Not during the effects but after it wears off, my anxiety and depression spike, especially after two repeated days, i feel so strange :/
Yes, this is a known consequence of over drinking. Anxiety and OCD tend to spike pretty significantly after a heavy bout of drinking. People like us, with OCD, need to keep the drinking to responsible levels or cut it off completely.
Hi there jorgem1AO. Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant and is linked to increases in symptoms of OCD, anxiety, depression, and a range of other mental health disorders. This is caused by both direct and indirect physiological causes (e.g., reducing the amount of dopamine floating around in your brain), as well as psychosocial stressors (e.g., saying something under the influence you regret later). In general, we recommend avoiding drinking if you are struggling with mental health concerns.
Yes. Alcohol gets rid of my intrusive thoughts while I’m tipsy/drunk and I feel so normal but the next few days it spikes it
Yes alcohol increases my social anxiety and I don't think it's helping my OCD either. I've decided to completely stop drinking (I don't drink all that much tbh but it has made things worse recently). I've got some work socials this week where I'd normally drink alcohol, but I'm going to avoid it all together. I'm hoping this will have the added effect of showing myself I can be self-disciplined, which I also need to be to successfully not give into my OCD thinking. I also hope it will help in other ways - tiredness, low grade hangover, low mood after drinking - OCD is gonna love all of these.
I'm wondering if this is a common OCD experience: does anyone else find that when you have idle time, your mind just spirals into endless rumination on negative "what ifs" & intrusive thoughts? It's been happening to me for the past three years, which coincides with starting a really high-stress job. Weekends used to be my time to relax, but now I dread weekends...I only feel relief when I'm sleeping because it's the only time my mind seems to quiet down. It's honestly so depressing to lose that enjoyment. Does anyone else relate to this, and if so, what helps you cope?
I’m a teacher, and for the last two school breaks, my harm OCD spikes regarding my girlfriend. The first one was winter break (It came back after three years), and when I was recovering, it came back in the beginning of June. Just out of nowhere. Even though I know it’s OCD, it still scares the hell out of me and I spiral for weeks and weeks. Does anyone else have spikes and relapses when there are breaks in your routine?
I’m curious if anyone else has ever had this. This is my specific theme in regards to my OCD that has been prevalent in my life since 2022. Quick back story: went to a party college for 4.5 years and had a blast, got as drunk as I wanted on weekends and never once felt bad about it. Then, hangovers got worse and I started partying too much. After graduation, I told myself that it’d be a really cool goal to get to the point where I could go out and just have 4 beers. Enough to enjoy myself, not enough to make me hungover. Well, this simple healthy goal turned into a massive obsession. Now, if I go over my limit of 4-5 beers/drinks, two things happen: 1. I give up and binge drink bc I might as well if I’m already over my limit. 2. The next day even if I’m super hungover, unless I can’t bc of work scheduling, I will perform a check where I drink 4 beers and see if I can still get drunk off of those. If I can get drunk, then I feel normal. If I am not as drunk, then this cycle continues. I worry about becoming an alcoholic all the time bc at this point in my life I am very active in my social scene, and alcohol is very much present. While I certainly do not have any family history of alcoholism nor the personality or drive to become one, I still fear that I might one day despite knowing I won’t. I also worry about raising my drinking tolerance by continuing to feed this obsession/compulsion loop. It’s slightly affected my personality and confidence. I’m aware it’s irrational and the solution is to simply cut back as anyone would and go out less frequently, or drink less frequently when I’m out. And yet, my other obsession with alcohol is experiencing the painful withdrawals that alcoholics experience when they stop drinking!! Despite never having experienced those withdrawals when I’ve not drank on a given night. So, it’s a weird one. Thinking the ERP is just going to be not performing those checks. If I’ve reached my limit and am not as drunk, okay. Alcohol absorption is affected by a lot. No need to check my tolerance nor go overboard since I’m not as drunk. We’ll see. I’m on Zoloft too which has helped a ton with other symptoms but this theme is making it less effective and I need to get control of it now.
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