Making Lists
Question:
Do any of you make mental lists of different things? I have a tendency to do that for some reason. They’re usually top ten lists of many different categories. It could be anything from rock bands to historical figures, and there are often categories within categories.
Response:
Wayne Banner wrote:
> Do any of you make mental lists of different things? I have a tendency > to do that for some reason. They’re usually top ten lists of many > different categories. It could be anything from rock bands to > historical figures, and there are often categories within categories. A lot of people make lists and most of these people do not have OCD. Just look in the media; top ten pop singles, top ten jazz albums, top ten videos, top ten places to go on holiday, the world’s top ten cleanest cities, the top most endangered species, etc… Then there are grocery lists, ‘things to do today’ lists, the ‘things you’ll need to buy at the local DIY shop to paint your house’ lists, the lists about how people make lists… this could go on and on. Excessive list-making on the other hand could be a symptom of OCD if, for example, you ‘have’ to do things on you lists in a specific order, or before you go to bed or before you eat, or whatever, because if you don’t something ‘bad’ will happen. OCD behaviours are just extreme versions of ‘normal’ behaviours. Are you bothered by your list making?
Response:
It’s not really a problem now, although I used to play OCD mind games in which I had to mentally list hundreds of things without making any mistakes or it would mean some fear would be realized. The lists aren’t always top-ten lists, but they are always grouped in tens. There are dozens of subjects and hundreds of topics within those subjects. For example, movies is a category. I’ll divide that into different categories such as comedy, drama, adventure, etc. I’ll further list movies in each category. They’re usually my favorites or the most popular ones. I might think about the exact same lists many times. I sometimes do it to exercise my memory. Another reason I do it is to categorize things into subjects so that I can make more sense out of them. This is especially true with items that are similar. I also group and list things in a certain way, often by syllables, in each category. It’s just one of my quirks.
Response:
On Tue, 20 Aug 2002 06:06:46 -0400 (EDT), Fox4…@webtv.net (Wayne Banner) wrote: >Do any of you make mental lists of different things? I have a tendency >to do that for some reason. They’re usually top ten lists of many >different categories. It could be anything from rock bands to historical >figures, and there are often categories within categories.
I make lists and catergories. Some of it has to do with physical things (this goes here and that goes there) but whenever I translate that to typing, I go a little nuts sometimes. It’s good that I can do lists & catergories cuz I have a few sites that archive certain things and without the catergories of lists, the visitors would not be able to find what they’re looking for. The bad news is that offline, what it takes to put those up is extremely involved and complicated. If I don’t get all the info sorted offline for *my* purposes just right, then it’ll never make it online correctly. I guess it’s one of those things where "onstage it looks wonderful, but behind the scenes it’s utter chaos." Ordered chaos that is. 
The structures of rank and companies etc in the military would be another example I guess. But for what it’s worth, Mom orders and organizes things all the time and she does *not* have ocd. She’s just highly organized. The trick is to keep a level head when you’re doing all of this listing and catergorizing. Sometimes you do have to do it several times to get it right, but when you *do* get it to where it works efficiently and easily (and makes sense to others), then it’s a relatively good thing. -Heron I’m not a doctor, just a fellow patient. HTHY! http://web.infoave.net/~rkanderson/aimeitis.htm "Things don’t have to be this way, catch me on a better day." -Garbage, "Fix Me Now"
