- Date posted
- 3y
- User type
- NOCD Alumni
- Date posted
- 3y
Hello Emma! I know that this theme can seem so heart wrenching and tiring. Hang in there because there is HOPE! Are you currently practicing ERP? If you do not have a therapist NOCD can help. They helped get me out of my bed and out of being stuck in my house and into the world functioning again. There are also great groups NOCD offers and I find it so helpful to relate to other people with the same OCD struggles as me. Let me know if I can help and check out NOCD or have your parents check them out since you are 17. Good luck!
- Date posted
- 3y
Thank you!!
- Date posted
- 3y
Hi , I’m so sorry you’re dealing with it I currently am to and it’s awful so exhausting like you said I hope the best for us and everyone else ❤️
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 3y
Hi Emma. You are so right that dealing with OCD is exhausting, and it is very natural to want it to stop. I have had OCD for many years, and through ERP therapy, I have been able to retrain my brain on how to treat intrusive thoughts when they enter into my mind. I am able to accept the thoughts, and do nothing with them, i.e., no compulsions. That does not mean I do not feel anxiety, I do, but I do not allow OCD to be in charge. If you are able to do ERP therapy, that is the gold standard for treatment. I will also emphasize that compulsions will only make the OCD STRONGER. Yes, it may help in the short term, but doing a compulsion tells the brain that the intrusive thought is important - when in reality it is a false alarm. I hope this helps. Please feel free to respond if you need some clarification.
- Date posted
- 3y
I have done ERP and it has definetly helped in the past but it seems to come back eventually anyways
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 3y
@Emma17 I would encourage you to Continue to do erp. OCD is manageable not curable.
- User type
- NOCD Alumni
- Date posted
- 3y
@Emma17 - It is recommended to do a scheduled ERP daily even when in recovery and to continue to do response prevention- no compulsions anytime you are triggered to maintain your recovery. So I encourage you to think of some ERP you have done in the past or come up with some new ones you think you can handle and give it a go.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 25w
I feel like there’s no way out of this. everyday i’m anxious and depressed from these thoughts. i feel like i have to constantly question if it’s OCD or not. the panic attacks are insane and i freak out. and a compulsion i have is looking eveything up on the internet when im stressing to know that it’s just my OCD and im not in danger. but looking things up add on to my thoughts and i start thinking “what if” actual suidcal people think. do others with this theme whenever they do something like if im taking a picture it’ll be like “yeah you look happy people will wonder what happened when your gone” LIKE i DO NOT want to end my life. or even as simple as cleaning my room, “yup keep it clean so when your family goes through your stuff” then i panic and can’t even do anything. those thoughts distress me so bad. i’ll sit there and think how good my life is or when im having a good day my thoughts will be like “NOPEEE what if your just saying that to convince yourself” it never shuts up and genuinely makes me think i have SI or something. i hope this reaches the right people just to know im not alone. Even when i do get better in the back of my mind it’s always “people who want to are the same a day before too” im genuinely scared and im scared one day im going to just snap and do it because its “too much” do i need to go to a mental hospital! i feel insane.
- Date posted
- 22w
I feel awful that I keep coming on here whenever I’m down bad but oh my gosh OCD is the most painful shit that I have EVER experienced in my life and I have a physical chronic illness…. I hate to say it but I hate living right now it’s too painful… im crying as I type to the point where my stomach is hurting, I have pretty severe ocd I do have generalized anxiety and idk if that is connected with ocd but because of that I have most of the subtypes REAL EVENT OCD,POCD,ZOCD,ROCD,SOCD HARM OCD, you name it and I got it!!! a lot of also why I have have those theme is trauma growing up and involving those things^ as of right now i’m 25 and a women with the most loving boyfriend in the entire world before my ocd hit me I NEVER questioned my love and care and attraction with the love of my life I always knew I was going to marry and be with this person the rest of my life! Now with ocd it confuses me soooo much and now I think I’m gay and didn’t realize or indenial and listen I get it “don’t look for reassurance!” “It’s not the thing ocd is attacking that is the problem ocd is the actual problem!” Here’s the thing with that if I’m in a relationship and I’m gay that would mean I would have to leave that said relationship and to say that “oh yeah that stuff happens and you’ll move on” is absolutely devastating to me this is THE LOVE OF MY LIFE and your telling me that iv been lying to myself this whole time or that I didn’t realize?!?!? And that sexuality can change (even though some say it can’t google says otherwise and some people have said it can’t idek anymore) and all this other BULLSHIT I can’t take it WHY?!?! why does this have to happen why can’t I just be with my love the rest of my life?!? and yes before anyone says anything I have been attracted to girls more so when I was younger watching lesbian porn liking the body’s and fantazing them sexually it stopped when I got older but I still don’t get disgusted with women who are pretty it just makes me uncomfortable because I’m with the love of my life and before I remember talking to my partner and discussing certain childhood things I experienced and we discussed that we both could be a little bi and for certain I’m (demi sexual so I don’t even really care about looks) and I truly didn’t care!! NOW I do care even with being bi because again I don’t like thinking about anyone else but my partner but I do also know my parents are homophobic and I do think about if I am gay they wouldn’t be okay with that and I also dont want to deal with that so now I sound like in indenial right?!???? I didn’t even care about labels before my ocd it just didn’t matter but now it’s effected my sex life and it’s hard for me to enjoy sex with being so confused I’m so confused I googled everything can you still have sexual fantasies with same gender but still be straight? Can you fantasize about same gender or imagine marrying them all of it !!! And non of that disgusts me it just makes me uncomfortable AGIAN only bc I just love the partner I’m with right now!!! I’m so fucking confused do I have to leave my partner and accept that I’m gay is that going to happen in the future if I get better with ocd and find out it’s been true all along?!???
- Date posted
- 18w
I can't live with OCD anymore. It's ruining my life. I feel like I'm being constantly bullied in my own mind all day everyday. I don't know if what I think and feel is ever real or normal or okay, what is me and what is the OCD thoughts. I don't know if any of my experiences are normal. I'm exhausted from picking apart every single conversation I ever have with anyone until I'm strung out by a vague and ambiguous feeling of guilt. I'm tired of feeling like I'm a bad person and feeling scared all the time and not knowing why and having my brain spin me out on an endless spiralling train of thoughts that never goes anywhere and just makes me feel disconnected from everything and everyone around me. I don't know what I feel and if what I feel is normal or if anything I am doing is real and actually me or if I'm 'losing my mind.' I don't even know if this makes any sense. I get into these states of mind where every thought in my head and everything I feel and perceive makes me question my own sanity. I don't know if anyone likes me because I have absolutely no concept of what I am actually like. I feel completely lost and confused CONSTANTLY.
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