My Asperger’s And OCD (The Harsh Reality)

Do you have OCD?

My friends and family joke about me being “OCD,” but nobody realizes how hard it is sometimes for me to actually have OCD. I also have the thoughts that say something bad will happen if I don’t do things a certain way. Thank you for sharing this video! I hope to gain the courage someday to talk about it too!

I have issues with seeing things disappear into the trash. I feel like something bad is going to happen when I know that I can't retrieve that item ever again. I also have to say certain words to myself when I'm drinking something. I also need there to be three of things, like food on my plate..I also used to tap my forehead and cross myself when I was a kid.

Sounds like you were talking about my son! He’s 14 aspergers dyspraxia and ocd and it’s awful. His nighttime routine takes ages and he gets exhausted ... his thoughts about family getting hurt haunt him daily, I worry so much for him, did you know it’s one of the top ten most debilitating anxiety disorders ☹️ awful

At one point, my OCD was severe enough it made me vomit when I have an OCD attack. I can't read at the peak of my OCD because my brain will keep forcing me to reread each line many times, so much so that I cannot effectively read on many occasions for some time (many years). Now, I am in remission for OCD, and I feel glad that I can read effectively again.

My oldest is aspergers and adhd. My youngest is a typical ASD and ADHD. I’ve never noticed ocd in them, but a friend of mine has it. Everything is neatly organized. Even the fridge.

I hate tags. I've always hated tags and labels. I remove them from everything immediately. Fortunately I sew, so I always open towel seams, pull out tags then reinforce seams so my towels Iast forever. I'm now 71 and just discovered I'm an Aspie girl thanks to your videos!!! It certainly has explained many things I've experienced for years and set me FREE!!! THANK you Dan for your commitment to helping people. And U always do things in threes. 😍😍😍

You are amazing, don’t ever be embarrased . Everything you show in your videos is so helpful for our family.

The moment I realized I was ocd was when I noticed my dad was always straightening up shelves at the supermarket. And I was doing the same thing. We don’t work at the supermarket.

I can relate to this video so much - I have OCD and I am always late for everything too - i hate being late and I am ALWAYS late!

Very clear explanation of the difference between OCD and Autism need for routines. I have Autism, and I didn't think I had OCD, but now I KNOW I don't.

My daughter is 5 (2023). She's autistic and she has some OCD behaviors and that's huge if you see it every day in terms of how it affects daily life. Now I do better understand the reasons behind those behaviors and it is nice that you put it in words because you as an adult, you can express your feelings but a child can't and parents not always understand the child's feelings so thank you!

I also have Aspergers Syndrome and I got my diagnosis in December 2019. I was interested and searched youtube for Autism/Aspergers Syndrome and that's how I found your videos! I love you!

Yes. When I'm stressed everything has to be symetrical. Everything on the table set just so, I measure the distance between my furniture n I have to make certain appts at the same time n day each month. I wrote you on twitter empathizing with your stressors these days. You were pretty blunt back. We're all in this struggling boat.

Oh man. I've been struggling with bad OCD since I was a teenager. I've done therapy, taken all the meds, group therapy, etc. etc. I've come to realize it will never go away, but I've learned to make it manageable, so I can hold down a job, go to friend's houses etc. There was a time a decade ago when I got laid off and just didn't leave the house for a year and had to sanitize everything that had been outside. There's lots of other behavioral things I do though that I've never been able to fit within the OCD framework, which has been a constant source of frustration and stress for my whole life. Last week, I finally realized I match every diagnosis criteria for autism. I'm 42 years old and no one has ever noticed. I'm sort of mad at the failure of the system, but it's also a huge relief, like everything makes sense now. I'm finally starting to understand myself as a person. I've not been diagnosed yet, but from a friend, it sounds like it's a 2 to 3 year waiting list, or you go private and spend thousands.

I have ADHD, autism, OCD, I’m an addict and alcoholic, and I have PTSD from losing my 4 year old daughter. Out of all my diagnoses besides the PTSD, OCD has got the worst which is saying a lot because being autistic while having ADHD at the same time made my life a living hell and addiction has been straight up ruining my life since before I even had a chance to grow up. But OCD is always there. I read this quote the other day that said OCD isn’t weird quirks that some people have, it’s the monster on your shoulder that never leaves and that’s the perfect description. I don’t have the cleaning OCD. I’ve been getting these horrible thoughts around the age of 8 but didn’t get diagnosed until I was 12 before I even knew it was a thing(I had just thought I was crazy). The thoughts could be able alot of things-it was right after 9-11 and I lived about 30 miles from NYC on Long Island and my dad worked in the city. Anyway after that happened, I started getting these horrible thoughts that if I didn’t walk across the room and touch some random object, there would be another terror attack. But the thoughts didn’t just focus on that. I would think what if one of my parents die or I die, if I don’t do this stupid pointless thing? I also have religious OCD because I was raised Catholic and I’d be afraid if I didn’t do the “rituals” as their called, somebody I love would go to hell. Im not psychotic btw, I don’t actually believe any of these horrible thoughts but if you try to ignore them, you literally can’t. It starts with the obsession not being able to leave your head at all, then makes you feel like you’re about to have a panic attack, until the point where it literally physically hurts and you just have to do it to get your brain to shut up…..only to get the same urge a couple minutes later. I’ve wasted entire without sleep, doing my stupid OCD compulsion crap. It’s saddening to think how many years of my life I wasted because of pointless OCD stuff. I also have the opposite of cleaning OCD. A lot of people don’t know that but hoarding falls under the umbrella of OCD and I’ve always been a massive hoarder which is embarrassing because I can’t have people over.

I thought I was the only person that does things in threes. Volume needs to be set to a number divisible by 3 is just one aspect. I’m grateful that I’ve recently been identified as on the spectrum. I feel like it only took me 46 years to understand who I finally am.

Thank you for this...🖤

I have this weird habit, I’m a singer but for some reason at day time I don’t like singing that much. But after the sun goes down and it gets dark I get this passionate urge to sing, it not only makes me happy but it helps me fall asleep. In fact I’m currently singing as I’m writing this comment and it’s almost 1am at night in my home country.

I've dealt with OCD strongly since I was a kid (21 now). Because of that, I feel like I can cope with a lot of my compulsions a lot more now (I still have some which are currently taking complete control over my life and have been for a few months, it's one of the most devastating feelings in the world). When I was younger, I believed my family would die if I didn't complete my compulsions, gradually I realised how illogical that was and so if I was to do a compulsion, it wouldn't be because of the negative thought (for me, if I don't do a compulsion it makes the back of my head feel weird). If your compulsions are controlling you because you are afraid someone you love will die or whatever, just logic it out. Realise it makes no sense and just stop, even if it causes you so much anxiety and stress. It's hard to do, but just remember that it makes no sense and you do not have that much power over the world and anyone in it