The thoughts aren’t necessarily the problem, it’s our reaction to them.

I’ve definitely suffered from lesser known subsets like Somatic OCD and Intelligence OCD (the fear of being dumb)

I have major fears that im a failure or disappointing people around me. I also have fears that im an awful person and im annoying/everyone secretly hates me. Anyone else struggle with these?

Existential OCD hits me like a truck

Feeling like nothing is real or that I could be possessed

I have something that's sort of like harm ocd except im afraid of causing psychological harm sort of... I get scared/obsessed that I could have a disorder such as NPD, and that I might unknowingly hurt or traumatise those I care about. I think it's also sort of related to 'cancel culture' and a fear that if I'm not morally perfect, I might hurt my friends or mess with their heads. I get intrusive fears down to the simplest things like, "I'm probably being a bad listener that that probably makes my friend feel generally invalidated in our friendship", or "I probably come across lazy and my friend will think I simply don't want to help with cleaning up after our meal and that will ultimately reflect that I don't care about them, thus hurting their feelings and our relationship". I feel like I can't express these things as being ocd related because people might tell me, for one, that I'm contributing to personality disorder stigma by being so disproportionately afraid of having one (such as NPD), or, related to the second stuff I mentioned, that I'm just a people pleaser etc. But these obsessions can be so overwhelming, so hard to see through, even if I know what my values and beliefs are and I believe in being compassionate towards one's imperfections and humanness...

I’ve had Relationship OCD involving non-romantic relationships as well as the OCD fear of anxiety ruining a special moment. I think the worry abo it being judged for these fears is mainly what kept me from seeking help in the first place

Taking on other people's symptoms is one I have had. That's why I really don't want to read these posts that much

My main theme for many, many years has been contamination from bodily fluids of people of certain 'types (e.g. people who look unclean or maybe have issues where they may not be clean), people who have overstepped OCD bounds and hurt me tend to then bother me more, as well as other strangers that just bother me on sight. At one point all elderly people bothered me. So as these people could be anywhere, then everything beyond my sphere of control is considered contaminated. What made me feel like it wasn't like other contamination OCD examples is that don't fear germs (beyond normal concern) and don't fear that something bad will happen due to the contamination. Since joining NOCD, I met people on here that feel the same way and my therapist says that it is common, and yet whenever she, or other therapists talk about this type of OCD then they always fall back to it being the fear that the person or a loved one will get sick (even the section about contamination OCD on this site and in Dr. McGrath videos). These preconceptions made me doubt if ERP would work as had not realized the nitty gritty of how it works and just thought that it 'proved that the bad thing wouldn't happen. Obviously this is not realy how ERP works, at least not in general terms, and it is more like accepting the feelings and uncertainty and slowly your brain doesn't respond in the same anxious way it did before. I really think that the description of contamination OCD should clarify that it can just be a pure phobia of having the contamination on yourself or possessions without the addional fear of 'what if'.

Sensorimotor here 👋🏻

Existential is a nightmare combined with generalized anxiety disorder. Such a roller coaster. Your mind can make you believe anything. Just started erp for it plus extra meds

Fear of saying a bad word is heavy for me. I’m glad to hear it’s a general OCD experience. I suspected it as an intrusion but it’s still hard to say I’m not a bad person when I keep “thinking” about throwing unprompted slurs in casual conversation.

Yes. Mine seems to revolve around focusing on what about me is “not good enough” - for a while I obsessed over the size of my hands (small), then later it was a fixation on my dating and sexual history as evidence I’m not good enough. I’ve never seen this mentioned as a subtype but given my history it’s almost certainly OCD and I was diagnosed via this app.

I have a kind of relationship ocd/moral scrupulosity that makes me afraid my boyfriend is going to say something inappropriate/offensive/racist/sexist etc, or that I’ll find out he holds really problematic beliefs. It’s so challenging because no one is perfect and everyone has things they do that are problematic at times I realize but with my bf I’m analyzing everything he does, or says for anything wrong and then I feel this overwhelming moral guilt if I my ocd tells me there’s something wrong, like if I stay with him I’m bad, even though in reality he’s a wonderful person who shares my values. My erp therapy on NOCD is definitely helping me though.

