What Is Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD)?
Affecting 3-8% of the population, Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) is the most common of all the personality disorders. This week, the Savvy Psychologist explains the 8 traits of OCPD.
Ellen Hendriksen, PhD
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What Is Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD)?
As a culture, we’re fascinated by narcissists and psychopaths, two of the more dramatic disordered personalities. But what about the most common personality disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder, or OCPD?
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Affecting 3-8% of the population, OCPD often gets overlooked because it’s not dramatic. In fact, with its focus on order, perfection, and control, it’s straightlaced to the extreme. Folks with OCPD seem to have everything under control, which is actually the problem. This week, by request from listener Amanda Myers from St. Louis, here are 8 traits of OCPD.
But before we get into the details of OCPD (and focus on details, we’ll see, is the defining feature), let’s do a quick primer on personality disorders in general. Last week, we learned that narcissists really do think they’re all that and genuinely expect red carpet treatment. In episode #26, we learned that psychopaths really do only care about themselves.
Likewise, in OCPD, the individual feels his or her perfectionism is necessary and good. In short, the personality disordered person’s pattern and worldview are ingrained, so all seems good and right from their point of view.
See also: What Are Personality Disorders?
Now, that’s not to say personality disorders don’t cause distress. But it’s usually the distress of those around the individual. The disordered personality is frequently one step out of step in a way that causes friction in relationships and challenges getting through life.
Finally, personality disorders are pervasive, meaning they affect all parts of a person’s life. For example, with OCPD, the individual wouldn’t be a hard-driving perfectionist in the office and then relax and kick back on the weekends. Instead, he’d be exacting across all domains of life: at home, at school, at work, and even at play, if he ever allowed himself to do so.
With that, let’s get into OCPD with a made-up profile. Hit “CTRL” (sorry, couldn’t resist) if it reminds you of yourself or anyone you know:
A Portrait of OCPD
Larry is a young professor who started working at his current university a couple of years ago. His arrival was much anticipated due to his long list of publications and achievements, but unfortunately, he has already gained a reputation for being stubborn and impossible to please. Many of the teaching assistants hate working with him: they call him a control freak because he is critical when they make even tiny errors and expects them to follow procedures to the letter, even if they’re out of date or unhelpful.
Larry is unable to roll with the punches and gets stressed if schedules change or things don’t go as expected. To stay on track, he makes detailed schedules and lists for himself and everyone who works with him, though he often ends up not delegating anyway because no one lives up to his exacting standards.
His relationships with his fellow professors are starting to strain because they sense he judges them for not working as hard as him, plus no one likes collaborating with him because the strict schedule always falls through and they end up working in a panic at the last minute. What no one knows is that in grad school, Larry almost didn’t get his dissertation done because he spent so much time reading every word of every document he thought might be necessary to write the perfect dissertation.
Every day, Larry brings the same lunch to work – a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, an apple, and three Oreos – and eats it at his desk at exactly 12:00 noon. He hasn’t taken any of his vacation days and feels like he’s wasting time if he doesn’t come in to work on weekends. He has one leisure activity, karate, which he loves for its structure, and he enjoys striving for the next level belt.
So what’s Larry doing that qualifies as OCPD? Well, here are the 8 hallmark traits:
OCPD Trait #1: Laser-Like Focus on Details, Rules, Lists, and Schedules
This is the hallmark of OCPD – the details are so important that the greater point is lost. Every item must be checked off the list before they can go home. Procedures must be followed even if there’s a better way. And pity the individual with OCPD who loses their schedule – they’ll likely spend hours looking for it rather than getting on with the day.
OCPD Trait #2: Paralyzing Perfectionism
An individual with OCPD will have such high standards that no project is good enough to ever consider finished. The report could always be better, the kitchen could be cleaner, or their tennis swing more perfect, so nothing is ever truly done.
There’s not just a first or second draft; there’s a 47th draft, which leads to a scramble before deadlines and taking care of important things at the last minute. And people with OCPD don’t realize that others get annoyed by the delays or broken promises. Oddly, by trying to be perfect, they end up being unreliable and exasperating.
