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I have recently had a fall out with my partner about my paranoia .. she is struggling with her mental health as well as looking after her autistic daughter.. what can I do to make her want to stay

I have tried a few different kinds of antidepressants over the years, but it's always been hard to find one that works well for OCD and doesn't have horrible side effects. Does anybody have any recommendations of one that worked really well for depression and OCD??

Does anyone know any tips on how to accept the uncertainty of being unable to sleep? I get to so scared that if I don’t sleep, something bad will happen to me. Or I’ll end up in like the hospital or I’ll go crazy. It’s really scary and it bothers me so much. If anyone has advice I’d love to hear it!!

Its weird but its true. I try to notice emotions and not feed it but when I try the not feeding it part I feed it more. And i get angry cause it feels like its automatic cause I try to stop it but it gets worse. I say to myself stop feeding it then that gets triggered and now im in a cycle trying to tell myself not to feed the emotion. It was the same today with anger. I told myself to leave it alone and then more anger came and i told myself not to feed it and then more came, and it took my focus. I understand that its normal that it gets stronger but for me it goes to the depressive way where the thoughts are so dark that it takes away my focus... It gets me more triggered. What can I do about this. Also noticing every emotion like these responses too feels exhausting cause they come and go and noticing it just makes them stay... Also I heard it helps to ask yourself kindly why do you feel this emotions, I always get lost in more pain and shame if i ask myself that

My mom passed Sunday and I didn’t cry when I got the news, I didn’t know how to react. Crazy, I haven’t cried until i started writing this. You see, I was her favorite child growing up I was attached to her hip. Through every rehab, every overdose, I was there. Guess what I’m getting to is the intrusive thoughts are saying I don’t care that she is dead. Also telling me she was a terrible mother. That I am a mess up as an adult because of her. I’m so angry but I miss her so much. I didn’t get to say goodbye. Weeks of trying to reach her and no one would tell me anything because I’m the “sick child”. Why do the intrusive thoughts get to do this? I can’t grieve properly with all this chatter.

Hiya! A bit of a trigger warning. I recently had a thought of what if i died and this is the afterlife and it isn’t going away. it’s been a week or two. i don’t think i believe but but i also don’t know, i’m scared i’ve crossed the line of ocd to delusion. any comfort would be appreciated, thank you!

So I know for a fact that I'm not ready for relationships. It's just not something I feel like I can do due to insecurities, self confidence, anxiety, and self esteem getting in the way of that. It's something that's always on my mind due to fomo and societal norms. I know I would like one but I haven't found any other reasons beyond the biological want. There's a woman that I really do like spending time with and I kept thinking of trying to chat with her more just as a friend to hang out and just get to know her more. Everytime I've seen her it's been a great time and we get along really well. We click on a lot of things and have big interests in common. I'd be lying if I said I didn't think of her as a romantic partner but I just know that's not something I can do. Is it disingenuous to try and be friends with her despite having this on my mind time and time again? This is the one thing I could never find myself getting over.

Im new here so im not exactly sure what im supposed to be doing but my therapist recommended that I start using this platform. I have had OCD my whole life as does my mom and her parents, but I never had a formal diagnosis until about 5 years ago. Recently my OCD has been absolutely taking over my life and it is just so mentally exhausting. I know there’s nothing “wrong” with me but I really wish that I just didn’t have OCD. I really just want to be able to exist without all of these obsessions. I’ve seen a few posts from people just talking about experiences so if anyone has any tips on how best to use the platform that would be great! On a funnier note - I’m pretty open about my OCD and I mention it to a coworker and there response was “Do you really have that or is that just something you say”. And my response was oh yeah no I really have it and it really impacts every minute of everyday in my life and they were just like 😶

I have an identity-related OCD problem and I also have autism. I’ve been frightened and frustrated all this week because of the concept of masking, and the idea that my OCD theme is true because of masking, meaning that something will happen to me that will ruin my life if I unmask. It’s been causing me severe distress, and I’m frightened that therapy will not help me heal. I’m scared of losing my family and close friends

Soon might be the end of my relationship. I have done 4 months or so of therapy but I feel like I haven’t seen much substantial progress. I am already grieving the loss of my relationship. Literally almost cried 3 times at work today just thinking about it. Not sure what to do. Idk if I’m avoiding it bc I’m scared out of my mind or not. Honestly this is the hardest point and decision I have ever been in, in my life. Any tips or at least people to relate?

I don't have an official OCD diagnosis, although I am near enough certain I have it after a long year of distressing intrusive thoughts and compulsions that have strongly affected my life. Unfortunately though, I do not have the opportunity or the finances to get checked or go to therapy for a good few months at least. Due to this, I have taken it upon myself to teach myself techniques to tackle it and to reduce and not engage in compulsions, as I did not want to take the risk of getting even worse before being able to get help (and desperation lol). For the first time in the past year I feel like I'm finally making some progress in getting better since incorporating these techniques into my life as my symptoms have become more manageable (minus the obvious bad days) at the time being. Is self-recovery actually possible? Has anyone managed to recover without a therapist's help?

