OCD, OCPD, and BPD Explained and Demystified

Complex Borderline Personality Disorder: How Coexisting Conditions Affect Your BPD and How You Can Gain Emotional Balance. Available at:

Order The Borderline Personality Disorder Workbook by Dr. Fox:

In this video, I’ll be discussing the connections between OCD, OCPD, and BPD and how they can be treated. If you're struggling with any of these conditions, then this video is for you. I'll share with you everything I know about the connections between these disorders and how they can be treated. This is a crucial video for anyone who is struggling with OCD, OCPD, or BPD, and I hope you find it helpful!

In this video, we’re going to discuss OCPD and OCD and separate the confusion. They can occur together, and research shows OCD with and without OCPD are similar in regards to gender distribution and age at onset of obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Those with OCD and OCPD were found to be more likely to present with the obsessive-compulsive symptom, such as hoarding, and have significantly more OCD severity, comorbidity, functional impairment, and poorer insight. Let’s break this down and see what it all means, and how it relates to BPD… Like, share and subscribe

Although obsessive-compulsive personality disorder and OCD have similar names, the clinical manifestations of these disorders are quite different. OCPD is not characterized by intrusive thoughts, images, or urges or by repetitive behaviors that are performed in response to these thoughts; instead, it involves an ongoing and maladaptive pattern of excessive perfectionism and rigid control. Despite the similarity in names, OCD can be easily distinguished from obsessive-compulsive personality disorder by the presence of genuine obsessions and compulsions in OCD.

Treatment is an option and can be helpful. If comorbid with BPD, BPD symptoms must be addressed first, by identifying core and surface content.

Daniel J. Fox, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist in Texas, international speaker, and a multi-award winning author. He has been specializing in the treatment and assessment of individuals with personality disorders for over 15 years in the state and federal prison system, universities, and in private practice. His specialty areas include personality disorders, ethics, burnout prevention, and emotional intelligence.

He has published several articles in these areas and is the author of:

Complex Borderline Personality Disorder: How Coexisting Conditions Affect Your BPD and How You Can Gain Emotional Balance. Available at:

Animation by sirak @sirakoart (IG)
Thank you for your attention and I hope you enjoy my videos and find them helpful and subscribe. I always welcome topic suggestions and comments. ocpd personality disorder ocpd dr fox hording

[UnseenOct]

The difference in insight between my ocd and my bpd is astounding. I've known I had ocd for many years and could easily identify my symptoms. But with my bpd, I experienced years and years of extreme dysfunction without recognizing there was something *seriously* wrong or that it was bpd. It's only recently I've accepted my diagnosis and begun to recognize my maladaptive behaviors and thoughts as maladaptive.

[Anxi]

He’s right when it literally takes over your mind. There’s been times where I was just beginning for freedom. There’s hope y’all. Don’t give up

[ElliotRyanAurora]

I am absolutely amazed by the amount of your knowledge and understanding of personality disorders.

[smilingu]

I am convinced I have COPD and BPD even though I am high functioning. It controls my life as my anxiety goes through the roof and having other mental disorders is like living in a world that cannot keep up with me and my thoughts as everything needs to be done NOW or I cannot function properly and that turns my days into confusion because my mind's lists of things that need to be done are scrambled. That is when I get angry, emotional, suicidal and all I want is to be left alone or il have a complete meltdown. I haven't been diagnosed but I know I have ocpd and other mental disorders as I'm not normal like other people and I've been this way since childhood. It takes its toll on mentally and physically. I wish I could take everything that is wrong with me and live a happy normal life. 44 years if suffering is destroying me

[xchrysantha]

I'm sorry I couldn't help it but my first reaction was "THERE'S ANOTHER ONE NOW?" I've been diagnosed with bipolar, borderline, GAD, PTSD and CPTSD (separate events), ADHD, ROCD, and eating disorder. I'm genuinely looking forward to learning about the distinction and how it may illuminate some things, but sometimes all these diagnoses feel like I'm being slowly buried alive. I've chosen for myself to only pick the ones that make sense to me (C/PTSD, borderline, ADHD) to make it less overwhelming, especially since there's so much overlap - hypomania feels like hyperfocus and hyperactivity in adhd, anxiety overlaps with deppresive episodes of bipolar or perceived abandonment of borderline or hyperarousal and anticipation of C/PTSD, ROCD traits are shared with borderline experience, executive function is impacted by ADHD and also early childhood trauma and also borderline, etc.

