Is it easy to ignore compulsions?
I’ve been considering if I have OCD or not, and I do some things like touching something to make it feel “even”, or blinking really hard until I feel satisfied. I can ignore these feelings, and I don’t always have an intrusive thought that accompanies them. Is it still OCD behavior if I can try to ignore and not listen to these compulsions? Normally I just do it because it’s easier but I don’t NEED to do whatever it is.
Hello! From what I understand, some people have an easier time resisting compulsions than others. There may also be some compulsions that are easier to resist, while others may be more difficult. To me (a person with OCD), these definitely sound like traits of OCD, but it is of course possible to have OCD-like traits without having OCD. I have some compulsions similar to yours where they are more habitual and not necessarily distressing or accompanied by specific thoughts. However, I also have obsessions and compulsions that are distressing and hard to avoid. One thing I learned from my psychologist is that not every compulsion has to be distressing, but that there does have to be distress somewhere to have clinical OCD. OCD is sometimes really tricky to spot, so I would definitely reach out to a professional for an evaluation if you’re worried and/or if it becomes distressing!
