- Date posted
- 3y
- Date posted
- 3y
Thank you for that. My biggest struggle right now is how real the thoughts feel and how much they make me doubt myself and my past relationships. I can recognize and appreciate when I see a girl that is attractive, but I have never been compelled to pursue anything with a girl because I am straight. I haven’t been in a relationship in awhile and I think that that is what is making these thoughts feel so real because I have gotten so much in my own head that I’m forgetting how much I loved my past boyfriends. However, I have only ever loved men in the past and am naturally just drawn to men. The thought of coming out and being with only women in the future makes me sick because I want a future with a man, so I’m trying to keep that in mind but it’s difficult when the thoughts become so loud and overwhelming.
- Date posted
- 3y
Yes , they can make me really doubt my past relationships as well , everything around them can be a trigger , just watching movies or even looking at girls on TikTok became a trigger for me , because I think they are attractive but then my brain start questioning if I’m faking or whatever , but I know I found them attractive
- Date posted
- 3y
I had the same thoughts a few months ago before my ocd got worse and now i feel like everything that i think is real and that did I imagine a life with the same sex?! What if i did ?!! What then?! How do i tell myself I don’t want to pursue anything with a girl?! I was so sure i never wanted to but in the last 2 months i question that too which makes me think as if this is my process if coming out?!? And that the thoughts are true and that all that past stuff was fake?!! Idk what to do?!? Is this even ocd anymore…
- Date posted
- 3y
i shared with my father and he was okay with it , he said that he would be fine with me I was a different orientation but that he believed that it was just a thought that was making me annoyed
- Date posted
- 3y
Thank you for sharing that. My biggest problem right now is that if my thoughts are true, I would not be able to accept that, so I am trying to use that as a reminder that these thoughts are just thoughts. However, this just seems to be drowned out by the fact that my thoughts keep telling me that I am something that I don’t want to be.
- Date posted
- 3y
@cf05 I talked to a gay friend of mine about this and he calmed me down a lot in this situation , said that the most I could be was bi , he told me that with 10 years old he could tell that he was gay already , and his anxiety would be if people would accept him , he told that he never really questioned if he was gay or not , he just knew since he was born , he also told me that he doesn’t know much gay people who “ found out “ they were gay later in life , they just knew or had a curiosity and then they were happy , if these thoughts give you anxiety , make you feel bad , it’s just an OCD thought , I know what it’s like to be in love with a girl and it’s not what I’m feeling right now that means to be in love
- Date posted
- 3y
@cf05 And also he said that he never had a crush on a girl and that the gay thoughts on his head were pleasurable and that when he thought about living a life with a man , it made him happy
- Date posted
- 3y
@cf05 He never got an erection towards a woman for example , I’ve only got erections towards woman , another thing that could be good to understand is that is normal to be straight and find people of the same sex attractive , I think that girls have a better understanding of that than boys , let me try to give you and advise , go on the streets and rate the girls you see in how attractive they are from 1 to 10 , you’ll see how normal that is , I know it sounds complicated to do it , but try it and trust yourself if you ever had crush on a man or fell in love with one and never had that with a girl , then you are straight
- Date posted
- 3y
Odds are your parents will think you’re coming out to them, and you’re likely wanting to tell them your thoughts as a way of seeking reassurance. Erp will not make thoughts come true it only takes away the anxiety of them
- User type
- NOCD Alumni
- Date posted
- 3y
Hi cf05, I’m no doctor, but I would say yes, to your question about if this is still your OCD. It feeds off your doubt so it will latch onto anything and everything that could possibly cause you distress. ERP will not make your intrusive thoughts come true. If ERP lessens your anxiety too low, OCD may try to back door spike you into thinking the reason you are not anxious enough is because they were always true, but that’s OCD not ERP. I had similar intrusive thoughts about a year ago when I hadn’t been in a relationship for a few years and was so much in my head ruminating about how none of my previous relationships worked out and maybe the reason they didn’t was because i was never really attracted to them and maybe I was wrong about my sexuality. However, as I started my OCD recovery and ERP, those thoughts got the volume turned down on them and I started to not pay them any mind at all. About telling your parents about your intrusive thoughts, how much do they understand OCD and intrusive thoughts in general? Do they know about your ROCD or any other subtypes you may have. Asking because If they already understand how intrusive thoughts work and know about your ROCD then they should understand that these thoughts were not chosen by you and that you are not your intrusive thoughts. They should not think this is you coming out because they know that intrusive thoughts are the tools OCD uses to mess with you and fill you with doubt. If however, they do not fully understand OCD and intrusive thoughts in general, I would try to ease them in and educate them on the basics first before getting to what kind of OCD you have and what your intrusive thoughts are. Not to reassure, but those who understand OCD and intrusive thoughts should never judge you for your intrusive thoughts/urges, they should understand that they are not made by your choosing, but rather your OCD bully. Try to hang in there and stay strong against your OCD bully. Best wishes and take care.
