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Originally Posted by cashart10
I've seen several posts similar to this one in the past, but I have some specifics to ask. My pdoc advised me that I have OCD at my last appt. He has thrown this at me before but only in passing and mainly because my thoughts get stuck in such a loop. However, I can read and reread the same email (or a sentence from an email) for hours and hours at a time. I have a bizarre obsession with music and a compulsion to listen to the same song on repeat sometimes for a night but often for months and months at a time and feel a part of the song (for instance, right now Beach Boy's Sloop John B). I also take numerous very long showers when I am manic. I have at times been obsessed with people to the point I will stare at their picture and cry, follow them around, email them compulsively. All of this is OCD, right? These are the things he's referring to? It mostly occurs during my episodes. My main question: can OCD be ONLY related to Bipolar cycles? Can one cause or worsen the other? How does this work? Thank you!
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Those things don't sound exactly like OCD...at least from what I've read/know about it (obviously I'm not a Dr though). I believe OCD involves obsessive thoughts that then result in compulsive behaviors as a means to alleviate those thoughts/worries - it's all about anxiety!!!. It's different than doing something over and over because you enjoy it (like the showers), or getting really hyper-focused on something / someone, which is obsessive, but not necessarily OCD.
I was diagnosed OCD years ago (and have pretty much resolved it using CBT) and for years would obsess about getting herpes (no idea why!) - I would literally spend hours a day thinking about it, the same loop over and over and over and then compulsively check my body for symptoms over and over and over - sometimes the compulsion was so strong I would do so while driving 90 down the freeway. For me, this kind of obsessing is really different from hypomanic obsessing, which usually includes obsessive researching, listening to music, and working on projects. But I don't do these things because I believe I'm warding off something I'm anxious about - even if I'm anxious while doing them, I don't believe my actions are protecting/curing me from something else - that's the big difference (look up 'magical thinking' - kind of explains the ritualizing/superstition that often occurs). I also think OCD obsessions are usually pretty specific and sustained over time, together with the compulsory behavior - it wouldn't come and go with your cycles really, though it could obviously be much morse at times, just like any other anxiety disorder.