved his overprotective parents a lot. All was well, except the fact that he kept most of things to himself, instead of sharing with his parents and friends. Time passed by , then came the adolescent age, and it became tough by each passing day to hide his emotions and feelings, it needed some vent to flow out. But due to his shy nature, he would not open much with friends, go and talk to girls he liked or seek help from parents for the $#%^ that was going on in his head. He tried booze, #######1, and finally started to masterbate. And this last thing felt way too amazing, as it cleared continuous thought process, even though for a few seconds. Unlike Normal flow, he took this thing way 2 seriously, practising it everyday 2-3 times without fail for next 3 years. Now what changed in these 3 years - he became impatient and could not focus on studies at all in contrast to his past record, and it worsened with each passing day, started planning his study schedule obsessively which he never followed even for single day, compulsively started day dreaming, procrastination almost everything, mood swings, guilt feeling due to bad habit, socially secluded himself and later even leading to social phobia, among others.
At the end of these 3 years, he was totally broke, lost trust in himself, no motivation to do anything, mailnly because- he had promised to himself every night that he will his habits from tomorrow, and that never happened, plus since he was brightest guy at 1 time, every1 including he himself expected him to join a Top Notch University for Graduation, but that obviously did not happen, except a million times in his day dreams. And with all this garbage of extreme guilt,regret, confusion, self doubt, he entered college, and as was expected screwed that completely, practically living no life, except again in his dream world.
Now the college was finished, and our looser turns 22, and this time he is determined to turn the game by 180 degrees by his will and hard work. He tried his level best, but the continuous thought process never let him focus on studies, and , no stable relations, all the time he was preoccupied, day dreaming has been replaced by habit of redesigning the past, and this goes on compulsively in the mind, social phobia, started loosing hair , basically instead of working and designing his future, he kept on regretting on the past mistakes, and this regret is compulsive, and out of his control. He is 27, and the situation is still the same, if not worse. Is this OCD ?

I suggest that Seth should try to see a therapist for a formal diagnosis and to start planning ways to tackle these issues.

These forums exist for peer support. Few here are professional in the Psychology field. And no-one here will diagnose anyone else since it's against Forum Rules to do so.

I'm checking out this side of it all (OCD) because today my therapist who diagnosed me with something else (BPD) thinks I may have this as well. I will explain to you why I have always had the sneaking suspicion that I do have OCD.

I do:
-check locks
-take a shower the exact way everytime (wash face, wash hair, rinse hair, condition hair, wash body, rinse hair and I have to run my fingers through my hair until no loose hairs come out, even though I HATE having loose hairs on me)
-have to have clean surfaces and clean floors in my house. I have 5 kids so you can imagine the anger and anxiety that comes from this!
-set clocks/volumes with 0's and 5's on the ends or I cannot stand it and have to change it. I've always been obsessed with the number 5.
-hate when people mess up anything I have cleaned. I get triggered and get very angry.
-hate anything sticky! HATE it!
-wash my hands frequently. They always feel dirty and I even leave soap on them, not rinsing them all the way off.
-look out windows and doors at night because I'm scared someone's going to break in.

Well that's just a few things.
There are more that I can't think of right now.
Does this constitute OCD??
I always pushed it off because, yes the anxiety and anger may be there when these things go wrong, but... well. I don't have a but :/ It does run me sometimes.

I'm not a psych or therapist, MeganErica. But I think you'll have plenty in common with some of the other people posting here.

Hi, I was wondering if OCD and addiction are the same thing? What is the difference?

I was diagnosed with ocd about 7 years ago from obsessive checking for strangers in my car or room even if I hadn't left it since the last time I checked. But I never really took it seriously. Now I have a complete preoccupation with maladaptive daydreams and this has gone on for years. I realised last night that I could call this behaviour an addiction, but then I remembered my diagnosis from when I was younger and am wondering if I still have ocd, or if I have an addiction or if I have a disorder?
Is it all the same thing?

Thank you

OCD is a diagnosis---obsessive compulsive disorder. It is useful to the professionals, unless they make them they don't get paid by medical insurance. They are not useful, often harmful to patients.

You got you diagnosis of OCD because you acted, talked and looked certain ways while you were with the professional who called you OCD. I'd suggest you forget about it.

If you don't like your daydreams, which you call maladaptive, change them. You are in charge of your daydreams, but perhaps don't know it. You've practiced the ones you call maladaptive long enough so they're a strong habit. Perhaps writing out an adaptive daydream whenever you have the time would help you focus and keep your mind away from those you call maladaptive. It also would be working on a new and better habit.

I can make some other suggestions. If you want them, reply to me in my topic, "I'm frustrated etc." in the General Forum

I'd say that not everyone, especially in SO types od OCDs, are aware that the thoughts are illogical when the anxiety is present..
If we knew fully. that these things were illogical, it would be easy to dismiss them for good. But yeah, at times i can see some illogical thought patterns i believed fully an hour before OCD reduces temporarily.

Also, often this can be so severe, people question whether the thoughts are OCD or who they rly are.

Wish I had a dollar for every time I check a lock or drive back around the same stretch of road to make sure I didnt hit that person that wasnt there in the first place.... Lol and I though I was the only nut who did that.

-- Wed Oct 09, 2013 1:35 am --

Wish I had a dollar for every time I check a lock or drive back around the same stretch of road to make sure I didnt hit that person that wasnt there in the first place.... Lol and I though I was the only nut who did that.

Double post, blame it on my browser, apologies. Also hope no one was offended by what I called myself... It is nutty, I know perfectly well that was just a bump in the road but I have to go back and check. And check again. Sometime a third time. Usually there's not even been a living soul walking on the road.

Compulsions doesn't mean it has to be a ritual. Everything that you do in attempt to reduce anxiety is a compulsion. Even challenging an intrusive thought with logic is a compulsion. It will in turn lead to another intrusive thought regarding your OCD theme. My compulsions are mostly covert and at first I didn't recognize them as such until my therapist told me I should write down every attempt to reduce fear by calming myself down. Temporarily. That's also OCD.