arithmomania

{{Short description|Mental disorder whereby someone has a strong need to count their actions or nearby objects}}

Arithmomania (from Greek {{lang|grc|arithmós}}, "number", and {{lang|grc|maníā}}, "compulsion") is a mental disorder that may be seen as an expression of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD).{{Cite book |last=Yaryura-Tobias |first=José A. |url=https://archive.org/details/obsessivecompuls0000yary/page/12 |title=Obsessive-compulsive disorder spectrum: pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment |last2=Neziroglu |first2=Fugen A. |publisher=American Psychiatric Publishing |year=1997 |isbn=0-88048-707-0 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/obsessivecompuls0000yary/page/12 12] |quote=Arithmomania, a common form, causes patients to engage in addition, division, subtraction and multiplication endlessly.}} Individuals experiencing this disorder have a strong need to count their actions or objects in their surroundings.{{cite book|last1 = Schiffer | first1 = Randolph B.|last2 = Rao | first2 = Stephen M.|last3 = Fogel | first3 = Barry S.|title = Neuropsychiatry: A Comprehensive Textbook, Second Edition|publisher = Lippincott Williams & Wilkins|year = 2003|isbn = 978-0781726559|pages = 948|quote = Charcot, however, was the first to identify the involuntary "impulsive" ideas, such as doubting mania, double checking, touching, making sure to count correctly and arithmomania (an obsession with counting and numbers), as part of GTS and to link them to the impulsive movements.}}

Those with arithmomania may, for instance, feel compelled to count the steps while ascending or descending a flight of stairs or to count the number of letters in words. They often feel it is necessary to perform an action a certain number of times to prevent alleged calamities. Other examples include counting tiles on the floor or ceiling, the number of lines on the highway, or touching things a certain number of times such as a door knob or a table.

Arithmomania sometimes develops into a complex system in which the person assigns values or numbers to people, objects and events in order to deduce their coherence. Sometimes numbers are linked to the past events and the person remembers the events again and again by particular numerical values. One performs their actions a particular number of times, and this number is linked to their particular satisfied event.{{clarify|reason=to identify the person as someone friendly and characterise them with that number. Birthdays=An example of this: An autistic person gifted in maths may remember and calculate peoples birthdays and identify them by their birthday date in preference their name. Calculating the exact day they were born! This is an opportunity to show their mathematical skill. And bond with those they meet. But for the person it also holds additional value.|date=December 2017}} Counting may be done aloud or in thought.