- Date posted
- 2y ago
I don’t know how to tell my friends about my ocd..
I don’t know how to tell my friends about my ocd mental illness I feel like they are going to think I’m a creep and not want to be around me anymore
I don’t know how to tell my friends about my ocd mental illness I feel like they are going to think I’m a creep and not want to be around me anymore
You don't have to tell them everything. If they just realise you're struggling, that might be enough for them to offer support.
Hi there I’m so sorry your going through this. Just a little advice that Iv learned is that you don’t owe an explanation to anyone. If you want to talk about it because you wanna let people in to some of the things your going through that great too but you also don’t have to share every detail. I kept my personal struggles to myself, my therapist and one person I really trust. It was the best decision I could’ve made for myself. Your situation could be different of course but you absolutely have the right to share what you want and not feel guilty. Best wishes to you:)
Awe I’m sorry you’re going through this. It’s possible your OCD has created a new theme for you around telling your fiends. OCD can be such a bully. :( I hope that whatever you decide to do goes well for you. Best of luck 🙌🏼
Look, if your friends are not empathetic enough to where they can understand this is something you did NOT choose to have, then f*ck them. It takes a certain amount of compassion towards others to understand that some people struggle more than others. There are no biographies without wounds, and if you friends think a disorder is the same to being a creep then maybe you need new friends.
@Lady Sombra I know exactly what you mean.....that being said you can't trust everyone to understand so you have to be ready to accept rejection or loss of what you consider friendship if they don't choose to be a true friend. I am old now so I've lived through many people hurting me over ocd and some being very kind and loving. You never know which way it will turn out.
Maybe start them off "small" - say it's like Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory, or Monica from Friends. When they have got used to the idea (or maybe they are poking fun at you) say "Yeah, but it's worse than that, those are comedy TV shows, go and look it up."
I think acceptance of having OCD yourself and learning to love yourself through it leads to more vulnerability about being open to share your struggles. That takes time and work in my case. But if you come to that place, then it won’t matter what they think of you, because it’s just their opinion. Whether or not we like to admit it, everyone is judging everything all the time, even without realizing it. I suspect if these people love you, they will feel compassion and empathy for the person they love living with a mental illness. Maybe start by sharing with those closest to you, then move on. I kind of started that way, now I just share it with coworkers and stuff (not all the details, just that I have OCD). That took time though, and work in therapy!
My fear is always that people will think I’m crazy
Hi, I’m new here!! I’m praying I don’t get judged for this. But, back in late May of 2022 ( literally right before I graduated high school), I added this one random girl from my school on Snapchat. She posted something about a graduation party , so I swiped up on her story basically saying how I can’t believe we’re almost graduated. She replied and we had a really short and simple conversation. The next day ( i believe) , we started talking a lot , and I just so happened to see her at the highschool when we were grabbing our graduation outfits and doing the rehearsal. When I saw her irl, I kinda got turned off ( I heard she was kinda crazy) , and on top of that , she was a little ugly irl. I remember seeing her Snapchat bio , and she was close friends with my female cousin ( a year younger than me) , who I happened to experiment sexually with when I was 10-11 years old. I remember going to work later that day and having sort of a lightbulb flick thought ( it wasn’t a good thought though) , what if my cousin told her about what happened when we were younger? So I started to kind of panic and immediately distanced myself from that girl. I also experimented sexually with one of my female friends when I was 10-11 , and from that day onwards, I’ve been pretty much living in paranoia and a little bit of guilt about someone finding out and my life being ruined . On top of that, It’s gotten worse to now sometimes I wonder if a girl I added off of quick add ( Snapchat) is underage even if they told me they were 18+ or had 18 and above in their bio, and I get so much guilt and anxiety about that. I even had a quick thought last February on what if I did something inappropriate with my younger cousin when I was 15-16 but I just can’t exactly remember when it happened , and it still eats me alive when I think about it, because I don’t know if it happened or not. I’m sorry for the long vent, I just wish I felt normal again. No matter how much I try to do things that old me used to do, life always feels “ off”. I always kept the top part about when I was younger a secret up until early (ish ) 2024, then I vented to one of my best friends and he told me that that’s a normal thing to do at a young age. Since then, I have told multiple friends and they all say they did similar stuff, but my brain just can’t accept that. Please help me, I quite literally overthink everything nowadays. 2021 was the last full year that I felt normal ( coincidentally, the best year of my life so far) . It’s not just about sexual related things either, sometimes I’ll wonder if I messed up something at work or hit a car while driving/hit someone and drove off. I just wanna live my life how I was supposed to live it after highschool ( carefree and happy) before whatever it is ( I think it’s ocd) hit me unexpectedly. Thanks to anyone who read this , I just needed to pour it out regardless of how negative I felt typing this, I hope someone can relate , because I feel so alone in my head at times.
Told my close friend about how I think I have harm ocd and showed a video describing her experience with it so I wouldn’t have to share mine. Told him how when I see the number 22 I get paranoid that I’ll harm someone, and he gave me advice to go to a psychiatrist then left me on read after we were having a conversation prior. I’m so scared to open up to people about it and now I don’t think I will again.
Has anyone experienced their reputation affected or misunderstood because of a societally taboo OCD theme? Others catching wind of your obsessions and misinterpreting it, assuming the worst? I’m intentionally keeping it vague because I don’t want my specific situation to get reassured, but it’s been a real tough pill to swallow knowing that people close to me (and anyone else they might talk to) think of me differently. I’m unwilling to share about my OCD because I feel pretty confident it will be taken as an excuse or denial, and feels compulsive and reassurance seeking. Let me know if anyone here has experienced anything like it, how they handled it, exposures you did.
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond