By danceinconverse - 22/05/2015 20:11 - Canada - Toronto

Today, my friends made a little game out of my OCD. They like to purposely poke one of my arms so I immediately poke the other one. They think it's hilarious and now do it constantly. FML
I agree, your life sucks 29 098
You deserved it 4 033

danceinconverse tells us more.

danceinconverse 25

Wow, the range of comments had me laughing to making a disgusted face. Thanks to everyone who was supportive but no need to worry! I'll explain things further but this will be long. And to people saying "woah I do the same thing!", you most likely have OCD, but DO NOT SELF DIAGNOSE, ask your doctor about it before you prance around calling yourself mentally ill. For me, I've always done little sort of tensing my muscles and making both sides feel the same games with myself ever since I can remember, especially in the car. It didn't become a problem until high school, when I started doing finger things to each hand to calm myself down, and it escalated into something actually slightly debilitating. But anyways, so I also unfortunately have anxiety and depression to mix with my OCD, so I've never came out and said to most of my friends I have any of these things, or many people at all. I hate the "Oh just be happy and you'll feel better!" Comments so I tend to not bring it up unless necessary. (Think: having a permanent broken leg, and when people realize, the "advice" they give you is to walk on it and you should be fine). But anyway, in their defence they just thought I was being silly, I do have a lot of quirks so I don't blame them. If they hadve known it was causing me legitimate panic, they of course would have stopped, but I'm very good at covering up my negative feelings. It did give me a panic attack i had silently in the washroom the first time the original friend figured it out (lightly smacking my arm to get my attention and seeing what looked like me immediately covering the other one in pain, as if the opposite one they actually hit hurt. I would definitely find that funny too). They all had a go at poking my arm to see me poke the other one, and eventually seeing if it worked on other areas of my body. I was laughing along so they had no reason to assume it was genuinely distressing me, even though it was just my panicked (anxiety induced) "aw shit they figured it out I don't want them to know I'm even weirder, I'll just play it off" response. But the next time they saw me they had forgotten it all together almost, and now they only do it occasionally in a weird "insulting your friend to let them know you love them" kind of way. Those times I can genuinely laugh at. I'm all for making fun of myself and I get that it's pretty funny, and also it kind of helps me in a weird way. But if the level it was at the first time hadve continued after the first time, i 100% would have explained to them why it's not ok, and I can guarantee they never would've done it again. And advice to anyone who is dealing with something similar where it does genuinely bother them, really, let the people know. If they patronize you for it, they are strait up dick nuggets, don't take their crap. Sorry for the novel but hope i cleared some things up!

Top comments

Attacksloth 33

Make a game out of their game. Each time they do it to you, punch one of them in the face at random.

Time to bring out the body armor. You can double as a superhero in your spare time.

Comments

Wait I do the same thing, I can control it sometimes though but it usually stays in my mind for an hour before I can forget about doing it. I usually have to do it though and it makes me feel crazy.

danceinconverse 25

Yeah it's not fun to ignore, but I can pretty easily when I'm in the right situation. It gets worse the more stressed I am, but is almost non-existent when I'm in a comfortable situation (ex. With my boyfriend)

ourtneyc 14

I don't have OCD but that must be hella annoying. && honestly it seems a bit immature not to stop after the first few times.

TomeDr 24

Or educate the ones you have.

Now poke them in their face, with your fist.

Ugh, that sounds annoying. I had the urge to poke both my arms just reading this. But I gueas they'll grow tired of it eventually.

Either you have a new dance move on the rise...or just reflex back with your elbow...or try to resist..

Try to talk to them about it, someone who doesn't have the same issue can't relate or know how they are making you feel. It was the same with my anxiety.

How is this even a big deal? Condition yourself to not respond, and/or mess with them back and more severely.

You think someone with OCD can 'condition' themselves not to respond? It's a compulsion you moron, it's right there in the name.

You can condition yourself to do pretty much anything, 26. How do you think people make and break habits?

And OCD makes you unable to condition or at least with big difficulty

danceinconverse 25

Fortunately, habits are definitely breakable. Unfortunately, OCD is not a habit, it is a mental disorder. Depending on the severity, it can be "broken" with meds and/or counselling, if at all.

Cognitive conditioning is a major part in the treating of many psychological disorders such as OCD. Much like with phobias one can be conditioned not to respond or to respond less severely to objects and/or stimuli. I'm not saying it's always fast or easy, but it's worth it if you want to change a behavior.

MzZombicidal 36

Okay but you're basically asking how needing to condition yourself (which I'm sure is exhausting) not to react to who knows how many stressors is a big deal?

This is similar to how I play with my cat. Are you feline disrespected, OP?