Emotional contamination is a huge one for me! The “vibes” of certain movies, places, songs and people are enough to make me want to avoid them. Gotta do the opposite and throw myself into them!

My main ocd obsessions are about having a psychosis, losing my mind and scared of feeling bad or weird.... also a lot of questions about if im in a dream etc

So I always feel like I’ve forgotten something, and I just can’t put my finger on what, so my brain spends hours replaying my previous thoughts and conversations to try and remember it. I have a constant feeling that I’ve forgotten to do a mystery Very Important Thing, and that my life just isn’t complete until I’ve remembered it. Even if I’m just having a light hearted conversation and I forget an anecdote that I was planning to share, I felt like I can’t possibly move on until I’ve remembered it and told the story. The closest thing that I can find online is Just Right OCD?

Is it common to have different subtypes at the same time? Mine is trying to latch onto things right after I start to get relief. Can this be a sign of co-morbidity?

My OCD doesn't fit into a common mold. I get so anxious and at times debilitated whenever I hear, see or think anything about Satan. I feel if I don't do the actions to "get rid" of the feelings that he will take me and my family over. Isn't this silly? But it is terrifying for me. This is why I signed on with NOCD. They are just thoughts and don't mean anything, but I struggle very much.

I have food related OCD, like a just right ocd but especially with food. I hqve to eat in a certain order because i cant enjoy the whole food if the last bite is not one that contains a little bit of everything that i liked about that food. Its really mentally exausting so sometimes i just dont want to eat because i dont jave enough mental strength in that moment. And this one is really invisible and people dont realize how much i suffer with this one Also i really feel that one that said about worries that im not a good enough pet owner, that makes me suffer a lot.

I struggle with Pospartum OCD

I suffered hardcore with contamination OCD, and I still do struggle with it sometimes. It's SO hard because it can repel me from rooms, people, objects, ANYTHING that will trigger a certain memory or kind of stress. It was super debilitating!!

Thank you for mentioning Emotional Contaimination! So few people know about this one and conflate it with normal contamination ocd. I also have Death OCD (paranoia and fear over death).

WOW. Emotional contamination OCD really sounds like what i'm going through. I think I would really benefit from learning how to identify OCD while it's happening because.. as much as the categorization helps me realize that I am having obsessions about a particular topic, it does not help me see and identify the specific patterns of OCD that contribute to the obsession

Hoarding Disorder

Learning about emotional contamination for the first time a few years ago was a life changer for me.

Yes!! I just wrote about how I found out my stepdad doubts I have OCD because I don't have the "obvious signs". I absolutely deal with the emotional contamination one. Related to that is energy contamination. Like from words, or a "bad person" or something. The pet ownership one here was fascinating to read about because I also worry about being a good pet owner even though I can kind of objectivity see that I take care of them and love them... I fret and apologize to them. I also have checking stuff with my body or my face, not sure it's OCD. I will sometimes feel like my face doesn't "make sense" and I have to have it make sense. Or look at it in the mirror to make sure. Or like, I feel like it, or my body, doesn't exist in a way that makes sense to me. Like I have no features or my face is "nothing" sometimes. I know that's super weird 😂

My OCD deals with fear of losing my intelligence. The intrusive thoughts can factor into everyday living (i.e. can I do my job, can I understand this conversation, can I remember things, can I understand this TV show, etc.). At times it’s overwhelming and other times manageable. I’ve been doing ERP for months now with some good results but now and then I have a lapse which can be frustrating.

Still trying to categorize mine. I constantly ruminate about how I feel what I feel why I feel what will I feel when I go somewhere or do something. This is all relating to anxiety symptoms, discomfort, fear, fogginess, disconnected feelings, negative thinking etc….the constant evaluation and checking and questioning why is exhausting. Anyone can relate?

I used to fear being locked up again. I have been involuntarily hospitalized over 50 times. It started with having to wash my hands to get rid of the smell of the hospital soap. Then I considered family members who had visited me in the hospital contaminated. Then their houses and cars were contaminated. Then anywhere they had been was contaminated. It just kept spiraling. I’m not afraid of being involuntarily hospitalized anymore. It’s not likely to happen and if it does I can handle it. I got PTSD from all the involuntary hospitalizations and to me it’s still revolting and that’s why I still do compulsions and avoidance although I have been able to decrease the amount.

