What is the difference between Perfectionism and OCD?

The two are very similar however OCD means the person feels like they have no control over their thoughts and have to carry out specific rituals to ease these thoughts as they don't leave them alone. Perfectionists on the other hand, will have the thoughts to do everything most perfectly it can be however these thoughts do not stay on their mind if they don't act - they have more control.

OCD is characterized by intrusive thoughts that you can't make go away and they can be about anything, not just necessarily having things neat or in order. as well, OCD patients suffer from compulsions, which are acts that the person must perform or they get intense anxiety and cannot function normally. These compulsions can be anything, not necessarily related to a specific intrusive thought.

I would say that people don't understand the different. To explain, if someone is a perfectionist, there is a defined subject, code of ethics, behavior. They have in their mind what their idea of perfect is, and although they may stray from the mark and it may bother them, this is not "obsessive compulsive disorder" and the folks that are constantly parroting "OMG, I'm so OCD, its not even funny!" are not helping those who actually have it. Obsessive compulsive disorder is a pervasive illness in which a person has repetitive and unwanted thoughts or feelings and engage in behaviors/ compulsions due to those thoughts or feelings to reduce the impact that those negative thoughts or feelings may be having on them at that moment. Some comparisons: Perfection: I never leave a single dirty dish in the sink. OCD: "I put my hand in the sink three times before I left the house to make sure there were no dishes in the sink. I did it again before I left the house and said outloud three times that there are no dishes left in the sink and I know that there arent any because I took a picture of the empty sink on my cellphone so I could check and make sure that it was dated today so that I know for sure that there are no dirty dishes in the sink while I'm at work, and I checked to make sure that my date and time were correct several times to make sure that the photo of the dishes in the sink wasnt from a different day because somehow the phone was no longer getting the correct time on the sink and I called my husband at 10am to confirm that even though I have a picture, the time is correct, i touched the bottom of the sink three times, and again before I left that there are definately, 100% no dishes in the sink. I think I'm going to go home on my lunch just to make sure." Perfectionist: I never leave things plugged in around the house when I leave. OCD: If I leave anything in the house pluged in it will cause a fire, so at first I started touching the outlets three times each with each one having nothing plugged in, but then it started taking too much time so now when I leave the house I just shut the main breaker to the house off so I know for sure there will be no fires, and then I take a picture of the breaker off to make sure, and then finally I call my neighbor and ask if my house burned down. I pretend I'm joking so they wont judge me" If this answer seems harsh, its from all the people using "OCD" as an excuse to cover up their bad manners and just wanting things to be there way because they have personality flaws and are not able to get along well with others. If you have ever said "I have to have it this way because I'm so OCD!" you probably arent, becuase I as well as other who actually have obsessive compulsive disorder try to hide it and will not usually admit to it under most circumstances because people think we are crazy for our number choices, the way that we do things, or how we go about making things ok for ourselves.

Perfectionism is the desire to have everything completely perfect, whereas OCD is when someone feels everything must be perfect otherwise something bad will happen. People with OCD also experience intrusive thoughts, obsessions and horrible mental images that they cannot forget.

For me OCD is worrying that if I don't wash my hands enough someone I love is gonna die. I worry constantly if I don't do my routine like normal someone will die, or if I don't do something they'll die. I think OCD is more like if you don't do whatever you do, for me it's washing my hands repetitively, you continue to obsess and worry about it until you do that specific thing. But OCD can be different for every person. Perfectionism to me seems more of a "I want everything to be perfect" rather than "I NEED everything to go perfectly".

Well, the perfectionist people want everything to be okay and evey single work should be done without causing any problems. But OCD makes people repeat something again and again. They do not want to make something perfect, in fact, something forces them to repeat the action. They may even make it worse, but they can not help repeating it. But perfectionist people may only want to do something once, but they hardly get satisfied by the outcome. They just want everything to be perfect! Not feeling satisfied by the outcome, perfectionist people bother themselves most of the time because they want everything to be okay but it is not always possible! OCD can also exhaust people, since no one likes to repeat something and waste time but they just can not do anything about it. Hopefully they can both be treated:)

The term perfectionism encompasses a broad scope of characteristics. It isn’t a "diagnosable mental disorder". As such, it’s used loosely and without any real clinical criteria. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), on the other hand, is a "dignosable mental disorder" characterized by recurring and unwanted thoughts or images (obsessions) and/or repetitive behaviors (compulsions).

Perfectionism is something that you want to be in a certain order every time. Ocd is a disorder that makes you do a task perfectly. Even if you think you missed something.

ocd makes you to do things, even if u dont want it. finally u wont get enjoyed. perfectionism makes u to do things how u like, finally u are satisfied.

They have differences between them. We cant say OCD all the people who are perfectionist. Everyone wants to be the best all the things they do. But if perfectionism damage the functionality of life, we can call it OCD. If you cant maintain your live for your perfectionism, you should talk an expert about it.