Now that I've been on meds for about 1 1/2 years, certain OCD traits are starting to show: for example, having to have everything in my room in its exact place or I can't find it, having chairs pushed in under the table, only keeping clothes I wear on a regular basis (I get too overwhelmed and shut down if there's too many choices), having my books back in their proper spot (I'm a librarian and that sends me over the edge), and having things saved “willy-nilly” on my computer (including having anything saved to the desktop),
My therapist and I have discussed this in detail, and she wants me to discuss it with my Psychiatrist. So, my questions are:
1. is it common to find “hidden” OCD traits once ADHD is diagnosed?
2. What meds are typically given for OCD?
3. Are the modifications that can be done to help with the OCD (to make it less of a hindrance) without meds?
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NotAChevy
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I don't have much to respond to, since I don't have a diagnosis of OCD.* I do know that OCD is a common comorbidity with ADHD, but I don't know how common.
Certain points that you mention are a likely overlap with ADHD, like:
• needing things to be put away in certain places so that they can be found
• only keeping clothes that you wear on a regular basis (although I think the opposite is true for impulsive ADHDers, who might be prone to acquiring excess clothes that they don't need)
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I will be interested to learn anything that others have to share in this conversation.
*(I've mentioned this before, but I suspect that I have a particular form of OCD known as "scrupulosity", e.g. I cannot tell a lie, and other "moralistic" compulsions. ~ My other OCD-like behaviors seem to be directly related to my ADHD, like always checking for my wallet, keys and phone before I leave the house.)
1) It is definitely possible to find "hidden" traits of one disorder when treating another. It's also possible that the treatment itself can cause symptoms... such as how ADHD stimulants can cause it increase the severity of anxiety symptoms in some people (but decrease anxiety in other people).
2) I have found mentions on different websites that OCD is often treatable with certain antidepressants (but not all antidepressants). This site for the International OCD Foundation lists some of them:
3) There are non-medication therapies for OCD. I know that in some ways it's treated similarly to anxiety, but OCD is definitely distinct from general anxiety.
ADHD parenting coach and podcaster Brenden Mahan (ADHD Essentials) is very familiar with OCD, because one of his twin boys has a more severe presentation of it. I just heard him talking about it on a podcast (perhaps not his, but the Father's Day episode of the Men's ADHD Support Group podcast, which I was listening to last night and this morning).
• If you're on Facebook, Brendan can be reached via his ADHD Essentials private group or the Men's ADHD Support Group private group. His website also lists other contact info. I think he would be a great person to contact for questions about ADHD and OCD.
Like I've mentioned, I think that I have a type of OCD. It's pretty mild now, but used to have much more of an impact on my behavior.
It became less of a problem around the time that I had gotten diagnosed and treated for anxiety and ADHD. It let up sometime in early 2021.
After looking at that list of medications, I noticed that the anxiety medication that I was for a few months (Sept 2020-Jan 2021) was on that list.
Could it be that just taking an SSRI for a few months could rewire my brain enough to partially relieve OCD symptoms that I'd had since at least my teens?
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Scrupulosity is a form of OCD which is described by Wikipedia as "pathological guilt and anxiety about moral issues."
Since I grew up as a Roman Catholic congregant, I had always chalked it up as "Catholic guilt". (Yes, that's really what some people call moral conviction among Catholics. I've heard the term the most from ex-catholics.)
While I choose to live my life by a certain set of morals, I had felt powerless before, obsessing over how well I was or wasn't following my convictions, and feeling compelled to follow certain behaviors. I felt robotic.
• One very obvious behavior was that I was incapable of ever cussing or telling a lie. (I could refrain from telling something private or embarrassing, but if I gave an answer about anything, it had to be as absolutely truthful as I could tell it... not even over or under exaggerating. It also made telling jokes hard to do.)
I knew that I was finally relieved of much of those compulsions when my wife (at the time) revealed that she was having an affair...and when I was alone, I could cuss as easily as the guys I went to high school could.
(I still choose not to cuss, ordinarily, but I realize how cathartic it can be when I'm hurt or upset.)
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So, that's my realization since first responding to this post.
If I'm right about my experience, it was my treatment with an SSRI (Lexapro/escitalopram) for anxiety that seemed to help me with undiagnosed OCD.
I do have ADHD but I don't have OCD. However, I do know that it is common for some with ADHD to have some OCD traits. Some believe that it has to do with some ADHD brains tendency to over focus on things rather than under focus, which is what is generally associated with ADHD. We sometimes over focus on things that we find engaging, interesting, and important (like things being where they're supposed to be).
My question to you is, are these OCD traits dysfunctional? That is, are they making your life more difficult?
I haven’t been formally diagnosed but my therapist wants me to talk to my Psychiatrist about it. She says she sees more and more OCD traits the longer I’ve been on ADHD meds.
I have ocd. As a kid I started out the messy, overwelmed by my toys and having to put them back and didnt know where to start person.... where as I got older I was the opposite but I feel overwelmed when things aren't where they should go.. almost to like what I call Mr. Monk syndrome. But, not quite that bad. It was natural for me. No meds just something within me changed fairly early on. I think it was a way of subconsciously fixing the things we do have control over.
are you officially diagnosed? I think I may have it, but I just got diagnosed borderline personality disorder on top of my diagnoses of ADHD, cptsd and anxiety.
Like yourself, I too have the OCD and ADHD. My ADHD diagnosis was just the other month, but my OCD diagnosis was back in about 2009 and it was a really bad experience for me, as the psychiatrist and psychologist fixated on germ phobia (apparently washing my hands once after going to the toilet, or using public transport, was too much!) more than my obsessive thoughts and hoarding. They put me on antidepressants that took me from being not a depressive to majorly depressive and aggressive (which I wasn't before then). My Doctor and the psychologist and psychiatrist found it amusing that I began acting way out of character. I did things like collect knives, read heavily in to articles about murder, become the most miserable son of a gun I'd ever been. I also picked fights with random people, had major anger issues and began asking out random women in work. I was completely out of control and the people who knew me could see it too.
I've only now found out that the antidepressants exacerbated my then undiagnosed ADHD, to fever pitch. What was so frustrating is the medical professionals wouldn't listen to me and instead contradicted me by saying the side effects I was experiencing were not known side effects of the meds - but everyone is different and I know myself better than they do. I could feel myself losing my grip on reality.
Unless I took antidepressants, they wouldn't help me, so I've just been left floundering for nearly 15 years. My OCD continues and my hoarding continues, because they just don't know how to help me and because I refuse the antidepressants, as they were so dangerous for me, they refuse assistance.
I'll be interested to hear how you get on - fingers crossed it's much better than my own experience.
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