- Date posted
- 3y
- Date posted
- 3y
Man that sounds really scary! You have definitely had a tough year, it sounds like. Moving is absolute HELL. I had a similar experience with my mental health, especially my OCD, when I moved out of state for college a few years ago. OCD is a coping strategy. It is a pattern of thinking, a “way” of thinking, designed to help the person feel more in control of uncontrollable and highly stressful situations. The way you think most likely started when you were young, where you would have to worry about something over and over again until your mind decided you had thought about it enough. It sounds like you are trying your hardest to cope with something that is extremely stressful for anybody, let alone a person with mental illness. From the tone of your post it sounds like you’re blaming yourself a bit for what is happening. I hope you can realize that the way you are feeling and you being sick is absolutely NOT your fault. You can’t use your sick brain to fix itself with the power of thought. You wouldn’t choose to feel like this if you could help it. I encourage you to seek out medical treatment in your area. It sounds like you have been suffering for way too long with all of the burden on you. Look for a therapist that you vibe well with, and specifically seek out a therapist with specialty in OCD. Don’t stop asking for help until you find someone who is perfect for you. You shouldn’t have to spend another minute feeling like this. I hope you get to feeling better soon, I’m so proud of you that you’ve made it this far. The next year will be so much easier.
- Date posted
- 3y
Thank you for the kind words. I do blame myself bc many things I did 2 years ago and maybe even going as far back as 10thgrade have played a part in what im going through today and I regret it. Im afraid and see no point in therapy bc I think ive already figured it out in my head and my ocd thoughts came true. I dont know how therapy will help
- Date posted
- 3y
@Imaan7 I can’t imagine something you did that would make you responsible for your own development of a mental illness. Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone makes choices that turned out to be the wrong ones. Nobody deserves to become sick because of that, and they certainly aren’t a bad person if they do. You are just a person. You didn’t ask to feel like this and if you could stop it I know you absolutely would. I get what you mean about therapy. I’ve had some therapists in my life that actually made things worse because they were stupid assholes. As an adult, I finally found a good therapist. It’s only worth it if they’re good for you. My therapist specializes in trauma and OCD, and she’s a social worker. She actually has PTSD and OCD herself and understands exactly what it feels like to deal with these disorders. I’ve been seeing her for several years now and I get better and better every time I talk to her. It’s just nice knowing every week I’m going to be able to talk to someone who understands exactly who I am, who knows everything about me, and who wants nothing more than to help me. The first time I saw her, she said “So, I think we would do some really good work together and I would love to help you. If you don’t feel the same way that is TOTALLY fine, I won’t be offended, therapy is for YOU and if I’m not the right fit that’s fine, but I feel like we could do some great work together.” It meant the world to me. She has never violated a single boundary with me. She lets me cancel appointments if I don’t feel like it, we talk about whatever I want or need to talk about, she has told me many times we can sit and color silently for an hour if that’s what I need. A good therapist is absolutely 100% worth it. Mine has saved my life and made me so much more comfortable.
- Date posted
- 3y
You’re still upset with this idea , and you haven’t come up to a conclusion , don’t worry , you’re not gay and try to look for a OCD specialist , it could be life-changing
- Date posted
- 3y
Thats the thing, I think I have come to a conclusion
- Date posted
- 3y
@Imaan7 Look for a podcast called OCD stories , I think it could be really helpful some of the episodes and I know it sounds hard but try to not find that conclusion or just use humour with the thoughts , try to remember how happy you were when you fell in love for that girl
- Date posted
- 3y
@2022Recovery I actually never experienced love ir a romantic attraction to a girl, never had a female friend. I liked them from a far away and honestly cant remember at all what that felt like, if anything it seems that I was just condtioned into wanting a gf and liking women.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 25w
i’ve been dealing with SOCD for 5 years and truly believe it has altered my life completely😀. i haven’t been properly diagnosed but the child therapist I had when i was in hs kind of hinted to me i had something more than just plain anxiety. i’ve also dealt with intrusive thoughts all throughout my childhood and as my family life got worse my anxiety got worse annnd i started getting more and more thoughts that wouldn’t leave me. I remember spending months not swallowing right and practically starving myself bc i kept thinking i was going to choke. i also rmbr spending months worrying ab death and dying EVERYDAY. it woke up with horrible anxiety and it was all i could think about. i can still rmbr sitting in my grandpas chair and just staring off and thinking “im going to die one day” “idk what’s going to happen” “is god real” “i don’t want to die” “what if there is no heaven” and so on. when the socd thoughts started i was 15. i searched around online for help and found reddit and i was like “omg yes finally people who understand and are going through EXACTLY what im going through.” finding that community and this app has helped me so much. anyway i had such a horrible time during my teenage years bc of all the intrusive thoughts about my sexuality, my relationship (glad that’s over), and some other things here and there. i was so so depressed and i felt no one around me understood how fucking awful i felt. i woke up everyday anxious, depressed, numb, and exhausted. when i started college i told my old therapist that even tho im extremely afraid of death i just didnt like living. i would cry in my car before class and just sob ab how awful i felt. although my mental health has gotten SO much better as time went on and the thoughts haven’t been as frequent im definitely not doing well. i am literally stuck. i’m still in college but i don’t know what to do with myself. those years of anxiety and depression have left me STUCK. im so much happier? and i can manage the thoughts way better but i don’t want to do anything. i only talk to 2 friends (literally lost so many great friendships), i RARELY drive bc im afraid ill die in a car crash (only to school and back), i don’t go out, i don’t ask for help at school, i avoid conversations, i avoid ppl in general, i don’t put in that much effort into school, i don’t have hobbies, i don’t want to do anything, i literally have the worst social anxiety now, im afraid of everything. i feel like the only reason im “ok” now is bc i’ve avoided literally everything. i’ve basically spent three years of my life doing nothing. i’m not happy with where i am in my life but im so scared to do anything. i miss who i was before all of this. i’ve been dealing with anxiety all my life and ik my childhood and early teen years made me like this. i didn’t know how to deal with the things i went through/saw as a little kid and i guess everything exploded in my teen years. but i want to be better i want to start LIVING. i’m definitely happier than before but im not living. what frustrates me is i refuse to do anything about it. i know a big reason why i don’t experience as many intrusive thoughts is bc i avoid everything 😭. ik what i have to do to get better and turn my life around BUT I WONT DO ANYTHING. idk how to explain this but its not laziness i feel like my body is exhausted. i think im just so traumatized from feeling so fucking horrible for so many years i just shut down ykwim?? i don’t have any libido, i don’t find ppl attractive, i can’t get myself to do the things im interested in (so many books r piled on my floor), i rot all day, i push off my responsibilities till the last minute, i can’t even get myself to go on a small walk. i don’t know where i was going w this but if someone who’s going through the same thing sees this ur not alone. i just needed to get this out. hopefully one day things will get better.
