- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 3y
I've never heard about therapist not sharing the diagnosis with you when it's OCD, but I only know two people with it in real life. I wonder if it has to do with the level of distress if they fear aggravating it/if it's before medication with heavy anxiety or depression/the theme? In some specific cases with other mental illnesses, it would make sense to withhold it first before stabilizing the patient. But with OCD, don't know how you could do ERP and CBT without knowing what's problematic... In my case, two told me it was OCD, one said it was GAD/phobia, but all of them gave me the info right away! You can ask for a diagnosis and specify that that is your goal. A therapist is here to help you feel better and help you manage the symptoms, and I don't think confirming the diagnosis would qualify as reassurance. Usually, people tend to actually question the validity of the OCD diagnosis. Good luck!
As someone who worked in medicine, withholding a diagnosis would be illegal unless the individual was a dependent. This is on the us anyway... heck even minors have a right to their diagnosis I think? At least teens do.
I think with BPD, it's not uncommon to withhold it due to the difficulty of it and some possible repercussions, and I think, not illegal in that case and a couple of others (depending on the country I guess, I'm not from the US, I also worked in the field)
@Anonymous2201 It's got to bea country thing, I can't imagine hippa allowing that. But I never worked in psychology
@compulsion5000 In some countries, it's called therapeutic privilege... Well hopefully it's illegal in the asker's country 🙏 I think OCD should be shared as a diagnosis, it brought me relief to know I wasn't just exagerating. I have a question for you, but of course only if you don't mind sharing/answering, did you leave the medical field because of your OCD? It's just out of curiosity, because I've been wondering if I should just give up even though I love it, just because the exposition is constant. You really don't have to answer if you don't feel like it
@Anonymous2201 Tbh I enjoy medicine. I am clerical and quality of life for residents so I rarely encounter bodily fluids. I actually felt it very complimentary to my ocd since my hygiene obsession was appreciated. I sometimes wonder if I have ocpd as well as ocd though because in some settings my ocd genuinely feels like a benefit and my understanding is thats not typical.
@compulsion5000 The orderliness, hygiene, and routine of assisted living is very comforting for me...my ocd symptoms actually improved doing that work. I left because covid hit and I am non Essential... want to return eventually
@compulsion5000 Thank you for answering and sharing! I see, I also struggle in seeing the "irrational part" at times and I feel like it's also knowing maybe a bit too much, especially with health concern/contamination OCD, having a confirmation bias of sort. In the country I was starting residency at, there is sadly no avoiding bodily fluids, even in psychiatry for check-ups with some meds. I hope you can return soon then and glad to hear your symptoms improved!! :)
@Anonymous2201 I have a friend who developed severe health anxiety after becoming a nurse. It's more common than you'd think but a lot of people keep it to themselves out of a desire to be professional. I could never do that kind of work. It's very brave and kind. I know its overused lately but I have always felt doctors nurses qnd the like who do the "dirty work" are heros.
@compulsion5000 Thank you, you're right and I've never thought of it (it being common). This is very validating, and I've always thought it's a bit more difficult to see the irrational part of it when you're in this field and have a specific personality. Thank you for the last part too 🤍
My therapist told me it wasn’t ROCD and was more my low self esteem and seeing it in this light has helped me
Ok, so first of all, I’m undiagnosed. However, I’ve been pretty certain for a while now that what I’ve been struggling with is OCD. My problem though is that it’s not easy to get diagnosed, and in some cases, it would require me to pay money. It frustrates me that I have to pay to deal with my mental health. Is it worth it for me to get diagnosed? I know I don’t need a diagnosis to start healing and working on these things, but I also don’t want to be “self diagnosing” the problem, because that makes me feel like a liar and an imposter. My other problem is that I fear my family doctor won’t properly diagnose me. I came to him about mental health related issues once before, and he read off a very generic list of mental health symptoms. when he got to what sounded like the ‘OCD’ section, we asked one or two very generic questions that had nothing to do with my themes, and since I couldn’t relate, I just answered no to them. He then told me I was fine, that I was just a “type A personality”, and that I was just being too hard on myself. I fear that my doctor might not be very knowledgeable or up to date on current information regarding OCD, and this might make it increasingly difficult for me to get diagnosed. Another problem is my symptoms seem to come and go. I often have an obsessive cycle that can last months at a time, and then it just goes away. Sometimes I won’t experience any symptoms for years. This makes me feel like I don’t actually have OCD or that it’s not ‘bad’ enough to be diagnosable.
