Does anybody here NOT have OCD as well?

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Serious question, because from where I sit, they seem to be part of the same condition and whereas my Aspergers' is frequently frustrating (to put it mildly), it's the OCD which really gets me down. The fact that it's always there and probably always will be.

I don't have OCD, though I do have severe anxiety (I've had several different diagnosises including generalized anxiety disorder and most recently PTSD.) I was misdiagnosed with OCD when I was very little in an attempt to explain my need for sameness and routine before I was diagnosed with Aspergers.

I kind of feel the same way about my anxiety as you do about your OCD. That it's my anxiety that gets me down, and struggling with the fact that I'll always have anxiety.

I think that autistics are very much prone to anxiety in some form, and that the two go hand in hand. Yours is in the form of OCD, and mine is in the form of more generalized anxiety.

On another, sort of related note, I have Tourette Syndrome, so it's actually weird that I do NOT have OCD. Most people with Tourettes have OCD or at least obsessive compulsive tendencies, and I don't have even the tendencies. Tourettes and OCD appear to originate in the same area of the brain and both have to do with the inability to correctly inhibit things (in OCD it's thoughts, and in Tourettes it's physical or vocal actions/words). So Tourettes and OCD often go hand in hand, but not in my case.

I have a few VERY MILD obsessive-compulsive tendencies but not OCD. One psychiatrist many times literally MADE UP a lot of OCD tendencies I never had, and exaggerated the one or two that I did have. He then wrote I had obsessive-compulsive tendencies and that that was really a thing for me. I DO NOT. He lied about other stuff too, sometimes with noble cause (to get me certain meds that weren't covered yet) but usually I don't know, for fun??? No idea why he did it.

I don't believe that OCD and ASD are the same disorder, but I do believe ASD can cause OCD (I believe that was what happened to me). Because the autistic brain is more inclined towards perseveration and worrying, I think that in some cases the abnormal brain structure caused by ASD just ends up causing that person to have OCD as a comorbid. I could be wrong, but I've almost always had OCD, so I don't think it is a "psychological" thing for me. It seems like In was just "born that way." (Of course, not every person with ASD and OCD was born with OCD).

I have HFA and motor tic disorder but no OCD. I feel for those that do have OCD because it sounds really frustrating to have.

It is quite frustrating! My stupid brain won't ever let me relax . I have tics as well- those aren't fun either. Thanks for understanding, though !

Thanks to everyone for their comments. I'm sure there is a causal relationship between AS and OCD, AS and GAD (I have also been diagnosed with GAD) and doubtless several other disorders. Stampy's idea that AS caused his OCD matches my own experiences. I have always wondered if my need for routines, coupled with poor short-term memory created my OCD, perhaps because if you need routines and struggle with focusing on anything other than your fear of the world, you can get obsessional about things that you need to do. For example, if you struggle to remember to lock the door or are afraid of the consequences of not doing, how far away are you from checking you've locked the door 10 times? Perhaps anxiety generated by AS leads to OCD?

Exactly. My "theory" (it's not a great one lol ) is that every "psychological" disorder has a neurological basis. I don't believe in psychology (I know that's weird!) because I don't think it's the environment that causes these things. Of course the environment can make it worse, but if you don't have that neurological basis, you won't end up with a disorder. To make things more clear, say you have two people who each go through the same traumatic event. One ends up with severe PTSD and the other has bad feelings about what happened, but doesn't have the amount of anxiety that the other one has. Some people might just feel that one is slightly more inclined towards anxiety and an anxious personality, but what causes that anxious temperament is where the neurological basis comes into play. The person with PTSD has a brain that is structured slightly differently than the other person's. That's just what I think lol, since it seems doubtful that the person who ends up with anxiety got that just as a result of their environment. Same with OCD. IMO, you are born with OCD, but something may not trigger it until later in life. I also think anxiety generated by ASD can lead to OCD and other anxiety issues. Sorry for the monologue, but I'm curious as to what you think .

Seems logical to me. I speak as at least a 3rd generation ASD sufferer (and my son shows a lot of the symptoms at age 10). Unfortunately, it's a genetic lottery. I think that many of us got a most unfortunate Jackpot.

I don't have OCD but I learned about OCD when I was reading up on Autism. OCD sounds more like a disordered "coping" mechanism. For instance if there's a bad memory you don't want to remember that's associated with shame, embarrassment, sadness, hurt, anger the list goes on that you begin to do the "thing" or "things" that your OCD makes you do to distract your mind from thinking of it. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong. This may only represent a few of the OCD community.

Aspergers or autism seems to have a lot of symptoms that are associated with coping with every day struggles and sensory overload or lack there of. So my theory is that OCD is one way our bodies or brains decide to cope. For mine it was my verbal tics.

Yep. Same here- my grandparents, my dad, my cousins, and my siblings all at least have very significant traits. I got the "unfortunate" jackpot lol !

OCD can be like that, but it comes in a lot of forms. My friend, for example, has a fear of germs (hypochondria). It isn't a bad memory that triggers her OCD, but rather a disconnect between certain parts of the brain. In short, there are parts not communicating correctly. When a person without OCD touches something dirty, they will go and wash their hands. The frontal lobe then sends an "okay" to the caudate nucleus that, yes, the person's hands are clean. With OCD, this "okay" signal doesn't function correctly, so the person feels compelled to wash their hands over and over again because that part of the brain never receives the signal that their hands are clean. OCD isn't really a way to cope, at least in my case. It's more a neurological misfire than a choice. Tics and OCD are strongly related though, since intrusive thoughts are almost "mental" tics .

Oh wow I learned something today. Thanks for explaining that! It sounds like it's very stressful for the person experiencing it. I suppose even if one were to manage it it would still cause unimaginable stress.

Totally! I think most people see OCD as just a choice to be a germaphobe or something like that, but it is so much more! Thanks for understanding, though- I have OCD and tics myself ! (At least I hope it's OCD, since my current obsession circles around certain mental illnesses)

I would agree with that for the most part, although I think there are also chemical imbalances and physical brain injury that can have the same effect as a congenital neurological birth defect.

I do agree that comorbids like OCD, ADHD, Anxiety Disorders, Depression, etc. are (or can be) as much a product of defective neurology as Autism itself and that's why if you have one, you're much more likely to experience others as well.

It would be easy to say I experience chronic depression because of the circumstances created by my autistic handicaps, but the truth is, my brain is simply predisposed to pessimism, and interpreting every obstacle as a catastrophe.

I agree with what you've said as well. Once one set of "wiring" is messed up, it just makes sense that some others might be abnormal as well. My brain is predisposed to obsessive thinking and anxiety, so I ended up with OCD. It wasn't really my circumstances, because I was very young when I started obsessing over things, and I didn't really have a chance to recognize my handicaps yet. I thought I was the "normal" one in regards to socializing and sensory processing differences!