i was wondering - how does Pluto consolidate their ocd with the more dirty aspects of shepherding? fending off wolves, healing the sheep's broken bones, birth etc.
so, pluto does have ocd, but their obsessions are not cleanliness related (which is the most common type of ocd, so i totally see why youâre asking this; espec b/c i, myself, have undiagnosed cleanliness ocd). while pluto does take care of their hygiene (as best they can as a traveller), they have no obsessions or anxiety over it.
ocd doesnât have to be about cleanliness. itâs simply obsessions (thoughts/feelings/impulses that cause great distress/anxiety that are beyond just real life worries or are excessively so) and compulsions (repetitive behaviors or mental acts that the person feels compelled to do in response to their obsessions that help ease the anxiety of the obsession but are not logically or realistically preventative or are excessively so).
plutoâs ocd can be slotted into two common ocd categories: checker and counter.
a checker repeatedly checks things over and over. this is usually due to worries that are harm or danger related. for example, pluto counts their sheep three times in a row three times a day b/c theyâre obsessively worried one of their sheep may have fallen into a ravine or gotten lost or attacked and the only way they can somewhat relieve that anxiety is through the compulsion of checking constantly.
a counter follows superstitions they have about certain numbers. even though itâs illogical (and even though pluto is aware of this) they feel there is some kind of safety and protection in the number three. if they do things in sets of three and/or restrain things to threes, theyâll be okay. for example, they swallow three times in a row whenever they take a bite of and eat something b/c three feels safe and if they donât swallow three times they get anxious that theyâll choke. their superstition of three is so strong that thereâs actually an anxiety now associated with numbers that are not three and they have to do counting three compulsions to counteract that (for example, when walking, pluto only has two feet, so they walk in thuds of two, but this makes them anxious, so they have a walking stick that can act as a third thud every three seconds and/or after theyâve taken two steps).
you may notice that these two compulsionsâchecking and countingâintermingle with each other. theyâre not independent. checkers usually have to check things an exact, certain amount of times in a row otherwise it doesnât help alleviate their anxiety and doesnât feel right and they have to do it over again. for example, as mentioned earlier, pluto checks on their sheep (checking) but they do this three times in a row, three times a day (counting). this kind of intermingling is common in ocd. if pluto was interrupted or they lost count while on their third counting in a row, theyâd have to start all over and recount three times in a row.