Hey,who's had ocd for 5yrs+,I've got some questions

I am not. But I am spiritual. I believe in energy, and spirits. But I can get very paranoid when it comes to that stuff as well. The religious ocd was worse when my grandmother had passed three years ago.

According to you,do you live a normal life or it's hindered you to live life to the max

@DontLookDown Normal is relative. ERP and relapses are a part of my normal. I can be happy, but like every other human, I have my own unique struggles. I have OCD, the person next door might be deaf. Has it hindered me? I don’t know, I’ve always been neurotic. Maybe I’d be happier in certain aspects of my life but most people can relate to that on some level if only they could live without a flaw.

@Pink Dinosaur That's nice to know,thanks?

That's long sis,I've only had it 18months,how do you cope with it at this stage

@DontLookDown For a long time I didn’t know I had it. I didn’t get formally diagnosed until 2014 and it was a battle I had to advocate for myself because I had just graduated high school and no one in school recognized my symptoms and I had to tell my parents flat out I needed a therapist. But the therapist said I only had anxiety and depression, everyone said I only have anxiety and depression. But I wasn’t completely open about my intrusive thoughts because I was scared I’d get in trouble for them. I would pick my lip a lot as a child to the point of bleeding ever since I could remember, and I’d get very bad separation anxiety with my mom bc as a child I’d get intrusive thoughts of her dying. And than at 10 is when harm ocd started. My brain would say “I hope you die” and I didn’t want that at all. It was a long battle I had to face and over a decade later it’s all about accepting the ocd. I have contamination, harm, religious, pocd, almost every kind I’ve had. I’m still waiting to get proper treatment but some of the best help I can tell you right now is try to just sit with the thoughts. Picture it like a balloon. Give your ocd a name. Tell Larry or John or whatever name you give it to stop. But it’s also about finding balance between compulsing and coping.