Would love to hear how other mamas are doing with dealing with Postpartum OCD….Sometimes I feel like a danger to myself and my child or worse what if I acted on my intrusive thoughts! Looking for help/advice
Harm OCD is harm OCD. I'm not a woman. Harm OCD is triggered by a)Our care for the person (infant, child, adult) and b) our perception of their weakness. A baby is entirely helpless, so the anxiety with harm OCD has to be crushing. I have Harm OCD about my parents. My mother passed in 2008. I live with my father, and he got sick last year and got severely weakened. My harm OCD is off the charts. Don't avoid your child. What I recommend is seeing a therapist of course, but also taking l-theanine, which will lower anxiety, or chamomile tea. I recommend taking a warm / hot shower or bath to relax. I recommend trying talking to your best friend about this. And I recommend reminding yourself that the reason the thoughts are so scary is because you LOVE YOUR CHILD and WANT TO PROTECT HIM/HER. You are looking out for danger and you falsely wonder if maybe YOU are the danger. ANd you aren't.
I had it after having my daughter and she’s 19 months now and I can get intrusive thoughts and accept them and they pass. I’m 25 weeks with my second and had intrusive thoughts during my baby’s ultrasound today but let them in and let them pass and I continued the ultrasound not thinking twice about it. Did a few weeks of therapy with a wonderful therapist, if you need one I can let you know her name. She’s all online and made me feel SO comfortable. She’s specializes in ocd and hears all the intrusive thoughts all day so what I was going through was routine for her. If I can offer any advice it would be to ask for help with a therapist, get a support system even if it’s online group or friends. And remember you’re scared for a reason. You love your baby dearly. Postpartum OCD was the hardest thing I have battled, you have this tiny little being you love with your whole soul and more and a mind that races with what ifs. I regret not reaching out for help sooner. But I am overall okay now, and my baby and I are closer than ever. Also AVOID COMPULSIONS. It sounds so hard but do it! And sit with the anxiety. You will prove time and time again you’ll never do anything and these are just fears.
@Kilo2001 I really appreciate it so much! Please tell me who you go to! I love hearing your experience it makes me feel like I’m not alone😊
@Anonymous https://northshoreocd.com Just shoot her an email, I believe it’s on the website and she’ll respond pretty quickly! I will say the first appointment is kinda pricey but she does offer 30 min and 60 min sessions. 30 min obviously being cheaper. She does not take insurance.
@Kilo2001 Thank you so so so much😊
@Kilo2001 Thank you so so so much😊
@Anonymous No problem, remember you’re not alone! And while it can be a battle you can totally get your brain back.
@Kilo2001 You have no idea how much this helped😊
Wow this help more than you know! Thank you so so so much!
You're more than welcome. I've had harm OCD for 28 years.
Hi there! I am 4 months postpartum and struggling with harm ocd, the fear of what if I harm my child. It has manifested to the fear of what if I harm my husband, sister, nieces, parents, etc. Anyone else have this experience and how did you get through it?
So I’ve just found out I’m pregnant and I’m freaking out rn I’ve been getting thoughts like “I’ll be a bad mum” and overthinking everything & my OCD is convincing me that I’ll act on my thoughts because of my hormones and stuff. I’ve also got a fear of being sick & I’m stressing over that too. Anyone else who has harm OCD pregnant or a Mum can give me some advice pls😭
Hi everyone, this is giving me so much anxiety even saying this out loud because my OcD is telling me that somehow someone will know who I am on here and report me this goes with what I’m about to say about my irrational stuff. Since my baby was born I’ve had a lot of majorrr anxiety about him getting sick. From there my postpartum ocd spiked. I had this irrational fear someone would falsely report me as a bad mom and I’d get my baby taken from me. I’ve NEVER had anyone tell me I’m a bad mom, as a matter of fact, almost every day I get praised for how good of a mom I am. My child is so loved and taken care of. So why did I have that fear? it CONSUMED ME. Obsessively cleaning my house in case a social worker came. Stopped posting myself having occasional girls nights out for dinner because I thought one of my followers would think I’m a bad mom for getting a break. Not being able to talk about ANYTHING or send pictures of my baby to family and friends to update them since we live out of state because somehow I thought I would say something wrong or do something that would make someone think I’m a bad mom. I was convinced my baby was gonna be taken for zero reason. I still sometimes catch myself over analyzing myself and what I say because I don’t want to say the wrong thing and someone think I’m not a fit mom. I would even replay every scenario I remember and then second guess myself if that really happened or if I said something or not and freak out and spiral from there. with driving, if I go over a speed bump I have to double check it wasn’t magically a person. Then I panic even though I know for a fact it was a speed bump. I hate living like this. I feel crazy. I don’t open up because I feel like I’m the only person in the world. The one time I opened up about driving it was used against me. I feel like I’m drowning and I’m failing as a mom. I don’t even open up to a therapist about my irrational fear about baby being taken bc I don’t want them to think I’m a bad mom. It just doesn’t stop.
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