Obsessive compulsive disorders are pretty hard to break. They are also difficult to recognize as well. Many people have the usual compulsivity, like fingernail biting, hand washing, etc. But most people do not have the disorder to the point of interfering with life to any great degree. I have trouble picking up pennies off the floor with no fingernails, but I do manage to find a little plastic card on my keychain that scoops under the moola.

When I was a kid, I had a really weird OCD. My dad had a small store in a small town in California. My dad's store had a post right in the middle of the entrance. Well, it got to the point where I had to go out the same way I went in, or in my mind I would be wrapping my path around the post. That was unacceptable to my mind. My mind was making a rule for me that I had to retrace my entrance, that I could not wrap around the post entering and then leaving. I could not break that rule for the longest time.

Anyway, this disorder was driving me crazy until I apparently just outgrew it. I think that I just got worn out or something because I stopped doing it. Could be that I stayed away from the store the older I got. And I never repeated the compulsion anywhere else with any other post. Whew. I am glad of that!

I read that some folks take hours out of their days to complete the obsessive compulsive acts. To me that would be such a prison, being a prisoner to your own mind. I have empathy for those people because of what I went through as a child.

I do have a couple of minor obsessive compulsive ways to this day besides the fingernails. I sometimes look more than once before driving into an intersection if NO CARS are coming. I view this as being similar to the golfer who must read a break into a straight putt. It is a compulsive need to double check. But it hasn't gotten so intrusive that I cannot go if needed. I suppose someone with a really compulsive problem with no traffic could wait minutes or until the guy behind him honks the horn before going.

When I was a child I had the thoughts of jumping from high places, a compulsion to want to, but I was able to suppress those desires because of fear of the consequences. I outgrew that one too, whew. I also was compelled to comb my hair in such a way as to make it perfect. I was compulsive about it. I outgrew that too.

I know that there are OCD's that are weird and strange beyond what I have expressed. Again, I feel empathy for anyone who is snared by that prison because it is not pleasant and can result in such terrible disorders such as bulemia, anxiety, panic attacks, Tourettes syndrome ( uncontrollable jerking of the head), etc.

Panic attacks can also be caused by asthma, so don't panic, lol, if you have asthma, into thinking that you have OCD. And shaking of the head uncontrollably in children may be Childhood Chorea, a nervous disorder that is not OCD and is not fatal. I developed that disorder when I was around six years old. I was treated for a few months at least and it went away.

There is another OCD that exists. I tell my daughter that she has the paralysis of analysis. One can have a gift of analysis but then it can, in some instances, seem to be almost compulsive and debilitating. I can see where that could become OCD in a hurry!

Some say that people of above average intelligence are more susceptable for OCD. I can accept that! I am above average, ha!

Jack Nicholson plays a character in As Good As It Gets who cannot walk down a sidewalk and step on the lines. I outgrew that little crazy as a child, and so I can sympathize with anyone who really has the problem. Of course Jack had anxiety about relationships because of his various compulsions. The movie was, however, fun, entertaining, brilliantly written and brilliantly acted.

Perhaps OCD folks could find humor in the disorder and just maybe that could help them, who knows? Just remember all you people who do Hubpages, if you are making lists, if you are tinkering until an unreasonable hour, or if you are doing anything that is not just based upon a rational passion, you could have OCD. The obsessive thought leads to compulsive behavior and there you have it, OCD.

Now go wash your hands. Just kidding.