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I need advice from those who have experienced heartbreak and struggle with their own mind like I do. How do you genuinely get over a heartbreak? Needless to say that it’s already difficult to handle a heartbreak under “regular” circumstances. How does one get over this when they’re at war with their own mind? Also, I can’t help it but to think that my real event themes have to do something with all of this. It’s weird to explain, but I feel like it’ll worsen my spike. It’s been nearly two months and I’ve recently found out new information that’s absolutely shattered my heart into a thousand pieces. I can’t help it but to think that I’m not enough, that my overthinking ruined everything and that I’ll never find anyone who’s able to bear up with me. Please any advice, I feel like my friends are already tired of hearing my overwhelming venting ;(

Good afternoon folks! I wanted to make a post to talk about the difficulties of processing new information, new people, and new places while still battling OCD. My story: I’ve had OCD since I was a small child. I can remember the fear of the thoughts I had, even now. As a kid, I didn’t know what was happening to me… which is a common theme that trickled into my adulthood before I was diagnosed with OCD. I spent a lot of time in childhood thinking about death or causing accidental harm, both emotionally and physically, to those around me and myself. As I got older, my OCD got smarter. It learned everything that made me tick. It learned its way into my thought patterns and became a part of daily life. Since I went undiagnosed for so long, I really did think that there was just something wrong with me. The way I processed information, the way I interacted with others, all of the tension and feelings of urgency consuming me… these things took a toll on my ability to socialize and put myself into the world as a functioning member of society. I found myself leaving social interactions and feeling as if I needed to double check, and triple check, over and over and over again to make sure that I hadn’t said something weird, or that I hadn’t offended anyone. My OCD diagnosis has changed my life. Upon being diagnosed as a young adult, I realized I didn’t know a lot about myself and my disorder and how those two things collide. After stating therapy, I began to dig deeper into the different subtypes of OCD, and somehow found maps to my brain that I didn’t even know existed, nor did I realize others experienced what I was experiencing! Now that I’ve told you how I came to be here, let’s acknowledge this fact. OCD is extremely difficult to manage, especially when it goes unchecked for so long. Starting ERP is just the beginning, but putting in the work yourself matters! School has now begun for a lot of folks, including myself. Now that I understand my triggers and themes, I have been able to combat intrusive thoughts about starting school. The funny thing is though; OCD will always try to find a way to get to you, even when you squash your biggest theme. School was a huge issue for me because of all the things I couldn’t be certain about. I actually dropped out last year because of my OCD. Now I’m starting fresh and excited! And what does OCD do? It trickles down into my other themes since it can no longer get to me about school. This has definitely felt like a set back in some ways, however it’s important to acknowledge growth and progress. I know I have made major progress. In times like this, when OCD tries to fight back, remember how far you’ve come from how big it was before, and remember that you don’t have control of your thoughts, but you do control your response to them. Good luck to everyone starting school with their OCD blazing, and don’t let it knock you down! The excitement and anxiety of new experiences is what makes us human and connects us to one another. NO AMOUNT OF ANALYSIS WILL GIVE YOU 100% CERTAINTY. Take it one day at a time. Be proud of yourself, because what you’re dealing with is one hell of a fight!

I am thinking about getting discord. Ive heard of it obviously but really dont know what its all about. It could be a way to make some friends. What do you all here think of it? Have you had good experience on there? I am scared even to put myself out there online never mind in person. But I need some friends. Life alone is not good and there is only so much that cats can do company wise. They are great dont get me wrong but im starting to go mad

i know this sounds insane but let me start by saying i have always been an extremely sentimental person with teddies etc+if anyone's watching the lindsay clancy trial that's not helping this particular anxiety. Anyways recently i've realised just how long ive had some of my teddies and comfort items, and just how long ive been so attached to them, ive taken them everywhere since i was a tiny kid (im now 19) They've been there in my good and also really bad days so i had the thought of "what if they've seen too much and dont like me" which im fully aware sounds ridiculous because they're not aware, they're toys. I found myself getting anxious over figuring out what teddy had seen what. As soon as i realised i felt that i then thought shit, i'm worrying about a non sentient thing disliking me, i must be in psychosis and believe they are real. Im now freaking out fully because im convinced i have it. im so terrified. I feel guilty about how i used to pretend they were hurt as a kid so i could play doctor and make them better, i know thats normal as a child but im 19 and still feel guilty. Im sinking into pure panic

