Can anyone define "checks' or "checking" as it pertains to mental illness?

I have to do certain checks. I can’t rest unless I do them, and if something has moved it drives me crazy and I search absolutely everywhere until it is found. I have even been known to search the bins.

I used to check the carpets. I would crawl on my hands and knees, checking every inch of the carpets. It was horrible. Luckily, this is one of the checks my therapist has managed to stop me doing. One down, 99 to go! :-(

@Headhurts But what or why are you checking? I understand it is a compulsion and for security but would like more details.

Clues that Paul is cheating. I checked the carpets for hairs. I check everywhere @janbb , for everything and anything. I would tell you my routine, but I would probably get slated by the odd one. It would be nice to share it.

@janbb, this is pertinent.

As I understand it, it includes such things as going back to the house repeatedly to make sure the stove or faucet or lights or whatever are off before you can leave. It’s not because you’ve ever left them on or you didn’t just check them but because you have to.

I remember my father washing his hands over and over. I didn’t think about it at the time, because it was just what he did; but I can remember it. And my son hates to wash dishes because he is plagued by the notion that he isn’t getting them clean enough. This isn’t exactly checking, but it’s related. I guess I have my own little weird things like that, too, although I don’t really think it’s weird to check my purse (once) for the tickets before I leave for the opera.

Did you watch any of the HBO series Girls? The main character has a recurrence of OCD in the second season. Video NSFW.

I understand a lot about OCD and the behavior, just trying to understand the terminology. So would you say that checking or “a check” is a ritualistic behavior used to lessen.the anxiety caused by OCD?

@janbb I think that the word “check” is used as an umbrella term to describe several behaviours of that sort – I assume the word check comes from either “checking something” or “checking off something”, or both.

Yes, that’s what I assume too but I would like to know fro sure.

I’ll send the Q to Dr. Lawrence.

I do believe people check to reduce anxiety. They otherwise will obsess about whatever it is, and complete the behavior helps them check that off their list (no pun intended) so they can move on. I do very minor checking about locking doors and things that can catch fire like my curling iron. I don’t qualify as OCD, but I do go back and check those few things until I feel very sure they are ok. I think it can be very extreme where it is not enough to know the door os locked, but also the routine of going to the door, turning the lock, pushing on the locked door, but then a second and a third time doing the entire routine, when it is obviously locked. The routine has a calming affect I assume.

I think it might in some cases be also similar to an addiction where the obsession and compulsive behaviors avoid dealing with other traumatic or upsetting things in life.

There does seem to be some wiring in the brain related to compulsive behaviors and some medications can help.

As you know I am not in the psych field, just giving you what I know about it and also my take on the condition.

For some people, failure to complete the checks results in increased anxiety. The anxiety can be so severe that they are unable to complete any other task until the go complete the checks.

My grandmother always had to go check the front door when we were leaving her house, even if one of us told her we already checked it. If we said we checked it, she would just say “I just have to check it myself”. I remember one time after we were already on the road, my dad (being an ass) asked her if she checked the door (knowing she did). She suddenly couldn’t remember if she did or not, even with us telling her that she had. She got so very anxious and very upset. She would not calm down until we turned around and went back so that she could check the door.

I associate it with OCD, but maybe other mental health conditions have the same symptoms. I don’t know, I am about as far from OCD as they come. I’m more the brilliant but scatterbrained type. I’d be 400 miles from home and wonder..” Did I turn off the coffee pot”” Then think..” Oh well…If anything blows up I’ll know soon enough, back to the moment at hand.” lol

You know, I think that’s the very first time I’ve ever seen or heard someone describe herself or himself as brilliant.

I have short term memory loss. I often find myself going back to make sure a door is locked, sometimes 3 times in a row because I got distracted and can’t be absolutely sure I actually DID check it. But That’s not the same as checking as it is described. I don’t obsess about such things, but it IS important to make sure certain things are done.

It is exactly as @JLeslie and @Seaofclouds have said. If you try and leave what you need to check, it seriously increases anxiety, and the anxiety can get so bad that you need to self harm to release it. I don’t have the kind of OCD where I need to check if something is switched off, but I do organise things around the home in an order. Height order mostly. Reasons being, it is more organised for me to look at, and I know if anything has been moved.

I hate these threads. Every time one comes up I discover I have another symptom of some class of pathology, instead of just a weird quirk.

@Jeruba Humor, humor…my personal joke, that I am ½ brilliant, ½ completely ditzy. Depending on what part of my brain is firing in the moment.lol

I stress on the coffee pot & hair equipment being unplugged due to fear of uncontrolled fire (gma’s house burnt.) ocd.

Checking is an obsessive ritual that involves repeatedly verifying that some perceived potentially dangerous state is in the required “safe” state.

Examples:

Repeatedly verifying the the oven in off, that the burners are all turned off and cool, that the counter-top appliances are unplugged when they are not in use.

Checking could also involve verifying that their pants zipper is properly closed and that their shirt or blouse buttons are all properly buttoned.

I hope that helps to define checking as it pertains to obsessive-compulsive behaviour.