Is it possible to still have involuntary thoughts without any anxiety? And would this be considered on the way to recovery without all the pain and fear feelings?

I can face the fears ( sort of) but struggling to stop the compulsions. But coping well at the moment. What about yourself?

Yes! Everyone actually experienced intrusive and involuntary thoughts, even if they don’t have OCD. People with OCD are different because they assign meaning to these thoughts and ruminate on what this means for them as a person. Most people will think of something horrible for a second, go “nah.” Or “wow that was weird” and instantly forget about it, when you have OCD you are a very deep thinker and worry about why you experienced the thought.

Yep, it's possible to have thoughts without anxiety. Not sure if that specifically means you're on the way the way to recovery, though. Regardless, there is hope!

Have you been engaging in therapy? Or doing any ERP exercises? That can explain the lessened anxiety.

Never had Erp...too expensive. Just been doing it myself.

Ah, yeah the compulsions are usually really hard to work with. What sort of compulsions do you struggle with? A lot of my compulsions are mental/verbal so it's been pretty tough for me lately.

Asking for feedback at work, asking if I've offended my colleagues, fawning, Google, avoiding certain things. Checking on people. It really effects the old self esteem and dignity

yours?

We have a lot of similar ones! Fawning, avoidance and seeking reassurance are the worst for me. There's also verbal compulsions where basically I have to call out that the thoughts are bad. It doesn't really help because it just reaffirms the 'threat'.

Yes, it goes beyond embarrassment doesnt it. ?

Yes 100%, this is what happens when you’re near recovery

Hi Empath11, I share a lot of the same compulsions you listed…and then some. Like @booba said, everyone has intrusive thoughts, we just tend to get stuck on some, or all of them. For the obsessions I have been working on the longest, I wouldn’t say I experience no anxiety, but it’s a lot less than it used to be prior to me practicing ERP/living with uncertainty. You can practice ERP on your own, you don’t necessarily have to pay someone, although for me my therapist has been extremely helpful for me for identifying all of my subtypes and managing my OCD as well as my anxiety/depression.