Struggling with late diagnosis of OCD and seeking advice on moving forward.

I had a very similar situation! I was diagnosed last year when I was 28. I went to different therapists my whole life. Some made OCD much worse (one recommended I picture a stop sign to “stop the thoughts,” another recommended I smoke weed before bed to help my mind wind down 😂). I had a really good therapist who would literally give me CBT homework from an OCD workbook—but I was still told I was just anxious/depressed! It wasn’t until I hit rock bottom and I went searching for a new therapist that I came across someone who suggested I get evaluated for OCD. What helped me is grieving the lost time and missed opportunities from living with untreated OCD. Not regretting or ruminating, but actually acknowledging like, damn, that sucks. Looking back on certain memories where ocd made me do something embarrassing or cringey and offering myself some compassion because I was doing the best I could do with my skills at the time. Kimberly Quinlans podcast helped a lot with learning self compassion. Also, finding some humor at what happened can help. Since I felt like I had already lost so much time to untreated OCD, I felt very motivated to dive into ERP and learn about OCD. I realized how precious every day is and how I don’t want to let OCD decide how I want to spend my time. Support groups help too. You can meet other people who were recently diagnosed later in life. I think on average OCD is diagnosed 7 years after the onset of symptoms. Hearing others stories about late diagnosis helped me find compassion for my own story. I hope this helps!!! I’m so glad you found your way to a diagnosis and treatment even if it took a while.

I’m 32, and was diagnosed last year. So I can understand the relief but the frustration. I am sorry that you weren’t validated before. As the person above me suggested, allow yourself to grieve and feel frustrated, instead of only pushing through. Something wonderful that comes with ERP is the feeling of getting your life back from OCD. You will learn the tools you need, and you’ll discover new parts of yourself. I also suggest going to the NOCD support groups-a lot of people in there were diagnosed late in life, and it’s helpful to hear their stories. I wish you the best in your ERP journey ❤️

I’m 57 and was diagnosed 5 years ago. I’ve done ERP the past 11 months and I’m so grateful finally having tools to deal with it.

Hey, I’m 29 as well 🥳 I was obsessive about my interests and highly secretive of them early on. Specifically, I loved psych and self-help books but mostly because I knew something was inherently different about me although I could mask it. So, although I knew I had OCD, I never told anyone because I also didn’t know I was Autistic and didn’t want to let people know how radically different I think and process things (now I have community there and no I’m not alone on that). I find that now I’m needing to acknowledge the true impact OCD has had on my life and has only gotten worse since I thought I needed to fit into a certain framework of my other diagnoses, my mirroring other people never stops it is a compulsion in itself and one of my interests. Now, I’m thinking I might also have OCPD but need to look more into that too. I don’t have answers but I tend to make things nihilistically funny in my head when I notice things going southbound. I don’t even know any more of what is good and not good and I think learning to sit still even in a fiery mess, often with a weighted blanket, makes me feel grounded. I’m surprised I didn’t get noticed earlier but I thought I could fix myself out of it so I wouldn’t require professional help later down the road. And so, alas, here I am.

I found out when I was 49

Absolutely agree! With the frustration and the validation. I was diagnosed at 38! I don’t have any tips but just wanted to let you know you’re not alone.

Well, I was 62. I suspected I had it since 1986, but several therapists never caught it. It’s been hell.