And I'm far enough in recovery that I see my mental conditions as a part of my brain rather than as a part of who I am as a being, so it doesn't seem so dark anymore. But occasionally those feelings do come back I guess.

Edit: Just realized OCPD was just the personality disorder variant🤦🏻‍♀️ Goes to show how knee-jerk reaction that was for me, how overly on-edge I can be sometimes to this stuff

[Gweenkween]

Looking forward to this. In library school they suggested that Melvil Dewey likely had OCPD.

[Morgain_]

My father had a masters degree & my mother was just very intelligent... I showed signs of both OCD & OCPD at a really young age, like young elementary... My father also seems to be a sociopath... Not sure about my mother... I was the middle child, scapegoat, truth teller, black sheet, ect...

Also my "OCD" is practically non existent now, but it tries to show up/flare up during extreme control put on my life or abuse or neglect... but I have really got it almost completely snuffed out!

I definitely think I struggled placement of items as a young adult, but now I don't just like thing put back nice and neat... I'm pretty flexible... I believe in loose schedule & tight routine! Especially for kids! Then they learn to move forward if something goes off from the schedule...

I think part of my problem was because my oldest sibling was 5 years older and I thought I was able to do everything that they could do & got frustrated when I could achieve what I was seeing in my mind. Art wise, writing, ect...

[ryannvolner]

I have OSDD and I have OCD and BPD where one of my alters has been diagnosed with OCPD. Thank you for putting out this info. It really helps to regulate my system if I can understand all of us.

[Morgain_]

I just remembered, I read a book that changed my life & that is another big thing that helped me. I was a book called Bitterness & it made me lookat myself & acknowledge my hurt & then take responsibility for how I handled it... I had a friend tell me I was going to want to stop reading it & think the person who wrote it was evil & lying, but to push past it AND WOW! I did make it to the end anthe power and responsibility it helped me to take was life changing!

They also have other books called Unloving, I think Rejection & a few more...

[denisemangan]

I suffered OCD at the age of 8- 10. I had checking, counting & contamination. All started when I was abused. My coping mechanism. I had to hide it from my parents.
I felt like I was in a kind of jail the moment I awoke to the time I fell asleep. It was exhausting.
One day, I had had enough and yelled out,
"I can't do this anymore, " and I stopped.

[reginaweems]

I've always called this broke OCD as this is how it was explained to me initially. With all the diagnosis given it sounds like simply put it is OCD of thoughts.

[deborahbain]

Thankyou Dr Fox
I have OCD and never told a Dr

[speedyspeedgirl]

I have BPD and OCPD, but not OCD. both of these disorders have given me anxiety, panic disorder and depression. With the help of A LOT of journaling and meditation and DR. FOX (Thank YOU, SERIOUSLY!) and medication, I have been able to manage my BPD and have it under control and also get rid of the anxiety, panic disorder and depression. it has been amazing being able to do that! However, I fell utterly stuck in my OCPD and I am as RIGID with my rules and order and my idea of perfection as I ever have been and I really have no idea how to even begin to improve on it! *sad face* and I know that if I don't do something about it, I am very much at risk of getting depression or anxiety again. I'm playing a risky game with my own mental health and don't know how to stop...
My OCPD also gave me an eating disorder in the past, but I managed to free myself of it but now after two years of having no eating disorder, I yet again find myself walking on the fine line between eating normally and full blown eating disorder. Not a safe place to hang out for a long time..
Anyway, rambles aside, the poor insight things with OCPD is very real!!!!

[jacquelinefirkins]

Yes I do this, if I don't put matching pegs on my washing line, don't leave anything on its own so it has a friend (inanimate objects) put everything in its place, check and do my make up 3 times etc, I can't leave the house and get on with my takes me 3 to 4hrs to leave my because no one else does it right it's my way or no
self shaming that's me!!!!

