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- Staff
- Date posted
- 2y ago
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I'd definitely encourage you to find someone who can help with diagnosis and treatment. All the Therapists I've met are friendly and helpful - never got any judgment despite my fears. I know insurance is also a concern but I believe treatment coverage is expanding so it's becoming easier for us.
@redcushion I get ya. Definitely best to try and find someone who specializes in OCD if you suspect you have it. Best wishes!
Dealt with intrusive thoughts and mental compulsions since I was 5 or 6. I remember breaking down crying in first grade cause of it. Family wasn't sure what was going on and didn't know where to look so fealt all we could really do is pray about it. The symptoms went away after awhile, occasionally manifesting itself to a lesser extent but it recently flared up again this past few weeks and that's when I started researching and asking questions cause I was panicked and confused. Turns out my dad had experienced OCD as a young adult. At the same time, I started looking at therapy. Just got diagnosed last week. It's definitely waxed and waned so I'm hoping I get the help, and medication if necessary, to finally overcome this.
Researching about intrusive thoughts, finding out about OCD UK and then feeling very seen when I saw all my obsessions and compulsions listed. I wasn't diagnosed until a few months later but it helped give a name to what I was dealing with. I just knew it wasn't normal (no one around me seemed to be dealing with the same) and my usual coping mechanisms weren't working
my regular therapist suggested I see a psychiatrist to prescribe me medication for my “anxiety”. After my consultation she wanted to prescribe me Prozac and diagnosed me with generalized anxiety disorder. However, she said she was prescribing me Prozac because it was one of the medications used to treat OCD and said my anxiety was on the OCD spectrum… I started googling OCD symptoms (which took a lot of courage) because I was terrified of finding out I had schizophrenia or something and yeah turns out I had OCD.
I had severe contamination OCD when I was 10, but I truly thought I was normal and everyone else was just gross😅my mom kind of forced me to see a psychiatrist and I was diagnosed with OCD. But I think I’ve had it all my life. As far back as I can remember, I had “just right” OCD before the contamination. It really wasn’t until I had my son a few months ago that I started to realize I’ve had ocd all along; I thought when I stopped being so worried about contamination that the ocd went away but it didn’t. It just switched themes.
Mine started as a joke in Middle school when all my books needed to be stacked a certain way or I couldn’t focus so my peers just kept saying I was OCD but I later realized other behaviors that were consistent with that as well. Needless to say, I’ve since been diagnosed
Mine was when I kept diagnosing and swearing up and down I had a terminal illness. I ended up leaving work to get a full blown blood test. The entire 3-4 months I was freaking I started compulsively praying more than usual and I had to finish “rituals/challenges” or I would get terminally sick. I’ve always had this problem but the only reason I got diagnosed was because I thought to myself “this is so weird, normal people don’t think this way, normal people don’t freak out like this” I got checked for “anxiety” and got diagnosed for “OCD.”
Diagnosing myself ***
I saw an article in a magazine which mentioned the book, “The Boy Who Couldn’t Stop Washing.” I think that’s the first time I heard about obsessive compulsive disorder. I knew I had problems with getting disturbing thoughts in my head that I couldn’t get rid of. I felt that’s what I probably had.
I always had intrusive thoughts and did compulsions in order to feel good, but i nevel gave it any attention until my ocd thoughts turned into a taboo theme of incest. I knew that i wasn't that type of person yet i still couldn't shake those thoughts. I searched on the internet (i was really young too, around 10) and i found other people with the exact same problem, and eventually i found out that this behavior was ocd.
I was diagnosed at 17 with anxiety with obsessive tendencies but I didn't know that until about a month ago. I recently looked it up and realized it's also called OCD and that explains the intrusive thoughts I've had since I was 5
Found out I had the condition 3 months ago. 28 years I struggled alone.
27 for me. I feel your pain
@Fighting_OCD We got it brother!
I did when my mum said to me that my behaviours like ocd she was a bit missinformed but ironically I thfeel no she was correct I haven’t been diagnosed so I’m not sure but my nan deff has ocd she hasn’t been diagnosed but I wouldn’t skip over that I then looked it up and I was like oh yeah some of this matches me
Trying not to seek reassurance, but rather connect the dots on my OCD and possible reasons as to why I am the way I am. I have severe OCD (or at least I hope I do) mainly surrounding POCD. I've had symptoms of OCD the majority of my life but this theme has come up more recently. When I was a kid, and i'm talking 6-7, I was first exposed to some really gross adult content online. It was introduced to me by a friend of mine around the same age of me. I saw some really disgusting things that a 6-7 year old should definitely not see. This was not a one time occurrence, as I had been exposed to taboo topics online years to come after that, such as the same friend introducing me to Omegle... And i'm sure you can imagine how that went, theres a lot of genuinely disgusting human beings on there. Coming back to the reason for making this post; is it possible to early exposure to this content could be one of the reasons I struggle with POCD? It genuinely scares me to death because you hear that real p*dos dealt with simular situations when they were kids, so thats kind of making me feel that this could be more than OCD, and I could be a genuinely bad person. My POCD feels so real, that at times i'm fully convinced its not OCD. Sometimes I can't even distinguish the feelings of attraction between a younger person and an older person, except for the feeling of anxiety and fear. Its really hard to explain without going into detail, but it just feels so real. Some feedback on this would be great, thank you all.
