Does anybody have origins of their OCD?

I believe I’ve always had intrusive/OCD thoughts. When I was younger I always repeated phrases because my brain went “if you don’t do this your whole family will die” but it wasn’t anything too bad. However, when I was 15 I entered my first relationship. I had divorced parents and didn’t know what love was - so it ended up being abusive and I did not know. He forced me to disclose all the people I found attractive as well as all the “unpure” thoughts I had. He deemed fantasizing cheating - which I respected - but also caused for a lot of intrusive thoughts to make me freak out. He also gaslit me and accused me of cheating for the lightest things (gave my cousin a side-hug) and prohibited me from getting male friends because he thought I’d cheat (I’ve never been unfaithful or even flirted w another man. I’ve always had strong morals about it) I believe this trauma is what made my ocd what it is now, since I’m used to being accused for stuff I didn’t understand or have control over. I believe that understanding OCDs roots allows me to heal because it reminds me that I could exist without this thoughts and still had a good moral compass.

Username: KalieJKalieJ

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 1y ago

I can trace back thoughts and even compulsions all the way back to my early childhood. My OCD was definitely more complicated and exacerbated by trauma and the "themes" of my obsessions have been more directly to the trauma. So while I'm positive I've had OCD my entire life, trauma definitely made it worse.

Username: Stacy QuickStacy Quick

User type: Therapist

Date posted: 1y ago

I am sorry that you went through that but so grateful that you have gained insight and knowledge from that experience. It sounds like you learned a lot. Origin is a tricky thing- sometimes people can trace their symptoms or somehow see where maybe childhood experiences or life has impacted their OCD- and sometimes not. Sometimes there is no 'trauma' that 'causes' OCD. Sometimes this seems to be the case, but not always. I say this because so often others may be looking for the why, and sometimes there isn't one. What I always say is that we know that there is a genetic/biological link, we know that our environments (how we are raised, life experiences, etc) also impact OCD and whether someone develops it or not. We also know that OCD causes individuals to get 'stuck' thoughts that are ego-dystonic for them, in other words, thoughts that go against what they value or the nature of who they are. It sounds like in your case you have found a link between the thoughts your OCD latches onto and your life experiences and that's amazing. I think by treating one you are treating the other too.

Username: CrylliamCrylliam

Date posted: 1y ago

Hello! First of all, I'm really sorry you had to go through that. I can imagine the impact that a toxic relationship can have on anyone at that age, especially if there's already a vulnerability to self-doubting... I have recently recognized some OCD patterns I already had in my adolescence. I used to write lists of what i had to do/say/be and try to organize my whole personality trying to finally find those "just right" feeling that I still chase to this day. My mom also had OCD so I just grew up thinking that it was normal to obsessively organize and recap everything.

Username: Wolfram Wolfram

Date posted: 1y ago

My ocd was triggered on my little brothers 3rd birthday and I caused an accident that almost killed him. I was 6 and was. Talking about suicide after it at that age. The worst bit was I lied about what happened because of what I thought my parents would see me as. This is what caused my moral scrupulosity ocd and reinforced it for the last 27 years until I only recently found out I had ocd. Therapy has helped a lot and I now have a different relationship with the memory as forgave myself as i was only a child etc. Cbt and erp have been amazing.

Username: Stacy QuickStacy Quick

User type: Therapist

Date posted: 1y ago

Thank you for sharing this. I am so sorry that you went through that. But I am so happy that you are able to move forward and forgive and recognize OCD for what it is.

Username: NicaNica

Date posted: 1y ago

Genetics, on my dad’s side.

Username: Chellie

Date posted: 5y ago

So I know a lot of people search for the cause of OCD so to speak. And while no known direct cause is really scientifically stated and it just seems to be a huge puzzle right now (like the human brain in general honestly), I'd like to talk about where I think my OCD roots from. I'm unsure why I'm posting this, writing my thoughts off probably. I digress, I think for me it started actually after getting bullied/isolated at school. I don't hear people on this app talking about this a lot but I bet a lot of us have been bullied/ignored/isolated before. I've read in a study before that the odds of developing OCD after bullying is from what I can recall 10 times more likely (I think it was even more). It was a higher odds than with depression, which shocked me at first because everyone knows that bullying can onset and that it increases the chance for that depression. But then I gave it a thought. The bullying made me become more perfectionistic, making me feel like I couldn't do anything right, lose self confidence, doubt myself a lot, etc. Perfect recipe for OCD, it sounds like. If anyone's interested I'll post below what my experiences at school were, but honestly I am more interested if many of you guys also went through something similiar.

Username: powoslood

Date posted: 4y ago

MY OCD STORY I’d like to tell you guys my ocd story because why it happened is still a mystery to me. I have never dealt with ocd for my life. I only dealt with some thoughts recently that I would worry about and obsess about but...most of my ocd thoughts would be something that my ex boyfriend would say. For example. My ex boyfriend would say things like, “I’d fuck her” about a random girl. Now I get those thoughts and deal with sexual ocd trying to repress those thoughts. Another thing is my ex used to say weird things about girls younger than him. Way younger, and talk about their body and how they’ve changed so much since the last time they’ve he’s seen them. This caused me to struggle with pocd. Anybody have any thoughts about this? I am not trying to blame him but just wonder if someone else had this experience or can explain what more this experience means for me. My therapist calls these traumatic memories, which I then obsess about.

Username: lcc1999

Date posted: 1y ago

Obsessing over the cause of my OCD

Has anyone spent time thinking of what might have caused their OCD in general or their current episode to start. I thought about all the times I used to self harm by hitting myself in the face or previous accidental concussions and I sometimes beat myself up about it. I briefly thought about a brain tumour too. I just think "Why me?" "Why now?". This summer coming is suppose to be the best one I've ever had and OCD decided to rear its ugly head at the worst possible time. I wish it came up when I had nothing to look forward to and no hope because at least then I wouldn't fear it ruining everything. Now when I started to build my life back up I have to deal with this. I just hope being with the love of my life and travelling with her will take my mind off all the memories and thoughts.

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Does anybody have origins of their OCD?

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