[sassyslsgrl]

Love the content....makes me think even more I have both BPD and OCPD ...any info to help me tame my inner beasts I'm grateful for, thank you ❤️

[brightphoebeuploads]

Psychiatrist said I have mild OCPD as well as BPD. The OCPD symptoms led me to think I might be autistic, as I hadn't previously known abut OCPD, so that was informative to learn, and I can see it going all the way back to my childhood, how things have always had to be perfect, and logical, and how I collect things, how my parents said that I was a packrat and a perfectionist. I've always had trouble with sarcasm and take everything literally. I can't understand it when people say one thing then do another, or lie. And I obsess about one thing at a time usually for a few months each. It's generally about choosing the best one, be it a lipstick or a winter coat or a dog breed. Also houses for sale, and comparing towns to live in, trying to find my El Dorado. I just finished spending thousands of dollars on collecting Barbie dolls. I love them, but that was a lot of money I couldn't stop the compulsion to choose and then buy. Trying to recover from that expense now.

Mom said I was too picky about men when I was 21, so I purposely overlooked a few things when I met my future husband (now divorced!). I am a great worker, a valued employee, and I enjoy the meaning I put into my work. Most people don't see it's importance, but I do. And I DO have trouble throwing things out or selling things. I've had to be very disciplined about this as an adult. Psychiatrist questioned me very logically about why I still own a depreciating motorhome I don't use, when I now have a house to live in instead. I hate to let go of things because my parents threw out so much of my childhood, and so much of the things I loved, our house, our dog, my clothes, my town, our 70's carpet I adored, each other...

I had a hard time letting my child do things for himself and watching him do everything poorly and wrong growing up! It's so much easier to prevent kitchen messes and to tie his shoes for him, and things like that. I prevented as many messes as I could. I now have a dog, and I find that stressful too. Messes, messes, messes!!! And she's always smearing her nose on my clean hands!! I go around with my hands in the air to keep them clean! School friend used to call me Sniffy, 'cause I was always sniffing my hands in high school to make sure they smelled fresh and not of food or anything else. My GP says I'm quirky. I think that's a nice way to view it. But my temper sometimes! I am using my DBT techniques to control it, and abstaining from liquor.

Regarding money, my handling of it has benefited me in that I've never been in debt, EVER. I never buy anything I don't have the cash to pay for. I think I learned that value from my Dad. Never borrow, and never lend. Whereas my 22 y.o. kid has it all wrong so far, at least in my eyes. My way has probably hindered me in ways as well though. It's dictated major things about my life, like where I've lived. I haven't lived life the "normal" way, with loans and mortgages. I live in an old fashioned, old money kind of way I guess. Dad going through WWII was a major influence.

I think you are probably the therapist, of all those I've watched on Youtube, who I'd most like to see, and who'd be best suited to help me, if teleport transport was possible, and if I could pick! I learn something from each of the many good people who share their knowledge with the pubic here though. Youtube is a modern day gift of enormous magnitude.

[zeddeka]

Another great video. It'd really interesting to hear your thoughts at some point about the new direction the ICD has taken, essentially scrapping the old personality disorders and instead focussing on traits. I believe this is because they believe that many of the different personality disorders can be different manifestations of the same underlying problem(s) and so it's artificial to split them into separate personality disorders as the DSM does. (Reflecting perhaps the thoughts of people like Otto Kernberg who believed that narcissism was a defence mechanism against an underlying borderline personality type).

[MaaZy_]

Excuse me to share one OPCD Example:
Writing a simple short informative email to a co-worker takes almost an hour in format, font, “maybe another color than black? Lemme try this Black but 1% lighter… “my signature doesn’t look good🤔 Maybe needs one click larger”.. “How about a shade to the logo pic in my signature... Wait lemme make all the signature letters Titled same degree as the logo’s shade... <- Till this point the email hasn’t been typed yet, and mostly and almost always; all this editing & adjustments & decorations will look silly, then undo all changes ↩️ send the email as simple as all in the sent box that been through same process.

[smashy_smasherton]

Hey doc. Your workbook is excellent. Thank you. I do wish I got a paper copy, though.

[itsmececilzz]

This was interesting because I show a lot of these overlapping traits but not in a way that interferes with my external life. I am trying to go to therapy and find out what I’m struggling with so I can get help, but it’s confusing when it has to “interfere with your life” to be diagnosed. My internal life is near-constantly distressing and my very close interpersonal relationships are where a lot of these patterns show up, but since I appear fine at work, in academic settings, and with friends, I am not “having enough problems” to get a diagnosis. It’s really perplexing