Struggling with intrusive thoughts and depression, I feel hopeless and lost.

This was my 1st time sharing my feelings in a group setting like this and so glad I did. All of your positive comments and encouraging words has helped me so much. Thank you!

You are expanding! You are growing and changing. The only thing is you have limited beliefs about yourself. You don’t trust yourself, and you lack tolerance for discomfort. Trust yourself, do shadow work. This is here to help you grow and expand as a person. Contrast teaches us so much. Embrace it and yourself with love and a hug.

You’re doing the best you can with what you have. Healing is a difficult process and takes time, but be proud of yourself for how far you’ve come! The fact that you’re still fighting despite these challenges shows courage and strength. Life will get better so hang in there and keep on going ❤️‍🩹

It can be really hard to have a bad day when you’ve previously had good days. It can also feel weird/uncomfortable to have a great day, then a bad day, then a great day again. OCD can be a rollercoaster full of doubt and uncertainty. I know it’s hard to wrap your mind around, and it’s tempting to compare how we felt “before” the influx of intrusive thoughts to our current situation. But comparing how we felt before with how we feel now only keeps us locked in the OCD cycle; it’s a sneaky compulsion I sometimes forget I’m engaging in. We can’t control our thoughts, our anxiety, or our feelings. All we can do is try our best to control our behavior in response to those things. No one is perfect, we all struggle and sometimes get our butts kicked by OCD. Measure your success by how many times you get back up and keep fighting! Depression is a liar; it tells us we have no future, that we’re bad or unworthy or that we won’t amount to anything. But depression has no way of knowing those things. When you feel those feelings/have those thoughts, hit back with “I don’t have to listen to you. Back off me”. And remember to extend kindness + compassion to yourself. You’re doing the best you can, you will come out of this. Remember that you are not alone 💜

I’m proud of you for making it through these hard days! My therapist used to tell me that progress is not linear with OCD recovery. There will be ups and downs, but the trajectory will be upwards as long as you are doing the work. Anxiety and OCD can be effected by different amounts of chemicals/hormones in your body so that is why some days seem worse than others. Just think, you’ve survived these toughest days, you can survive anything!

Thank you so much for sharing. I am sorry you are struggling, it can be so hard. Please know that you are not alone. You are doing this- daily you keep pushing forward, even on days when it feels like it isn't much, you keep going and that is strength. I hope that today you will see your value and worth and that you will keep fighting. It won't always feel like it does right now. Check out some stories of other people's struggles here: https://www.treatmyocd.com/my-ocd-journey