Ray has obsessive compulsive disorder

[JiriMania]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=gCm6YHU76q0&feature=related

This song came to mind when i read this article.

[Collinto]

I have OCD, it's a pain in the ass but medication and therapy make it manageable. Stress makes it worse. I have mostly what they call "mental rituals" or "mental compulsions" anyway, so i don't lose an hour every day washing my hands. When I lived in Boston after I got out of school, before I'd been diagnosed, I was basically paralyzed by it, any decision would be arduous and take 25 times as long as it needed to- sometimes i'd spend an hour at night staring at different fast food delivery menus, stricken by anxiety, before I could decide whether the Perfect Choice to make was Wing-It or Sicilia's Pizza. Kind of funny, but also not.

Wow, is that OCD? Describes a very internal, mental world that i deal with that I never would have called OCD. Simple choices and decisions that take hours to make based on a bizarre mental exercise that I somehow initiate. It is exhausting and drives my wife crazy. I can't explain exactly how it would correspond to a menu, but alot of it has to do with counting or calculating something. I have literally gone to a restaurant and after half and hour or forty five minutes left because I couldn't deal with making 'the wrong choice'. I also have a thing that I have described to my wife as 'thought stopping'. I have combination of thoughts, sort of like chants in my head that fight of thoughts that I are negative or scary or stressful that sort of haunt me. I always knew it was an issue, but never would have thought it was OCD, which I always thought made you wash your hands alot!!

Thanks Andy...and if it is not too personal, does the medication actually work? how did you approach dealing with it? Like how to get medication for it, etc.

[Andrew McCeltic]

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Wow, is that OCD? Describes a very internal, mental world that i deal with that I never would have called OCD. Simple choices and decisions that take hours to make based on a bizarre mental exercise that I somehow initiate. It is exhausting and drives my wife crazy. I can't explain exactly how it would correspond to a menu, but alot of it has to do with counting or calculating something. I have literally gone to a restaurant and after half and hour or forty five minutes left because I couldn't deal with making 'the wrong choice'. I also have a thing that I have described to my wife as 'thought stopping'. I have combination of thoughts, sort of like chants in my head that fight of thoughts that I are negative or scary or stressful that sort of haunt me. I always knew it was an issue, but never would have thought it was OCD, which I always thought made you wash your hands alot!!

Thanks Andy...and if it is not too personal, does the medication actually work? how did you approach dealing with it? Like how to get medication for it, etc.

Yeah, there's more to OCD than the obvious behavioral rituals or the finicky stuff that a lot of people have to a much smaller degree. There's a form of it they call "pure O" OCD, where you don't have any compulsions- you have "mental rituals", compulsions that go on in your thought process, that often look a lot like the obsessions. Having thoughts that haunt you, negative/scary/stressful ones, that can happen with OCD too, and your "chants" sound like an OCD ritual. Counting is a big thing with OCD, also.

I won't describe what led me to being diagnosed because it was kind of tramautic and I'd like to keep it private, but medication and cognitive behavioral therapy (essentially variations on exposure therapy) have helped me a lot. I would google OCD, there are some decent websites, and make an appointment with a psychiatrist and/or therapist. If you describe your symptoms to someone with experience treating OCD, they should be able to diagnose and help you.

When I lost the structure of being in college I was basically paralyzed by my OCD, I'd say it affected my life at least 80% of the time. Now, after like 2 years of therapy/meds, it affects my life maybe 20% of the time. You get better at recognizing your obsessive habits. The only challenging part is the exposure therapy, because you have to submit yourself to situations that may cause you a lot of anxiety.

[GuyClinch]

Full Blown OCD is awful, debilitating and not very useful at all. From what Ray Allen describes I don't think he has OCD yet. He just has some OCD like behaviours. My g/f has some quirks too but its not anything like the full blown psychological problem.

[crm0922]

any decision would be arduous and take 25 times as long as it needed to- sometimes i'd spend an hour at night staring at different fast food delivery menus, stricken by anxiety, before I could decide whether the Perfect Choice to make was Wing-It or Sicilia's Pizza. Kind of funny, but also not.

That's easy: Wing-It

mmm...Wing-It.

C

[CatNation]

Ray's being a little hypocritical hes my fav player, i went to the sonics vs bobcats game (not many others lol)

he did a 360 in warmups.

[GuyClinch]

Umm. The point is he isn't being hypocritical so much a being OCD like. He is like "Paul don't do warmups with 360's because you usually don't do that." It's just the urge to stick to the routine.

He knows he isn't being "fair' to Paul.. Paul of course just thinks he is messed in the head but probaly goes along with it.

Pete

[Man_Up]

I'm actually not surprised. To me it all makes sense now. For as long as Ray's been a Celtic he's always talked about following a routine like it was a God give law. It shows up in his game too, like the fact that he seems to shoot the same way every time. Or that he seems to always move around the court like it's a basketball drill (Ever really watch him come off a curl catch and shoot?).

I also remember him saying something OCDish in an interview with Dickerson. I think he said he can't walk by a pole and have his friend walk by the other side or it would drive him crazy, and that he'd have to go back and make his friend walk the same way.

And there's the fact that sometimes he just looks crazy. Sometimes he has the crazy glint in his eyes ... Ray's Crazy like a fox

[bruno sundov]

You think Ray can come by and clean out my garage for spring time. Do you think he has anything else going on?LOL

He as great shooting the ball last night. Pierce also.

[Andrew McCeltic]

-= original quote snipped =-



That's easy: Wing-It

mmm...Wing-It.

C

Haha...sometimes I think Wing-It is the thing I miss the most about Boston. the boneless wings..lemon-pepper, garlic parmesan, goddamn

[crm0922]

-= original quote snipped =-
Haha...sometimes I think Wing-It is the thing I miss the most about Boston. the boneless wings..lemon-pepper, garlic parmesan, goddamn

I miss:

Wing-It, Miracle of Science burger, Dunkin Donuts, sunset grill...man, I'm getting hungry.

A lot of the food out here in LA is surprisingly crappy. But there is in-and-out, which pretty much rules.

EDIT: honey bbq boneless...

C

[ParticleMan]

what a thread.

2 things:

- I think we have a new nickname for Ray: Ray "Monk" Allen

- I'm amazed how many people here have OCD or OCD-like symptoms.

[GuyClinch]

Heh. remember that episode where Monk goes on medication and is 'cured' but becomes a horrible detective? PP and KG need to keep him away from any Doctors..and tell him it's not that bad.

Pete

[Andrew McCeltic]

what a thread.

2 things:

- I think we have a new nickname for Ray: Ray "Monk" Allen

- I'm amazed how many people here have OCD or OCD-like symptoms.

I think the frequency with which most of us read and post on this board makes us all kind of OCDish..Obsessive Celticsfan Disorder?

[MyInsatiableOne]

[quote="ParticleMan"]what a thread.

2 things:

- I think we have a new nickname for Ray: Ray "Monk" Allen

- I'm amazed how many people here have OCD or OCD-like symptoms.[/quote]

I definitely have OCD, probably to the point that it should be minorly medicated, but I've never told a doctor or anyone and I can keep it under control.

But I understand where Ray is coming from, no doubt. Great article, BTW

[SeizeCoup]

In terms of personality, I'm definitely more like Paul than I am like Ray. I'm all about routines in life; people work better the more familiar the rhythm, but I'm also a firm believer that extreme obsessions walk a fine line, sometimes they benefit but often they do more bad than good, a slave to operating procedure. Not judging, just saying my mind doesn't work in that OCD way. Maybe if it did I'd have a better jump-shot.

In regards to Wing-It, honey bbg boneless, forshore.