Obsessions

[Jude]

Dear Friends,

Quite a few of us have been discussing obsessional tendencies recently. These can be very wearing or involve time consuming explanations, however this is one area that I feel is really interesting. Why do this obsessions occur and is there any background history that causes them to manifest? The obsessional tendancies of oldies are, in my limited experience, some of the most annoying traits to deal with on a daily basis and guaranteed to drive the most patient carer to tears of frustration! However, they can also be quite amusing - especially when we all realise that we are quite often dealing with the same types of obsessions. Recently I've been talking about my parents' preoccupations with money, finances and toilet tissues and have had some wonderfully funny responses, which have cheered me up no end!!

Do any other people have some to share?

Look forward to hearing from you all.

Jude

 

[Jude]

Sorry - I mean 'these obsessions' not 'this obsessions'. Jude

 

[Jude]

Dear Liz,

Nice to hear from you this morning. I saw you were on the site at the same time as me, but I had to sign out to make coffee for the oldies....

The 'tissue issue' seems to be a real favourite doesn't it? Mind you, one positive benefit from this over Xmas was that all the wrapping paper was very neatly folded up afterwards...if left to me, I'd just bin it.

Does your husband still fold tissues behind you? I'm only asking because it sounds like he's moved on to another high precision obsession with his clothes now. My parents seem pretty stuck on their compulsions and haven't tried out any new ones so far and it hadn't actually occurred to me that they might alter their obsessions from time to time.

If this happens, then we can always run a 'Compulsion of the Week' competition on this site. Sorry - I'm being very flippant here, but sometimes it does all get really tiresome...! I find the only way to deal with it is to laugh, otherwise every day seems like gloom and doom and endless rounds of routines and tedious behaviour problems.

Keep in touch - it's a great way to keep sane!

Jude

 

[Jude]

Dear Liz,

Oh ho! Not the old taking the clothes out of the drawer trick? Does your father take the whole drawer out of the dressing table too? I'd overlooked this one, as Dad doesn't do it every day. It's usually a weekly thing and it does keep the drawers nice and tidy I guess - and it also keeps him happily occupied for ages.

Another great innovation is that I bought him a new watch for Xmas since the old one keeps gaining time by the hour. Now of course, he wears one on each wrist and is regularly checking to make sure that he's in synch. I suggested that we dispose of the old watch, but he wasn't having any of that, thank you. His reply was that he now feels perfectly balanced weight-wise and will be able to tell if the right side of his body is moving faster than the left and that he will be able to prevent himself spinning around in circles! Pretty amusing - why didn't I think of that?

I wish he'd take up useful compulsions like vacuuming the carpets or ironing..... that would be just great......!!!

Jude xx