Autism and OCD

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I have been diagnosed with both AS and OCD. I have actually come to believe some of my symptoms are a mixture of both, it's hard to explain.

I seem to be the only person in my family with AS or OCD.

I obsess about things in my head, but I'm not sure that I have any compulsions in particular. My folks were hoarders too. My father usually lives with someone else who keeps their place relatively clean and keeps it from filling up with things. I haven't seen my mom's place in over a decade, but at the time she was still hoarding. I still have a bit of difficulty forcing myself to throw things out sometimes.

My bank sends me a Christmas card with a bunch of signatures on it... and I think "wtf"? Because I always thought you were supposed to keep greeting cards for their sentimental value... but it's a freaking bank and there isn't any sentimental value, so I wish they would just save the money and the trees and not bother sending the cards. Although I know they do it because it's part of their whole "customer service" philosophy around doing nice things for their customers. Apparently a lot of folks are oddly emotionally swayed toward feeling good about doing business with you if you send them meaningless cards or gift baskets or such.

I have several sub-threshold OCD traits. My brother (non-autistic) has very marked traits (though will not see a doctor about that or anything else, due to a germ fear about medical clinics).

I exhibit both OCD traits and AS traits. Although the compulsive aspect of my OCD is pretty much non-existent, I still have intrusive thoughts that come periodically throughout the day. Since I've been on medication, it has been a hell of a lot easier to ward them off. I've also noticed that my OCD increases in intensity when I am around people. A lot of my obsessive thoughts have to do with being bullied or being made fun of. I often worry about what other people are thinking of me when I am present, or even when I am not around, and what they say about me behind my back.

An interesting fact that I learned while reading The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome by Tony Attwood, is that many Autistic individuals who exhibit symptoms of OCD are mainly disturbed by the kinds of obsessive thoughts that I mentioned above. On the other hand, non-Autistic individuals who have OCD tend to be disturbed by sexual, aggressive, and religious thoughts. Although I have been plagued by sexual and aggressive thoughts/images, the majority of my intrusive thoughts are about being mocked behind my back or someone "telling me off" about my eccentric behavior or personality.

I am utterly annoyed by the stigma of mental illness, most notably OCD. I am confident in stating that I am a very bright and talented young man, and most people tend to overlook (or not look at all) at those characteristics of myself, but, rather, they tend to view me as someone who "has no life" or is a socially inept loser. I am sure many of you can relate with this, that it is extremely difficult to have a social life when you are the only one who understands who you are, and when you anticipate that most people are unwilling to accept you as such.

Strange thing is, I used to exhibit strong OCD traits. And I don't really, anymore.
I mean, I used to do stereotypical things like check the lock on the front door 6 times, constantly think I left the oven on, washing hands alllllll the time. It interfered with my life.

After I was dx'ed with Anxiety and Social Phobia, a psychiatrist put me on Paxil, and these OCD things somehow stopped, and have never come back, even though I stopped taking Paxil not long after I started taking it (whole other story).

My dad has long shown traits of OCD, and I have many childhood memories of my mother complaining about "your father's OCD'ing". He also probably has AS. Yet he is undiagnosed for both, and largely in denial about both. Oh well.

Callista,

There's a some errors that I see with the old way that OCD and similar symptoms to such in Autism are defined, for example:

You have an adult with OCD who likes to line things up, when asked why he or she does this, they'll say, 'it alleviates anxiety,' and some others will say, 'it wards off evil.'

Now, an adult with Autism will line things up in the same way, and when asked why he or she does this, they'll say, 'it makes me feel good, and I like doing it.'

The former individual doesn't have problems with communication, whereas the latter does. Feeling good can easily equate to feeling less anxiety, but since they have obvious communication deficits, they'll be unable to explain it like the individual with just OCD.

Now, when they give a certain drug to both individuals, and it actually helps both groups with the same behaviour, there's only a few conclusions that one can draw from this.

Neuropsychology may just me right in this regard compared to behavioural psychology (my psychiatrist's wife is a neuropsyche, and he gets all of the journals and information from her; that's why he sees no difference in the rituals and obsessions in OCD and Autism).

O, and OCD also has executive dysfunction.

OP:

My mother is a "checker", and she has obvious traits of OCD. My father has AS, and the only ritual he has is the obsessive interest of AS, which is different to the behaviour of OCD.

I've been diagnosed with OCD (that was the first mental disorder label I received; it was in a psychiatric hospital).

I suspect my mum of having minor OCD traits, and I do a few OCD things, too, but I think most of those traits could be a part of AS... OCD and AS are closely related in my opinion.

Neither me or my mum exhibit strong traits though.

I used to have obsessives and rituals, such as a particular way I had to eat every food, particularly the peanut butter and jelly sandwhich in a particular pattern of 20 bites when I was age 6 - onward. Intrusive thoughts to where I had to sit on my hands to go away. And recently I check on my doorknob 5 times before leaving and almost mist the shuttle which I had heard and so knew it was already there (4 times because of uncertain it was locked; once more to make it "even" even though 5 is really actually odd ).

I never had a problem with germs or uncleanliness or anything, though when I am nervous you see me straighten things up to an obsessive degree. Especially in new environments. Make things symmetrical, "good" numbers. Though not nearly as strongly as when I was 8, at which time I'm pretty confident I would've been diagnosable with OCD. Nowadays I'm not so sure, as it's only sometimes that things spark up, rather than being constantly.

I have diagnosed OCD, pure obsessional type. I started exhibiting symptoms at age 3. It became extremely severe and full-blown at age 11 1/2. I also have some obsessive-compulsive behaviors that are AS in nature, not OCD, because they are things I like to do (such as sit in the same seat or eat things in a particular order), not compulsions that I do to prevent something "bad" from happening.
-OddDuckNash99-