Can OCD Cause Rebellion Or Be A Contagion?

According to the International OCD Foundation, OCD or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a disorder of the brain and behavior. OCD involves both obsessions and compulsions that take a lot of time and get in the way of important activities the person values.

I believe OCD exists in all of us at different extremes. One of my tarot-reading friends has to face all of her cards in the same direction before she shuffles for each client (obviously, she doesn't read reversals). Her famous saying is, "I'm so OCD I'm CDO!"

My OCD doesn't extend to the direction my tarot cards face (I do read reversals). Mine is putting things 'where they belong' and closing drawers and doors. Now, I don’t consider my OCD to be extreme in any means. And it certainly doesn’t take up an enormous amount of time if done properly. For example, I take my coat out of the closet, I close the door. I take the scissors out of the drawer, use them, put them back in the drawer and close the drawer. Simple right?

Apparently not so. My brain must be so over-powered by my OCD, that I just don’t realize it takes a tremendous amount of time to accomplish these tasks. I am just asking too much! This is the only explanation I can think of to explain my 10-year old daughter’s recent behavior.

She’s rebelling. She is hell-bent on curing me of this awful condition. There is a tell in every room she has been in. The microwave door is open and markers sprawl over the table and onto the floor in the kitchen.  Socks in the couch and fun fruit wrappers on the stand where the remote should be in the living room.  A pile of shoes by the open front door. Did she go somewhere?

 After months of battle, I find she’s winning. I just can’t keep up with her mess, she’s wearing me down.  I am right at the point of giving up, when I see a sign of hope from an unlikely source, my dog. I notice he has neatly lined up his toys at the top of the stairs. So for all of the doors and drawers I‘ve closed and all of the piles I’ve cleaned up, it has finally started to rub off. I feel refreshed, ready to continue the battle.

My dog, Dexter, lines his toys up at the top of the stairs.