A manic desire for cleanliness is a sign of neurosis or psychosis

• September 9, 2018
• Manias and Phobias
• Timoshenko Mikhail

The constant desire to keep the house in perfect condition can develop into an obsessive mental state - a disease of mania for cleanliness and order. Any action must be taken in moderation and not go beyond the bounds of reason. The desire to get rid of dust every day and put objects in their places creates deviations, the signs of which have much in common with schizophrenia.

The name of the disease of cleanliness and order sounds like mysophobia. In this case we are talking about an obsessive fear of contact with pollution. What is another name for the disease of cleanliness and order? In clinical practice, the definition of germophobia is often used, the essence of which is a panicky fear of infection by pathogenic microflora.

Order comes first!

There are many women in the older generation who have very strict and firm rules regarding how and when to clean the house, how to arrange things in the closet, how often to change linen, etc. They usually fulfill these requirements themselves, but sometimes they call on loved ones to follow the “master plan” outlined by them and consider those who are not concerned about cleanliness to be “lost” people.

Remember that all cleanliness is relative - not only a leak from neighbors can happen, but also an earthquake, house demolition or fire. Then all efforts to restore order will seem ridiculous. Try to look at them from this point of view, thank God that there is nothing like this in your life, and clean as much as you have the strength and time to do without compromising other interests.

Teri Hatcher

Source: @officialterihatcher
The Desperate Housewives star has a real phobia of clutter and unsanitary conditions. She disdains doing fitness in the gym and has equipped a room in her house for this. Teri doesn't trust anyone to do the cleaning and prefers to do it herself. Hatcher also prefers not to stay in hotels - she is not sure how clean the rooms are. It is interesting that in the series the actress played a frivolous woman who was unable to maintain comfort at home.

Types of cleanliness

People who love cleanliness and order can be pedants, perfectionists, individuals with manic or obsessive-compulsive disorder, and simply clean people.

Cleanliness may differ from each other.

1. Individuals suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder. Every day they scrub their apartment until it shines. Maintain perfect cleanliness.
2. Individuals who cannot sleep knowing that their things are not laid out, or trash has accumulated, or the floor has not been washed. In this case, selective purity may be observed. Such individuals can easily eat in bed, but at the same time they will make sure that the bathtub is scrubbed to a shine.
3. People who clean only before guests arrive. They create the illusion for others that they are clean.

Mechanism of occurrence

With severe fear, excitation of specific neural networks in the cerebral cortex is observed. In the absence of pathology, excitement fades and the brain becomes calm again, but cases when the brain does not return to its original state are also not excluded.

Excessive stress triggers the growth of new neural fibers from the medial prefrontal cortex to the amygdala. The fear is enhanced by the GABA inhibitory peptide contained in the fibers in question. From this moment on, even the slightest thought about a provoking factor automatically excites powerful activity in neural circuits, not to mention a collision with an object of fear.

Possible dangers

It is generally accepted that cleanliness is the key to health. In pursuit of unsurpassed purity, the human immune system suffers. She suffers under the influence of disinfectants used during cleaning. The manic desire to get rid of harmful bacteria leads to the destruction of beneficial ones, which have a positive effect on the human body.

Young children are at greater risk. Being in sterile conditions, their body loses the ability to resist disease. The absence of viruses and bacteria is just as destructive for humans as their excess.

Perfect cleanliness is dangerous for the body

Pathogenesis

Mysophobia may be a manifestation of obsessive-phobic symptoms of schizotypal personality disorder . As the main components of the syndrome, obsessive fear of pollution and fear of germs can be exacerbated under certain conditions, causing patients to become antisocial and isolated. For example, Mayakovsky had an eccentric habit of carrying disinfectant in his right pocket, which he used immediately after shaking hands.

Initially, a phobia is formed in a pathogenic situation, intensifies under the influence of memories and fills all thoughts, turning into obsession and developing like conditioned reflexes.

Perfectionist complex

Psychologists have long determined that the thirst for order and the desire to achieve the ideal in everything are very often found in the same person. People who love everything ideal live every day as some kind of test or challenge. Often in their aspirations they reach the point of absurdity. For example, such a person simply will not be able to carry on a conversation if he notices that one of the paintings on the wall is hanging crooked by several millimeters.

Often, in their desire to make the world around them ideal, such people begin to strive for 100% of everything. If they hang laundry, it must be at an equal distance from each other. Books will be arranged by color scheme or size. They often exhibit obsessions with cleanliness. Moreover, those around him get the impression that very soon the premises of such a pedant will literally become sterile.

Why can the love of cleanliness become a problem?

A person obsessed with cleanliness will have no time left for a normal life and relationships with people
. If there is a cult of cleanliness in the house, then it is worth considering the fact that a child growing up in such conditions will most likely face one of two problems.

1. The first is that he will grow up to be a slob. Finding himself outside the walls of his cleanest home, which surrounds him in perfect order, the individual stops monitoring cleanliness, relaxes, and thinks that now he can live the way he wants, no one will force him to clean every day.
2. The second scenario is the internal conviction that ideal cleanliness is the norm. Which actually leads to the fact that a person becomes fixated on putting things in order every day.

You need to understand that the desire for cleanliness should not leave the limits of reason. After all, if an individual spends 24 hours a day cleaning, washing windows and doors, wiping dust in every corner, putting all things in their places, then over time this state of affairs can lead to the development of paranoid deviations. The painful need for cleanliness is a mania. In particular, it can manifest itself in the form of germophobia, fear of infection. A person tries not to contact anyone and even after a simple handshake, he immediately runs to wash his hands or treat them with an antiseptic.

Individuals obsessed with order, without noticing it, block their own humanity. People around them look at them like robots or treat them like fanatics.

It is extremely difficult to communicate with obsessive cheaters. A person who always thinks about order, tries to bring everything to the ideal, does not know how to fantasize, dream, or create. Communication with him becomes boring. A person who thinks a lot about cleanliness, spends most of her time on putting things in order, does not know how to enjoy life. Consequently, she is deprived of all joys. Such a person often stops thinking about his loved ones. She focuses on the compulsive need to clean.

Obsessed with cleanliness

Several years ago, I discovered the English program “Clean Freaks,” which has been successfully broadcast for several seasons on the TLC channel. The original name of the program is closer to the truth - “Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners”, it can be translated as obsessive-compulsive cleaners. It was from this program that I first learned about such a disease as OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder).

