Hey guys— I’m new to this. I’m not exactly diagnosed with OCD , but i do have severe anxiety. I first started counting my steps obsessively when I was young, very young actually. Then I began picking at scabs on my head and obsessing over dandruff flakes. My heart is racing just thinking about these...I did that as my anxiety worsened as I grew into my teen years. I picked at scabs on my body and then began to hate the scarring so was somehow able to stop. The picking was so bad my mom always told me , “Hands on your knees!” but then we laughed as we realized there’s stuff for me to pick at on my knees and legs as well. I just recently began to pick at my head again. My solution to that? acrylic nails!!! but then I began using tweezers and finding other ways to pick at them. I can no longer afford nor bring myself to get a refill every two weeks and i hate the glue on ones you get at a drug store. About three years ago I began plucking. OBSESSIVELY. When i feel a slight hair on my leg, my immediate urge is to pluck. I cant fight the urge. I have nasty scars and several ingrown hairs and it sucks because i’m very insecure about them...but i can not bring myself to stop. There’s been times where i’ve had to flip my room inside out just to find my tweezers and if i couldn’t, id freak out. I’d knock on my dads door and ask for his tweezers. Oh that’s right , i borrowed yours and don’t know where they went. Go to my grandmothers room, ugh these don’t get the grip i want. Oh well, i’ll go to cvs or walmart and get a new pair. but. it. HAS. to. be. now. NOW. otherwise I freak out. I recently downloaded this app and i’ve been doing good when i’m in public, i set the timer, do my thing, keep up with my anxiety level, but i often find that when i’m plucking , picking, or popping, i realize in my head ugh let me do the app but i can’t bring myself to do it! I just can’t guys. I feel disgusted with myself, I honestly didn’t even start bringing this up to anyone unless it was close friends until the last week. It’s been hard. It’s obsessive, it’s taken up my life for the past 3 years. I have calluses on my fingers from the tweezers and i’ve done it for hours and hours at a time, arched over, my phone plugged in and the flash light shining. I cant stop guys. i need some serious help that doesn’t require cold turkey. just thinking and typing about all of this is killing me. my heart is racing , my feet are rubbing together , and ughhh!!!! any advice???Does anyone else have a similar issue?!!?

Hello, I’m new to this app. I’ve always had an anxious brain, and I’ve had coping mechanisms for as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, from as early as I could spell, until I was probably early teens, I would constantly write words in my head along to the beat of music. It’s such a vivid memory because I never stopped doing it. The word had to perfectly match up to the lyric and I loved that it kept my brain busy. I grew out of that, but felt like good context. My anxiety increased drastically around ages 17-19, and I began therapy. I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety and panic disorder, due to having a panic attack nearly every day at that time. I overcame that as well, and now the panic attacks are every now and then, but the anxiety is constant, and some recent symptoms have led me to believe I might have some form of OCD. Maybe not. I’m trying to understand myself and get better so I joined this app to make sense of things. Lately I’ve been having really intense intrusive thoughts. I’m really embarassed and they make me feel like a bad person. Thoughts pop in my head seemingly out of nowhere. It will be an image of me harming myself or someone else in a really bad way. (Trigger warning) for example the other day I couldn’t shake the image of me putting a knife through my own forehead, although it’s not something I want to do. Or I’ll imagine someone killing me. I imagine my loved ones dying often. The thoughts feel so out of my control it’s insane. I hate them. Another persistent issue that isn’t as new is replaying social scenarios. I’m a hairstylist so this one is difficult since I meet a bunch of new people every day. I obsess over how I act and if people like me. I will impulsively say things all the time and they will haunt me for weeks. I question even my closest friends and family who show their love. I find myself so angry and numb and like I have so much built up emotion and a busy mind always. While doing my job I spiral really badly if any little thing goes wrong and it’s embarassing. I know there’s more but I can’t think of it now. I just want to feel better and like I’m not constantly battling my mind.