I'll start by saying, I have not been clinically diagnosed, as I do not have the funds to see therapists or psychiatrists in my current situation. Once I'm in a better spot, I very much intend to. That to say; after months and months of having issues with anxiety, specifically health related, my partner was the one that mentioned OCD. I did have some somewhat OCD related behaviors in my youth, though those likely could be explained by potentially undiagnosed ASD (as my mother is on the spectrum as well as a sibling, both diagnosed.) But I never considered OCD taking form in a health sense. I posted earlier about how I've had 4 days of pretty minimal anxiety and intrusive thoughts, and it has led me to doubt the OCD label I've been working at treating? I don't want to be the person that identifies themselves with a disorder they don't have, which is why I hesitate to self diagnose with OCD or ASD or anything else. At the same time, I've read that a lot of even clinically diagnosed people with OCD doubt their diagnosis. It makes me wonder if I will always have this doubt, and if that means it is worth it or not to get tested? I know that if I do, they can actually do ERP (whereas I've been self taught and self guided so far) so that would be worth it...
I’m kind of frustrated because for YEARS I’ve been trying to express my concerns. For about 6-7 years I’ve been concerned about having OCD. I’m not diagnosed and I want to talk to a professional to confirm whether or not I have it. I have been struggling with several symptoms over many years of my life and it has been absolutely distressing. I’ve expressed my concerns to two doctors. One of them pretended like they didn’t hear me and the other did give me scenarios that I experience. When I said yes to the ones that applied to me, she said “well it’s very normal for people to wash their hands a lot and check door locks” well yeah but what I experience is so much more than that and it’s been absolutely horrendous. I have super bad compulsions and intrusive thoughts, at some point I broke a TV because I felt like I had to throw these little coasters at it for 5 times. And then after those 5 times, the way I threw it didn’t feel right, so I had to do it again and again until it felt right and then it broke :/ The doctor later told me that they can recommend me to professionals but my mom didn’t want me to because of fear that I can get medicated. But I just want to talk to a professional to be able to express my concerns about it. I also feel bad about talking about what I experience because I don’t want people to think that I’m trying to self diagnose myself. I just want to be able to recognize my struggles and try to overcome what I go through. All I want is help. At some point I went to therapy and I had three sessions and then my mom pulled me out. But in those sessions I haven’t talked about my struggles with OCD yet, I was talking about other issues and my therapist was still trying to get to know me. :( Sometimes when I’ve talked to my parents they don’t really try to listen. Sometimes they tell me “well everyone has a little bit of OCD”. Okay, well I’m not talking about everyone, I’m talking about ME. And back when I struggled so much with violent intrusive thoughts, it was also a time where I felt like I HAD to tell my parents about every thought that I had. And my parents were concerned and thought that I was just in general violent. But I’m not violent, I don’t believe these things. And they STILL don’t want to hear me out on my concerns after all of that. I just want to feel validated with what I go through. I am convinced that I struggle with OCD, but I want to be SURE. I don’t want to feel like I’m self diagnosing. I want to KNOW what I’ve been experiencing all these years. I really do like this app because I feel like I finally relate to other people and that I can REALLY talk about my struggles while being understood. Whether or not if I do have it, I feel really understood and I really understand and relate with others. But anyways I hope I can figure this whole thing out one day😓🙏
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