The heroes of the program are people obsessed with cleanliness. They clean for 6-8 hours a day, wash the windows throughout the apartment after every rain, vacuum the curtains and air in the apartment, arrange figurines on the shelves in perfect symmetry, and disinfect door handles. Obsessive-compulsive neaties live in sterile houses, and their lives are subject to clear rituals invented by them. This show quickly became my favorite because I am obsessed with cleanliness myself. I won’t go to bed until I’ve washed the hallway mirror, put all the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, and wiped the kitchen sink dry. Cleaning the house relaxes me, calms me down and gives me pleasure. But I noticed that very often they say about people with excessive pedantry and a passion for cleaning - yes, this is OCD! This is a very common substitution of concepts. After all, OCD is a mental disorder that seriously complicates life.

The name of this disease comes from the Latin words obsessio - obsession with an idea and compello - compulsion. In some countries, people with OCD are even recognized as disabled. OCD includes obsessive-compulsive disorder, intrusive thoughts (obsessions), and repetitive behaviors (compulsions). This disorder can be expressed in a variety of forms. Someone washes their hands with soap every 10 minutes, someone endlessly checks whether the kettle is turned off and the front door is closed, someone counts everything around, repeats certain numbers or puts the house in perfect order, spending 10 hours a day on this. day. Obsessive thoughts that cannot be driven away also make life very difficult. This could be a thought, for example, that the patient could harm his child if left alone with him.

A classic example of this disease is the fear of dirt, germs, and disease. This is exactly how obsessive compulsive disorder manifests itself in our heroine Olga (name changed), who told Motherhood about how she lives with two children and OCD.

Olga, 36 years old, suffers from OCD for 7 years

- Olya, tell me, who do you live with? Are you working now?

I live with two children. My son is 7 years old and my daughter is 5 years old. I don't work. It so happened that almost immediately after maternity leave I went on a second maternity leave. I'm currently looking to work from home due to OCD. I can't work outside the home.

— How long have you been diagnosed with this?

It all started after the birth of my eldest son. Those. for almost 7 years now. It all started gradually. Long before that, I had anorexia, and as I understand it, it also had elements of OCD. I am afraid of dirt, infection, disease. It all started when the youngest son began to crawl and put everything into his mouth. I then started to look at where these things were before they ended up in the child's mouth.

That's how it all started, very, very gradually. But inevitably, like a snowball. First, I started washing everything that the child could reach. We then lived in St. Petersburg in a hostel, we had a cat. He loved to first lie on the shoe rack and then come to our bed. And I began to wipe the cat with a wet rag before going to bed. It seemed to me that my actions were absolutely logical and that I was not doing anything supernatural. This was probably true at first.

Then I began to be afraid of street pants. My husband had long jeans. And in St. Petersburg it is always terribly dirty - there is a lot of garbage on the street, spitting, and homeless people. And I was very afraid of hepatitis B, which our child could become infected with. For some reason this is the first disease that comes to my mind. I began to think: my husband will collect all this dirt on the street with his pants, then he will walk on our floor where our child is crawling, the child will lick everything, including the floor. And I suggested that my husband take off his pants near the front door and not walk around the apartment in them. The husband agreed, he also saw the logic in this.

Then I began to be afraid of the outerwear that we wear on the street - since it was in a dorm, the clothes hung so that at home we constantly walked past them, touching them. And as luck would have it, on the street I began to constantly encounter either blood or spitting. Here I am sitting in a trolleybus and suddenly I see blood on the window. I don't know if this is common for all people with OCD, but I have an increased attention to little things that I involuntarily pay attention to. I constantly notice all this and can no longer unsee it.

To cope with my anxiety, I began to ask everyone: is this what you do? Are you washing this? It turned out that everyone acts completely differently. Therefore, for a long time I did not understand what was normal and what was no longer normal. And she didn’t sound the alarm for a long time. My husband was a biologist, and my behavior irritated him very much. He had his own theory about dirt, about germs. Our relationship has always been not very smooth, and when OCD began to manifest itself, it became even worse. We knew nothing about this disorder then; in fact, very few people around me know about it.

“My fixed idea is that I have to protect my children from everything.”

— When the child got older and started walking, didn’t it become easier?

It got even worse. My OCD is related to responsibility. I have a fixed idea that I must protect the child from everything. Here we are walking down the street, ahead of us is a flock of pigeons on the sidewalk. Suddenly they take off and fly low, right above us. I’m also afraid of pigeons - it seems to me that they have a lot of parasites and they carry all sorts of diseases, like rats. And I start to think - it’s my fault, I should have chosen a different road, or moved away in time, now the child can get sick from this... If I can’t protect him from illness, it means I can’t cope and I’m a bad mother, and I’m to blame.

I realized that this is not just some kind of increased cleanliness, I realized when the eldest was already 2.2 years old, and I gave birth to a daughter. Then, for the first time, a friend of mine advised me to a psychotherapist of a certain direction. She said: maybe you can talk to her? What if you have this? At the time we thought I just had a phobia of dirt. I started talking to a psychotherapist, she immediately said that she had no right to diagnose me, because only a psychiatrist makes a diagnosis. But that’s it, OCD.

“My family doesn’t believe that this is a disease”

— What imprint does your OCD leave on your everyday life with your children?

I have a problem with letting someone into our home. I have made a fortress out of my house, into which I do not let anyone.

- Nobody? No grandparents, no doctor, no children’s friends?

No one. No one is in our house except us. And our trips out of the house are very rare and limited because of what happens later when we get home. I start washing everything - walls, floors, doorways and doors, us, everything we brought home from the stores. I wash absolutely everything. Any food items that cannot be washed, I wipe and add. It is very difficult and takes a lot of time and a lot of effort. That's why we don't go out often.

When I tell people about this, I start laughing myself. What does it look like? So we come from the street and near the front door we all completely undress. I immediately send all my clothes to the wash. We go to the bathroom with all precautions, I put the children there and begin to wash everything. I wash with alcohol the walls, the floors, everywhere we walked - the hallway, the bathroom, all the walls, all the doors, the floor, everything I pass by with our street clothes. Then I also wash everything in the bathroom, wipe the washing machine, and all of us.

“Many of my friends stopped talking to me when they found out about my OCD.”

— Aren’t your parents offended that they can’t get to your home?

