5. The Equilibrium Effect
In this case, a person may feel that they will not survive if the coasters, for example, are not stacked in a certain way. Perhaps the spices need to begin with the shortest one and end with the tallest. They sometimes couple this with threatening or fearful thoughts. They tend to say that if they don’t rearrange it to be the “right” way, something bad will happen such as their pet may die.
At other times, they will blame themselves for something being out of place even though there are other people in the home that could have moved it around unintentionally. When this happens, the person could say that every time it moves, they are to blame and should receive punishment in some way. This could be a form of self-harm or perhaps performing a repetitive task such as staring at the wall for several hours or not eating for days.