Hi everyone, It’s my first post on here. I have been a silent reader for quite some time and it has been a helpful part of my recovery to know I’m not alone. I have had a number of themes which have circulated. I want to give a bit of background, without making it an essay (sorry 🫣!) I am a teacher. I began working in education 7 years ago and I fell in love with the job and the environment. Unfortunately about a year into it, my OCD began attacking the job. I had severe worries about the children and whether I was a danger to them. The intrusive thoughts were so intense, it was the worst time of my life. I thought I’d have to leave the profession I finally found that I loved. I got diagnosed, began medication, took part in support groups and my life really turned around. I’m so glad I didn’t let it ruin what I had worked hard for. Fast forward to today and unfortunately I have recently experienced a huge family trauma. A very close family member is under investigation for something very closely related to my theme. (I won’t go into detail but I’m sure you can gather what I’m talking about.) Of course this has caused a huge trigger in my previous theme. Something that hasn’t impacted my life in almost 3 years. I’m really struggling. I’m trying to navigate the feelings of grief, sadness, shock, anger… all related to the sudden trauma. And I’m also trying to navigate my sudden spike in OCD. Something that has absolutely nothing to do with me has managed to twist in my mind to be about me. And it’s a whole new swarm of thoughts: ‘if I’m related to someone that can do that, that must mean I will’.. ‘I’ve just been hiding this whole time’.. ‘it’s obviously not just OCD, it’s something else’.. I feel so deflated and like I’ve gone 100 steps back. I’m so anxious about my job. Any advice is welcome. Thank you ❤️

I’ve had a really difficult last 2 weeks. I had a really scary panic attack yesterday, the worst I’ve ever had. I can’t seem to shake that anxiety, and keep coming up with all these reasons in my head of things I’ve done/said wrong the last few days. I really struggle with people-pleasing in general, and often get stuck in an OCD loop about if someone is mad at me. That seems to be the fixation right now. My mom has been in the hospital and she’s okay! She is coming home today, but I’ve been a few hours away from home and staying at her house for the last 2 weeks to be there for her/care for her cat. My partner stayed with me for several days and was so incredibly supportive and helpful during this time, but I haven’t seen him in over a week because he has to work. Of course, this is all making my mental health worse as I was worried about my mom, missing my home/my partner, spending a lot of time alone, etc. I’m trying to attribute my OCD flare-up to the recent stressful events I’ve gone through. I’m thankful I’ve had support from friends and my partner during this, but I tend to feel worse when I’m alone. Once my mom is back home & settled, things will get better. I really just needed to get all of this out, and I don’t have the energy to physically journal right now. So if you read this, thank you and sorry it’s so long! I feel better.

this probably a very silly post, but i still feel like i need to ask. so i find psychology really interesting and i like finding out how people work inside of their heads; it's just really fascinates me. recently though, i've stumbled across a lot of posts about how people's bullies (present or past) for some reason often choose career paths within psychology and therapy, education and healthcare. now, this brings me back to how in the past i had this friend i was mean to when i was around 9-11 years old (i'm 16 now). i didn't BULLY her, but i was not nice to her either and wrote some really dumb things about her in my diary. at the time i wasn't entirely at good mental health either, but that didn't excuse my attention seeking and victim mentality. since it's been a while this happened i don't know how much i remember wrong or exaggerate, either, so memories aren't a reliable scource either which feels unsafe. i really despise this version of myself and how i used to be, but i feel like because i don't have a clear moral slate i don't deserve to work within psychology, and especially within therapy as i'm scared i might not be the best with patients. the concept of controlling and/or manipulative people seeking out professions among vulnerable people, like in therapy, because they like the power and control worries me a lot, because what if the reason what if that's why i'm interested in psychology? i like to try and help people with their problems, but what if it's solely because it validates my ego and i like the sense of control or something??? i'm super scared of lacking empathy and secretly being controlling and malicious, so now i'm wondering if my past traits and mindsets (some of which still exist and i want to work on), and especially my wrongdoings, make me too bad to work in psychology,and if i should consider another path. ik this probably sounds dumb, but i don't know what to think anymore and i want to be on the safe side; i don't want to take the risk of putting myself in a line of work where i can accidentally cause harm or do something bad.

