Ive made my intrusive thoughts worse by isolating myself, avoiding triggers. The anxiety and panic I suffered due to these thoughts got so severe I caved and locked myself away for over 2 weeks now. I was just so terrified I would act on my thoughts. Now I'm stuck in a horrible vicious cycle.

I see. Yeah that's annoying. Where that thought comes in your head acknowledge it and then try to say I don't know what it means or if I will but right now I want to do this* (whatever you were doing before your big "what if" impulse hit.)

Thank you joto And with all due respect pureolife this is new to me, you don't have to be rude to people. This place is meant to be supportive not making people feel like they are useless. As I said this is new to me. I've only recently discovered that what I suffer has a name. And I feel talking to people in the same boat helps alot. You should consider how you're talking to people costhis isn't the first time I've saw you snapping at people.

What are your thoughts

The intrusive ones

About punching people in the face. For no reason. Always people I care about but latley it's everyone and anyone it became more of an urge aswell which caused the anxiety I couldn't handle it. I've suffered for years without having a clue what it was. Only recently discovered its harm ocd, despite not having a diagnosis and I'm awaiting treatment

When* that

Stop posting the same thing over and over looking for a new answer. So what you know you have to do: go outside and face your fears.

Do*

Hey misunderstood, I know reading tone in text form is tricky, so I’m sorry if I offended you. I try to offer compassion and understanding quite often, and I’ve responded to yours in that way many times before. My intention was just to provide a quick observation since I have responded to so many of them and a reminder that you gotta face the fears to get through them. I’ve just noticed that you keep posting about your current situation again and again, which generally means you’re ruminating on your troubles rather than doing something to help them. I know it takes awhile to build up the courage to try ERP. And by all means you can keep posting your situation looking for others to relate. I’ll stop responding to yours after this so you can get the responses you want. I just hope you understand that finding others who relate is a temporary relief (that’s why you keep seeking it again and again) and doesn’t actually help OCD. What helps is ERP, which I’ve detailed in much longer and compassionate ways on other posts of yours. Sorry again if I’ve hurt your feelings. I know suffering from OCD sucks, and I wish you luck.

Pureolife, yes I can't deny I was very offended and felt like I was annoying people with my posts when you said that. But as I said it's still very new to me Ive never been able to talk so openly about how I suffer and the Intrusive thoughts I have, so downloading this app made me feel I had a safe place to rant and say what's on my mind without being judged. I understand you might be trying to help and some of what you say is very useful and helpful, but I am struggling with the concept of erp. You are clearly more aware of this than I am, you may have a lot more experience and know what to do and what not to do, I'm still learning and finding things out for myself. Aside from the ocd I'm in a very bad place right now so there's lots of reasons I'm afraid of erp. And yeah I agree it might be a temporary relief to find people who can relate but it's still good to kmow im not alone and others do feel the same way I do. And it's good to have somewhere to rant and not hold back how I'm feeling. I do appreciate youre trying to help but sometimes think about the way you word things because people can be sensitive. Especially when they are just figuring all this out