The Pull of Scrupulosity

Unlike OCD, scrupulosity involves an intense moralism tied to those actions. Not only does one need to act but if they do not act then they feel as though they have sinned. They need to pray their Rosary once a day, or they have sinned. They need to kiss their Bible before and after reading, or else they have sinned. They need to bow their heads whenever they hear the Lord’s name, or else they have sinned. The idea of a loving and forgiving God is foreign to the experience of the scrupulous. God may be all-loving, but if I don’t do these things, then He’ll condemn me. God is less an all-loving Father and more of an exacting tyrant who must be obeyed.