Dear LPG, 

I recently read one of your posts and recognised myself in what the writer was saying.   He was referring to obsessive-compulsive disorder or OCD, although it was only mentioned once (►►►).  

I am lucky enough to be one of three neighbours who spend at least three days each week together, and we got talking about that article and the condition one day, not so long ago.  We either entertain each other in our homes or go out together, and we all admit to habitually turning around and doing that last-minute check once we have shut the front door.  

We can be sure because we so often leave one or the other of our houses together.  We have come to the conclusion that we all have random checks that we need to do, and feel the need to redo various things more than once.  I think that we have taught each other to adopt the other’s actions in a big way.  It is so bad that, when we are leaving one of our houses together, and nearly every time we reach certain parts of our routine, we remind each other about these checks.  Although that is the case, if one of us forgets something and is reminded once, it is too late, and it does not stress any of us that badly.  

My friends accept that each of us feels the need to check and repeat some of the most routine things, although we usually laugh about them too. We all admit to needing to recheck things, such as whether sure electric plugs are turned off, if any of the taps are left running, and if the cooker is turned off once we have shut the front door.  The article got me talking about it with my friends. Still, we have worked out that each one of us has at least one unique thing that bothers each of us unless we have done a bit of repeating and rechecking, and the reminders that the other two offer (even though they don’t feel the need to check every particular precaution themselves), have helped all of us to be a little worse. However, I don’t think that any of us is unduly worried about it.  

The thing that got us thinking was the weird, unique things that stop us in our tracks.  I have a chest freezer, and once I've opened the lid and taken what I need out of it, I turn around and sit on the lid to make sure it's properly shut. In contrast, one of my friends actively turns off any news programme that comes on the radio or television, regardless of where she is.  One of the others will not open a letter unless she can do it with her ‘lucky letter knife’.  If she cannot find it, she will wait for one of us to visit so that we can open it for her.  

We three friends know each other so well that we accept and respect the fact that these things are going to happen. However, having read what the earlier article has to say, I started wondering if we have problems. 

With that in mind, the three of us took a look at the internet to see what constitutes a severe case of OCD, and what we found put our minds at rest.  Our very minimal bit of research has taught me that, while OCD is a real problem to many people, no matter how often we do these odd things, they only really become serious when they stop just causing us to have a bit of a laugh about them. Omission causes you serious stress over your need to do them.   We have come to the conclusion that we don’t have any problems despite our odd habits, and, having found all this information, I felt that it would be a good idea to pass it on just in case anyone else has got a bit of an OCD related worry.

CK. Penge.

CK shares what her friends found…

(►►►)   (►►►)     (►►►)   

(►►►)    (►►►)