I get asked about the name NOCD a lot. People might want to know how it’s pronounced, and they’re curious about our story. Every time, I’m excited to share a bit about what the name means—in fact, it’s an opportunity for me to talk about something everyone should know about OCD. First things first: it’s pronounced “No-CD.” And it actually means a couple things, both central to our mission: To restore hope for people with OCD through better awareness and treatment. The first meaning of our name is about awareness: Know OCD. Though we’ve come a long way, not enough people truly know what OCD is or what it’s like. How many times have you heard someone say “Don’t be so OCD about that,” or “I wish I had a little OCD. My car is a mess!” Things like that may seem innocent, but they trivialize the condition and keep most people with OCD—around 8 million in the US alone—from getting the help they need. The second meaning of NOCD is about treatment: No-CD. To go a bit deeper: Say “No” to the compulsive disorder. On one level, this is also related to knowing OCD—noto means “to know” in Latin. This inspired the name NOTO, the operations and technology infrastructure that powers NOCD the way an engine powers a vehicle. But this meaning goes even further. It has to do with how you can manage OCD symptoms—learning to resist compulsions. This is the foundation of exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy, the most effective, evidence-based form of treatment for OCD. Learning how to resist compulsions with ERP changed my life, and it taught me how important it is to get treatment from a specialty-trained therapist who truly understands how OCD works. I’ll give you an example. When I was 20, my life was going according to plan. I was thriving on the field as a college quarterback, doing well in school, even winning awards—until OCD struck out of nowhere. I started having taboo intrusive thoughts, things that horrified me and went against my core values and beliefs. Desperate for help, I saw several different therapists—but no one diagnosed me with OCD. At one point, I was instructed to snap a rubber band against my wrist whenever I had an intrusive thought. It was supposed to stop the thoughts, but it only made my symptoms worse. Driven into severe depression, I had to put my entire life on pause. Once I started ERP with a therapist who understood OCD, I learned why: you can’t stop intrusive thoughts from occurring. Everyone has them—and the more you try to get rid of them, the worse they get. Anything you do to suppress them is actually a compulsion, whether it’s counting in your head, snapping a rubber band against your wrist, or using substances to drown the thoughts out. To get better, you have to learn to resist compulsions and accept uncertainty. OCD doesn’t get to decide how you live your life. How do you educate the people in your life about OCD? Whether friends, family, or strangers, I’d love to hear how you share your understanding and raise awareness about OCD.
Hi everyone, I’m Cayla. I’m a mom that’s lived with OCD since childhood, but my breaking point came more recently after having my son. I was consumed by terrifying thoughts—What if I hurt him? What if I did something awful without realizing it? I was so afraid of my own mind that I couldn’t be alone with him. The shame and exhaustion were unbearable, and I convinced myself I was broken. In 2024, I finally sought help. ERP therapy at NOCD was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but it saved my life. Even now, I have tough days, but I know I don’t have to be ruled by OCD. When my 12 year old daughter began showing signs of OCD, I felt overwhelmed with guilt. I never wanted her to go through what I had, but I knew what to do. I told her that I have OCD too and made sure she knew it wasn’t her fault—and that she wasn’t alone. One of the hardest parts of this journey was trusting someone else with my daughter’s OCD. I knew how vulnerable it feels to share intrusive thoughts, and I wanted her to feel safe. Her NOCD therapist was able to establish trust and genuine empathy from the start, and that relationship gave her the confidence to face ERP head-on. Seeing her build that trust made me certain she was in the right hands. ERP has helped both of us reclaim our lives, and it is beautiful to see my daughter managing her condition and making visible progress. Parenting with OCD while raising a child with OCD isn’t talked about enough, but I know so many parents are struggling with these same challenges. If you have questions about managing OCD while parenting, helping your child through ERP, or breaking cycles of guilt, drop them below—I’d love to share what I’ve learned. I’ll be answering all of the questions I receive in real-time today 4-5pm ET.
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