POCD Recovery Encouragement! :)

TLDR; Almost full remission does exist! Hello everyone! So I know we use this to share and express our feelings and when we’re struggling, but I also think it might be helpful to talk about what we have accomplished in time! 10 years ago was when my OCD full on started and the main category I was dealing with was POCD (pedophilic). As someone who had never heard of OCD, when it first started happening I was in such shame I didn’t let anyone in and suffered in silence and attempted many times, not because I wanted to die but because I didn’t know how to ask for help. Through finally opening up with my loved ones, to a bit of medication, and some therapy it DID go away. Can it come back at some point? Yeah of course, but I never thought years of not having these thoughts or triggers could ever happen to me. I don’t remember the exact date, but it’s been at least 4-5 years now without dealing with this. What helped me the most was something i read about the concept of relapsing. Relapsing (for us relapsing looks like intrusive thoughts/compulsions) is going to happen on the way to recovery. It’s not about if you relapse, it’s about the amount of time in BETWEEN that shows your growth. I went from having these thoughts from all day, to every other day, to once a week, to once a month, once every three months, once every six, etc. Please don’t ever be mad at yourself or feel hopeless when a relapse happens, just let it go and remember the time in between ❤️ I still get OCD “episodes” in my life but they usually change topics and have nothing to do with POCD. Right now I’m dealing with ROCD which don’t get me wrong is annoying as hell, but remembering how I got over that time in my life gives me hope. Sending y’all lots of love ❤️

Dj-is-living

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 2y

This was extremely encouraging. I feel that I’ve had ocd since I was a young child. I grew up in a toxic home environment where my parents fought so often, magical thinking and super responsibility feelings were my biggest issue. I felt I could stop them from having fights by wearing my “lucky bracelets” or praying to god over and over and over. I would avoid songs that were “bad” so that the fights would not happen. I would not go to sleep until my dad was asleep so I knew that I wouldn’t wake up to a fight. It was a long childhood. Now that I’m out of that environment my ocd has latched onto contamination ocd, ROCD, meta ocd, harm ocd (when I become so dissociated I wonder if I can live with this) still sometimes magical thinking, and honestly at this point I just feel like I’m a giant melting pot of subtypes. My parents never took me to the doctor for anxiety, never put me on medication, I didn’t see a therapist for real until this summer when I found NOCD. I definitely believe recovery is possible. The thing that pushed me to get help was my ROCD. I have been in a secure, safe, loving relationship with a man who is like my best friend, for almost five years this November. We have an almost two year old dog, we are renting our first house together, we have traditions and years of memories and pictures framed in our walls, dreams of future children and someday getting married soon. But all of a sudden this summer, intrusive thoughts became an everyday thing, doubts and worries about my life and my relationship and if I was making the right decision and if I settled to soon. It went on and on and on. It became so bad I had a panic attack one night regarding this. Days passed and I just googled and searched and asked my friends in long term relationships what they went through and If this was normal. I’d get reassurance and then I’d feel patched up. But the anxiety and intrusive thoughts would come back with a vengeance instantly. I am now on medication and I have been seeing a NOCD therapist since the summer. I have had points in my recovery journey where I have felt almost 100% recovered. But right now, I am currently in the middle of a lapse. It was almost six weeks of peace, with intrusive thoughts but they didn’t affect me that bad. I am currently struggling as we speak with the thought of my ocd never getting better, if I lose my boyfriend or ruin my life because of this anxiety. But I am doing my best to stick with my values. I love him so much. (Even if my ocd says i don’t and questions me. ) I do believe in recovery. I do believe I can get there. Im scared as hell. But I feel like I can do This. I can’t lose my Bestfriend, or my dog, or the life we’ve created together because of ocd.