OCPD Trait #3: Workaholism
Leisure time and friendships are often considered a waste of time or unproductive. Folks with OCPD never have time: for you, for friends, for relaxing. Down time is usually spent either cleaning or doing something structured and rule-driven, like sports. Somehow, play always turns into a lesson and leisure always becomes structured.
OCPD Trait #4: Moralizing
An individual with OCPD is often overly scrupulous. For example, they may not spot you for your latte because it’s “bad” for you to be in debt (yes, even for a latte). Rules are never bent. White lies are never told. Proverbs are literal. Righteous indignation is common. Sex, affection, tenderness, and even compliments are difficult and stilted. But their standards are just as high for themselves and they feel guilty and self-critical if they step out of line.
OCPD Trait #5: Inability to Delegate
There is only one correct way to do the laundry, drive, make waffles, or fill a tank with gas. No one else can do it right, and if you want it done right, you have to do it yourself (even if you’re way behind schedule).
OCPD Trait #6: Rigidity
It’s really hard to compromise, try someone else’s idea, or see another perspective. Folks with OCPD dig in their heels and cause conflict with spouses, children, coworkers, and friends.
OCPD Trait #7: Pack-Rat Living
It’s not exactly hoarding, but there’s an inability to let go of stuff, even when it’s useless, because you never know when you might need it.
OCPD Trait #8: Saving for a Rainy Day (to the Extreme)
People with OCPD worry that a financial catastrophe is always around the corner.
So what’s the unifying theme of OCPD? Well, there’s a theory that OCPD is an extreme expression of the personality trait of conscientiousness.
OCPD as Extreme Conscientiousness?
Let me back up and give some background. A theory called the “Five-Factor Model” is a well-accepted way to describe personality across cultures. These “Big Five” personality traits are:
- neuroticism
- extraversion
- openness
- agreeableness
- conscientiousness
I’ll cover the other 4 in future podcasts, but for our purposes today, conscientiousness is the tendency to be competent, orderly, dutiful, achievement-oriented, self-disciplined, and deliberate. Now, especially in this culture, these are usually good things: who doesn’t want to be be capable and organized? Better than inept and flaky!
But in OCPD, all these good traits are pushed to the extreme, to the point where they damage relationships and cost the individual with OCPD a great deal. Think of conscientiousness as a continuum. At the low end is impulsivity. As we move along the continuum, it morphs into spontaneity, flexibility, and finally rigidity. You want to be in the spontaneous to flexible range, but in OCPD, it bleeds over into rigidity.
Research on the disorder is scant and often contradictory, and studies regarding treatment of the disorder are almost all preliminary. That said, we do know OCPD runs in families, suggesting a strong genetic component, and therapy can be effective, including cognitive-behavioral therapy and what’s called interpersonal therapy, which helps individuals examine and change how they interact with others.
The only problem is that, as with the other personality disorders, folks with OCPD don’t necessarily see it as a problem, and instead believe that things would be better if others would just listen to them and do things the “right” way!
If you recognized yourself in the podcast, or know someone with OCPD who wants to change, half the battle is already won. Insight is the hardest part. And while you or your loved one may never feel comfortable kicking back with a deck chair and a margarita, they can learn to appreciate the process rather than always focusing on the end result.
References
Cain, N.M., Ansell, E.B., Simpson, H.B. & Pinto, A. (2015). Interpersonal functioning in obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. Journal of Personality Assessment, 97, 90-99.
Crego, C., Samuel, D.B. & Widiger, T.A. (2014). The FFOCI and other measures and models of OCPD. Assessment, 22, 135-51.
Diedrich, A. & Voderholzer, U. (2015). Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder: A current review. Current Psychiatry Reports, 17, 547-547.
https://iocdf.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/OCPD-Fact-Sheet.pdf;
Don’t dwell and other images courtesy of Shutterstock.
About the Author
Dr. Ellen Hendriksen was the host of the Savvy Psychologist podcast from 2014 to 2019. She is a clinical psychologist at Boston University’s Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders (CARD). She earned her Ph.D. at UCLA and completed her training at Harvard Medical School. Her scientifically-based, zero-judgment approach is regularly featured in Psychology Today, Scientific American, The Huffington Post, and many other media outlets. Her debut book, HOW TO BE YOURSELF: Quiet Your Inner Critic and Rise Above Social Anxiety, was published in March 2018.