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Ch. 28 If I Had OCS

It's possible that you  yoursel can be an OCS person or at least have those tendencies. Don't place blame or get angry. You might have been lured into this mindset by a helicoptering parent, the lack of other siblings, or some other factor. First, make sure that you are an OCS by asking yourself these five key questions:

Do I steer most conversations so they're about me?
Do I ignore other people's gripes about me?
Do I have difficulty making friends?
Do I accept responsibility for my actions?
How do I react when people criticize me?

If you're an OCS person with a depressive or anxious temperament, you may act a little differently than the usual OCS adult. For instance, a former woman friend with OCS also had ADD. The ADD often made her depressed because she never seemed to be able to settle on one career. She would start studying for one area, then find herself interested in something else, but when a friend or therapist told her she was undermining her own success, she couldn't take responsibility for that. She affixed blame on her husband or another relative, complaining that she had too many interferences and that was the cause.

Another acquaintance with OCS also suffered from bipolarity. When she was in a depressive phase of the illness, she would actually accept help from others, but as  soon as she turned a corner and entered a manic phase, she bragged about her exceptional abilities and took no responsibility for taking needed medications.

No doubt when you are an OCS person and have psychiatric or physical disabilities, you have a heavy load to carry. But it's necessary to make that extra effort to confront your OCS because curtailing it will help you preserve your relationships and take responsibility for their outcome.

Next time: What OCS is not

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