Confession OCD is common, but isn’t discussed enough imo

I’d never heard of sensorimotor OCD before but it makes a lot of sense and aligns with how I feel

Rocd about my kids all the what ifs I don't love them care for them constantly checking my feelings towards them to make sure I love them enough and then switchs to my partner

I think mine may be in the same ballpark as contamination OCD. I have this constant fear of having a bug infestation in my home (primarily bed bugs, mites, termites, scabies). I don't want to get into how it started, but I can trace it back to a specific time period in which my brain associated certain events together whether they in reality really were influenced by each other or not. Since then it's been a living hell, but I think I'm making progress. My sympathy goes out to anyone else out there that may have something similar to this subtype.

I suffered from suicide ocd

For me, it isn’t about the content of the intrusive thoughts that makes my OCD unique - it’s the type of compulsions. When I have an intrusive thought, I actually make a noise or perform a rapid body movement to suppress the intrusive thought and calm anxiety. Sometimes I blink forcefully. Sometimes I say a random phrase outloud. From the outside, it looks like I have neurological tics, but I don’t have a tic disorder. I have OCD.

I've had it with romantic relationships, friendships, the way I walk, how often I pee, how I breath when I'm falling asleep, my teeth, my hair, how I talk. Violent thoughts on replay. Endless hours of research trying to solve or understand these various "problems" :) Google and I are old chums! Oh, and then there's YouTube!

I have non-romantic relationships OCD, and emotional contamination OCD

I want to know how they do erp exposure therapy if the fear is that cancer can come back. If you are afraid of a dog or a place you can gradually get desensitized to it, but what about some one who had cancer and was treated for it and is in remission. How can they do that and does it work. Thank you

Bless you. The way you pictured contamination spreading is how my contamination OCD started, but for me it was because a homeless man blew a wet raspberry in my ear as I walked past him. I always wonder what my life would have been like if I hadn't gone into town that day, the day after my 17th birthday. 😔

Taboo OCD is harder to talk about because what is "taboo" is often determined by the social environment. The thoughts are not only against one's values, but also against most people in their social environment. It's easy to see that this can cause the sufferer to withdraw socially -- they fear the content of the thought, but also going against society's values, and the ramifications: rejection, stigma, etc.

I have rocd and its painful but hopefully therapy will help alot

Ocd that attached to one person that represents my past from being bullied when I was younger , that’s why I question is it ocd or a phobia even though my NOCD therapist tells me it’s ocd.

Anyways my OCD is mostly along contamination OCD with a little bit of this and that OCD-Is there a name for that??

Yes I obsess over words that lead to disease or worse death. If I hear these trigger words I have to perform the ritual and I’ll be ok🙈 I can’t shop like I used to because I’ll hear a customer mention their heart or they know someone who died from sudden death so I can’t buy anything until I address the compulsion with a ritual I had this as a kid and yes it disappeared!! For years only to return in my 50s…….. I get to where I think this is punishment for something!! Maddening

Eeeeeeeey Real Event OCD here! It’s terrible and I hate it!

Soocd for sure

I literally just posted about this. Omg I feel so much better. 🥲😩

I guess existential ocd for me. And currently I am suffering with this intrusive thought “ how do we understand words?” A relapse really. The thing is, with these sorts of subtypes not being talked about more and when it is, not highlighting that intrusive thoughts can come in this form, it leaves people like me feeling very isolated and confused. I feel alone in this currently.

well this story doesn’t need anymore “themes” 😆 but seriously, I have trouble staying positive enough, so that the monster doesn’t say “hey let’s stick with that negative thought!” How do I know if I should try to skip the thought with a distraction or consider exposure?

Where do I see these responses from my comments? I’m bad at this stuff.

🥹🥹

Been thinking about this a lot in the last few weeks as I'm back in treatment. OCD can definitely take on many forms in my experience,

I feel like I was going crazy, to the point my OCD says that I hate my own voice, It felt like I hated my voice, Even my Inner voice. But then I just got exposed to it overtime and it bothered me lesser than excpected, I have alot of weird unwanted thoughts like this one. Just reply if you want to hear more.

ive had a lot of these subtypes