- Date posted
- 3y
Hi there. Thank you for your kind and informational response. The past couple days I actually felt a sense of relief from my symptoms and was starting to get a glimpse of my old self back it felt like. It was much easier for me to interact normally with my family and friends and it was seriously the greatest weight lifted off of my shoulders to feel like, for the first time in a month, I was not replaying intrusive thoughts over and over in my head. However, last night and this morning I have gone down hill again. My mind is endlessly ruminating over past experiences and encounters and trying to convince me that I felt a certain way, while at the same time it is completely ignoring the past experiences and relationships I actually have been in the prove my thoughts wrong. I am just feeling anxious about not ever being able to be in a healthy relationship again like I was before because these thoughts are all consuming. It doesn’t make sense to me that two days ago I had no problem at all saying “these are just thoughts, they are not reality and are therefore nothing to stress about” because these thoughts are not me. But like I said, they are starting to feel incredibly real again. Any tips on how to keep feeling Berger?
Related posts
- Date posted
- 23w
So pretty much I’ve been dealing with intrusive thoughts my entire life, I had no idea could’ve been symptom of OCD until maybe a year ago , I have this fear right now that I don’t actually love my fiancé and I’m not attracted to men. I am attracted to men. Let me be clear. I’m not attracted to females. I never have been and I never will be. But it’s one of the scariest thoughts I’ve ever had that I don’t actually care about the person that I would sacrifice anything for that I would do anything for. He’s pretty much the closest family that I have and I just wanna be with him for the rest of my life. A couple months ago was that I just didn’t care at all, and I didn’t have any feelings and everything that I felt was me being fake in that nothing was real. But I eventually got over that and the new thought is that I’m actually gay even though I know I’m not. And in the world we live in now where it’s be yourself be you if it comes across your mind. That’s the obvious truth. Be yourself… It’s kind of scary to think about. I just want it to leave me alone. I’m actually so scared that eventually I’ll believe it because some thoughts that I’ve learned were intrusive. I ended up starting to believe and it turned into a whole catastrophe for my life. I met this girl and she felt a certain way about her husband and then she told me that eventually I’ll feel that way and ever since then I just I haven’t gotten over this fear that I’m gonna end up feeling the same way she is. Also, I recently got over a few themes. I’m not ready to share, but I’m so proud that I got over those and I just I’m waiting for this one to leave me alone and it’s not and I’m starting to get really scared that it’s true and I don’t want it to be true. and just to be very clear I don’t care who you love what you love who you like what you identify as because you can in fact be yourself but this just doesn’t feel like me. I’m genuinely reaching out to try to get help for this because now it’s messing with our personal life. We’ve never argued so much in our entire relationship and now I realize that it’s mainly my fault because I’m detaching myself from all emotion just so that I can get over this thought I’m detaching myself from all intimacy and that’s even scarier because what if it’s not me detaching myself and it’s me just not being attracted that’s another thought I’ve hadI’ve gone all long enough so thanks.
- Date posted
- 17w
I can remember the day I started having intrusive thoughts. I was so confused and scared. It’s been almost 3 months- does it get easier to manage? Currently taking medication and going to therapy, but this is all still very new, and very scary. Please tell me there’s relief in recovery..? I tend to isolate myself from my family, often. I’m tired, so so tired. :( Most days, I just stay on the couch or in bed. I don’t quite get as anxious, but like a “heart stopping” gut feeling when a thought pops up. I miss the me I was before the diagnosis. HOCD is scary and harder when it attacks the loved ones, spouse, in your home. :( My heart hurts.
- Date posted
- 16w
I’ve been struggling with HOCD for years, and it started with an intrusive thought about being gay when I was younger. It came up at age 12 and ever since, I’ve been trapped in a cycle of doubt and anxiety. I obsess over whether or not I’m secretly gay, even though I don’t feel that way at all. What makes it worse is the fear that I might have internalized homophobia, and that’s why I’m having these obsessive thoughts. I worry that my anxiety is a sign that I’m repressing something or rejecting part of myself. It feels like my mind keeps repeating the same question—am I gay?—and no matter how much reassurance I get, the fear doesn’t go away. I used to pray for my family members, fearing that if I didn’t, something bad would happen to them, and now it feels like I have to control these thoughts, or something will go wrong. For a while, it was quieter, but a week ago, the thoughts spiraled up again, and now the anxiety feels overwhelming again. It’s exhausting, and I don’t know how to break free from this constant loop of doubt. Has anyone dealt with the fear of internalized homophobia alongside HOCD? How do you manage the anxiety that comes with it?
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