When I was a child and we went somewhere in a car I counted things in my head.Telephone poles, fence posts, blue buicks etc. As I got older I got more sophisticated with it. I now will if bored and trapped (riding in a car usually) figure my financial buget in my head and break down costs of things, divide out how much grain my horses are getting individually, if I do the maintnance on my car just how much does it really cost to drive per mile. Doing this in my head is also very frustrating as if someone talks and I loose my thought, I have to start over. My mother did the same thing when she was a child but not now. I got her to take the test in the book I just took because even though I think we're sooo different we're not. I gave her the questions over the phone and she scored almost as high as me on the same questions. She brought the counting thing up. To me the is OCD stuff. I think from what I have read the ADD'rs would also have OCD stuff too. Is this related?????

Not sure if it is related to OCD, but for what it's worth I still count trains....

My take on the counting thing for OCD (I don't have OCD) is everything you do is counted. In other words if three is your number you will do everything three times

oh I forgot trains, lol. I dont have any number my mother said she did though. I dont think I have OCD but I do have obsessive thinking. This is all still so new to me, I have researched so many disorders and knew there was some issue with me, my life reflects it and unfortuanatly it isn't everyone else all the time. So I started searching and this is the first thing that just fit. Its just weird to me to realize that others don't have a zillion thoughts going on. I have really no idea what it feels like for it not to be like that. Under hypnosis its calmer and slower, same feeling as just before drifting off to sleep. I think the counting is calming to me if I get totally absorbed in it.

When I was a child and we went somewhere in a car I counted things in my head.Telephone poles, fence posts, blue buicks etc.


Me too! Even today. Son in law driving, kids and me in the back, three hour drive, I think I'm going to die, I count in my head like a mad woman as a distraction. Practically fall out of the car by the time we get there.

I count a lot. I discovered a long time ago that it helped me to quieten my mind.

BlueRose it does help doesn't it. Its weird because I do this alot and never really noticed. People ask, "what are you thinking about", I never tell them I'm counting and its not a lie I dont really think about it.

I find myself counting stairs or steps that I take, for example, from my car to my front door. I won't even realize I am counting until I am many steps away from the stairs and still counting. There were 14 steps in the house I grew up in. I think I counted them almost every time I went up. Hardly ever going down, though.

i count the lines on the road as they pass sometimes, if im a passenger in a car. The only other thing i seem to count is our stairs in the house. i know there are 15...will always be 15...and yet i still count each one as i go up them. Every time. Dont know why. lol

Yes it does help. I do it if I'm struggling to sleep too.

I count too ... but always have to start over because I start counting all the distractions that interrupt me. :rolleyes:

I count too ... but always have to start over because I start counting all the distractions that interrupt me. :rolleyes:

Exactly ;)

i still find my self counting things

That's fascinating. I count a lot as well. Sometimes when I am walking to my car in a lot or home from the subway. I'll even try counting by 4s or by doubling each number. I count the stairs in the house. Sometimes it is very conscious, other times not.

I also try to use counting sometimes to impose limits on myself. I think to myself, "I'm going to take until the count of 72 to finish my shower." I often forget I was doing it in the middle and lose my place and then guess where I should be in the count.

That's fascinating. I count a lot as well.

I also try to use counting sometimes to impose limits on myself. I think to myself, "I'm going to take until the count of 72 to finish my shower." I often forget I was doing it in the middle and lose my place and then guess where I should be in the count.

Too weird, another thing I do and wasn't aware of. If I wait for someone in a car I'll say, "I'm giving them to the count of (what ever number I guess at) to come back and see if they come back on that number.