'Reading' OCD?
Does anyone else have what I call 'reading' OCD? It's weird, like if I'm trying to read a book, I'll read a sentence or a paragraph or whatever and I'll think "I didn't take that in properly, I have to read it again." So I will.
But sometimes this can happen like 10 times, over two words. I'll sit and read the same two words six times, because I'll worry it hasn't' gone in.
I once read solidly for two days (with sleep in between), and only read 30 pages, because of the OCD. It's so frustrating.
Does anyone else have this? And if so, does anyone have any tactics for dealing with it?
I recognise it but I don't do it that much, if I do it to much I just feel that's it's a terrible book and I pick up another
Oh, yeah, I know that. So frustrating! I do actually have OCD, though, not just this "reading" kind :) But that's a part of it.
Seeing as I study literature (among other things) there are times when I need to read three novels a week, so this re-rereading thing would slow me down a lot. I'm afraid I don't really have any tips, though. What I do when I get the urge to reread a certain part of the book is I stop reading and try to recall what I just read. If I can remember, I just tell myself "no" in my head and power through it. It's pretty uncomfortable for a moment after, but I try to focus on the book and the plot so the feeling goes away. It usually does. If I can't recall what I just read I go back a paragraph at least and read it again with utmost focus. I guess that since reading a lot is a necessity for me, I kind of learned how to get over it. However, there are moments when I'm stuck in a loop, and that's when I put the book away and go do something else.