Hi, I’m new here. I am a checker. I need to check the stove and other household appliances before I leave the house. I think I am afraid that I will burn the house down with my dog In it. I know this is not rational and the chances of it happening are incredibly low but I worry. I get stuck In loops while I’m checking things over and over. Sometimes things are better and I can get out of my house relatively easy. Other times it takes me 10-30 minutes to leave. I am seeing a therapist but I am not taking medication. Does anyone deal with similar issues? Has anyone found any strategies that help them cope?

Hi all, I’m brand new to this app. I’ve never had any mental disorders. I’ve never been diagnosed or even suspected that I had some kind of issue going on. But recently my partner gently pointed out to me that I’ve developed some weird tendencies that are progressively getting worse. I’m getting overly anxious about the smallest of things. Every time he leaves for work, I stare at the tracker on my phone until he gets through his 25 minute commute because I’m convinced there will be a wreck. I’m terrified that someone is constantly taking pictures of me through my windows and even feel like people can see through my (solid) blinds at night. Every time I hear someone in the hallway of my apartment complex I stare out the peephole because I’m convinced they’re going to break in, even if it’s a neighbor that I recognize. I check myself for lumps in my body every morning and every night, and my partner too, even though neither of us have any scary medical history. I unplug everything with a cord every night before I go to bed because I’m terrified that something is faulty and my apartment will catch on fire. I am constantly afraid of being sued by people I don’t know even though the worst thing I’ve ever done is gotten a speeding ticket. I have dreams that people are sending me threatening mail and it stops me from opening my actual mail. There are so many more, I could go on forever. Writing it all down, I know it’s stupid. I just don’t know if feeling this way is normal. There are people out there that have actual stressors and here I am working myself up a million times a day over nothing. Do normal people feel like this? I thought it was normal.

So at night I have these intrusive thoughts that I leave the door wide open. This causes me to fear that someone will walk in the house and harm my family. I also have this back massage device. I fear that if I leave it plugged in on accident a fire will happen. So I went down to make sure that it was not plugged in. The thing is that I never used the massager that day. When I went back up I felt like I opened the front door (an entrance to my house) even though I didn't. I had to get my wife to check the door other wise I would not have slept. When I checked it I became more insecure. This has been reoccurence with me.

i keep having this stupid ass checking or obsession, idk to grab a piece of metal and see if ill put it in the microwave and make it blow up or burn the house down or something and im getting so so fucking tired of this shit, ill explain the story how it happened (cause of one incident where i did give in to the checking to the point of putting a magnet in the microwave, hitting the timer but immeditaetly stopping it, then starting it again, stopping quickly, all while screaming at myself to stop cause im terrified what im doing, then my dad came to see what was wrong and when i showed the magnet, he gave me this look of...fear? dissapointment? like i am a danger, even heard him telling my mom later how they need to be careful with me or else i could burn down the house, thankfully my mom knows my ocd a decent amount and brushed off his fear and comforted me, but ever since that day) Now my brain loves to torture me with the idea im a one slip up away from burning the house down, so ill be grabbing metal and seeing if ill put it in the microwave, and thing is, because how scary it is, its hard for me to breath or be calm, all i can do is scream and eventually call my mom when i can get myself to finally speak to tell my alexa to call mom im so tired of this shit and i dont know how to approach it