- Date posted
- 25w
I want to get thought this weird horrible period, it has been horrible. I am doubting everything. I’m not diagnosed but when I look at my past I’ve always been horribly anxious and worrying about health, death and basically everything while suffering from major a lot of insecurities stemming from bullying and lately a lack of intimacy with my partner, Every time I think I’m on the way out, or see some light at the end of the tunnel my mind always pulls me back in. It’s torture. I’ve always been insecure about how I look and I find myself comparing myself at other males and it’s made my self esteem on the floor. I have a girlfriend and prior to this we had a future planned and talked about kids (we’re still young, but it felt so real), this all began to bubble when we stopped being intimate and the loss of my job. I don’t know anymore how to move on, every day feels like a chore. The intrusive thoughts telling me I’m in denial, constantly thinking about men I’ve felt insecure about their looks compared to mine wishing I looked like them plaguing my mind. The false attractions, prior to this i was comfortable in acknowledging good looking men. However now my mind takes this as evidence, every single thing in my past seems like some form of evidence. Not having male friends, the comparisons, being questioned about my sexuality from siblings. I’m sorry if this is reassurance, I am just needing to get some things of my chest. Every time I think about my first real attraction or girls I found pretty/attractive or I liked my mind is like your in denial and then I feel horrible about thinking those thoughts as I have my girlfriend. I miss just being with my girlfriend and not having these thoughts and feeling horrible. I feel like a fraud and a horrible partner. I’ve tried to accept maybe, maybe not, but something always comes back. These 4 months have been terrible. I want to sleep without horrible dreams, I want to eat. I want to feel like myself again. Thank you to anyone who reads this. Hope you’re strong too.
- Date posted
- 22w
I’m 21. The 3 year anniversary of my graduation from high school is soon. Lately, I’ve been worried about where I’m going in life and if it’s even worth it because I don’t know why I exist or what my purpose is After graduating I lost a new job I loved due to poor management on my boss’s side, they failed to teach me my job then fired me for it, and moved from my mom’s house into my dads house due to issues with my stepdad, both of which put me into a depression. I got a new job 3 months later. But ever since being fired and moving out, I feel like I’ve been in a depressive cycle of Eat, Sleep, Work, Repeat. I’ll get home and doomscroll for hours, and occasionally play games with friends at nights. Occasionally I’ll do my hobbies but usually feel guilty for it. I don’t see my friends and family nearly as much as I used to. I want to, but it feels like everything I want to do, my intrusive thoughts find a way to keep me at home. “It’s a waste of time.” “You need to be productive on your time off or you’ll go nowhere in life so stay home.” But then if I stay home it’s “you need to go out and do something.” “You’re being unproductive sitting at home all day.” “Seeing them wont make you feel better, you’ll never be happy” My girlfriend lives 6 hours away and is usually the only time I’d go outside and live and feel in the moment, but even then I’d feel guilt. I feel like my OCD makes me feel guilty for everything. She’s helped me a lot, but lately we’ve had a few issues we’ve worked past that made me fear for losing her too. I’ve felt depressed for years now. Before being fired, I usually felt pretty good and was almost normal feeling. I’d had control over my fears and intrusive thoughts of suicide and the meaning of life, and had accepted them and wasn’t afraid. I knew it wasn’t me. But lately I’ve been trying to push myself out of this depressive cycle, and it’s made my OCD and fears of suicide and if life has meaning, come right back. I’m handling it slightly better, but it’s still hard. I just want to move past this and stop questioning why I’m even doing anything, if I want to end it all, when I know for certain I don’t want to and that I get to make my own meaning in life. I have dreams, I want to get back into art. I want to move in with my girlfriend eventually and start a family. But my OCD makes me so scared to even try to make art, and it makes me so scared I won’t be happy or content with my dreams. I feel so alone and sad. I feel like life will pass me by while I’m stuck feeling this sad and scared. It sucks, but I’m trying my best to get there. Gotta keep moving
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