Compulsive habits?

[anonemouse 1]

Does anyone else out there have compulsive habits? I have (or had) several. When I had long hair, I would compulsively brush it. I HAD to carry a brush with me, and I always brushed my hair before getting out of my car or leaving a restroom. If I didn't, I was EXTREMELY self-conscious of it. I also have bad skin. I compulsively pick at it, to the point where my folks and brother used to slap my hands or tell me to stop picking. Seriously, I've made myself bleed many times. If I get scratches or sores anywhere, I have to pick at the healing scabs until they open up. I also used to be a nail-biter. My fingers are all scarred because I'd chew at the skin around my nails until it bled.

[phyllisc 0]

I eat.....

[skyeblu79 0]

I have general anxieties and SAD. I do a lot of stuff to keep myself from stressing out. I bite the sides and front of my mouth. It's to the point here I can't help it now. I used to pick at my ears and someone pointed it out on day and I felt so self conscious about it that I finally stopped. When I get nervous I also fiddle w/my fingers and clean my nails. I guess it takes my focus of my stressful situation. I never have bite my nails, instead I bite my pinky finger.

Oh, I forgot eating. I think my lip gloss is a compulsion too. I use it all day, everyday. I should buy stock w/Bath and Body Works.

[tifferoni326 0]

I have to write with multi-colored pens..have to. I buy pens by the box and they are all multicolors and I write notes with the different sets and they are all in apattern of colors and everytime I make a new paragraph or whatever..new pen..yep Im a lil OCD I know

I also used to do what you did with your face to my scalp..I have really thick thick hair and when I was younger a fungus which grows on everyones scalp become overzealous and it would make like really big dandruff flakes that would fall out at the slightest touch..it was soo gross, thank god I finally got a solution to it..blow dry my hair..so now I cant go like more than 10 mins with wet hair..it drives me NUTS

those are the ones I am most aware of..O no wait..I bite my cuticles like a choc-oholic eats a chocolate bunny at easter...

but besides THAT I am completely normal:huytsao lol

[anonemouse 1]

I have general anxieties and SAD. I do a lot of stuff to keep myself from stressing out. I bite the sides and front of my mouth. It's to the point here I can't help it now. I used to pick at my ears and someone pointed it out on day and I felt so self conscious about it that I finally stopped. When I get nervous I also fiddle w/my fingers and clean my nails. I guess it takes my focus of my stressful situation. I never have bite my nails, instead I bite my pinky finger.

Oh, I forgot eating. I think my lip gloss is a compulsion too. I use it all day, everyday. I should buy stock w/Bath and Body Works.

Yep, I do the ear-picking and mouth-biting, too. I always wondered if I had SAD, 'cause I sure had a lot of the symptoms of it. I'm better now than I used to be, but I would SERIOUSLY freak out in certain situations. I had to drop a class once because I couldn't deal with the fact that the instructor wanted us to do group discussions IN EVERY CLASS. I was literally close to tears during the first class period and I dropped it that night.

Heh, I used to tap my fingers compulsively. I also can't wear jewelry because I tend to play with it constantly.

[uniqueone 0]

When I'm sitting still (like in a classroom setting or a meeting) and have a pen and paper, I doodle all over it. I cannot have a blank part of the page left. I normally draw flowers which look funky because I'm no artist...Also, when out in public I have a fear of not having enough lip color on because I'm so pale...so I'm constantly reapplying lip gloss, lipstick whatever..the invention of the lip stuff that stays on for hours has been a godsend to me!!!!!!!!!!!

[anonemouse 1]

When I'm sitting still (like in a classroom setting or a meeting) and have a pen and paper, I doodle all over it. I cannot have a blank part of the page left. I normally draw flowers which look funky because I'm no artist...Also, when out in public I have a fear of not having enough lip color on because I'm so pale...so I'm constantly reapplying lip gloss, lipstick whatever..the invention of the lip stuff that stays on for hours has been a godsend to me!!!!!!!!!!!

Dude, my notes used to be covered in stars. Or, I'd fill in little boxes on the margins, so my papers would eventually be black on on the sides.

I can't wear lipstick at all. I eat it off in just a few minutes, so I'd be constantly reapplying. I can wear Carmex and stuff like that, though, it's just anything with color that bugs me.

[Oregondaisy 2,020]

I have always played with my hair. I used to pull it out.

I have all sorts of compulsive habits.

[DonHoll1 0]

I always eat with the same fork. Strange.... I know. Donna

[Nancy B 0]

Dude, my notes used to be covered in stars. Or, I'd fill in little boxes on the margins, so my papers would eventually be black on on the sides.

I can't wear lipstick at all. I eat it off in just a few minutes, so I'd be constantly reapplying. I can wear Carmex and stuff like that, though, it's just anything with color that bugs me.

Have you tried the new cherry Carmex? No color, just a smell and flavor.

[Wheetsin 714]

When I'm sitting still (like in a classroom setting or a meeting) and have a pen and paper, I doodle all over it. I cannot have a blank part of the page left.

Probably looking at two different things here. Not being able to have a blank part of the page - totally separate, but doodling, drawing, clicking a pen, etc. while in a classroom setting, meeting, or any situation where you are receiving information inputs is actually demonstration of visual and/or kinesthetic learning. I do the exact same thing. I do not process information well if it's coming to me auditorily. To supplement that input type, I have to create a visual & kinesthetic stimulation.

I was once asked to leave a professional conference because, during one of the lectures, the lecturer noticed that I was doodling and became offended that I was not paying attention to him. And it was a lecturer in the adult learning field -- of all people who should know better.

