Are there any moms out there who are struggling with pocd? I wanted a child my whole life since I was a little girl but pocd is ruining everything. Can anyone share their story?
I understand how you feel because I’ve always wanted to settle down and have a kid eventually with my partner but now I feel like I don’t deserve any of that and feel so scared about it now. I read a story on here about a mom who had POCD with a couple of kids and reading her story did make me feel a bit better about the whole thing
i don’t have a story but for the longest time i wanted to be a mother soooo bad, i wanted a big family and would have happily got pregnant anytime, it was the one thing i wanted most in the world. and then pocd came and it completely made me not want kids because i’m so scared of hurting them :(. but then i realised that i shouldn’t let ocd dictate my life. one day i will have kids, it will be hard, but i’ll be able to do it. and so will you ❤️ don’t let pocd take away your dreams. you can do it lovely, and you’ll be an amazing mum and will love that child so much. you’re stronger than what your pocd says xx
@PoWarrior This honestly made me emotional, thank you so much for this❤️.
Hi! I’m a mom who has pocd. It’s very hard I’ve always cared for kids and I never had bad thoughts about them but starting 2020 I started having terrible thoughts surrounding kids I remember the first thought I had I was terrified I was saying to myself omg no and it gradually got worse I even told my mom I need to get help for these thoughts and I never specified what the thoughts were because I was ashamed i eventually told my husband about my thoughts and they lessened for awhile then once I had a baby almost 7 months ago he’s the best he’s an awesome baby but I started having terrible thoughts and images about him and I’ve struggled to change his diaper or give him a bath unbuckle the bottom clasp of his seatbelt it’s been so hard to take care of him because it gives me so much anxiety because I always feel like I’m doing something wrong I genuinely think I’m just a normal mom who has ocd and it has really attacked who I am as a person because I care about kids and I’ve always wanted a baby this subset of ocd is very stigmatized people I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. I just try to make it through the day but i believe I’ll be fully recovered one day. I hope this helped ! You’ll be fine when you have a baby but I do recommend therapy before having a baby. Sorry if my reply is kinda all over the place wishing you luck in recovery
@Feeling sad like I should How are you doing now??
Trying not to seek reassurance, but rather connect the dots on my OCD and possible reasons as to why I am the way I am. I have severe OCD (or at least I hope I do) mainly surrounding POCD. I've had symptoms of OCD the majority of my life but this theme has come up more recently. When I was a kid, and i'm talking 6-7, I was first exposed to some really gross adult content online. It was introduced to me by a friend of mine around the same age of me. I saw some really disgusting things that a 6-7 year old should definitely not see. This was not a one time occurrence, as I had been exposed to taboo topics online years to come after that, such as the same friend introducing me to Omegle... And i'm sure you can imagine how that went, theres a lot of genuinely disgusting human beings on there. Coming back to the reason for making this post; is it possible to early exposure to this content could be one of the reasons I struggle with POCD? It genuinely scares me to death because you hear that real p*dos dealt with simular situations when they were kids, so thats kind of making me feel that this could be more than OCD, and I could be a genuinely bad person. My POCD feels so real, that at times i'm fully convinced its not OCD. Sometimes I can't even distinguish the feelings of attraction between a younger person and an older person, except for the feeling of anxiety and fear. Its really hard to explain without going into detail, but it just feels so real. Some feedback on this would be great, thank you all.
Hi everyone, I’m Cayla. I’m a mom that’s lived with OCD since childhood, but my breaking point came more recently after having my son. I was consumed by terrifying thoughts—What if I hurt him? What if I did something awful without realizing it? I was so afraid of my own mind that I couldn’t be alone with him. The shame and exhaustion were unbearable, and I convinced myself I was broken. In 2024, I finally sought help. ERP therapy at NOCD was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but it saved my life. Even now, I have tough days, but I know I don’t have to be ruled by OCD. When my 12 year old daughter began showing signs of OCD, I felt overwhelmed with guilt. I never wanted her to go through what I had, but I knew what to do. I told her that I have OCD too and made sure she knew it wasn’t her fault—and that she wasn’t alone. One of the hardest parts of this journey was trusting someone else with my daughter’s OCD. I knew how vulnerable it feels to share intrusive thoughts, and I wanted her to feel safe. Her NOCD therapist was able to establish trust and genuine empathy from the start, and that relationship gave her the confidence to face ERP head-on. Seeing her build that trust made me certain she was in the right hands. ERP has helped both of us reclaim our lives, and it is beautiful to see my daughter managing her condition and making visible progress. Parenting with OCD while raising a child with OCD isn’t talked about enough, but I know so many parents are struggling with these same challenges. If you have questions about managing OCD while parenting, helping your child through ERP, or breaking cycles of guilt, drop them below—I’d love to share what I’ve learned. I’ll be answering all of the questions I receive in real-time today 4-5pm ET.
So I’m really struggling to believe that anyone will want to be in a relationship with me and still love me when they find out about my pocd and intrusive thoughts. I am holding a belief no one can love me with this condition and they will be repulsed by me when they find out. I just don’t know how to shake that feeling and be brave enough to try and share with anyone I’m dating.
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