A person who has organizational OCD will feel a great deal of distress if things are not put away where and how he believes they ought to be. Some people who have organizational OCD may also insist on “symmetry.” For instance, if the sofa has two pillows on its left side, it must also have two pillows on its right side. Or perhaps all of the items on a desk will have to be precisely lined up at right angles to one another.

People who have this kind of OCD feel as if they cannot function when things are “out of order,” and will spend a lot of time arranging objects, putting things away, or asking others to be neater. Some might even go so far as to discard objects of an uneven number. (There are people, however, who are merely particular about their homes, appearances, or surroundings; it should not be assumed that these folks necessarily have OCD.)