#ocspec

i have dermatillomania and recently made a school project about impulse control disorders. what came out was somehow sad and shocking for me. i made a questionnaire, and some people have got so much hate and wrong words. One person was screamed at for picking their skin. Others were asked if they have parasites or cancer.

i feel like we really have to get society know more about these mental illnesses, because for us who are struggling with these it’s such a hard and lonely battle.

Mhm! It’s really such a shame how a relatively common cluster of disorders is still so greatly misunderstood, even in times pushing for mental health awareness.

As for the things reported in your project, yeah those are definitely OCspec saneism and also just abuse. It’s really disheartening how many people are unaware of not only how difficult these disorders are to deal with, but even their existence. Still, I admire you for doing a project about that in school. It’s really hard to be open about these things, even online, but definitely in-person.

OCD awareness has been getting better (not perfect though, because a lot of it is still based off of the stereotypical obsessions and compulsions), but I still see so few things talked about other OCspec disorders like dermatillomania, trichotillomania, the plethora of other BFRBs, BDD, and EDs

Watchog ocspec icons — requested by no one

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OCD Obsettion flag | General Obsettion flag

Obsettion / Obsettional

A form of attraction that is in-and-of itself an obsession or based in obsessions. It may feel like other forms of attraction [see experial] without actually being attraction at all, or it might feel like something entirely separate from attraction as a concept. The term was coined with OLD and OCD in mind though anyone with obsessions that align with what I've described above may use it.

Etymology: [Obse]ssive Attrac[tion(al)]

Pronunciation: Ob-seh-tion(-al)

As of right now, I’m leaning towards no, but I am open to suggestions or requests because of how little I truly know about OCPD. I will give my rationale, and if you find flaws, please don’t hesitate to point them out, just do so nicely.

I understand how OCPD’s name would very much suggest that it would be OCspec, but it’s not the same kind of obsessive-compulsive behavior.

On the OCspec, obsessions have to be intrusive/invasive thoughts/feelings/urges and the compulsions must be done to alleviate the stress and/or pressure of the obsessions. While some are more obsessive and some are more compulsive, the general pattern is the same.

This is the obsessive-compulsive pattern that we see in OCD, eating disorders, BFRBs, BDD, and even disorders related to impulse control like pathological gambling, sexual compulsivity, etc. Things like this can certainly overlap into the personality disorder category, as some argue BPD and ASPD should be included too because of their struggles with impulse control and the strong need to do things for either complete confirmation of their worth or for short-lived stimulation.

I did read the diagnostic criteria for OCPD before writing this, but it had a complete lack of symptoms relating to how the person with OCPD actually feels, so it wasn’t very helpful. With my, admittedly limited amount of, knowledge on OCPD, it seems to stem from a fear of losing control more than obsessions and compulsions. It looks like obsessive-compulsive behavior, but there’s no driving invasive push to do repetitive behaviors. There is an underlying anxiety, but it isn’t the pervasive, relentless need for certainty or action that people on the OCspec usually feel.

ocd & ocspec (obsessive compulsive spectrum*) symbols & flags!

✩ this post is a collaborative project with @mogaicemetery so much love to doll & veir help! row one: the ocd symbol - the hour glass

this is intended to represent ocd and its subsets, with the sand pouring representing the constant stream of obsessions / intrusive thoughts and the flipping of the hourglass representing the compulsions, starting the cycle over again.

it was created with inspiration from the neurodivergent infinity symbol and adhd butterfly symbol. there are three different colors - black for standard png use, teal for ocd awareness, and rainbow for neurodivergency.

a unicode symbol that works well for this is the white hourglass: ⧖

row two: the black and teal hourglasses placed on the ocd flag (linked) and the ocd flag cropped to 16:9 scale row three: the ocspec symbol - the four club-spoked asterisk.

this is intended to represent the obsessive compulsive spectrum, with the clubs representing neurodivergency, the radial symmetry symbolizes the different specific directions obsessive compulsive disorders can manifest as whilst existing within a larger spectrum, and obsessive/compulsive represented by the horizontal/vertical directions respectively.

the unicode symbol used for this is the four club-spoked asterisk: ✥

row four: the ocspec flag (created by mons) / the symbol & flag

✩ color meanings are as follows: purple for obsessions, indigo for behaviors, teal for ocd, white for bfrbs, green for compulsions