- Date posted
- 3y
- Date posted
- 3y
I don’t have all the same symptoms, but I have similar experience of not being sure if it’s anxiety depression or something else, and it becomes confusing always switching the labels. It helps me to remember that the labels are only our best shot at trying to describe stuff that is extremely complex. But, it helps to know what our symptoms are “like” rather than what “causes” them. I t like to thing of it as the “flavor” of distress rather than like, a particular disorder. So it really sounds like you have some obsessive and compulsive stuff going on with the checking behaviors. I have similar stuff, and those things need different treatment than sadness and anxiety, so it’s helpful to know. And it helped me to know that I’m struggling a little bit more than friends with “depression,” because then I know why it’s so hard for me to get better. But it’s helpful to remember you can have lots of things at once and they all kind of mix together.
- Date posted
- 3y
It sounds like ERP and CBT would really help you with your obsessions and all the physical body sensations you’re dealing with !
- Date posted
- 3y
@jello86 Thanks for your comment. I’m in ERP right now and I continually find myself in the position of my pain not really fitting into the box that my therapist has. Sometimes I’m not only afraid of uncertainties but horrified at, disgusted at, depressed at certainties, rationally or irrationally. But always her question is “what are you afraid will happen?” or “what are you afraid that says about you?” It makes me feel like I don’t actually have OCD. And then the idea of doing the exposure and “letting your anxiety go down.” It’s sometimes hard to know when that happens exactly. It’s easy to point out with my public speaking anxiety because it feels “up.” But with other stuff, it feels “up” and “down” at the same time. It’s so confusing. Sometimes I think I feel fine, but I’m doing things that seem like I’m trying to escape suffering. I don’t really get myself.
- Date posted
- 3y
@CaptainKierkegaard So me and my NOCD therapist decides to pause treatment because my emotions were too intense. When we talked about my fears I would just sob through the whole session so we couldn’t get any work done. She saidi needed to treat my depression first, so she referred me to a psychiatrist. I got prescribed a mood stabilizer medication (which is a little more intense than an antidepressant) and it really helped with those super overwhelming emotions. That was just my experience, but it sounds like it’s possible you’re similar to me
- Date posted
- 3y
@jello86 Like I know what you mean about the difference between your public speaking anxiety and the “distress” that’s more ever-present. My distress feels like I can’t stop thinking about scary things an d I can’t take it because it makes everything feel dark and bleak and I can’t take feeling so much pain and like I have nowhere to turn to feel okay or normal. So like there’s just too much strongemotion on top of the fears to even talk about them much. I still have it but the medication helped me tone it down a lot.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 23w
Hi!! My names Calista R. Woodbury-Rabon. I recently got married in March of this year. And have been struggling with my severe anxiety disorder since I left my toxic 3 year relationship about a year ago. Over the past several months, I have noticed that I go through phases where: I have a full body “anxiety attack”. Or at least that’s what I call it. For example : when we went to cookout and they told us they were out of the chili for walking tacos. I had a full blown anxiety attack or at least what I thought was an anxiety attack and starting hyperventilating and crying. Therefore, the only solution (in my mind) was that I wouldn’t be able to calm down until I had the walking tacos. Another example : My husband bought me a pajama set that was only recently put out because it was a patriotic item which means that after the summer it’d be gone… I ended up picking up the wrong size. So that night when I went to put on the Pajamas and realized they were too small I started hyperventilating and crying. All because these $17 pajamas did not fit me and it was no fault of my own. Whenever this happens, I usually end up spiraling and crying and saying a lot at once very quickly. And I usually look crazy and don’t make a lot of sense. Usually after the spiraling is over with I’m very exhausted and usually will cry myself to sleep. My husband more often than not will say stuff like “it’s not that big of a deal you can get something else.” << when it has to do with food etc. OR “we can just buy another set of pjamas the next time I get paid.” << in relation to the pajamas in this instance. But honestly no matter what him or anyone else tells me in that moment. All that matters is that I can feel the anxiety in my bones. And I can’t breathe and in that moment my world as I know it has ended. I’ve tried taking online free “quizzes” to find out if I acctually have OCD and they’ve been negative. I also did some research and learned that you can have all the symptoms for a OCD “flare-up” but present no active case of OCD or symptoms. So I guess what I’m trying to find out is if I don’t have “OCD” than Is this out of body experience caused from my “severe anxiety disorder” diagnosis ? Or just anxiety in general?? Thank you for taking the time to read this even if you also aren’t sure!! Means a lot to me..❤️🩹
