- Date posted
- 1y ago
PTSD with OCD?
Does anyone here have PTSD that then started to develop into some OCD? Grateful to connect.
Does anyone here have PTSD that then started to develop into some OCD? Grateful to connect.
Yes, I faced some pretty severe emotional abuse in my childhood while simultaneously being excluded at school. Wasn’t fun. Not sure which came first but either way it certainly didn’t help.
@Lassoinmybrainpls First off, thank you for sharing with me. Are you doing ERP now? If so, how has it helped?
Does anyone else notice a direct link between having a PTSD trigger and then an OCD spiral? I also find that because my PTSD has so much to do with thinking I am a “bad” person and all the guilt which surrounds it just gives my OCD more power. But keep fighting everyone, we got this 🫶
@poppymas0n Completely. Yes, that seems to be my pattern as well.
I did. I won't get into what I experienced unless you want to, but suffice to say, the trauma led to me develop compulsions, which turned into an eating disorder and addiction. (Pretty sure both of these were driven by OCD and PTSD for me.) Who knows what really came first or if the PTSD caused the OCD or if I always had OCD and just happened to also go through horrific trauma, but I developed PTSD and OCD around the same time and had both as long as I can remember (since I was 6). I'm 32 now, and it just got worse over the years. I'm in a position where (I think) the PTSD is getting better, but the OCD is what's really strong now.
@catstickler Thanks for sharing. ❤️ Just reaching out to feel less alone.
Yes!! Being sexually abused really exacerbated my OCD and made the intrusive thoughts sooo much worse. For me, my PTSD really presents through OCD and disturbing intrusive thoughts. I have had compulsions / intrusive thoughts since I was a child but honestly being traumatised has made it a million times worse!!
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences. ❤️How are you all finding that ERP works for you so far?
I haven't actually started ERP, just still learning about it and becoming aware of just how sneaky my OCD has been all these years. The thought of ERP gives me anxiety though.
Yes, I suffered living through a dysfunctional family unit as a kid and then was bullied in middle school so there really wasn't a way for me to escape from the trauma. I ended up having to repeat two grades because I didn't like going to school. Ended up diagnosed with OCD and ADHD because I used my daydreams (hyper-fixations) to escape reality but then started getting intrusive thoughts halfway through HS.
@plutosghost Sounds pretty familiar. 😌
Me. My ex was really abusive, and it directly contributed to all of my OCD fears. He attributed thoughts to cheating. So, when I was having panic attacks because I was having sexually intrusive thoughts about people, he told me “the next time you have a thought like that, tell me so I can break up with you”. And at one point my OCD convinced me I had a crush on someone, and he shoved me when I confessed to it. And equated all of this to “just like my ex girlfriends” who actually cheated on him. And told me that if I thought about someone else during sex, it ruined it for him. Constantly punished me and shamed me and told me my thoughts were disgusting. So now I’m kind of afraid of any interaction with men other than my partner. (My current partner is amazing and supportive, nothing like my ex, luckily) But it’s been honestly really difficult to navigate another relationship.
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.
Does anyone else struggle with this? It's been the main thing powering my POCD, and it's only been getting worse. Especially when I see posts online of people sharing their personal stories relating to CSA, specifically grooming. It's so triggering now, but before this theme developed, the most I'd feel while reading posts like that would be disgust targeted towards people who did those things. Now, my first thought is, "What if I do something like that one day? What if I've done it before and I don't remember or didn't know I was doing it?" I have many, many different intrusive thoughts or worries related to this theme, but it all circles back to this specific fear that I'll become like the people who hurt and took advantage of me. Does anyone have advice for this? I'm not sure if I've asked a similar question in the past or not, but is this something I need to deal with separately before beginning ERP for OCD? I'm just curious and also lost on where to begin with all of this. I'm just glad I'm able to begin working through all of these issues now, rather than later in life when I'd probably have a lot more responsibilities. Anyways, any feedback is appreciated! 🤍
Medication for OCD? Hello all, 19 male here, this seems like a cool community that isn’t nearly as triggering as reddit. I have pretty severe bouts of existential thinking or fear of going crazy ( psychosis ) after some pretty heavy mushroom trips a few years ago, I know logically I should be fine but I do know what it’s like to lose it and it’s scary. Currently I deal with relationship focused OCD, it’s all day from before I even open my eyes. I want things to work out with my girlfriend badly. Also I can come close to a panic attack sometimes which perpetuates everything. Anyway, I mention the fear of going crazy because the way my anxiety/derealization makes me feel is that I’m not mentally stable cause I feel out of it or unreal. I saw that a lot of anxiety and depression medication can cause psychosis and I feel like I could use some help in getting ahead of my OCD because the compulsions are had not to give into when I’m in such distress/not knowing. Plus overall I just feel like I have no idea how I feel about close to anything. Anyone relate about that ?
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