- Date posted
- 3y
Denial
I watch a video about the deference between NOCD and denial and i was thinking what if I’m denying and I’m gay but idk if that’s the intrusive thoughts pls someone should explain
I watch a video about the deference between NOCD and denial and i was thinking what if I’m denying and I’m gay but idk if that’s the intrusive thoughts pls someone should explain
Same. I've been boy crazy my entire life and I was worried about something else and then all of a sudden, I was wondering if I was gay or if I was bi and I talked to my mother about it and she said to notice the pattern: it is attacking everything you've been so sure about all of your life.
Denial is deep down knowing you are gay and refusing to acknowledge it. If you are asking what if, then it seems like you're confused. OCD does that to you, it makes you doubt something that seemed so sure before.
1. Your not alone 2. The fact that you’re worried about it is the OCD telling you to be worried about it. Gay people aren’t afraid of being gay, they are afraid of being honest about it.
I've heard a lot of videos of people who have gone through this say that you need to accept the thoughts and how they make you feel and not judge them. And there is no way that these thought will "make you turn gay" if you are worried about that, because being gay is something you're born with. Being straight is something your born with.
@Meg Johnson So ur telling me your born gay and your born straight
@Meg Johnson That’s a big relief to hear
Honestly, at first I used a lot of reassurance and I thought "who cares if I am?" Even thought I did because I know thats not who I am. I think ultimately I'm just gonna have to accept the thoughts but not judge them. They say that ocd does have a good quality because it can allow you to imagine these things in your mind but not act on them, because you know thats not what you want to do. I also watched some shows to distract myself until it seemed like a smaller problem. I worked on myself and what was important to me. I read some books. But, I realized that I would never be able to concentrate fully on these things if there was always this nagging problem in the back of my head. So I guess you have to confront the problem and know that it can't turn you into someone that you're not.
@Meg Johnson Thank you very much
I know that sounds ridiculous, and it's probably not the answer you want. It wasn't the answer I wanted either, but everybody says that's how you get rid of it. The more you confront it, the less you let it bother you, the more the thoughts will disappear. For me the worst part of the sudden loss of attracted to boys. But I remind myself that ocd is not rational or logical. It plays with your mind.
BTW, I dont know everything about the recovery steps, but I would think in recovery you would be able to feel attraction (just a tiny bit at first) to the sex you prefer. Just not a lot because we need to overcome it completely. Like I said, I don't know about recovery much, but I might look into it.
It's okay. I get it, it's a terrible thing to go through. I wish I could go back to the way I was, but I will be that way again, I just gotta work through this.
If you are thinking "what if" then you are not in denial.
I’ve been straight all my life and i started getting intrusive thoughts and they started. They didn’t start of as “what if” it was “I’m i” and i was panicking and the thought didn’t go away
The only times I was even remotely attracted to 2 girls was when when they reminded me of guys. But really I just admired their personality.
But I wasn't judging myself when that happened, so I didn't worry about it back then.
Well not really. Just that usually as you grow older you unknowingly develop your sexual orientation based on what you like. You don't think about it, you just do it because it's part of who you are. OCD doesn't change who you are, it just makes you believe it can.
@Meg Johnson It rlly sucks
But it makes things seem so real
But it just came randomly
Starting of this summer
And they just started coming on and on and made it seem real
I know. It was like that for me, I was worried about something else and about to give in and all of a sudden it just floated through my mind and I thought "thats ridiculousness" but my anxiety latched onto it, like it wants to hurt me. And it does seem so real, doesn't it? But I just try to remember all of the things I felt with boys before and that was actually real because I was happy there and accepted it. It felt natural, because that was me. Everybody says you have to be okay with uncertainty, but to me, it is certain. I've always been straight and just because I'm feeling these things and my mind is saying that I'm not doesn't mean my mind is right.
Please sorry to disturb you. Can you give me any advice to stop them Bcs the “maybe and maybe not”method makes me feel like I’m accepting to be gay and i don’t want to.
