- Date posted
- 6y
- Date posted
- 6y
There are no "shoulds" or rules to follow when it comes to sharing your OCD with others. It's a very personal decision that only you (not OCD) can make. Try separating your wise mind from the OCD voice. Is your wise mind saying that you genuinely want to tell your friends? If so, explore that option. For years, I kept my OCD a secret from my friends & anyone who wasn't family. I only told my boyfriend but never revealed it to even my closest friends. It wasn't until years later that I opened up on social media about it because I want to help end the stigma surrounding mental illness. It was gradual for me. I started by opening up with saying I had an anxiety disorder but not specifying that it was OCD until about a year later. I'm happy that I did it on my terms, and I have no regrets about sharing opening up. Bottom line: If *you* (not influenced by OCD or others) want to share this with your friends, then do it. If not, don't worry or feel any pressure to do so :)
- Date posted
- 6y
When I told my two closest friends they both responded with “I know, you’ve had OCD for years, did you really think I had no idea” we laughed over it and when I’m having a tough time I talk to one of them a lot (she suffers with anxiety) and it helps so much, she never judges she just listens and she’s amazing ?
- Date posted
- 6y
I wouldn’t tell your friends unless they have it as well. Most people don’t know I have mental illnesses. Why? It’s just none of their business.
- Date posted
- 6y
I agree with applejaks - if you want to tell them, that is 100% your call. I’m not sure if this helps, but I am in my mid-twenties and just opened up to my best friend about my OCD. She is kind, caring, and compassionate and didn’t judge me at all. She asked how she can help and support me during recovery. For so long I worked it up in my head that people were going to think I was (1) weird (2) insane [for use of mental illness insanity]; and (3) a loser. That hasn’t been and still isn’t the case. People understand and are fighting their own demons as well ?
Related posts
- Date posted
- 14w
So I recently met this girl and honestly she is amazing. She’s beautiful and her personality is perfect. She lives only 15 min away from me and I feel blessed to have a chance to get to know her, we both feel the same. But here comes OCD to ruin it. My OCD has latched onto a friend of mine. He’s a pretty close friend and we talk often. He’s never really one to let out a laugh so I always like to hear him laugh and just be able to have a good time. Partially it’s because I just don’t want to think I’m annoying and unfunny, I’m pretty self concious about myself. OCD is turning this into some sort of scary what if I like him question. I don’t have romantic feelings for my friend and I don’t actually want to be with a man. I am a straight male and getting to know this girl has been a blessing. OCD makes me feel in denial and as if I’m lying to myself. I hate this. It feels awful, when I haven’t felt this way about a girl in a long time
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 12w
How do you tell friends and family about ocd? Like it makes me so anxious and I feel like such a terrible person. A lot of my intrusive thoughts are on my kids. And I hate every single thing that comes into my head.
- Date posted
- 8w
I am very new to this app and to accepting that I likely have OCD. I am not diagnosed yet, but I have suspected that I have it for years now. I think ignoring it/feeding the reassurance loop led to my first really bad panic attack a few days ago that put me in the hospital and essentially forced me to stop hiding my struggle from my loved ones. I had another one last night, and out of habit I’m already hiding my feelings from my loved ones. I’m having thoughts that I know are OCD but they’re very hard to get past because they feel so logical? Some examples: -I shouldn’t tell anyone because it wasn’t as bad as the one that hospitalized me -my loved ones are already tired of hearing me talking about it and I feel bad burdening them -I just had the last one and if I tell people about this one I’ll look like I’m attention seeking -I don’t want people to ask what the trigger was so I shouldn’t bring it up if I don’t want to have to answer that question I’m naming them here not for reassurance, but to help myself hopefully label these things as OCD per usual trying to keep me from getting help. The hardest part of this journey so far has been accepting that there are so many things that feel like normal, rational thoughts and feelings that having been hurting me and feeding a vicious cycle for years on end. It feels unreal because these things have become such subtle integrated parts of my life and my routine, and telling myself those things are harmful just feels wrong. It’s like what I have considered my “gut feeling” for years isn’t actually my intuition looking out for me, but is an overactive fear response that has been isolating me from everything and I’ve never questioned it because the isolation, the reassurance, feels good and like the right thing to do. How do I push past these thoughts and be honest with my loved ones about my struggling? How do I rewire my brain to stop the reassurance seeking and compulsions when it’s the only thing that’s made me feel better all these years?
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