It offends and makes me very angry. They don't believe it's a disease either. They say that it's my stupidity and my bad character, and that I just don't want to let them into our home. Our relationship has always been difficult, but now it has worsened even more. Many of my friends do not understand my problem. At first I tried to tell my friends about it. And many people stopped communicating with me after that, thinking that I was crazy, abnormal, that all this would soon develop into schizophrenia and that in general I could be dangerous. Now I have a very narrow circle of friends, mostly virtual ones - on Facebook. But with my friends in real life, I try not to talk about it. Because I’ve already encountered the fact that few people understand this.

- Do you go to visit?

Sometimes we go. But I try not to abuse it, because I understand that people want to pay a return visit, but, unfortunately, I cannot give this to them. That is, we go to visit those who are aware of my problem and put up with it. Working outside the home is impossible for me. I'm sure I'll just die from anxiety and uncertainty. What if I miss something somewhere, and the children get sick with something incurable due to my fault?

Although everyone assures me that when I start working, I simply won’t have time for it, and I’ll forget about my fears. But I understand that I won’t be able to score by force of will; I’ll go crazy with fear. Therefore, I am now actively looking for work from home. But this is very difficult in my case, I am a musician and I don’t really know what I could do from home. I cannot bring students to me. I also can’t take a nanny, I can’t let the children go out with someone - because of OCD, I need to constantly monitor what the children touched, who passed by them.

— Children don’t go to kindergarten and school?

No, none of the children went to kindergarten. The eldest is homeschooled.

- Is it because of OCD?

Not only because of this. Even before giving birth, I discovered natural parenting and was very absorbed in it all. And I was committed to homeschooling. And OCD just organically wove into it.

— How do children react to this?

We communicate with other people and visit them periodically. And the children began to ask me why others don’t do this. I began to explain that I was afraid of dirt, it was such a disease. I hope to get better.

- And how did the children accept this disease, how much did they understand it? Do the children have any grievances or questions about why their friends don’t come to visit them, why they can’t go for walks every day?

It so happened that for two summers in a row we went away to visit for the whole summer. And when I’m visiting, my symptoms become milder, and they practically go away. And for the first time this question was asked at a party. Last year my eldest son asked me: why don’t we do it here like at home? And I began to explain everything. The children took it calmly. They have lived in this since birth, they are accustomed to the fact that no one comes to visit us. They have no grievances. Of course, I want to get rid of OCD as soon as possible. Because the children will grow up, and I don’t know what it will all look like next. The older they get, the more difficult it seems to me for all of us.

“I feel safe at home, the only thing I’m afraid of is the windows...”

- How is your day? You go for a walk, as I understand it, you don’t go out every day.

No. This summer we went out every other day, and it was very difficult. Because a lot of effort and time goes into washing everything after a walk. As a rule, we go out to do some business, sometimes we meet with friends with children, sometimes we walk on the playgrounds. Because I spend a lot of time constantly washing and wiping, I am very lethargic and exhausted.

That's why I do everything very long and slowly. I feel safe at home, the only things I'm afraid of are the toilet and the windows. Windows - because street dirt accumulates there. And I’m inexplicably afraid of the toilet, I’m just afraid, that’s all. I clean the toilet after every use and that also takes a lot of time. Because I not only wash the toilet, I wash the walls around it, the floor. If we don't go outside, I spend about two to three hours a day cleaning, sometimes more.

— Do you also wash the windows every day?

No, I don't wash windows. I wipe the window sill, the radiator and the floor around the window, within a radius of a meter, about the same on the balcony. And I just try not to approach them and don’t let children near the windows.

- And the products?

Well, we go to the store once a week, then we go home with groceries and sit at home all week.

— Do the children go crazy at home and stand on their heads?

No, they have games and activities. They may not be outside much, but they have a very rich fantasy and imagination. I try to give them some kind of physical activity, doing something like adapted acrobatics and soft school with them. While they are sitting in the bathroom after going outside, when I am wiping everything down, I come up with all sorts of games for them, feed them, and teach them poems and songs together. This also takes a lot of effort. I also constantly come up with something for myself, since I find it very boring to wipe the floors and walls in the same way, I come up with all sorts of things for myself. For example, mix essential oil with alcohol to disinfect the air. With OCD I have a very quirky mind.

—Have you not been to a psychiatrist?

No, I didn’t go to a psychiatrist. Because a psychiatrist is needed to prescribe medications. Specifically, OCD is practically not treated with medication. And if it is treated, this means that you need to take medications continuously throughout your life so that the symptoms do not return. I can't imagine what it's like. I was also against it because I breastfed my children. I was alone with two children, my husband was at work all the time and often went on expeditions. How will I take antidepressants, and how will I cope with two small active children in such a lethargic state?

In general, everything is complicated with OCD and psychotherapy. Officially, only two areas claim that they work with OCD. This is short-term therapy. The paradoxical method and cognitive behavioral therapy. Moreover, each direction claims that only they help, and everything else is ineffective.

But in fact, you can get rid of OCD using different methods. I have great faith in Gestalt therapy. My first therapist used short-term therapy, a paradoxical method. She was just starting out then and, as far as I understand, she actually trained with me. It was during our therapy that our difficulties with my husband began. He put a lot of pressure on me, he wanted me to be given tasks. He wanted to see the result here and now. In general, I wanted all this to stop very quickly - literally in 2-3 sessions. He constantly interfered in the process and wanted to be present at the sessions. As a result, the therapist said that it was impossible to work like that. That my husband himself creates such conditions when, out of a sense of contradiction, I simply cannot stop, because he puts pressure on me all the time. The psychotherapist apologized and said that she couldn’t work like that. And we left this topic for a long time. My husband spared both time and money for this; he often said: I don’t believe that this is a disease. I think you're just being manipulative, or that you have nothing better to do. And that I just have to overcome this with an effort of will. But if this is still a disease, then I should “take pills” and be cured. I asked: what if I have to take these pills all my life? What if they already undermine my physical health? To which he replied: these are no longer my concerns, the main thing is that you should not create problems for us all, so that the children and I can live normally. Even at the cost of your health or life.

Then, when my husband had already left the family, he said that he had never had feelings for me, and OCD was the last straw. if it weren’t for it, he would still somehow be able to tolerate me, but with this disorder it was too hard for him.

— Did you have any fear of dirt or germs as a child? Weren't you the neatest girl in the class?

