Is this borderline OCD behavior? (see details please)

I am not a psychologist, so take this lightly. What you describe is all from your youth, and nothing from your current lifestyle. There are many rituals that I lived by, whether created by my parents, the community, friends or myself, that I grew out of. The question is, what do you do today that requires you to do before you take action?

Kids do weird shit all the time. If you can’t see any obsessive behaviors in adulthood, you can cross it off as just weird kid stuff. Parents would do better off to remember that a lot of the things that are diagnosable in adults are often things kids grow out of if they let them… rather than medicating them and so on.

OCD is defined by having obsessions and compulsions that affect everyday functioning. An obsession is a nagging thought that will not go away and a compulsion is the action you take in order to satiate that obsession. The first example sounds like you had an obsession and did take steps to avoid ‘going to hell’, those were compulsions.
If you are afraid of actually having OCD the symptoms never go away, they flow in waves, sometimes the obsessions and compulsions are unbearable, sometimes they are minimal. If you still suffer from things like what you described then you might want to look into it. Chances are that wasn’t a problem though, most OCD cases deal with uncleanliness and order.

I think that that is obsessive compulsive disorder, but I can’t diagnose anything—this is all based off of my opnion. I think that the main things are that (1) You can not stop yourself and (2) it is something that is obviously repeated by force and as one with OCD myself, almost like you “must” do this or else something will happen, like the world will end. Those are the “symptoms” (if you will) of OCD. I MUST count how many steps there are when going up/ down a staircase. If I lose count, I had to start again. Nowadays, I STILL must, but seemingly not as much anymore, or at least not as accurate (I don’t know if you can ever “lose” OCD). Another one of my obsessions is somewhat related to my “staircase obsession”. It involves taking an even amount of steps for each foot on one surface. One example is cement sidewalks. Each square separated by cracks counted as one “surface”, so I looked like an idiot when walking in public alongside a road. If I took one step with my left foot on the cement square, then on the crack with my right, I must try to equalize it by walking on a square with my right foot and a crack with my left foot. Nowadays I Those are only two of my obsessive compulsions…..sorry for being so self-centered…I dont get to talk and divulge this stuff normally, as I would want to
Anyways, to sum it up, yes—I think you have OCD. The biggest way I got over it (though I still do it today if no one is paying attention) is by using commonsense. I just think, “oh, someone will think that I am an idiot if I walk weirdly on the sidewalk, so I won’t do it.” You should still pray, but realize that your god really will not kill someone just because you did not roll your eyes. I am assuming christianity, so you should understand that God would not do such a thing. Maybe even look into more of your religion to understand more. You just have to get over it; rationalize. I understand that that is one thing that OCD people may not be able to do in these circumstances, but it is worth a try; be open-minded as best you can. That is the way I did it, and that is the way that I feel is best. Just don’t ever talk to me when I’m on stairs….

It sounds like ritualistic OCD behavior all the way to the religious connotations.

@dxs @2CDenzy Please read the question. “When I was really young” is included, implying that the OP is not really young now and has not continued in these behaviors. Making up things to try and influence their world is something that young children do regularly. As the behaviors have not continued as the OP has matured… Yeah.

@klutzaroo
I guess I got a little confused about the time period since the question was in present tense

I think it’s just kid stuff. Kids do weird things all the time – like not letting different foods touch on their plate, stepping over cracks on the sidewalk, eating M&Ms in a specific order by colour – that might be considered OCD behaviours in adults. As long as you’re not showing these kind of behaviours as an adult, I’d just chalk it up to being a kid.

I’ve heard it’s very common for kids to have OCD-like behaviors (I think I had some myself) that they grow out of. So while this might give you some empathy for what adult OCD could be like, I think it’s totally natural as a child and not a disorder at all.

Thanks peeps.

I think it’s just kid stuff. I think kids do things to feel like they have control over their world.

@jca that totally makes sense, because what kid really feels like they have control?

besides Janet Jackson, I mean. :O