[1] Individuals experiencing this disorder have a strong need to count their actions or objects in their surroundings.
They often feel it is necessary to perform an action a certain number of times to prevent alleged calamities.
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.
European folklore concerning vampires often depicts them with arithmomania, such as a compulsion to count seeds or grains of millet.
Inspector Franklin Jalbert, a character in the 2024 novella Danny Coughlin's Bad Dream by Stephen King, suffers from arithmomania.