hello.. I have the following problem and would really appreciate a neutral outside perspective. I was on my way to a museum with my partner. I was driving and he was sitting in the passenger seat. During the drive, my partner had already noticed a woman before we drove directly past her. As we were passing her, he turned his head as far to the right as possible, toward his side window. He did not actually turn his head beyond what was physically possible. I simply had the impression that he would have liked to turn his head even further to the right if he could have. Of course, that may also have been my interpretation of the situation. From my perspective, it looked like he was looking at the woman. The whole situation probably lasted no more than about five seconds. I didn’t say anything about it at first. Later, after we had left the museum, I decided to bring it up. My partner said that he had not been looking at a woman. I initially accepted that and then asked him where he had been looking instead. At first he responded with “Huh?”, then there was a brief silence, and afterwards he said something along the lines of: “You don’t know either when or where you’re looking around in the world.” I interpreted his explanation as meaning that he simply didn’t know exactly, or didn’t remember, where he had been looking during that brief moment. In other words, he doesn’t consciously keep track of when and where he looks, so he may genuinely not be able to say afterwards exactly what he was looking at. Of course, there is also the possibility that he was lying to me. I will probably never know for certain which explanation is actually true. We have situations like this fairly often. I sometimes perceive my partner as looking at or checking out other women, while afterwards he says that he wasn’t looking at a woman. At the same time, my partner also doesn’t want me to look at or check out other men. I have talked to my therapist about this issue. My therapist advised me to stop monitoring where my partner looks and to accept that we apparently perceive these situations differently. Since I have been trying not to pay attention to or control his looks anymore, things have actually become significantly better for me. However, when I happen to notice something like this by chance, it still upsets me. What I find particularly difficult is that when I personally perceive something happening, it is hard for me to simply let it go when my partner subsequently says that it didn’t happen that way. I generally trust my partner. I am not trying to automatically accuse him of lying. My therapist also pointed out that ultimately I cannot know whether we genuinely perceived the situation differently or whether my partner was simply not being honest with me. That uncertainty is what I find difficult. I would therefore really appreciate an outside perspective on this situation. How would other people handle something like this? Is it better to accept that we may have different perceptions and not investigate it further, even though seeing a look like this by chance hurts me in the moment? Or is it understandable that I feel unsettled when I personally perceive something and my partner afterwards says that it didn’t happen?

I keep asking that everything be ethical & God fails to answer, leading to ne spiralling. So I've drawn the conclusion He doesn't exist. I'm not asking for big things. Not money, not a partner, not all the big ticket items...I'm prepared to suffer on that front. Just small requirements of ethics. Zero answer. My 24 hr spiral. So? He can't exist...but I'll continue the Bayesian study for certainty & science. One simple prayer. One! Morality. Anyone who challenges me, the pastor, my parents (esp dad), my sister etc. It's simple, tell Him to answer the prayer. It's easier test than Gideon's fleece experiment. It just requires God to exist & God to care...

Trigger warning for animal death mentions and the discussion of medical issues This is my first time posting here so I apologize if I am not formatting it correctly. Does anyone else experience health anxiety related to a pet’s health? I have three cats and I’m always so worried about their health. Two of my cats have had to have surgery within the last few years due to problems with their teeth. One of them had to get 15 teeth removed, while the other recently lost both of his upper canine teeth (one fell out on its own, the other was removed surgically just over two weeks ago). We were told by the vet that the issues with their teeth is largely related to genetics, and that both cats are otherwise healthy. I get so anxious whenever one of my cats has to go to the vet, despite knowing that, logically, the vet will do everything they can to help them. I sweep up crumbs and hair and anything else on the floor all the time because I worry they will eat something they are not supposed to. I feel like I have to pet them each a certain number of times and tell them I love them before I leave for work everyday. I double and triple check doors to make sure they’re actually shut because I am afraid that my cats will leave the house somehow. If I wash my hands, I can’t pet my cats until my hands are dry or else I’ll somehow get residue from the soap on them and they’ll lick the soap and get sick, even if I know for a fact that there is no soap on my hands. I could go on and on. I love my pets so dearly. They make me so happy. I just want them to be okay. I’m just so afraid to lose them.

