The behavior you describe is characteristic of those suffering from OCD - obsessive compulsive disorder. However, your daughter can't be diagnosed from a one-line description of her behavior. The best thing to do is to arrange for an assessment from a mental health practitioner.  Try to find one who is very familiar with OCD so that they can either rule out the disorder or diagnose it if it is in fact present. If your daughter does suffer from OCD, there are effective treatments. Leaving the disorder untreated has the very real risk of increased, eventually incapacitating symptoms. Therefore, I urge you to seek a professional consultation.   Sarah Chana

My son has a few quirky behaviors too. Does this always indicate the presence of mental illness?

Professionals can tell the difference between mental illness and "quirky" behaviors. Most other people can't, including parents, teachers, friends and others. If you're concerned, take your child to a psychologist or psychiatrist who deals with kids.

My mother suffers from a personality disorder but nobody told me that when I was growing up. I thought I was the crazy one because I never understood what was happening. Personality disorders look like "quirky" behavior - usually bad behavior but not noticeably crazy. Mothers with personality disorders can really hurt their kids. Personality disorders are harder to diagnose I think than regular mental health problems like anxiety, depression or even schizophrenia. The person seems normal but isn't. I wish there was more information out there about the mental health disorders so people could get help sooner. If my mother had been treated, maybe my childhood wouldn't have been so awful.

We're trying to provide information about mental health right here on parenting-advice.net. Look in the section called Mental Health for all sorts of symptoms and disorders they reflect. Keep checking back because the number of conditions listed is constantly growing.   Sarah Chana