A struggle getting diagnosed?

I sort of struggled! My psychiatrist at first believed it was ‘just anxiety’—it wasn’t until I went to the hospital that I got my diagnosis, because my therapist believed it was OCD. I’ve since left the psychiatrist.

Yes i was misdiagnosed with GAD twice 🙃 and was told by a doctor “if the medication works why do you need a diagnosis?” which enraged me because i have suffered so much with OCD anyway i went and got a third option who finally said OCD but told me she “doesn’t specialize in OCD” so my search continues I mainly have mental compulsions but tend to wash my hands “a lot” but i don’t think thats OCD in my case idk i’ve been very conflicted recently about what is considered a “compulsion” in my case. I don’t think I have any physical compulsions which is why it was so hard to get a proper diagnosis because when i would bring up the possibility of OCD the doctors would ask something like “do you need to have things in a specific order?” or “do you wash your hands a lot?” to which i would say no because that is not my case. Anyway it’s infuriating how little knowledge there is on mental compulsions in the world of psychology. Good luck hope you get the answers you need!

I knew nothing about OCD other than what you just mentioned about the physical obsessions. I thought OCD was only the people who checked the stove was off 10 times before bed each night 😵‍💫 Luckily last week in my therapy session, my therapist brought it up and started wondering if maybe this was the missing piece. She actually used to work for this app so she had plenty of knowledge on the topic and she told me to check this app out between sessions. I started reading some of the things on here and just started crying because it felt I finally understood what was going on with me. Finding the right therapist is huge!

I agree with you that OCD is often misunderstood even by professionals. While I was diagnosed relatively easily (I have common compulsions like checking, tapping, etc.), my therapist has made comments about how certain things might not be compulsions - when to me, they obviously are. I think the medical community still has a long way to go in understanding and normalizing OCD. I hope you’re able to find a therapist who really understands you!!!