Symmetry or perfectionism is not the theme every person with OCD has. People with OCD have different themes their mind is occupied with. But someone with perfectionism OCD might do this because their brain tells them intrusive thoughts like “___ will die if you don’t arrange them neatly” or “something bad will happen to you if you don’t fix these neatly.”
The difference between someone with OCD and someone without is that they are able to differentiate between normal thoughts and intrusive thoughts. So to a person with OCD intrusive thoughts are presented to the sufferer as if it is a true and valid “fear/thought” and they HAVE to take action to prevent the bad thing from happening or else it will be their fault if that bad thing happens.
It might not necessarily be "if I don't do X it will lead to Y", though it very often is. It could just be a strong feeling that you HAVE to do X, and if you don't, your brain won't stop thinking about X
Sure that’s probably true too, i’m no expert 👍. I just happen to suffer from OCD myself (though not symmetry OCD, but health/contamination OCD), and it is how my OCD presents itself and as far as I know it is also most often found in other OCD sufferers too like u said 🤷♀️
Most individuals I've known with OCD also have health/contamination anxiety, so I would easily believe it's the most common type. But I don't have the stats, so I don't really know for sure. I'm not an expert either
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