No, she wasn't the neatest. And I wasn’t afraid, or rather, I didn’t think about it. It seems to me that this is inherited from my mother. Those. I saw how she behaved, how she treated this or that phenomenon. Maybe you read the book “Bury Me Behind the Baseboard”; my sister and I were raised in much the same way. Particularly indicative was the scene in the train toilet, where the boy went without his grandmother, locked himself in, could not open the door, and then fell into this puddle on the floor. And my grandmother wiped it with alcohol.

Our mother raised my sister and I in much the same way. If we were traveling on a train, we were not allowed to touch anything. It was forbidden to sit on the shelf, touch the mattress without linen, or put anything on the table not covered with newspaper. We never walked into the apartment with our shoes on in case we forgot something. Everyone laughed at me, because since childhood I was accustomed to pour boiling water over new toothbrushes; no one else did that (and now I don’t do that, by the way). Be sure to wash and iron new towels before first use.

I understand that everyone's home is set up completely differently. The line between normality and abnormality is very difficult to find. My friend says that she cleans the floor and toilet every day, and that she is sure that everyone does this. But “everyone” speaks differently, some wash once a week, some wash once every two weeks. But for my mother, this gradually somehow passed. She didn’t get as crazy as I did with all this. When my sister gave birth to a baby, she experienced much the same thing. She poured boiling water over everything and forced everyone to change into what they had just ironed. But this also gradually passed for her, although she still has some excesses that even seem strange to me.

- For example?

For example, she wipes the inside of the child’s mouth with peroxide in the morning and evening. She wraps a bandage around her finger, soaks it in peroxide, and wipes her daughter’s mouth.

— In what environment do you feel most anxious?

In shops, transport, on the street. I don't like it when there are a lot of people around. I constantly sort of scan the space around me, and when there are a lot of people, it’s difficult. I also just hate markets. I am very afraid of garbage cans and trash cans, I don’t allow children to come close to them. The more people around, the worse I feel. Train stations, subways, public toilets - I’m afraid to even go there.

I really want to be cured, but now everything comes down to the fact that there is no money for my therapy. For a long time I hoped that my OCD would go away on its own. Or that I can figure out the cause of my disorder myself. I read a lot about OCD, I read a lot about the immune system, how it is strengthened by contact with dirt. But, unfortunately, this has no effect on me. And all the books I've read don't help either. Now I understand that I can’t cope without therapy. And therapy requires money, which I don’t have.

"OCD makes me feel safe"

I thought about what OCD gives me and realized that it gives me a feeling of security. I have very difficult relationships with some relatives. Some of them rush to our home, and quite unceremoniously and intrusively. And this makes me terribly angry, we are having such a confrontation. And at some point I even thought that my OCD was to set boundaries with other people.

Perhaps this is true. I think that if I start therapy, I will learn to build these boundaries differently. Cognitive behavioral therapy is not the way I want to get rid of my OCD. Firstly, this is a very tough method. And he will only give me relief from OCD and nothing more. I need to build my defenses differently so that OCD is not needed. Cognitive-behavioral therapy looks something like this: if you are afraid of blood, go to the trash heap, get yourself covered in blood, and don’t wash your hands for 2 weeks. I just can't do it. This must be done with a psychotherapist, who must be constantly with the client. I don't really imagine this.

And then - I have children. For me, it all initially started out of fear for my children. I can't go 2 weeks without touching water or washing my children. I'll just go crazy with horror for them. I think that I need to work on not only this, but the topic of boundaries and everything else. I think this is the solution.

Expert commentary

Elena Petrikina, psychologist, gestalt therapist

— Elena, how can you distinguish increased cleanliness from OCD? By what signs can you understand that it’s time to sound the alarm?

OCD is a neurosis characterized by the presence of obsessions (intrusive thoughts) and compulsions (obsessive actions). As a rule, actions arise after thoughts, as a reaction to them, an attempt to cope, to stop the flow of internal experiences, to give form to the ideas that arise in a person with OCD. For example, our heroine’s idea of ​​cleaning is connected with the idea of ​​protecting her children from illness and dirt. This fear lived in my head and took on more and more ornate forms. It was no longer possible to come to an agreement within oneself, so it was easier to act in the logic of the ideas that Olga had. So, in order to cope with obsessive thoughts, the heroine developed a system of obsessive actions (compulsions). As the disease progresses, the direct correlations between obsessions and compulsions are sometimes lost and it is very difficult to find the trigger idea or event that started the process.

When can you understand that it’s time to sound the alarm? For example, when you have a temperature of 40, on a trip or when you fall from fatigue, you cannot go to bed if you do not carry out your usual cleaning rituals, then this can already be considered as an obsession. If you remain critical of what is happening and do the above because it is more pleasant and comfortable for you, this is rather a habit that you can only envy.

— Is it possible to cope with OCD on your own?

People with OCD require medication and/or psychotherapy, but very often seek to cope on their own. This is due to the fact that the mechanism of the emergence, formation and development of OCD can be described by the phrase “If I don’t take care of myself, no one will take care of me.” For a person with OCD, the symptoms of the disease become both torment and protection from the outside world. For example, Olga gives an example of a sense of security. In her case, her OCD symptoms help her set boundaries in her relationships with her relatives. This is why it is extremely difficult to get rid of OCD symptoms on your own. Almost always, with the loss of symptoms (in this case, the need to wash, wipe, launder), the client simultaneously feels the loss of all support in his life. And this causes horror and a rollback back to the disease.

— Is OCD inherited? What causes most often underlie OCD?

There is no exact data about inheritance. But, in general, OCD appears more often in children whose parents suffered from this disease. Some characteristics of the body are inherited. For example, hormonal levels. Under appropriate unfavorable conditions (upbringing, severe stress), this can trigger the formation of OCD.

Films about OCD:

• "The Aviator" - Leonardo DiCaprio's Howard Hughes suffered from OCD
• “As Good As It Gets,” the main character, Melvin Adell, played by Jack Nicholson, suffered from OCD.
• In the TV series Scrubs, Dr. Kevin Casey, played by Michael J. Fox, suffers from OCD with a lot of rituals.
• In the movie "Dirty Love" the hero suffers from OCD and Tourette's syndrome
• In the movie "Inner Road" one of the main characters suffers from OCD.

