Topic : Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

I have also been pulling my hair for 20+ years. I pull from the same spot on the top of my head that is about the size of a fifty cent coin. If there are no new hairs on that spot I will pull hair from under the arm or bikini area.  When I was young my mother would help me cover it by parting my hair to the side. I go through phases where I can grow part of the spot out but then some new stress happens and I will pick all the new hair out. My husband recently discovered my problem. I can't explain to him why I do this. I would love to find out why this started and why it seems like I can't control the urge to pull. I have a sister and a cousin with this problem. It makes me so jealous when I see women able to go to the hair salon and get a hair cut or a new style. I would love to get ideas on how to stop this from others who have overcome this.  

I have been picking my skin for ages though I never thought it to be a part of anything specific. I don't have to my knowledge OCD but Bipolar/Borderline. If you want to discuss this i would appreciate it now that I know someone else who does it too.  

Deb 

I came to the OCD board actually for a reason and for some lame moment forgot to post what it was. I don't have OCD to my knowledge but who knows. I recently was booted out of a relationship. The breakup was brutal. I was left for not just another girl but a guy as well. If that isn't bad enough I have become so focused on this idiot that it is taking over my life completely. I have never done this with another person in my life. So this is upsetting me and confusing me on why I am doing it now. I find myself running these endless searches for him and anything he posted. I have joined the same groups as he has though under a different name. When I think of him which you probably can guess is often i feel lost without him. I can't continue the behavior but don't know exactly how to stop it either. Has anyone else here ever felt this way? What did you do to quit this behavior? Anything would be helpful for I have lost me in that relationship and I am not sure how that happened or how to proceed. Thank you! 

Celticeme 

Hello, since I was a little girl, I was always checking the stove all the time to make sure it is off. Now to this day, I still do. I check it over and over because I worry about fire. Maybe it was because the house next door to us was on fire when the four of us were little.  

When I write a letter, I re write it if I make a mistake because it looks sloppy. I also go around and make sure the lights are off, check all the faucets etc.... I am in my 40's now and this is very embarrassing. The meds help somewhat, but it is really embarrassing to tell anyone. No one really knows about this and it scares me. I am afraid to be the last one out of the house because I know I have to check everything and I feel responsible if anything happened. Can anyone relate to this? Sometimes it takes me forever to get out of the house because of this fear and because I check things all the time.   

Embarrassed in the West Coast 

I am a psychiatric social woker on disability for years now and ive been to maclean and dr.tolin 

on iol and that wan't helpful found not empathy there... they just like tons of cash..... i finally went 

to the ocd foundation for help and found a doctor on there.. ive been to so many doctors..... 

its funny they all diagnose you with different things when your a therapist and you know waht you 

have and your psyhciatrist friends say maria you aren't bipolar or add your  a classic ocd..... 

I have been told ocd is biological but i still questions why my ocd happened as soon as i finished 

grad school and started working 3 years on an inpatients psych ward that was stressful..... and 

believe you me i loved the patients that wasn't stressful i thought the doctors and social workers  

were nuts and had issues and having me lie and say stuff to the insurance companies that wasn't 

true to keep the patient there longer and my honesty and my way of doing things had me leave 

hallbrooke hospital in westport and my ocd went down a bit when i went to work for yale university 

the best place on earth.... but after i went to work for another crazy place mount sinai in hartford inpatient in hartford and couldn't deal with the stress and my ocd exaccerbated working at these 

2 crazy hospitals......... i was never never ocd when i worked in retail or at an insurance company 

before grad school..... psych social work excaccerbated my ocd..... i don't understand how i was 

born with it and its biological no one in my family has it..... and i was fine until i worked in these 

2 nutty places.......most of it was staff but alot of violent people and people out of jail... so i believe 

ocd is totally environmental and going to top places like maclean and dr. tolin who was on oprah 

may help some people but not me... they treated me different and expected alot from me because 

i was a therapist. you should know better you were once a therapist always slapped in my face..... 

i finally found out that meds don't work and you need ERp and CBT but you have to start out slow 

and at your pace and sometime ERP and CBT doesn't work for severe cases like mine and 

you may need surgery as now i am terrified to go anywhere and forced myself to make a doctor 

appointment that the ocd foundation reccomended...... so there are good docs everywhere you 

just have to keep firing um and hiring them... and some meds do work...... ive tried lexapro and paxil and anafranil and i gained 75 pounds........ im now on prozac and doing weight watchers and a plus 

size model at size 12........ and i continue to lose weight with weight watchers as i now have 

an awesome therapist online from long island i can say anything i want and i am not judged. 

DR. Sapen is the best an aynique.com. and he is so inexpensive he got me to get out of my 

house and to get me into feeling good about myself...... but reading is so important EDNA FOA 

is brilliant she is one of the best. shes in Philladelphia had i known i would have gone there 

as Maclean was a revolving door for me and now im in debt  because of maclean there you work 

with counselors and your doctor and social worker they give you look not interested and no personality....... that was my experience....... But if you want a good place i hear menningers is 

excellent for ERP and so is EDNA FOA in Philadelphia........  and don't be fooled that Dr. Phil is the best cuz he was on oprah he is so expensive and he gave me a student who was horrible 

and she had no emotion...... So don't believe everything you hear on Oprah till you experience it yourself...... 

I finally found my way... my ocd is about asking questions reassureance..... and when people don't answer i let it go......... i read and do mediation and im having trouble going to stores and the dentist 

and anywhere like the mall because i shop alot and i fix things as i am clean and a perfectionist... 

i learned you have to hang in there things take time and nothing gets solved overnight......... 

Just don't trust someone just because they are on a show......... I would trust Dr. Phil of course 

but don't trust some of these people who claim to be experts there money goes for there 

materialistic lifestyle..... ive done my research..... 

modeling isn't rewarding but thats all i can do right now send pics and get paid..... social work 

was rewarding but stressful but its over for me because i don't want to harm patients with 

my anxiety disorder.... even if i get better won't go back you have to be strong and not 

be so emotional...... 

i think starting to have faith in god and praying has relieved my anxiety and finding new friends 

and staying away from a sister who is abusive and mean and parents who say your fat and 

mental......... my next step is to move out of this house......... sure my family and my sister love 

me they just are wicked italian and the verbal abuse comes out and of course they don't 

mean it they are just shocked at how 5 years i have gotten sick and it came out of no where 

so i forgive them....... i just stay away..... 

maria pinto msw   

i meant to say don't trust experts all the time just because they are on oprah because i went to dr. tolin and didn't get what i wanted at the instiitute of living and i was a therapist here so i went there before he was on oprah..... and after seeing him on oprah i was like ohhhhh my god him i don't know maybe he does help people but the student i got from Canada was lousy and rude  

and no patience. i had lots of patience when i was a social worker i worked late and didn't document it alot of us went above and beyond thats a true therapist......... 

I trust dr.phil i wish he was my doc as much as i love Oprah and have loved her showed for 15 years i think shes awesome  i just need Dr. Phil right now as he is a doctor and i have heard 

wach his shows he makes me want to get up in the morning.......... when i am comfortable and 

not so fearful i will fly to L.A. and be on that show as a guest in the audience....... 

listen to him and what he has to say about OCD........  do not take your own life just because 

you have ocd and don't feel sorry for yourself ocd is fixable....... i have to tell it like it 

is i felt sorry for myself and i said stop it....... 

maria pinto msw