I've had a horrific subtype that has been affecting my day to day life. I think it's snuck in due to good things occurring in my life. If I can't forgive myself for my past, why should others? I'm happy knowing I'm not alone with these thoughts, but knowing it was OCD all along and I could have suffered so much less if I was diagnosed as a child... Decades worth of compulsive checking, thinking I'm worse than a monster... I just want to breathe normally again. I feel guilt with each breath. It's too much.

Hello amazing people. Does anyone else struggle with knowing what your ‘gut’ feeling/instinct is? For example, if I choose to ignore the thoughts I start doubting that I’m ignoring my intuition and I’m going to end up unhappy. I don’t know if this makes sense, but if anyone has any tips that would be amazing!

I see people post about how they feel like their thoughts are real. For me personally I deal with sexual intrusive thoughts and they feel real to me because it feels like I enjoy them. And when I say “it feels like I like them” that’s the same for me as saying “I like them” but some people say that’s different. Idk just curious as to what you guys feel!

Hello everyone! Just wanted to see if I can get some encouragement, hope, and love from the community tonight. I have been having racing thoughts and for years I thought the loudest most repetitive one's were just GAD or denial. OCD is scary and I am trying to get back into my hobbies. I am just exhausted and sad.

Hi all, I would really appreciate some advice on how you told a loved one about having ocd, specifically a significant other. I’ve been with mine for over 5 years, and I just had a recent diagnosis of OCD. To be honest, with the subtype I have, it’s really crippling to deal with, and I have a major worry of my partner not understanding the subtype. I would love to get some advice on how to best approach it and how to provide understanding that I’m still the same person. Thanks!

Hello everyone, I just wanted to share a part of my journey that I’m struggling with right now. I’ve been diagnosed with ocd and while this is not my first subtype, ROCD and so ocd have definitely been the ones I’ve been struggling with the most. For context I have a boyfriend who I love very much and am terrified of loosing. That’s probably what ocd latched onto. The so-ocd especially is tricky because I’ve come to acknowledge that I am bisexual. Don’t worry I didn’t “discover” this through ocd, I’ve always known and it’s been in the back of my mind way before ocd, I had just never really directly acknowledged it because romantically I just always leaned towards men. The thing my ocd latched onto is “what if you are actually a lesbian and don’t know it yet and will have to leave your partner or are lying to your partner or end up leading him on” The thing is, I don’t have much experience with women except kissing my female best friend once, which didn’t feel special or made me have romantic feelings for her. I’ve always seeked men more actively than women and didn’t feel like I was gonna miss out if I get into a serious relationship with a man before having had more experience. I just know that I can be sexually attracted to women as well. But now that I’m in this beautiful relationship I’m terrified of getting it wrong or having missed something about myself or being scared that I’m actually a lesbian and have been lying to myself all along. I’m not seeking reassurance, just wanting to share and maybe someone else is going through something similar? If so I’d be so grateful to know I’m not alone. I love my boyfriend dearly and i really hope we will work out in the long run.

So another obsession just popped up and it’s how during school I had a class with this one girl and I would always notice her. Like whenever I looked around my eyes would always go to her. And right now I’m just scared and feel like a terrible boyfriend bc even when something funny happened I would look around but my eyes would find my way to her. Now I feel like I just wanted her to notice me and it feels weird

Last summer I had my first episode with ROCD, it was a terrible spiral and the worst time of my life. I made it through and now I'm going through it again. I had been doing some training with a coworker 2 weeks ago and these thoughts crept in: "Am I spending too much time with him?" "What if I have feelings for him?" I know I do not have any romantic feelings towards this person but now the doubts have rerouted themselves towards my husband again just like last year, "What if I fell out of love?" "What if I'm indifferent?" I am trying to get out of this spiral again, I hate this.

Due to insecurities that my wife would leave me one day and obsessions about infidelity, I confessed to my wife that I had read her text messages on her iPad/phone several times over the past several months. I had been seeking reassurance that she was not flirting with a male coworker via text and then I had searched for texts to see if she talked about how she and I have verbal fights and whether she is thinking of leaving me. This is all unhealthy and a blend of deep insecurities and OCD obsessions where I also constantly ask her for reassurance that she loves me, that she is not cheating on me, and that she will never leave me. Theee relationship OCD themes are crushing her and I have agreed to go to couples therapy. I am afraid a therapist will tell her to divorce me, either in couples therapy or a private therapist that she will eventually see on her own.