OCD vs Perfectionism

[EmilismsGalore]

I tend to do a lot of things that seem OCDish but I've always just chalked them up to me being a perfectionist and everything always having to be just right. What's the main difference between the two?

Some things I do:
- rewrite my notes if I make a mistake or if one of the letters looks slightly off/bad (I pretty much redo all my notes I take in school at least once)
- straighten or align other people's stuff (for some reason if my stuff isn't straight I'm not bothered)
- on iTunes the play count for each of my songs has to be as close to being the same as possible (I will literally skip a song, even if I love it, so that the amount of times I've listened to each song is as close to being the same as possible)
- keep a record of how many times I've seen my doctor/psychiatrist/social worker/ect, how many days left of school (I do this even in September), number of weeks I've been on Zoloft, number of days I've been dating my boyfriend
- make lists over and over of all the things I need to do
- create schedules (that I almost never follow through with)
- grammar...don't even get me started!

Does this sound like OCD? Or am I just being a perfectionist?

[Matthewww]

Both of them are fairly coexistent in my opinion. But perfectionism is more like a driving feeling for achievement and accomplishment, where as the OCD thing just seems to bother you if if something is not correct.
For example, it's kind of like trying to obtain perfect symmetry when you make sure a picture fram is completely straight (OCD)
And perfectionism; like a composer trying to find the perfect notes for a specific piece of music and not resting until he does.
Perfectionism is more personal and reflects on your own self where as OCD is the NEED for things to be perfect.

[lepeep37]

I tend to do a lot of things that seem OCDish but I've always just chalked them up to me being a perfectionist and everything always having to be just right. What's the main difference between the two?

Some things I do:
- rewrite my notes if I make a mistake or if one of the letters looks slightly off/bad (I pretty much redo all my notes I take in school at least once)
- straighten or align other people's stuff (for some reason if my stuff isn't straight I'm not bothered)
- on iTunes the play count for each of my songs has to be as close to being the same as possible (I will literally skip a song, even if I love it, so that the amount of times I've listened to each song is as close to being the same as possible)
- keep a record of how many times I've seen my doctor/psychiatrist/social worker/ect, how many days left of school (I do this even in September), number of weeks I've been on Zoloft, number of days I've been dating my boyfriend
- make lists over and over of all the things I need to do
- create schedules (that I almost never follow through with)
- grammar...don't even get me started!

Does this sound like OCD? Or am I just being a perfectionist?

Not to freak you out of anything, but I'm starting to think that we may be twins..lol That sounds so much like me (I have "just right" OCD).

[EmilismsGalore]

Not to freak you out of anything, but I'm starting to think that we may be twins..lol That sounds so much like me (I have "just right" OCD).

Haha really? That's freaky. I'm sorry you're so much like me but at least I know I'm not alone. Yay you can be the sibling I never had lol. :p

[T@nyah]

I consider myself a perfectionist sometimes too. And perfectionists also procrastinate badly. I know I have to start something or that a deadline is getting closer but I fear starting because of the need for it to start perfectly....*sigh

Also, don't know if it's associated with perfectionism (if that's even a word) but I have polarities - super duper neat, tidy and organised........or extremely messy, hectic and everything everywhere. I go through stages. Sometimes I'm super neat and organised...sometimes I have everything everywhere (from having absoultely no rubbish or junk in my room to having rubbish and filth everywhere).

[TxH]

Well I mean I find that in general, I am an incredible messy person. My room is a mess and I'm a lazy person when it comes to cleaning. And yet if I actually am going to be organised ...I am a total neat freak. I don't actually bother cleaning or being organised unless if I have 10 hours left aside for me to nitpick over every detail. Otherwise, I procrastinate.

In addition, I love writing and I've always considered keeping a diary but everytime I start one, I feel like the beginning of it isn't perfectly witty, or the letters look stupid so then I tear that page out. This process continues until I've been trying to write the perfect "first page" for about 90 times. And even when I get through the first page, and manage to have written about a good 50 pages in my journal, if I feel like something isn't perfect I will literally RIP APART THE ENTIRE JOURNAL until rendered utterly useless.

I write to-do lists, schedules, and plans that I spend hours making and NEVER ACTUALLY FOLLOW THROUGH. I write records and plans of everything and rarely give a second glance at them once I'm done writing. I've written about 60 bucket lists in the past week....poor trees.