Photo - Lori's photo bank

Freudian purity mania

In the section Diseases, Medicines, to the question what is the name of the disease when a person maniacally strives for cleanliness? asked by the author BruteLogic the best answer is This is not a disease but a symptom. If it is rather a desire to put things in order, to keep everything in its place, to do everything the same way and a panicky fear of deviating from the usual way of acting, then this is anxiety neurosis. If this is a fear of getting dirty, a reluctance to touch people and objects because they are “dirty”, frequent whining of the hands with such force that bloody abrasions appear on them, then this could also be neurosis, but more likely schizophrenia.

The desire for purity may simply be an exaggerated character trait, not associated with any (at least obvious) mental disorder

While I was writing, an addition about bacteria appeared. If we talk about the disease, it is more likely schizophrenia.

How to deal with Cinderella syndrome

If the disease of clean hands has not yet developed into a pronounced pathology, you can try to cope with it yourself. To do this you need:

Realizing the problem is quite difficult, especially if it is not you who needs treatment, but someone close to you. A calm conversation with links to authoritative sources, a book or printed article from the Internet can help with this, and in the most severe cases, you can invite a professional psychologist for consultation. Draw up a clear action plan - cleaning and putting things in order should under no circumstances disappear from a person’s life. But you need to strictly limit your time - make a plan for cleaning and other cleanliness activities and strictly follow it. So, you shouldn’t spend more than 10-20% of your free time on cleaning every day.

This can range from 2 to 4 hours a day, depending on the amount of work and the number of free hours. Learn to switch - no matter how irritating the dirt and scattered things are, you need to learn to switch your attention.

In addition to these simple rules, the following will help you cope with the desire for perfect cleanliness:

• Exercise – Any physical activity helps reduce stress and tension. Walking, swimming, yoga, fitness and dancing are especially useful.
• Hobbies - any hobby helps to cope with negative emotions, and also takes up time that was previously spent on cleaning.
• Taking sedatives – herbal sedatives help cope with anxiety and fear, which means they remove the main reason for cleaning.
• Psychotherapy is the most effective method of combating phobias. Only by learning to recognize the causes of the development of mental pathology can one cope with its manifestations.

Where does the “mania for cleanliness” come from?

You've probably met people obsessed with a manic passion for order. If things are not in their places, there is a dirty dish in the sink, and there is a speck of dust or speck on the floor, they panic and immediately try to fix it... Is this good or bad? And why do they behave this way? I wonder what psychologists and various other specialists say on this topic?

Normal or pathological?

At first glance, love for cleanliness and order is very commendable. The home of such a person is usually pleasant to look at. But the more you observe this individual, the more you will be surprised by his behavior.

For example, such people do wet cleaning every day. They don't forget to wipe dust off the furniture, even if it's not there.

It is very important for them to arrange the trinkets on the chest of drawers in the “correct” order; they will definitely straighten a crooked tablecloth or bedspread on the bed... And they also wash their hands a hundred times a day, and certainly with antibacterial soap, change towels daily and carefully align them on the hanger after each use, polish dishes and bathroom fixtures until they shine...

Their loved ones suffer from such “cleanliness”, since the latter constantly hear nagging, accusations of sloppiness: they didn’t clean their shoes, or there were stains on cups or glasses, or they didn’t notice a small spot on the floor... They can throw a tantrum at the slightest reason, which is not uncommon leads to scandals in the family. If a person lives alone, he may not allow other people, even relatives, into the apartment so that, God forbid, they do not stain the floors or furniture...

Why does the syndrome occur?

Compulsive disorder is formed against the background of a complex of provoking factors. The hereditary factor plays an important role in the onset of OCD.

Obsessive compulsive disorder is more often diagnosed in patients with nervous disorders and signs of suspiciousness. People who are prone to constant doubts and double-checking both their own actions and incoming information from outside.

Often the onset of OCD syndrome occurs in situations where a child is raised within strict boundaries. If you often forbid something to children, it subsequently leads to mental disorders.

What is OCD? Often, these are psychoses based on constant fear of stressful situations, because regular nervous tension acts as a trigger in the development of various kinds of disorders.

Clean, clean, very clean?

The desire for cleanliness and order is an excellent character quality and is persistently instilled in all children, without exception. But, if the mania for cleanliness and order begins to interfere with normal life or turns into the main pastime, then it is necessary to understand what a person is so carefully trying to “clean” in his life and how this problem can be dealt with.

It is quite difficult to understand that cleanliness turns into mania, since this process occurs unnoticed and can continue for years. By what signs can one distinguish an obsession with cleanliness?

• The perfectionist complex - Cinderella syndrome - manifests itself in the desire to restore ideal cleanliness. A person suffering from such a disorder is irritated and upset by everything: a plate that is not washed immediately after eating, towels hung out of line, or slightly dusty glass on the balcony. Cleanliness and order are restored until everything is perfect. Unfortunately, even with regular, daily, many-hour cleaning, it is not possible to achieve such a result - you constantly have to re-wash, put in place and clean. The life of a perfectionist is spent in an endless struggle with dust and clutter, as well as with the people around who refuse to participate in the endless cleaning.
• Anxiety – clutter and dirt are not just disliked, they cause real stress and anxiety. Pathological cleanliness is often explained by an increased level of anxiety and the desire to gain control over the situation at least in this way. Cleanliness in the house turns into a kind of “fetish”, and cleaning becomes a way to cope with feelings of powerlessness and fear.
• Aggressiveness and irritation - in a person suffering from such a phobia, the people around him usually cause sharp rejection and aggression. This is especially noticeable in family relationships - “Cinderella” spends countless amounts of time and effort on putting things in order, gets tired, and everyone else gradually turns into “enemies” who only litter, dirty everything around and refuse to participate in putting things in order. This provokes endless quarrels, showdowns and often becomes the reason for the destruction of a marriage or the deterioration of relations between parents and children.
• Amount of time spent – ​​cleaning the house should not take more than 10-20% of your free time. If most of your leisure time is spent on putting things in order, then you need to think about changing priorities or getting treatment for psychological addiction.
• Fear of infections or germs - the fear of contracting certain diseases is present in everyone’s life, but sometimes the fear of infection turns into an obsession that forces people to wash their hands several hundred times a day, constantly wear a respirator, or treat food with antibiotics.
• Limitation of contacts and social activity - due to fear of infection, reluctance to receive guests at home or visit someone themselves, people become socially inactive, prefer to spend most of their time at home and not communicate with others. This behavior and lifestyle leads to worsening psychological problems and increases the risk of developing neurosis or phobia.