So I think experiencing what I believe to be real Event OCD and Relationship OCD combo. A little bit of background: my partner and I have been together for 3 years and 11 months and early on in our relationship I wasnt as committed to the relationship as my partner was and was engaging in infidelity and infidelity seeking behavior. I was frequently messaging strangers and even meeting up with them in the first couple months of our relationship. For context: I had never been in a committed relationship before and only knew how to be single and in non committed relationships up to my mid 20s. That's not an excuse but as I grew closer to my partner and decided my behaviors with contacting and meeting people were inappropriate I stopped and I came clean to my partner about 3 years and 8 months ago. More context: I grew up religious and was part of a high control religious group and one of the things that was frowned upon and condemned by this group was the use of pornography. I would try to skirt this by reading dating classifieds and getting off to those since I was a teen as a substitute for looking at pornography. I would not meet up with or chat with any of these people , I would have sexual fantasies about what they wrote about themselves and their attached picture. My current partner does not have an issue with me looking at pornography and I have been vague about occasionally drifting back in to looking at these posts and profiles people have made. I have never advertised myself or expressed interest that I am looking. As time went on and as boundaries became more established I keep questioning whether or not my once in a blue moon browsing of these profiles and pictures were cheating or not. Years ago my partner said as long as I don't contact or attempt contact with anyone from this place that it was within the boundaries of our relationship. I didn't browse this site frequently, more like once every few months for five minutes at a time late late into the night when I had trouble sleeping type thing. Over time I put forth the boundary for myself that my "substitute" for adult content was unacceptable and crossed a line and have largely tried to work on getting out of this behavior and overall deciding for myself that this long practiced behavior was unacceptable for myself in my relationship and I decided I would no longer do it. It's been difficult to stop this compulsion but I am experiencing some level of relief from it. That being said due to my failures in my relationship early on and the hurt I've caused I've developed severe relationship OCD about cheating on my partner again like I did in the beginning months of our relationship. Today a thought popped up that I had been continuing to cheat by having sexual fantasies to random people's profiles (more context: I am not on an app based dating site where you swipe and match with people in your area, this is more of a old school style personals site where I used people's self descriptions to have sexual fantasies) and that I need to confess to my partner and risk losing my relationship that I have put in a lot of work to improve and even to thrive. I'm not sure what to do as I confess to my partner out of guilt as a compulsion regularly when I find anyone else known to us as remotely attractive or if I have a sexually intrusive thought as I have a strong fear of sexually or emotionally cheating on them. However now I feel as If all the browsing I did , that I actually did cheat on them. I am struggling here because this is a little murky. With this post I am trying to figure out: is this real event OCD and Relationship OCD happening at the same time? I confess to my partner and my partner is aware of my confession aspect to my compulsions. Any ideas on how to approach this ?

I had an appointment with my therapist today and she’s really nice and everything but it’s so clear to me that she doesn’t think I’m making any progress, and I feel like a lot of that is my fault, I just feel so bad about it. I just can’t seem to get rid of different rigid thinking patterns, and that maybe there is something else wrong with me. I just feel like I try to get better but always end up behind. It feels discouraging and I just want to give up

Every time I see someone young (a t33n) on social media, whether I look for the age, or they look really young, or I know they’re a t33n due to how young they look, my brain gets all these urges to LOOK LOOK LOOK at the pictures on social media … At some point, my ERP was to actually look at a picture of my cousin (who is a 17) and it scared the absolute shit out of me .. My ERP also included of looking at pictures of t33ns on Instagram and sitting with the discomfort for 3-5 minutes .. FUCK THAT .. hardest thing I’ve done But my mistake was compulsing and looking at pictures to the point where I did it too much and that compulsion itself turned into a “procedural habit” and it feels like I fucked up my consciousness/subconscious into looking at the pictures on my “for you page” on Instagram I feel so utterly defeated .. I've been reading other posts on the NOCD app and on Reddit .. and some people say that when they see kids/t33ns, they look away when they have POCD, it's the complete opposite for me it seems like, it seems like I constantly look at them and constantly check. From June of 2026 to the first week of this month (August of 2026), I would constantly look at them, constantly check if I'm turned on by these thoughts, experiencing terrible groinal responses, incest intrusive thoughts, and even sexual intrusive thoughts/scenarios Now it seems like I fucked up my brain :/ .. now, it seems like I constantly look at them just out of “its POCD nature” or SOMETHING .. I don’t understand .. I will come across a t33n on Instagram and I get this tingle or something .. idk .. to just tap on the picture and glare at them and then leave. I can easily tell now when they’re not of age but still .. the same shit happens Like when I see women my age (22-26 yrs old), it’s natural for me to tap on it because I just know they’re around my age. Like I don’t doubt it, nothing, and I sense a profound sense of attraction. Sometimes .. I don’t feel attraction .. and that makes me paranoid. But now, it’s like coming across a t33n on Instagram, it’s like some “stupid subconscious urge to naturally” tap on the post to see it ?? That’s the best way for me to describe it. I hope that makes sense. Back then, it was the same thing but it was to check any body sensation or thoughts. Now it seems like it’s done out of “habit” ????? I don’t fucking know dude .. wtf is going on I feel like I have to scroll back up to look at it. Sometimes i do it without thinking, but mainly its to check how i feel about it i think. What should i do about this? Is it a compulsion? The worst part is before I do this I feel I have to look further in to see if there is more which then crates algorithms suggesting I enjoy it. Before I know it, it's everywhere! I can't tell if I'm just checking or if I want to look at it and it's just shame and guilt about being in denial. I feel like I can't escape. I just wish I could turn it all off. I don’t want it. I don’t desire it. Did I mess up my brain? What’s wrong? Did I unknowingly fuck up my consciousness?? I’m completely lost in this maze of POCD .. I hate this

