did the pandemic make your ocd worse? how so? talk to me about it

for me it just triggered contamination ocd so bad because suddenly compulsions were not only ok but everyone was doing them. sanitizing hands frequently, sanitizing produce un the early parts of the pandemic etc it became like impossible to tell ocd from 'real', rational worry

Definitely. My OCD has gotten extremely worse over the past year. It made my OCD take the simplest things said and turn it into something to worry about. Even if what was said had or has no substance. At certain points, I was completely paralyzed with anxiety. I had no idea what OCD was back in 2020, so I just thought that the themes I was having were real since they wouldn't leave.

I wouldn't say the pandemic by itself made it worse but the social isolation coupled with underlying depression and multiple additional stressors definitely had a major effect on me.

Contamination fears were extremely high at the beginning of the pandemic and i developed a type of head shake tic-like compulsive response after being in certain public situations. These typically occurred after leaving a given situation (eg work) and would be present for minutes and sometimes hours after. Still have them periodically when presented with a stressful situation.

My OCD definitely got worse. I never realized how much being around other people with distractions at work really kept my intrusive thoughts and compulsions in check. Without that environment, my compulsions spiraled out of control, my ruminations went ballistic and I couldn’t even get motivated to do normal everyday things because the doubt and feeling of things not being right kind of paralyzed me. I started drinking more after work which only exacerbated my OCD, depression and anxiety to the breaking point. That’s when I decided to start looking up OCD help, starting with this app, and then got diagnosed with OCD and ADHD and have been working on recovery ever since.

I think so. I think it’s mainly because I had all that extra time to just sit and think/worry about things.

extremely!

my ocd started during the pandemic! dont know if it was a factor or not

Sure has.