When you had the thoughts did you lose attraction to the other gender?
Alright thank you
I did have immediate loss of attraction to the opposite sex. That was one sign that I was going through ocd, because if I were truly gay, I would think i'd know that from childhood because that's when crushes start. And I would think if I was bisexual, I wouldn't just be attracted to girls and not guys.
@Meg Johnson Alright thank you for the help
No problem :)
@Meg Johnson Sorry to disturb you once again it’s just that I’m really scared Bcs i feel like i will turn gay
@Meg Johnson But thank you for the help
Any update on how this went? I am feeling similarly
I never read someone talk about this so I wanted to know if it applies to anyone as well. For context: I deal with ROCD and SOCD but I do identify as straight and am in a (happy) relationship with a man. What often triggers me is memories about childhood and adolescences about having the groinal toward nudity in porn or music videos. Because I can’t deny having watched other things than straight porn and experimenting with porn I simply can’t stop trying to figure out what that might have meant and if i deep down have actually a other sexual orientation than the one that I feel comfortable identifying with. I only hear people talking about random triggers but never the REAL memory of arousal to pornography and so on.
I’ve been struggling with HOCD for years, and it started with an intrusive thought about being gay when I was younger. It came up at age 12 and ever since, I’ve been trapped in a cycle of doubt and anxiety. I obsess over whether or not I’m secretly gay, even though I don’t feel that way at all. What makes it worse is the fear that I might have internalized homophobia, and that’s why I’m having these obsessive thoughts. I worry that my anxiety is a sign that I’m repressing something or rejecting part of myself. It feels like my mind keeps repeating the same question—am I gay?—and no matter how much reassurance I get, the fear doesn’t go away. I used to pray for my family members, fearing that if I didn’t, something bad would happen to them, and now it feels like I have to control these thoughts, or something will go wrong. For a while, it was quieter, but a week ago, the thoughts spiraled up again, and now the anxiety feels overwhelming again. It’s exhausting, and I don’t know how to break free from this constant loop of doubt. Has anyone dealt with the fear of internalized homophobia alongside HOCD? How do you manage the anxiety that comes with it?
Hey everyone, I’m reaching out because I’ve been going through one of the hardest mental spirals of my life, and I’m hoping someone can relate or shed light on what’s happening to me. About 4 months ago, I accidentally came across a trans porn scene. It didn’t do much at the time, but later it triggered this overwhelming intrusive thought: “What if I’m gay?” Since then, it’s been absolute hell. I’ve always been into women—emotionally, sexually, everything. I’ve been in a long-term relationship with a girl I love deeply. But after that moment, my brain started spiraling into nonstop analysis. I began checking how I felt around men, whether I felt attraction, whether I was in denial, whether I was lying to myself. Literally everything became a test. I got stuck in this loop: • A thought pops in → panic • Try to solve it → brief relief • Another thought → worse panic • Repeat. At times, it got so bad I couldn’t feel anything at all—toward my girlfriend, toward women, toward myself. I started doubting everything. Some days, I feel emotionally flat, like I’ve lost my personality. Other days, I wake up with a full-body jolt of “truth” like “I’m definitely gay”—only for it to fade into numbness again. I’ve also noticed that I get short bursts of peace when I stop reacting, but then the fear comes back louder, like “See? Now you’re accepting it. That means it’s true.” Therapy hasn’t helped much so far—it felt more like general counseling. They told me to sit with the thoughts, but didn’t clarify if this was OCD, identity questioning, or trauma. That just made it worse because now I’m back to thinking “What if I’m just rejecting my truth?” I’m exhausted. I’ve lost connection to everything I used to love. • I want to love my girl again the way I used to • I want to feel desire without overthinking • I want to trust myself again I’m not looking for reassurance—I just want to know if anyone else has gone through something like this, and if this sounds like HOCD or identity OCD. Thanks for reading.
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