I’ve been thinking about some behaviors I had as a kid that seem a lot like OCD now. I needed things done in a certain order, repeated questions until I felt sure, and sometimes redid small actions because something felt wrong. Back then, everyone treated it like me being difficult or overly particular.
I’m not sure if it was actually OCD or just childhood anxiety, but it still bothers me when I remember it. I wonder if I should bring it up with a therapist, even though it happened years ago. Has anyone else looked back and recognized possible OCD symptoms from childhood?
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@Joshua_Terrell, the part about repeating questions until you felt sure sounds worth mentioning to a therapist, especially if it still bothers you now. You don’t need to decide whether it “counts” as OCD before bringing it up.
I remembered having to redo little things as a child because they didn’t feel right, and I used to dismiss it as being fussy. Looking back helped my therapist understand how those patterns developed, even though we couldn’t prove exactly what they were back then.
The repeated questions and redoing things because they felt wrong are definitely worth mentioning to a therapist. You don’t have to label them yourself or prove they were OCD. The pattern, how strong the urge was, and how much time or distress it caused are more useful than the exact diagnosis from back then.
I wrote down a few childhood examples before my appointment, including what triggered them and what I feared would happen if I didn’t do them. That helped me remember details without getting stuck trying to analyze every memory.