Did a diagnosis change anything for you?

I'm 26 and have had OCD symptoms since I was a small child. My grandfather is diagnosed OCD, and my parents were very concerned that I had OCD as a kid. I believe that I "grew out" of most of my noticeable compulsions/rituals as I grew up. (I probably just learned to cope a bit) but the intrusive thoughts are incredibly overwhelming sometimes, the intrusive thoughts seemed to just get worse as I grew up. I was misdiagnosed with Bipolar Disorder in 2010. In 2010, I was also diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Agoraphobia, but that diagnosis doesn't seem off-base, as anxiety has ruled my life for as long as I can remember. I thought about trying to get diagnosed properly, as I believe my Bipolar Disorder diagnosis was just childhood trauma (willing to expound on that later on) but I'm also worried that it might not help. What if it doesn't change anything? I've made it 26 years while coping (barely coping, sometimes) so I just wanted to ask, Has a diagnosis really changed your life? (Thanks in advance)

divyD

Date posted: 2y

It did for me. Because I was able to delve into the what ocd really is and target my strategies. Before, I was doing strategies for general anxiety so it didn’t really help. I too had some tendencies and compulsions growing up but none that accompanied intrusive thoughts that get stuck in my head as intensely as I do now.

MMA96

Date posted: 2y

Yeah, I think the intrusive thoughts were far more mild when I was a kid. I used to worry about somebody coming in and hurting my cats and stuff like that and that's the only thing I really remember. I still have those ones now, but with my dog, and far more severe. The intrusive thoughts actually fall into a handful of the OCD categories, and it's exhausting. Hands down, the hardest part of it. I don't really have any coping mechanisms specific to OCD, so you make a good point. The only thing I'm able to do is try to talk myself down like it's anxiety, which I normally can't even do that. I normally just do what I have to do to quiet the thoughts, put knives where I can't see them, hide the hammer that's in view, rush home to make sure my house isn't on fire, physically shake the thought out of my head like an etch-a-sketch, wiggle my fingers. Typing all of this out actually kind of makes me feel insane. It's comforting to know that it helped you. How long did you suffer alone before a diagnosis?

divyD

Date posted: 2y

@MMA96 That is a lot you have going on and I’m sorry you are going through that. I do highly recommend reading Overcoming Unwanted Instrusive Thoights as a start. You have to learn to tolerate uncertainly so you can build up your tolerance with small things daily and work yourself up to the big ones regarding your dog’s safety. For example, I don’t double check my garage door is down or my car door is locked or count my son’s toys before I put them away. All the stuff that I did before my son was born were things I dealt with alone. When I first got triggered, I didn’t know what it was so I told my husband straight away. It took two weeks of really intense distress before I realised I had post natal depression and anxiety and was able to see a therapist a month later but it took 9 months to actually get diagnosed.

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