(Teachers out there everywhere, when you see your kids doodling while you're talking, don't reprimand them for not paying attention -- chances are, this is what they have to do to process the information you're giving them.)

[Wheetsin 714]

As for compulsions - I have a big one in the sense of instant gratification. I demonstrate it most frequently with material objects. For example, if I decide that the living room needs new curtains, I will go out right then and hit every store I can think of looking for them. If I can't find what I want, I will come home and spend hours in the internet looking. If I still can't find it, right back out to different stores. I must have then right then, and they must be perfect. We will soon have the kitchen repainted, and I know what color curtains I want, but I don't want to buy them until it's actually painted -- in case the wall color looks differently than I'm picturing it. So I"ve already decided to wait on buying the curtains. It does't matter. I still get the twangs of compulsion that "I NEED to go find curtains" -- and then I have to remind myself, "Oh, no - I decided to wait..."

Most people can think "I would like a lamp to go here, so next time I'm out I will look for one..." OCCASIONALLY I can do that, but most often it is a right-then trip to every store I can think of to find the lamp I'm after. In highschool I was like this about clothes. If I decided I wanted a black shirt, I had to have it right then. It didn't matter if I wasn't going to wear it for another week.

One thing I can't stand is to have chapped lips. If my lips get chapped, I pull or bite off the dry pieces, causing more damage than if I just left them. So come winter, I always have some type of lip moisturizer with me. I'm not compulsive about putting it on, I usually forget to - but I will not be able to ignore any pieces of dry dkin on my lips so it's a preventative measure.

Some that I've seen in others...

A good friend of mine is - this will sound weird - compulsive about smelling herself. I'll try to describe it, I don't mean like lifting her arms to smell her pits or anything. It's all about her hands/arms. If she scratches her ear, she will smell her fingers immediately after. Scratches her head, same thing. If she's just sitting there, she will smell the back of her hand, or hold her forearm up to her nose. I used to think she was being really thoughtful because when she often holds her finger up to her nose like she's contemplating something, but you can actually hear her inhaling & exhaling - she's smelling. If she sits there with her head rested on her hand, she will then smell her hand where her head was resting. (This is odd, and good thing this is anonymous or she'd kill me - she has admitted to the same behavior with her crotch area - scratching/touchng her crotch for the sole purpose of being able to smell it on her hand afterward.) She says that the smells comfort her.

Another co-worker of mine bites the inside of his mouth ALL the time. I'm trying to talk to him, and his mouth is contorting all over the place - looks almost like he's making faces at you. Sometimes you'll see him holding a tissue in his mouth, and he'll say that he pulled off a piece of skin and it was bleeding.

[Daisalana 33]

I'm always chewing the inside of my mouth, to the point of sores. It's not a nervous tick, I just do it all the time.

And if I have a pen that is the click open/close kind.. I click it obsessively. I love the noise.. On the flip side of that, if someone else is doing it, it drives me batty.

[anonemouse 1]

Have you tried the new cherry Carmex? No color, just a smell and flavor.

I have, and I love it! I've been wanting to try the mint, too, but I haven't gotten around to it.

[bandster_1007 1]

i have GAD, and depression. i am also slightly ocd, but not the way most people would think.

i bite my mouth as mentioned, although, i have decreased doing this because i do not want to add to the wrinkles that i will get.

i also cannot leave any dead skin alone..whether it is on my lips or not. i have a terrible comulsion to pick. if i have a dark freckle, or anything that is imperfect on my skin, i have this "need" to remove it. of course a scar is left, but i have been known to cut holes in my arm to remove dark freckles. i have since tried to stop this, but if one appears that was not there the day before..oh god. i used to be horrible about this. the same goes with my face. dh will come in the bathroom if i am there more than 3 minutes because he knows i am picking at my face. i will literally turn a molehill into a mountain when it comes to my face. i pick and pick and pick. this is why i honestly tell my doc's i CANNOT have acne. i cannot handle. and i have acne right now..probably from sugery. at night after i take my makeup off, i scratch everything off.

i know it's gross, and it is horrible, but thank god i have good skin so far, i get compliments on my skin all of the time. i also know how to apply make up.

i also have problems with hair. i will wax or use a personal trimmer on my entire face with the exception of my eyebrows (i mean, i do my brows, but i leave some). i cannot stand hair on my arms or anywhere. when the hair on my arms is there (i do not remove it regularly, only whenever it gets to where i can see it), i have to have it all lieing smooth and in the same direction.

let me see, what else. oh, i have to have all of the doors surrounding me closed before i can go to sleep. i have to have the bathroom door and the closet door, and the bedroom door closed. if the closet door is open, i will have nightmare's. i have to check to make sure that every door is locked at least twice before i will go to bed. i double check that my house alarm is on, and i also double check my alarm clock.

i cannot stand smells. if i smell something that i do not like, i obsess until i find it and destroy it. i've tried this with dh, but it doesn't work.... he smokes and sometimes his feet are terrible right after work. i complain a lot. i also ask him to remove his socks from the bedroom dirty clothes before i can fall asleep.

oh...i carry my keys when i am in parking lots, between two fingers, so if someone attacks me i can stab them. i never walk between two cars until it is time to get in my own. i always make a reference to see if i see something under the car before i will walk between them. i constantly watch behind me when walking. if someone else is walking up, i will wait in my car until they are gone, then i will get out.

i'm also compulsive at stores, i will not go through a line where the cashier is a guy if i can help it. i have waiting long lines before because of this..stupid..i know.

soo..now, if all of these compulsions could be focused on cleaning my house i'd be happy. haha

there are more, but that is all i care to go into at this time.

when i am on my meds, i'm much better about all of them.