Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

Obsessive Compulsive DISORDER, OCD, is a debilitating mental illness that is difficult to treat, but Obsessive Compulsive BEHAVIOR, OCB, can actually be a beneficial character trait. OCD leaves people standing in front of doors incessantly turning the knob, while OCB's impulse to recheck all the numbers in a report, keep your In Basket empty or your house clean all lead to a better, more secure life. There probably is no dividing line between compulsive behavior & conscientiousness, and it increases with age, even while impulsiveness, in general, decreases.

OCB is a trait one can be thankful for, yet the spectrum is stark one, and should a person be too far into letting the compulsions control them, rather than they controlling the compulsions, that is indeed a tragedy. Luckily, compulsiveness can be treated cognitively, meaning if you can just recognize what you're doing, you can do something about it, usually facilitated by a therapist. In the universe of human personality & emotion, the old axiom that you must control your feelings, don't let them control you, applies more to compulsions than it does to anything else.