So I have been doing so well for the past couple of years. My anxiety has been extremely low and I have feel like I finally got a balance. Recently I went through a little bit of a hard time with my partner about boundaries and the opposite sex when a friend of his was being inappropriate. I'm happy to say that we work through it and we have talked about boundaries with friends of the opposite sex. But now after the conversation I feel like it triggered me into thinking that I was doing something extremely inappropriate with my male friends. I keep thinking about the what if situations. Like what if I was inappropriate, what if I was saying something that was leading them on, and all the other what ifs. Also , the male friends I have is respectful I have been very selective about the male friendships And making sure I place boundaries in place and being aware. And then I go down the rabbit hole of catastrophically thinking that this will send me into a horrible spiral and no one would ever want to be around me because I was being inappropriate and not making my relationship a priority. Now I wake up with some anxiety and panic. Ruminating over situations that have not even happened and constantly going over what I have said and scanning if I said something wrong. I have reread text messages so much and rescanning my conversation so much that I know them by heart. I can feel my heart beats to my chest and now I'm extremely worried because we are on track to have a baby and now I'm scared that will not come true because of this anxiety But I will say this I know I have been through this before. I know this feeling too well and a part of me is just saying that I need to ride this wave out and let the ocd run through my body. I need to lean on my therapist and take some more time for mental helath. Recently for the past couple months I have become so extremely confident with myself so proud of myself for conquering things that are so hard but now I feel like I jinxed myself. I have been forcing myself to do hard things and have hard conversations that I would have avoided years ago. A part of me wish that I could stare this in the the face and tell this OCD that you do not run my life and that whatever the outcome will be I will be okay.

Hi everyone! Does anyone have any good exposure ideas for constant tooth anxiety? Long story short I've had a lot of bad luck with my teeth over the years, most recently needing an extraction after 2 failed root canal treatments, and in the process of having an implant. I have since chipped another tooth and also got early decay on another, as well as fremitus in the teeth and a clicky jaw. I am constantly hyper aware of any sensation in my teeth, and run my tongue constantly over the chip/crack (which my dentist said was actually too small to fill, but the reassurance only lasts while I'm still in the dentist chair and I'm convinced it is/will get infected and I will lose another tooth (which has cost me over £3000). I wear a mouth guard for clenching which may be why a couple of teeth always feel sensitive/achey. Basically it feels like a rational fear but it's an extreme anxiety, and any advice would be really appreciated as it's been affecting my quality of life for a long time 🙏

I’m trying to figure out if mine was a result of perimenopause or something else that couldn’t triggered it, as I’m 37 years old and was fairly happy at the time of onset. Did anyone else have a similar experience? From 0 to 100, basically overnight? Or onset later in life like mine?

I’m new to NOCD and have my first session next week. I’m nervous. I’m going through some health issues at the moment and my health anxiety is at an all time high. I’m hoping this helps 😢 struggling at the moment, constant worrying, looping etc.

I struggle with real event ocd, guilt, shame, etc. and there are times in the midst of an ocd spiral when I remember that I am redeemed through Jesus, and I am not who I was yesterday or years ago. I have changed my life completely because of Christ. But there is a moment where my faith and belief is tested and I get anxiety thinking if Christianity wasn’t true, then I am the same etc. does anyone else deal with ocd and their religion? And their guilt, shame?

Skip the compulsions. Take the leap of knowing it’s OCD and not a thought that needs to be resolved. You were fine before the thought came in; now you’re scrambling for answers. Could it be possible you were perfectly content with the level of certainty you naturally have towards whatever was triggered and OCD is simply looking for a way to stay alive? Don’t give it a chance. Let the thoughts and feelings go unanswered. Your heart seems to know the whole truth already and a part of you already knows that. Skip the bait. Live your life ☮️❤️

Does it matter if it’s OCD or Autism or something else in terms of treatment, if it appears to be OCD that may be presenting?