- Date posted
- 20w
Hello, I’m new to this app. I’ve always had an anxious brain, and I’ve had coping mechanisms for as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, from as early as I could spell, until I was probably early teens, I would constantly write words in my head along to the beat of music. It’s such a vivid memory because I never stopped doing it. The word had to perfectly match up to the lyric and I loved that it kept my brain busy. I grew out of that, but felt like good context. My anxiety increased drastically around ages 17-19, and I began therapy. I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety and panic disorder, due to having a panic attack nearly every day at that time. I overcame that as well, and now the panic attacks are every now and then, but the anxiety is constant, and some recent symptoms have led me to believe I might have some form of OCD. Maybe not. I’m trying to understand myself and get better so I joined this app to make sense of things. Lately I’ve been having really intense intrusive thoughts. I’m really embarassed and they make me feel like a bad person. Thoughts pop in my head seemingly out of nowhere. It will be an image of me harming myself or someone else in a really bad way. (Trigger warning) for example the other day I couldn’t shake the image of me putting a knife through my own forehead, although it’s not something I want to do. Or I’ll imagine someone killing me. I imagine my loved ones dying often. The thoughts feel so out of my control it’s insane. I hate them. Another persistent issue that isn’t as new is replaying social scenarios. I’m a hairstylist so this one is difficult since I meet a bunch of new people every day. I obsess over how I act and if people like me. I will impulsively say things all the time and they will haunt me for weeks. I question even my closest friends and family who show their love. I find myself so angry and numb and like I have so much built up emotion and a busy mind always. While doing my job I spiral really badly if any little thing goes wrong and it’s embarassing. I know there’s more but I can’t think of it now. I just want to feel better and like I’m not constantly battling my mind.
- Date posted
- 19w
Hi! It’s pretty difficult for me to get the courage to post this but I’m really struggling to figure out if what I’m experiencing is OCD or Anxiety or neither. I think I have the “pure O” type of OCD where most of my compulsions take the form of ruminating and trying to figure out something all in my head. When I hear this talked about in forums or online the intrusive thoughts don’t really match mine- I worry often about things that seem more “grounded” if that makes sense. A common one for me is my own identity- i will spend long amounts of time stuck in my head trying to figure out my feelings (often sadness or other real emotions I have and patterns I have) and why I feel that way and what in my life caused that and how it’s impacting other things in my life. I also think often about which parts of my personality are the real me and which aren’t. Sometimes this takes the form of strictly ruminating and sometimes I have fake conversations with people I know. It’s intense and I feel I have to figure it out but with no specific intrusive thought that says something like “you have to figure this out or all of your loved ones will die” but it’s very intense. I think also often of all of the decisions I need to make in the future and how they’re going to affect those I love and care about as well as how much I’ll regret them. I imagine all of the ways I think my actions will emotionally hurt others and how to make the least harmful decision, but to me this feels like a valid concern but go over and over and never come to a conclusion. I often just get scared and never make any move because I don’t see an option that doesn’t hurt someone somehow. But again I’m having a hard time identifying the intrusive thought behind it. But I also don’t choose to think about these things most of the time. This is almost all decisions but especially big life decisions. It’s such a struggle because they are things I eventually do have to make decisions about. There is so much more to it that would take too long to explain but in general a lot of my fears revolve around pleasing others/ understanding others emotions to ensure they’re okay, my own identity and personality, and work/school performance. Someone mentioned OCD to me because in my head it feels like I have to solve these things and will go over and over them but I seriously can’t figure out if it’s anxiety, OCD, or none of the above. It’s all very disruptive to my life. I am never not thinking or not trying to figure something out and I feel as if I have no control over it Anyone have any insight?
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