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Obsessives-compulsive are concerned with mental (self) and interpersonal (others) control and its symbolic representations. They are perfectionists and rigidly orderly or organized. According to the DSM, such people lack flexibility, openness and efficiency.
An Obsessive-Compulsive is easy to identify. He or she are preoccupied with lists, rules, rituals, organization, perfection, details, and order to the point of paralysis. They are unable to see the wood for the trees and are constantly worried that something is or may go wrong. Actually, they place greater value on compiling and following rigid schedules and checklists than on the activity itself or its goals.
OCDs are workaholics. They sacrifice family life, leisure, and friendships on the altar of productivity and output. Yet, they are not very efficient or productive.
Some OCDs are self-righteous to the point of bigotry. They are so excessively conscientious and scrupulous and so unempathically and inflexibly tyrannical that it is difficult to maintain a long-term relationship with them. They regard their impossibly high moral, work, and ethical standards as universal and binding. Hence their inability to delegate tasks to others, unless they can micromanage the situation and control it minutely to fit their expectations. Consequently, they trust no one and are difficult to deal with and stubborn.
OCDs are so terrified of change that they rarely discard acquired but now useless objects, change the outlay of furniture at home, relocate, deviate from the familiar route to work, tweak an itinerary, or embark on anything spontaneous. They also find it difficult to spend money even on essentials. This tallies with their view of the world as hostile, unpredictable, and "bad".
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