So I’m new to this app and I knew there was something wrong w/ my brain for a few years now. I’m a professional volleyball player and was playing in France last year while in a long distance relationship. I would ruminate and think that one small thing was going to ruin my career every. Single. Day. And I have the fear that I NEEDED to end warm ups with a good hit or else I would play terribly. I had constant fears that my teammates don’t trust me and think I’m bad - when in reality and looking at the statistics I was one of the best players on the team - the fearful ruminating keeps me awake at night and it would get so bad that I would break into a rash on my neck. Lots of rashes from anxiety and over thinking :( My relationship was new but it was long distance. I never experienced this in my life: my mind became OBSESSED with the idea he might be ugly. I couldn’t stop thinking that he was ugly and feared that that meant I needed to break up with him and I felt like a terrible person constantly and the thought ate me alive - I was constantly googling about it to try and get some relief which I am now learning is seeking reassurance. I also have struggled with some forms of disordered eating for many years but it got so bad in France. I was binge eating a lot. I gained ten pounds in a month. I knew it and I felt it and I became OBSESSED with the idea that I’m so fat and a weak terrible person for not being able to control my binges. My therapist gave me some screener exams. I scored very highly on the anxiety test and the OCD test which blew my mind cuz I’ve never considered OCD in my whole life. I started taking Prozac which honestly I feel like saved my life. It’s been over 6 months since that point now and everything is so much more manageable. I’ve also recently learned that I may have autism as well. My brother has it and dad is convinced he has it but I was never diagnosed. I also learned I may have a bit of ADD as well recently. I’ve known I think differently for some time but this is just overwhelming and validating and confusing and a bit scary. My current obsession is worrying about my future career - I’m obsessed. I can’t stop thinking about it. I’m so afraid of my making a lot of money in the future. I take aptitude tests all the time when I get anxiety or go on Reddit to hear about other people which makes me feel okay for a little but it always comes back. My head is spinning. I just want to enjoy being 24 and having an interesting career and trust that my life will be okay but I’m so convinced that I’m going to suffer immensely if I don’t start pursuing a high paying job immediately. Im a smart girl - graduated from UC Berkeley - have done tons of networking in different industries - I have a financial plan for the future for when I start a normal job - but I cant stop this cyclical torturous thinking that I’m going to be poor and suffer immensely I also learned a few years ago I have an anxious attachment style which I thought I worked through but in my new relationship I have strong feelings for him and I feel the intense fear abandonment coming up and I’m so scared I’m gonna ruin the relationship - I thought maybe I’m just someone who needs a lot of reassurance but if I have OCD maybe that will make it worse? Feeling like I need reassurance to regulate? I just would like some help - have you experienced this? Is this even OCD? Am I making things up for attention? I’m going to bring it up with my therapist.

Hi, i’m new to this app, i’ve had it for a couple days but finally just built up the courage to make a post… I think i might have OCD, but im not sure what type, or if i even have it, & i would like your guys opinions on it. I want to talk about some of my obsessions, some are physical where i get obsessed with physical objects, & others are where i get obsessed with my thoughts & actions, or other things people do. As well as my compulsions. Some thoughts i have everyday that im constantly worried about is accidentally killing myself, epically with my self-harm, & accidentally killing someone else although ive never had the urge or impulse to hurt someone like that before. I’m also worried about the quality of my car ALWAYS, & worried that someone will break into it, or steal it, or damage it - like hitting it, or doing a hit & run, or getting into an accident. I have constant thoughts about driving into a wall & killing myself. I also have to have the volume in my car at an even number otherwise it feels like i’m going to die, or i’m going to get into an accident. I’m also worried about my house burning down, & i even have to call my mom or text to her to make sure everything’s okay… i’m also constantly worried about people leaving/abandoning me, im worried that something in my past will come up, & someone will perceive me in a certain way that will make them leave me. Or im always worried that ive done something wrong although theres actually nothing i’ve done wrong, which could also make them leave me. I have a really hard time with uncertainty, & i need reassurance constantly. I have a lot of paranoid thoughts like “my family is out to get me” & “everyone’s hates me” & “you’re a horrible person” & images & more, even though i know they’re not real & they have no actual meaning to them. With the physical objects, i get obsessed with ideas or things, like bands, collectibles, keychains, posters, stuffed animals, & basically anthing you can think of, & i feel the need to get things or buy things pertaining to it, to make myself happy or feel fulfilled. at this point im becoming a hoarder. Another thing that i deal with is having things on a special or specific order. i need things to be decorated in my room in a very specific way for me to be happy, & if somethings off it triggers me & makes me really upset. I need to have things facing me, & in order & arrange them in a certain way. I get obsessed with the order of my room & how things look, & need constant approval from others to make sure it looks okay. To calm down i often have to repeat to myself that I am okay, until i actually feel okay again, & i definitely avoid places & situations that trigger me. i also constantly have to fidget with my hands, & my clothes to calm down, & am constantly worried about what other people thing of me, & because of that i have to go to the bathroom especially at work to check how i look & fix my clothes constantly to make sure i look okay. I also have a lot of brain chatter, so no matter what the time of day im always thinking things in the back of my mind, my brain remembers things throughout the day, like music, or people talking, or phrases they say, & sometimes i have to say it out loud to feel okay. Is this OCD? & if so, what type?