Routines - OCD vs. ASD

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Quick question:

What's the difference between complex compulsions (from OCD) and an "insistence on sameness, inflexible adherence to routines" (from the DSM 5 autism criteria)? The DSM is kind of vague, I think. Or maybe that's just me.

OCD is intrusive unwanted thoughts. Autistic special interests are about a topic(s) that are liked

I often get "mixed obsessions". They can sometimes seem like special interests, but they can also involve compulsions and intrusive thoughts.

Thanks, but I was asking something a bit different. How can you distinguish between complex-multi-step compulsions and an "inflexible adherence to routines" (from DSM-5, ASD criteria)?

An OCD routine is driven by anxiety and a need to feel control over something. An ASD routine is more about needing familiarity, such as focusing on a very limited sequence of tasks to avoid getting overwhelmed by too much sensory input. I guess from the outside it might be hard to tell the difference in someone's behavior.

I sometimes wonder if my routines are more OCD than autism. Sure I like my routines and feel fine with them but I always got upset too when it would change. I wonder if people with OCD can like their routines because it relaxes them and if that is true, it makes me wonder if my psychiatrist was mistaking when he diagnosed me. For years I thought OCD was just a name for a trait itself that autistic people have but you needed enough components to be on the autism spectrum. I also wonder if autistic people not get upset with change and if they do, it's OCD and anxiety. For an example the autistic person has a routine to shower every night, they aren't able to do that routine so it stresses them out. I used to just take mine early if I knew I would be home late because showers were not allowed late at night which is why I always showered at eight and I got into that habit it was hard to break out of until I got a swing shift job so it forced me out of that habit. I suppose it could be both. I have heard OCD can be caused by autism so I guess that makes sense and perhaps that is what my mother means by it's part of it.

Also what happens when an autistic person decides they didn't want their special interests anymore because they wanted to do more in life and they can't stop their obsessions so they quit liking them. Now their special interests is intrusive and now it's OCD? When I was in 6th grade I decided I hate my obsession with 101 Dalmatians because my mom would get mad at me about it, I was always talking about it and it's all I preferred and I decided I wanted to stop but couldn't This was called OCD and also said it was part of my Asperger's. Was my psychiatrist mistaking? Now I think for an autistic person to have OCD, all they have to do is stop liking their special interest. If this is wrong, then I have another reason to doubt my ASD and assume my psychiatrist must have goofed up despite being a autism specialist and I am sure they can make diagnosing mistakes too. I was told at my autism group this is how OCD is misdiagnosed also it made me wonder if I could be misdiagnosed with OCD. If I had told my psychiatrist the real reason why I wanted my obsession out of my head, would things have been different? Also what if their special interest was their guilty pleasure so they felt ashamed of it and didn't want to be into it? OCD? I suppose it can be both.

That's one symptom. I have OCD co-diagnosed with autism. its also being paranoid and obsessing about a bad thing that may or may not happen. Having routines and being convinced that a bad thing will happen if that you don't follow that routine or rituals.

i get obsessed with injuries. i worry that its very very bad or needs serious medical attention

In my experience, people with OCD get "stuck," while someone with ASD can actually be distracted--perhaps with some shiny new toy .

Oh yeah some of it sounds like me. OCD is a whole spectrum and while I may not be a germaphobe or having to repeatedly check locks on doors or check stoves, or count cracks in sidewalks or having to count numbers or having to put things in patterns, I do get excessive worry and can't stop thinking about it. One is with money and finances. I fear change and I do not like surprises so I always worry about unexpected bills or what if something happened and we needed the money, so I have a hard time spending it and it makes me a saver and I can be cheap. I get upset if there is any change in our finances where we pay more so my husband handles the finances because I couldn't handle it and I would get very upset when I would find out he even spent literally a little money and then I would be talking about it for a couple months and for more than an hour a day. I think this might be a form of OCD and part of it. This is just one example I have about my OCD.

One time I was worried about an ectopic pregnancy so they had to give me an ultra sound and I got over it. I wouldn't have been able to stop thinking about it and looking it up online for symptoms so they did the ultra sound so I had proof the egg was in my uterus. Then I miscarried and got pregnant again and this time I couldn't stop worrying about losing the baby so I had lot of anxiety over it. I used to just make my baby move by provoking it. My husband thought it was mean but I had to be sure I didn't have a stillborn in there. I say with OCD, people may be more prone to this worry and go far with it while most women may worry about it but I had anxiety over it and would talk about it for hours sometimes and then when the baby was big enough for me to feel it move, I would provoke it to move so I can see he is still alive.

I guess my OCD worry about not showering at eight is thinking I wouldn't be able to shower at all because of the rule we had in our house.

Oh yeah this is also me. I was also told this was an aspie thing too but maybe that was the wrong information I was given. I was told it was part of my AS and OCD. But OCD does seem common in ASD because of things I read about it by AS people that are actually OCD things such as troubles getting over things or being worried about things or still upset over something that happened months back because they can't stop thinking about it or liking things in a certain pattern.

I have then started to work on distracting myself from anything that gets me too upset or worried and worry about it later by doing other things as an attempt to distract me from that thought which I had gotten better at. Like go play a video game or go watch TV or do the computer and not think about that thing. Then my mind will get focused on something else and I forget about that thing.

My understanding of it:

Both aspies, and OCD people might get obsessed with door knobs.

If you get obsessed because you wash your door knobs hourly because you're afraid of germs then: you have OCD.

But if you get obsessed with door knobs because one day you just got turned on to the subject of door knobs, and you start to collect antique door knobs, and start to buy coffee table books on door knobs, and start to monologue at parties on the subject of the history, evolution, and subtle variations in door knobs, then that's aspergers.

But it can be ambiguous.

If you start out obsessed with doorknobs as an aspie special interest, and then later you become ashamed of it as an interest, and fight against it, but the lure of doorknobs keeps intruding into your thoughts then...it may have morphed into OCD.