OCD / Compulsion

You check something. Then check again. Not because you forgot — to stop the feeling that something is wrong.

A thought arrives that you know is irrational. You know it's irrational. Knowing that doesn't make it leave.

Something is slightly out of position in a room. You can work around it. But it uses attention that should be going elsewhere.

You do things in a specific order. If the order is disrupted the day has already started wrong. Restarting helps, even though it doesn't change anything material.

A word or image enters your mind uninvited. You didn't generate it deliberately. Being disturbed by it only makes it more present.

You tell someone about a minor thing you did or thought because not telling them produces guilt. The relief of telling them is real, and temporary.

You avoid something not because it's dangerous but because going near it feels like a test you could fail.

The relief after doing the thing lasts minutes. Then the threshold for needing to do it again drops slightly.

You understand that the surface is fine. The understanding doesn't resolve the need to wash again. You do it again. You understand again. The loop continues.

A thought arrives about harm — not a desire, just a thought. You are disturbed by it. The disturbance feels like evidence of something, even though it isn't.

Things being asymmetrical creates a low-level pull to correct them. Not fixing them is possible but it takes something.

There is a feeling of 'not quite right' that doesn't correspond to any objective error. Fixing it produces a 'just right' feeling that is distinct and temporary.