CherryMa

Date posted: 2y

Hello, thanks for your sharing! Do you need to take medication continuously for this full remission status?

vendel

Date posted: 25w

‼️I beat OCD. here are my best tips‼️

❤️we all just want it to be over already, but do not set a deadline for your recovery (e.g. "i give myself 3 months to get better") and let yourself go at your own pace ❤️accept that healing is a very, very non-linear process with highs and very dark lows.. it's a lifelong process for us those with ocd, when you stop suffering you start learning ! ❤️WITHOUT ruminating on this, identify the root of your obsessive themes. they hurt so much because they go after your deepest wounds. clearing out the fear or pain that stands at the base of your obsessions will help (e.g. my sexual ocd came as an emotional outlet for my inability to accept a new family member in my life) (e.g. my solipsism ocd came from the deep fear of being alone and abandoned) ❤️the truth will always surface. even if you have no hope anymore and not even asking for reassurance helps, put that last bit of your trust in the other people that are in good states of mind and who are trying to help you. remember that you're living by a distorted mind and if you can't trust your own brain, have trust in others. those who love you are your life net when you're down in the slumps. trust me. ❤️ocd can be caused by chemical imbalance. if you feel like you need it, don't be reluctant to try medication. it's important to have the correct dose and the correct meds. it may change a lot before finally being effective, but it can help A LOT. it was lifesaving for me. (I personally took 125 mg sertraline at 14 years old) ❤️cliche, but the exposure part of erp is in you already. we get exposed to relentless obsessions and terrors already by our minds, our part is the response prevention. throw yourself into the depths of uncertainty and fear by refusing to act upon your compulsions. any learned behavior can be unlearned, our brains are changing! 🧠 it does feel like we can't risk because we can't "know for sure" and we better be safe than sorry, right? well, screw this. unlearn these behavior and live life your own way. ❤️connect with other people with ocd. community is our pillar as humans, especially those communities who share our suffering. ❤️we tend to ask for reassurance a lot and other just reassure us because it's rational to them, not being aware thar it only causes us more pain as we have distoerted thinking. teach your loved ones to respond to your reassurance in a way that doesn't feed the cycle. (e.g. reassurance seeking- "hey, are you ABSOLUTELY SURE that I didn't hit an animal on the way back home??" ❌️wrong response- "no, you didn't, I already told you, I don't remember hearing or seeing anything!" ✅️better response- "I can see you are really distressed right now, why don't we go cook something together/watch a movie/paint together/etc.." ❤️keep your faith close to you. there is something bigger around us that surrounds us with love and takes care of us. even if you don't believe in a god, spirituality goes beyond religion. for me, this higher being was the sky, and everytime I saw the giant clouds I'd tell myself that they felt my emotions and they're watching over in my suffering. strangely enough, this pillar i built in the clouds was strong and really did give me a helping hand. who's to tell these connections we make are not real?

mari.201

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 25w

Just want to sprinkle some hope here

I just completed a check in with my therapist today so naturally I reflected on my journey with OCD. Summer/Fall of 2023 feels like a swath of darkness. Bombarded with horrible intrusive thoughts, I thought my life was over. I did not see the light at the end of the tunnel. I hated myself. Life lost meaning for me and it felt as if every hope and dream was shattered. Needless to say my life was lost to me during a time when I should have been enjoying it the most. I was post grad with a good job lined up. But none of it mattered- my mind was as broken. Thank God, I had some small voice in me that urged me forward and to get help. So I did. I felt so scared and unsure. Was I doing the wrong thing going to therapy? I was not. It was the best decision I made for myself. Fast forward to nearly two years later, my life couldn’t be more different. I see and feel the light. I have so much love and gratitude for myself and for everyone who helped me along the journey. My therapist, my family, all the brave content creators who openly speak about their experiences, no matter how taboo. I won’t lie, it was a lot of work. And I had to learn to be uncomfortable and deal with frustrations. I had to learn to trust myself. I still deal with sticky and intrusive thoughts but my response and my daily life despite them can not be more different. So I am here to be proof to you that there is so much hope. If you don’t have the little voice in you urging you forward, than I will be just that. Go to therapy, get help, put in the work. It is so worth it. Every time there is a setback, and there will be many, push through. Feel free to ask questions! But no reassurance will be given.

tupperware

Date posted: 24w

fully recovered

hi guys haven’t posted here in awhile but i’ve fully recovered and have a really good life now lots of friends enjoying school and have a really loving boyfriend who helped me out of my ocd even if he didn’t know he was helping me (just through being loved and supported i felt happy enough to recover) hope u guys can recover too i had severe ocd and basically got better within 2 months by myself :)

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