Anybody have nice recovery stories? Personally I don’t believe the whole “OCD is something you manage, not cure” thing as I think it’s just the medicinal companies looking to have you popping pills your entire life. Anyways, I KNOW that recovery is possible, and I know that it’s very inspiring and motivating to hear from people that has been in OCD hell that got out on the other side. So please, if you have any stories, share! I can give you a little story; my mom got herself some bad Harm OCD when she got her first child, my big sister, and intense amounts of anxiety from the OCD and agoraphobia too. In the last 20 years, she’s had two panic attacks. She’s over it! She’s out and about and haven’t known intrusive thoughts for ages

Suns

Date posted: 6y

I am totally recovered, I was told there is no cure like you say only manage it. I am here to tell you can recover. I found these books excellent. Dr Claire Weeks

mummers

Date posted: 6y

Wow thanks for sharing! I personally don’t have a success story (yet), but I like mark freeman! He overcame it and his view on life and mental health is inspiring!

Squidgery

Date posted: 6y

I think the whole thing about 'manage, not cure' is largely because some people have expectations that aren't very useful. Like feeling less anxiety, or having fewer intrusive thoughts. That's not under anyone's control, and everyone experiences both those things. But you can definitely stop doing compulsions, you can definitely be OK with intrusive thoughts and anxiety, and you can definitely live a completely normal, happy life having OCD. The thing people really don't get as well is you have to work at your mental health CONTINUOUSLY, not just for a year in your life when it got really bad. That's like only exercising when you got really unhealthy, stopping when you got fit and then wondering where all your muscle went! For the record, I think I'm doing way better with my OCD and my mum also had ERP for OCD a few years ago, and she's sixty. So it's never too late!

Cjs2496

Date posted: 6y

I didnt fully beat it yet but Ive been dealing with ROCD sincd November and there have been days where I cant eat or sleep and Ive had long panic attacks. I still have my bad days, but I got my life back and Im excited about life again. I definitely think this will get easier and easier. It was all a matter of learning that the thoughts arent true. If they were, I wouldve acted on them by now.

Lavander

Date posted: 6y

I have many reasons to suspect that as a child I had scrupolosity. I thought that I was a terrible person, and not had an illness. I was constantly checking if I had done something offensive in church or if I had said something. It was horrible. I suffered in complete silence. I was less than 10. Then one day, it was gone. I don't know when, I don't know why, but it was gone. Much of these memories faded with time, but truly, I did nothing to get rid of it. I think recovery is very possible for ocd, but you're prone to get it again afterwards. For me, it was many years later. And also, I'm not sure about this, but I think that perfectionism is a trait of many people with ocd (not tidyness necessarily, but having high standards for things in general).

anna banana

Date posted: 6y

Yeah that sounds about right! My theory is that you’ve gotta had some kind of trauma as a kid, like a tragic event or like, very mild abuse that pokes at your self esteem. All the people I’ve known with OCD or any other kind of anxiety can all agree that they had some unsettling childhood experiences that built an unsecure base in their minds. I myself had a bit of both, and about a year and a half ago I went to therapy for overthinking (thinking back it was just Pure-O, but that doesn’t exist yet in my country’s diagnostic book) and the whole anxiety, overthinking and obsessing went away when I looked a little at my self esteem, beliefs and my self image. Then I kinda stopped believing myself again and woop, it came back 100x harder

GG5

Date posted: 22w

Harm ocd

Hi guys. Hope everyone is okay I just wanted to ask for some ppl to share how they overcame harm ocd completely so that I can get an idea of how to work towards healing. Thank you :)

kitchensink234

Date posted: 21w

Hopeless

I know everything im dealing with is OCD. I have accepted that, but I just feel down. I don’t want to live the rest of my life like this. I just want to be free from this horrible illness. Any positive stories and recovery journeys will help. What did recovery look like for you? I used to be so happy, I miss it so much. This feels like it’s taken everything from me. How do you just live your life despite how you feel? Any hope will help!

summerloveru...

Date posted: 15w

my story

So... I few years ago, I did self-harm a few times, and then I got super into spirituality, and about a year ago, I remembered I did self-harm and ever since haven't been able to shake the guilt off... Constantly, every day, my mind would make me feel guilty about it and think about it all day. It's like my brain knew the thought that I could/ have cut myself scared me, so it kept bringing it up. My family had no idea I had ever done this, so my OCD told me I was a liar for not telling them about every day. I was afraid that they wouldn't love me anymore and send me to a mental hospital if I told them. About 2-3 months ago, I had gotten so fed up with having these thoughts every day and confessed to my mom what I had done, and her reaction was great. And I thought I'd never have thoughts about when I did self-harm again because I finally confessed. I was wrong. Even with people telling me that it's okay, I did that, I can't shake the guilt I had around this event, and even more so the fear/guilt around my own thoughts... My therapist and I talk about how the problem isn't the thoughts but what the OCD does to them. I try to create positive neural pathways, but that just makes me more stressed about it. There are things I'm supposed to tell myself when I feel negative, but I think I get that confused and tell myself those things every time I have thoughts about what I did. Which is feeding into a mental compulsion (replacing every "bad" thought with a "good" one. What works for me is (if I can) do nothing and have the thoughts... It's been hard to get better because I have had no idea what's been happening to me and felt like for the last year I was going crazy... I always thought OCD was cleaning stuff and physical compulsions . Everything that happened to me happened in my head. On the worst days when my OCD is really bad, every single time I was conscious and aware, I was thinking about the fact that I did self-harm. I would lie in bed all day trying to figure out my thoughts because I thought if I watched TV, I would be avoiding important things. I thought I had to figure out all my thoughts. I would ruminate, replay, and second-guess all. day. long. It was hard to do any of the things I loved; OCD took the joy out of it. It was hard to recognize it was OCD because I thought I had done something seriously bad and wrong, and that I must deserve these thoughts. I think the trick is that you feel like you must have positive thoughts, and the most distressing thing wasn't necessarily the fact that I did self-harm, but the fact that I couldn't stop thinking about it. I find the best thing you can do is just have all your thoughts in your head and try not to separate them from good and bad, if you can. It's nice to have people who understand!!!! More to come, about the journey. My favorite thing to say when I'm stuck is "that sly devil... OCD. Silly OCD is getting to me right now, but it won't last forever. That sneaky guy tricked me again." Love you!!!

Be a part of the largest OCD Community

Share your thoughts so the Community can respond

Related posts

Be a part of the largest OCD Community

Be a part of the largest OCD Community