Symptomatic picture

To proceed to direct treatment, you need to make sure there is a problem. The disease manifests itself in the following:

• it seems to the person that the room around him is dirty and requires urgent cleaning;
• thoughts are concentrated only on putting things in order;
• people susceptible to this disease experience the fear of contracting diseases through contact with dirty objects.

Such mania gradually develops into a fear of dirt, which is called ripophobia.

Causes of "mania"

If you realize that someone (or yourself) is literally fixated on cleaning, try to find the reason for this. There may be several of them.

Fear

Some people have ripophobia - the fear of dirt. They see dirt literally everywhere, even where there is no trace of it. Therefore, they endlessly wash their hands and all objects that can be washed.

Another type of mania is the desire for ideal order. Those suffering from it can straighten a hundred times, for example, what they think is crooked clothing hanging on a chair. Items in a room, closet or somewhere else must be placed in a strictly defined order, and nothing else...

This is a neurosis, a pathologically obsessive state that needs to be treated. Such a patient needs to undergo a course of psychotherapy.

State of chronic stress

It doesn’t matter for what reason the stress arose: a person has troubles in his personal life, at work, he has lost someone close... If a person has not been noticed in anything like this before, but now he constantly has a broom or a vacuum cleaner in his hands, then a mop, it can be “stressful” cleaning. Doing housework helps you take your mind off dark thoughts and at least temporarily “drive” them out of your head

However, with prolonged stress, this can only serve as a temporary measure. If you find yourself cleaning even when it’s not at all necessary, then maybe it’s better to go to a psychologist rather than transferring cleaning products and detergents...

Doing housework helps to take your mind off dark thoughts and at least temporarily “drive” them out of your head. However, with prolonged stress, this can only serve as a temporary measure. If you find yourself cleaning even when it’s not at all necessary, then maybe it’s better to go to a psychologist rather than transferring cleaning products and detergents...

Diffidence

Putting things in order in the house, arranging and putting things on shelves and drawers gives a person the illusion of control over their life. This usually happens when we realize that we are not able to control the world around us, the one outside the walls of our apartment. For such a person, everything can be very difficult at work and in his personal life... But in his little world he is the absolute master.

If putting things in order takes too much time and actually replaces a full life, this is certainly a reason to consult a psychologist and try to figure out your problem.

General information

Mysophobia , or otherwise fear of pollution, is a psychological disorder and is expressed in the form of an obsessive fear of getting dirty, being in a polluted room, and in general, of coming into contact with dirt and potentially contaminated objects.
It should be distinguished from germophobia, verminophobia, bacteriophobia (fear of germs) and other phobias , where fear consists of the fear of contracting an infectious bacterial or other disease when interacting with contaminated objects and the risk of getting germs, for example, on your hands. If earlier the desire to wash your hands was a sign of fear of dirt and obsessive-compulsive disorder , then later the American psychologist G.S. Stellivan found out that the basis is not a fear of dirt and germs, but solely the desire to ensure that hands are always washed.

Despite the fact that the disorder is quite rare, many famous people suffered from it - F. Nietzsche, V. Mayakovsky, V. Dobrynin, etc., and was also highlighted in such films as “It Can’t Be Better”, “Cleaning with Passion” ", in the television series "The Big Bang Theory" (main character S. Cooper)

Relationships with a neat guy

Treat such obsession with understanding. Do not bully your partner, do not think that he is doing this on purpose to throw you off balance. Think about it, maybe living a clean life isn't so bad after all. Especially if your partner puts things in order himself and doesn’t force you to take part in it. You need to realize that if your partner loves cleanliness, then you should not sharply oppose this. You need to understand that you cannot change everything radically. Sometimes it's better to accept him as he is. At the same time, you can correct such behavior by taking your partner out of the usual framework. However, it is often better to contact a specialist who can help identify the causes and select appropriate correction methods. You can take small steps to make changes in the life of the person you live with. If your partner arranges books in a strict order or neatly hangs clothes by color, you can try changing something, for example, swapping two books.

It is important to note that you are not doing this out of harm, but because you need to make changes in your life. Take your partners outside the apartment. You can go on a trip or hike

Leave the place where he is cleaning more often. If you notice that a person close to you has a pathological obsession with order, do everything to ensure that he agrees to seek help.

Now you know what a person who loves order is like. Remember that obsession with cleanliness can be triggered by various factors. And, before thinking about how to get rid of excessive pedantry, it’s worth figuring out what exactly the reason is and directing therapy to a specific premise. If you live with a person obsessed with cleanliness and order, do not rush to get irritated and, especially, to break off the relationship. Remember that you can always find the right approach to such a person and be happy.

Communication with a ripophobe

Many families suffer because they do not know how to establish communication with the patient or how to convey their thoughts to him. Explain to the person that everyone has their own understanding of cleanliness and order. There is a concept of creative clutter - it is scientifically proven that a little chaos promotes mental clarity, an influx of inspiration and fresh ideas.

If you are forced to live with a repophobe in the same apartment, make a clear distinction between your things and his things.

Forbid him to clean up and throw away what does not belong to him. If conversations and persuasion do not help, it is worth taking the patient to see a specialist.

Obsessive thoughts during VSD

VSD (vegetative-vascular dystonia) is a dysfunction of the human autonomic system. With this disease, the following types of neuroses may occur:

• Neurasthenia is increased irritability of the body combined with general weakness and loss of strength, increased fatigue and, as a result, physical and mental exhaustion. Accompanied by depression, dizziness and severe headaches that interfere with mental and physical work.
• Hysterical neurosis is a strong surge of emotions that occurs as a result of severe stress and is accompanied by convulsions, partial loss of sensitivity, transient paralysis, and loss of consciousness.
• Phobic neurosis is a constant feeling of fear and anxiety, accompanied by disruption of the autonomic system, and resulting in social withdrawal. Also, as a result, panic attacks and phobias may occur.
• Hypochondriacal neurosis is excessive preoccupation with one’s own health and, as a result, a constant feeling of anxiety and fear of getting sick. Such patients react sharply to any physical discomfort felt and immediately consult a doctor. They can invent symptoms for themselves and in most cases do not agree to take medications.
• Obsessive-compulsive neurosis is involuntary thoughts and fears that cannot be eliminated.
• Depressive neurosis is chronic fatigue, depression, loss of interest in life, in some cases accompanied by thoughts of suicide. Occurs due to unresolved traumatic situations.

Treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder in Moscow

Treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder in Moscow at Dr. Isaev’s clinic is carried out after a survey, examination and consultation of the patient with a number of specialists - a neurologist, psychiatrist, medical psychologist and psychotherapist. Each admitted patient receives an individual approach after identifying the prevailing symptoms and the cause of the disease. The latest methods of influence allow you to get rid of obsessive neurosis in a short time.

Psychotherapy

The most effective ways to influence the patient are the following methods of psychotherapy:

• cognitive-behavioural;
• hypnosuggestive;
• group;
• psychoanalysis;
• psychoeducation.

Cognitive therapy helps, after several sessions, to change your attitude towards the thoughts that constantly come to mind and not react to them with obligatory rituals. First, the patient and the specialist list in the form of a list all his fears and other signs of an obsessive state. After which the patient is brought face to face with the object of his phobia, initially for a short time. After a frightening situation is realized and nothing terrible happens, the brain is convinced of safety. This leads to a gradual decrease in the number of obsessive thoughts and the disappearance of the need for action to reduce their intensity.

The method is suitable for patients who have willpower and basic self-discipline. After several weeks of such exercises, it is possible to cope with the pathological condition forever.

Treatment of obsessive convulsive disorder is also effectively carried out using suggestion with simultaneous immersion in a hypnotic trance. This helps to delve into the depths of the problem and establish new patterns of behavior and thoughts. Such exposure helps quickly, as it allows you to consolidate the correct skills and conclusions immediately at the level of consciousness and subconsciousness. Suitable for suggestible patients, it gives positive results after just a few sessions.

Classes are usually held in a group format, which serve to provide the patient with the information he needs and to train him to manage stressful situations. Such psychological assistance allows people with the same problems to support each other and share their experience of improving their condition and reducing fears. While visiting several people, you can improve the quality of cognitive behavioral therapy by simulating various problem situations with a request to play them out and make the most rational decision under the given conditions. A positive result becomes noticeable after two or three months with regular visits.

Psychoanalysis helps the patient when his rational thinking is well expressed. Using this technique, it is possible to detect hidden causes in deep childhood that led to psychotrauma and obsessive neurosis. For this purpose, a person tells the specialist all his thoughts that constantly come to him, even if they are shameful or obscene. As a result of this, they together find signs of repressing a dramatic situation into the subconscious, return it to the conscious area and explain the reason. When constructing a cause-and-effect relationship, the signs of the disease gradually weaken and disappear.

Psychoeducation of the patient and people close to him helps to develop a reasonable attitude towards the disease. And this knowledge allows you to manage your condition. The fact is that relatives are often involved in the rituals of a person suffering from this disorder and their help should consist of refusing to participate.

Depending on the severity of the disorder and the presence of concomitant mental pathologies, the attending physician recommends treatment on an outpatient basis with regular visits to specialists or hospital stay. The latter option is more acceptable if it is necessary to correct the patient’s condition with the help of potent medications. 24-hour monitoring helps to select the minimum dose of the drug to achieve the desired result.

Use of medications

The use of medications for obsessive-compulsive neurosis is an auxiliary method. It is required when psychotherapy has an incomplete effect or there is a need for additional treatment for anxiety or heart pain, as well as other somatic and mental disorders. The following groups of tools are used for this:

• sedatives;
• antidepressants;
• antipsychotics;
• mood stabilizers;
• tranquilizers;
• anticonvulsants.

All medications are prescribed only by a psychiatrist; independent treatment with their help can lead to unpredictable consequences. And after stopping the drugs, the disease will appear again, since its causes will not be eliminated. Quite often, with such a deviation, it is necessary to treat depression, since obsessive thoughts are perceived negatively by the patient himself and can cause a strong decrease in mood levels.

All the products that are given to patients at Dr. Isaev’s clinic are proven branded drugs from the manufacturer. All of them undergo multiple studies before they are used for their intended purpose.

In addition to psychotherapy and medications, your doctor may prescribe supportive treatment for OCD. To speed up recovery and consolidate the positive results already obtained, herbal medicine is used using natural plant components with a calming and tonic effect. B vitamins will help improve the functioning of the nervous system, and nootropics can eliminate dizziness and normalize the supply of nutrients to the brain.

Freud said that the desire for purity is the result of sexual dissatisfaction.

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Well, I don’t like cleaning, honestly. I maintain cleanliness within adequate limits, I don’t rub it until it shines or squeaks, I will always prefer another, more pleasant activity to cleaning))) for example, sex))))

Freud didn't say that.

He said that excessive craving for cleanliness is the result of dissatisfaction with social status, social life and intimate relationships in total.

There is no need to misinterpret grandfather Freud.

Everything is balanced at home

The granddaughter comes in the morning for breakfast, old Freud, drinks coffee, quietly rustles the newspaper.

“Grandpa, I’ve been dreaming about bananas all night.” All thick, long, in large bundles.

“Granddaughter, sometimes it’s just fruit, just fruit.”

(Yes, it’s clean for me, it’s clean, but I don’t like the process itself)

how to teach a child to be neat.

Neatness - love of cleanliness, order, neatness. The formed habit of being neat does not allow such character qualities as carelessness, unnecessaryness, sloppiness, unpunctuality, and negligence to appear. From this it is clear that a neat child has a chance to grow up more responsible, efficient, clean, and more obliging than one who was not taught this in childhood.

There is an opinion that a sense of neatness kills creativity in a child. It's not like that at all. Very often, people of creative professions like to create a clean, harmonious space around themselves, and, on the contrary, people deprived of any creative principles surround themselves with dirt and chaos. So, how to cultivate this trait in a child, and at what age should you start doing this - here are those questions that parents often ask.

One priest once said that before you start raising a child, educate yourself first! And there is a deep truth in this. All actions of parents are accurately copied by children, and not necessarily right away. Sometimes children, as a form of protest, deliberately do everything contrary to their parents’ demands. But later, after 10-15 years, when the protest subsides, they, without noticing it themselves, begin to repeat the actions and habits of their relatives. Hence the conclusion: if you want your child to be neat, become neat yourself.

At what age should one begin to develop this quality in a child? Since birth. If in the room where the baby is, everything is turned upside down, and the mother, instead of washing the wet diaper, simply dries it and uses it again, the baby’s things are in disarray, and the changing table is a mess, how can the baby grow up with a sense of love for cleanliness and in order.

