Obsessive compulsive personality disorder is…

a set of habits that make the person a perfectionist in extreme ways. This person will be even more stubborn about perfection than someone who is just a mild perfectionist. I want you to be aware that these people don’t really think that there is a problem. They may even admit that they are a perfectionist; they just don’t realize that it’s way over the top. People can get set in their ways and what makes it hard to deal with these types of people is that they often don’t have the desire to change.

Obsessive compulsive personality disorder is a very selfish thing because the person who is “suffering” with it is not bothered by it, but most everyone else around them is. Here is an example: If you have this personality type, you may organize all of the condiments in the fridge and if someone moves one of them, you’ll go and move it back and may even ask them to put the condiments in the fridge the way that you put them because that way is perfect to you. I want you to back up and to see right there that you are now asking someone to give in to your rituals.

So if you are a person watching someone who suffers from obsessive compulsive personality disorder, you…

don’t need to give in to their rituals. You can say to them, “I’m going to put the condiments in the fridge the way that I prefer and your way is not the only way to do things.” It requires a lot of patience to deal with people who have this type of personality because they don’t care often times that they are bothering other people because they are so overwhelmed by their compulsion to have things a certain way.

I want you to see that people with obsessive compulsive personality disorder can be helped, but that you…

need to let them do things in their own way. Forcing people will not help you achieve the goal that you want. Ask the sons and daughters of preachers who can attest that pushing someone too hard to do things your way will often result in the opposite happening. I want you to be keen to this. What you should do to be there for the person is to realize that even though they feel this strong need to have things their way, that you can’t push them to what you believe is the right way either. Learn first to make compromises for them and then ask them to make compromises for you too.

When dealing with someone with obsessive compulsive personality disorder, you should treat it with kid gloves and what that means is that you need to be patient enough to essentially make deals with this person via give and take. You may be able to curb some or all of their behavior, but it will take work. It’s not as easy as paint by numbers, but if you are just a little more persistent than they are, then they’ll break down or push back. When they push back, give them space and then try again later. You don’t need to let obsessive compulsive personality disorder take over your life or the lives of your loved ones.