by jijijijij | 2025-09-02 13:02:50+00:00
Yes, it may look like OCD superficially, but it isn't. By definition (and name) it's a disorder which mean its symptoms impair life to a clinically significant extent.

ADHD and OCD are often co-morbid (see below), can fuel each other, and otherwise share the "obsession" dynamic. However, a very important characteristic of OCD is its cyclic, repetitive nature. Being obsessed with order and symmetry isn't the point of OCD. With OCD you get "stuck" on this obsession. Keeping/restoring order/symmetry is not enough, you have to do it over and over again. With the hand washing example, it's not that people typically need to wash their hands 20 times as per head canon, but rather immediately after washing their hands, doubt creeps in, then comes the sense of doom and anxiety about the consequences of not having it done "right". ADHD can worsen this, as lack of attention to the "task" increases doubt.

You know this feeling of "something extremely horrible is about to happen"? Similar to how a panic attack feels. That's the sense of doom. It's a medical phenomenon also observed with people actually about to die, sometimes. It's an old feeling... The "this cave is not safe", "being watched by a predator" feeling. It can cascade into the most fear and anxiety the brain can experience, it's very, very imperative, and commonly what people with OCD experience when they ignore their compulsions. (Shame may also play a role and compulsions may also be completely internal "thought habits".)

OCD is for the most part an anxiety disorder, it's mostly not about the actual ticks and obsessions, which may change over time. People with OCD are aware their obsessions are non-nonsensical, statistically unlikely, irrational, etc., but the feeling of terror is too imperative!

Neurologically there is an anxiety plateau which is important for OCD CBT, as learning this feeling is not a bottomless pit and you can endure it, is the path to reshaping neuronal pathways. Not giving in to compulsions, staying with the fear is how OCD is therapeutically treated - the opposite of what the author had suggested.

For normal people, the "spectrum ramp" to this dynamic may rather be the common experience of "did I lock the door?", "did I turn off the gas?", where it's also common to check and even recheck. Though, healthy minds get out of this loop, before it becomes an impairment. Again, because of the lack of attention, bad working memory ADHD may derail this dynamic and an "OCD-ish" extent may also present as adaptation. For example, forgetting about the stove may become an (rational) anxiety trigger from experience ("I almost burned down the house and everyone I love"... again) and inattentive checking and rechecking may become a coping strategy. This can spiral into OCD, especially because shame and stress are at an increased base level due to colliding with other people's expectations and so on.

Without the anxiety, without the repetitiveness, without the impairment quality of an disorder, it's not OCD. Personally, I think it's very bad taste to use the term inflationary considering the suffering and disability this mental disorder causes.