A lot of people often mistake ADHD with perfectionism. This is something that one cannot really blame because sometimes, perfectionists are often depicted or they appear as people who would get so riled up even if it is just a minor flaw or detail. However, perfectionism is nothing like ADHD.
Think of it as this: you are a frustrated person. It’s because whenever you would do something you feel like your best is not good enough. You often feel stuck. Much more that you would often feel so annoyed when someone meddles with your things or fix things until it is right for you. This is not ADHD but rather unhealthy perfectionism or obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
First and foremost, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is a type of anxiety disorder that is characterized by uncontrollable and unwanted thoughts that leads a person to be compelled to perform. It is often ritual or repetitive behaviors such as cleaning and arranging. Most of the time, these people know that these behaviors may not make much sense but they are unable to resist them and this disrupts their daily lives.
Meanwhile, people with ADHD tend to have difficulty concentrating and focusing on their work. They also have difficulty in doing simple tasks and would often leap from one type of work to another and would quickly get bored with what they are doing. You could say that people with ADHD are always on the go and in a rush.
Now what is the difference between OCD with ADHD?
People with ADHD usually have this act first, think later habit. In short, they are impulsive. However, those with OCD often are the ones who think too much and thus leads to compulsions.
People with OCD tend to have excessive focus on detail, moral or religious ideas, violent thoughts, extreme fears or phobias such as germs and dirt or superstitious. They may also have compulsive behaviors such as repetitive habits like tapping or repeating words, excessive checking and double-checking, and hoarding.
Those with ADHD often have poor listening skills and attention span. They are easily distracted by simplest of things thus have difficult in completing tasks. They also have a hard time remembering conversations or even following directions while some tend to space out from time to time, even if in the middle of a conversation. They may also have the tendency to overlook their work for details or completely leave it unfinished.