As the baby grows up, he absorbs the atmosphere of the surrounding chaos around him, considering this state of affairs to be the norm. And then, at the age of 5-6 years, his mother suddenly begins to scold him for scattered toys or unfolded pajamas... You must agree that this is, at least, strange.

Very often, after playing, children forget to put away their things. It's not scary. The main thing is that you do not forget that they must do this. Gradually, this fact should become a mandatory ending to any game. Once you've played, clean up after yourself! But the baby will be able to do this only after 3 years, and before that he will still be hampered by poor coordination of movements. Help him if something doesn't work out for him, but don't do it for him. You can put away toys and put things away together, but not instead of him.

The kid should know that cleaning his things is his cleaning. To ensure that all his toys are in order and in their place, buy him a children's locker or allocate space in your closet for his things and toys.

It is very important that the child knows well that after all the games his room should be tidy, clean and ready for bed. And we need to start explaining this as early as possible.

The moment he goes to school this skill should be well formed.

If, for example, mom or dad forgot to put something back in its place, you can draw the child’s attention to this fact, and in this case, criticism should only be directed at yourself! An example: a mother forgot to put away some item and draws the baby’s attention to this: “See, I forgot to put this in the closet

How not good. You can’t do that.” This method is very effective. So to speak, visual work on mistakes by the parent himself

An example: a mother forgot to put away some item and draws the baby’s attention to this: “See, I forgot to put this in the closet. How not good

You can’t do that.” This method is very effective. So to speak, visual work on mistakes by the parent himself.

Such situations in no way undermine your authority, but only show that you can also make a mistake, but correct this mistake. At such moments, the main thing is not the infallibility of the parents, but a clear demonstration of compliance with the rules and norms of behavior that you are trying to teach your baby to.

However, you should never fall into fanaticism and throw tantrums if your child makes a stain or gets something dirty. Otherwise, the child may grow up obsessed with cleanliness, who will try to look for the slightest speck on the floor. There must be moderation in everything. The main thing, it seems to me, is that the child sees from childhood that order and cleanliness in the house create comfort, and neatness is one of the aspects of beauty. After all, you will agree that disorder cannot be called beautiful, even “creative”.

There is infection everywhere, you need to wash your hands as often as possible

There are people who have an increased sense of danger and anxiety in relation to their body. This is not selfishness, but a personality structure. In childhood, such boys, and more often girls, regret a pulled out tooth, love to wash themselves and, unlike their peers, carefully put their toys in boxes.

When they grow up, they begin to read medical encyclopedias and become convinced that the world around them is teeming with dangerous creatures, they try on this or that disease and become terribly suspicious about their ailments.

Under certain conditions, they may experience “clean hands psychosis.” In a situation of anxiety, they begin to wash their hands, first after going outside, after visiting someone else’s house that they don’t like. And then at home, so much so that over time they rub off the skin on their palms until they bleed.

What to do

1. Hand washing psychosis requires treatment using special psychotherapeutic techniques. But, if you notice it in a mild form, you can try one of the algorithms proposed by American psychotherapists.

● Do not clean your bathroom floor for a week. After this, wipe it for three minutes with an ordinary mop. Use the same mop for other tasks without cleaning it first. ● Buy a fluffy mohair sweater and wear it for a week. When taking off your sweater at night, do not remove any wool pellets from it. ● You, your husband and children should not remove your shoes when entering from the street. Don't clean your house for a week. ● Throw the sheets and blankets on the floor and then place them on the bed. Do not change this bedding for a week.

2. Other ways to cope with a dangerous addiction to cleanliness are suggested to be carried out together with a psychotherapist.

Patients are repeatedly brought into contact with objects or situations that cause anxiety, obsessive fears or compulsive actions. At the same time, they are “allowed” to resist the desire to perform actions that, as it seems to these people, they are obliged to perform. Therapists often lead by example. While under the supervision of patients, doctors interact with objects without intrusive actions and then encourage patients to do the same.

Situation three.

Pedantic personality type: detailed characteristics

A pedantic person is a fanatical adherent of order. Pedantry can be a consequence of upbringing, a national mentality trait, a symptom of autism or a sign of neurosis.

The desire to gain control over one's life is inherent in everyone, it creates a feeling of security, but for some people this desire takes the form of fanaticism.

In general, this term defines the qualities of a person who exhibits a clearly visible tendency to comply with specific formal requirements.

A person of order is often slow, spends a lot of time weighing options, is tormented by the problem of choice and wastes a lot of time. There is also rational pedantry. In this case, the person has a quick reaction, a calculating mind and clearly performs the assigned tasks. The second type of pedant makes excellent subordinates and assistant managers.

Being late for work is nonsense for him, orders are carried out accurately and on time, the workplace is kept in perfect order, and documents are laid out in their places.

A person who loves ideal order prefers a conservative lifestyle and a familiar place of work. Sometimes diligence develops into tediousness. A pedantic boss most often has a negative attitude towards the manifestation of initiative on the part of employees and demands strict adherence to the work regime.

People who love order in small things also keep it at home. Women ensure perfect cleanliness and clean several times a day. All products are washed and sorted many times. When leaving home, people prone to morbid pedantry may check several times whether the door is locked and the condition of electrical appliances.

A person who really loves order can make an impression already on the first date. The girl can be sure that he will not be late and will call at the promised time. But if a long-term relationship is planned, the partner will have to adapt to him. Living together means strictly following all established rules down to the smallest detail. This is depressing and few people are able to withstand such a rhythm of life.

A lover of order extends his dependence to all areas of life, including health. Pedantry can cause obsessive thoughts and fantasies about imaginary diseases. He can fantasize about a whole medical reference book and will do this, still measuredly and carefully looking for his symptoms.

Losing control over a situation causes anxiety and depression. As one of the methods of treating manic addiction to cleanliness, familiarity with the opposite phenomenon is used.

Lovers of ideal order are brought together with those suffering from Plyushkin syndrome. To overcome their mania, clean people help clean up the houses of flea dealers.

Seeing this way of life, some begin to understand the constant tension they are under. A positive result is noticeable almost immediately. Even if a pedant does not stop following rituals, he does this not out of fear or internal tension, but out of inertia. This helps you relax and relieve overwhelming anxiety.

As a result, OCD sufferers try to pay more attention to their loved ones, their fear of disorder subsides, and they become much happier. The pedants themselves and their family members, who are forced to “toe the line,” suffer from this type of character and acquired disorder. Their life is under constant control.