It can he hard to tell if being neat, tidy or a “neat-freak” is just a personal quirk or personal preference or something more difficult, like Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (or OCD). How can you tell the difference? Here is how to differentiate general neatness from OCD:
Being neat or tidy is not in response to feelings of high anxiety or having intrusive thoughts.
In true OCD, the neatness is not something that you do because it feels good to be ordered or have a clean room, but it’s a response to other things. Usually it’s a response to feelings of high anxiety, and cleaning up or ordering the things on your desk acts as a counter to the anxiety. The other common OCD-related response is intrusive thoughts. Intrusive thoughts are thoughts unrelated to reality that enter your mind and are hard to shake. They are usually thoughts about really bad things happening, such as getting into a car accident or having a family member become sick. Sometimes in response to these thoughts, cleaning up, ordering things or re-arranging things makes these thoughts go away, and this is related to OCD rather than just being an organized person.
The neatness is not a ritual that you feel compelled to do over and over again.
In OCD, being neat is not an end in itself, it becomes a ritual that you complete over and over. For example, someone may feel that they need to re-order their sock drawer before they leave their room. If someone is truly just a neat and tidy person, they may tidy up and then don’t need to do it again until it becomes messy.
In OCD, you can’t stop cleaning up in the middle of it, you have to finish.
In true OCD, the cleaning or tidying up become more of a soothing ritual, and so you will finish it even if you’re interrupted or need to go do something else. Whereas with regular cleaning, you can stop and then pick it up again.
You can always get an expert option on if you have OCD.
If you’re still unsure, or want a second opinion, you can always call a counselor and have an evaluation done. At Thrive Counseling, we offer a free consultation and are happy to talk this over with you. Contact Us if you ever want to talk.
If you want to learn more about therapy for OCD, check out our OCD Therapy page.