- Date posted
- 33w
- Date posted
- 33w
Focus on yourself. Start by loving and forgiving your own self. Accept yourself with its flaws. Once you are in peace with you, the rest will follow.
- Date posted
- 33w
I can totally understand what goes through your mind. I have dated two guys who also suffer from OCD and it did not work. Dating someone who doesn't have mental health issues is also really hard, as, in my experience, their understanding and being supportive has a limit. I currently have a partner, but it is a constant struggle. That being said, there's always hope, that an OCD sufferer finds somewho who looks beyond their mental health issues.
- Date posted
- 33w
@AnonymousUser60 Well, I had been open about me suffering from OCD. When POCD first started I told my new partner, that I suffer from it. The next partner I told about POCD after a few months of dating and he cut me out immediately. He didn't end our relationship, but he started to only go out without me and he grew very cold and distant, till I ended it. My current partner, I told that I suffer from OCD and depression, before we even started dating. I also told him, that I will never tell him about all my intrusions and to this day I never told him about my sex themed OCD subtypes. We are together for nearly 2 years now. With the two guys who also suffered from OCD, I had been open about all my subtypes, but two people who both suffer from severe mental health issues, wasn't a good match, at least in my experience.
- Date posted
- 33w
@AnonymousUser60 I confessed a lot, especially to my mother, but at some point I stopped. I just don't feel the need to confess anymore. Also, after many years of doubting that I suffer from POCD, at some point I finally believed it and as that means I neither am, nor believe that I might be a paedophile, I don't feel the need to tell him. I knows, that children and animals trigger me, he even tried to get more information in regard to that, but I kept it vague.
- Date posted
- 33w
I had this same fear not that long ago and I’m blessed to say all of my anxieties were quickly proven wrong by my partner. I have evidence of this very same concern going back years written all throughout journals. However, when I told him about the intrusive thoughts, he holds me, kisses my forehead, and tells me that it is no reflection of who I really am and he sees me no differently than before. I told him he must promise me that if it ever gets overwhelming he communicates that with me, but he has NEVER told me to stop coming to him with these issues. In fact, he will just exist with me, holding me, until I’m ready to talk about the intrusive thoughts because he doesn’t want me to bear it alone. All of this to say, love is so very patient. And shared joy is double joy but shared sorrow is half a sorrow. There will be someone that eventually proves all of these anxieties wrong for you, I pray this gives you some hope.
- Date posted
- 33w
@AnonymousUser60 Of course! I told him right before we officially started dating. I wanted to clear the air and not constantly be wondering how he’d respond if he knew. Immediately after I told him, I typed out a prayer begging God to have him be understanding, and in that prayer I admitted I already loved him, which also made me recognize that if he didn’t respond well, it would break me. But I was extremely terrified of how he’d respond and I was worried he’d see me as a monster. Ultimately, he thanked me for telling him, he then told me he didn’t see me any differently. (He and I are both Christian so he also reminded me that I am a daughter of Christ and loved and forgiven). And it was shortly after all of that that he told me he loved me for the first time.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 24w
I feel awful that I keep coming on here whenever I’m down bad but oh my gosh OCD is the most painful shit that I have EVER experienced in my life and I have a physical chronic illness…. I hate to say it but I hate living right now it’s too painful… im crying as I type to the point where my stomach is hurting, I have pretty severe ocd I do have generalized anxiety and idk if that is connected with ocd but because of that I have most of the subtypes REAL EVENT OCD,POCD,ZOCD,ROCD,SOCD HARM OCD, you name it and I got it!!! a lot of also why I have have those theme is trauma growing up and involving those things^ as of right now i’m 25 and a women with the most loving boyfriend in the entire world before my ocd hit me I NEVER questioned my love and care and attraction with the love of my life I always knew I was going to marry and be with this person the rest of my life! Now with ocd it confuses me soooo much and now I think I’m gay and didn’t realize or indenial and listen I get it “don’t look for reassurance!” “It’s not the thing ocd is attacking that is the problem ocd is the actual problem!” Here’s the thing with that if I’m in a relationship and I’m gay that would mean I would have to leave that said relationship and to say that “oh yeah that stuff happens and you’ll move on” is absolutely devastating to me this is THE LOVE OF MY LIFE and your telling me that iv been lying to myself this whole time or that I didn’t realize?!?!? And that sexuality can change (even though some say it can’t google says otherwise and some people have said it can’t idek anymore) and all this other BULLSHIT I can’t take it WHY?!?! why does this have to happen why can’t I just be with my love the rest of my life?!? and yes before anyone says anything I have been attracted to girls more so when I was younger watching lesbian porn liking the body’s and fantazing them sexually it stopped when I got older but I still don’t get disgusted with women who are pretty it just makes me uncomfortable because I’m with the love of my life and before I remember talking to my partner and discussing certain childhood things I experienced and we discussed that we both could be a little bi and for certain I’m (demi sexual so I don’t even really care about looks) and I truly didn’t care!! NOW I do care even with being bi because again I don’t like thinking about anyone else but my partner but I do also know my parents are homophobic and I do think about if I am gay they wouldn’t be okay with that and I also dont want to deal with that so now I sound like in indenial right?!???? I didn’t even care about labels before my ocd it just didn’t matter but now it’s effected my sex life and it’s hard for me to enjoy sex with being so confused I’m so confused I googled everything can you still have sexual fantasies with same gender but still be straight? Can you fantasize about same gender or imagine marrying them all of it !!! And non of that disgusts me it just makes me uncomfortable AGIAN only bc I just love the partner I’m with right now!!! I’m so fucking confused do I have to leave my partner and accept that I’m gay is that going to happen in the future if I get better with ocd and find out it’s been true all along?!???
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 20w
Looking back, my introverted nature and struggles to find belonging in high school may have set the stage for how OCD would later impact my relationships. I had my first relationship in high school, but OCD wasn’t a major factor then. It wasn’t until my longest relationship—six years from age 18 to 24—that OCD really took hold. The relationship itself wasn’t the issue; it was what happened after. When it ended, I became obsessed with confessing past mistakes, convinced I had to be completely transparent. Even when my partner was willing to work past them, I couldn’t let go of the intrusive thoughts, and that obsession landed me in the hospital. From there, my struggle with ROCD (Relationship OCD) fully emerged. For years, every time I tried to move forward in dating, doubts consumed me. I would start seeing someone and feel fine, but then the questions would creep in: Do I really like her? Do I find her attractive? Is she getting on my nerves? What if I’m with the wrong person? I’d break things off, thinking I was following my true feelings. But then I’d question: Was that really how I felt, or was it just OCD? I tried again and again, each time hoping I could “withstand it this time,” only to fall back into the same cycle. The back and forth hurt both me and the person I was with. By the time I realized it was ROCD, the damage had been done, and I still hadn’t built the tools to manage it. Now, at 28, I know I need to approach dating differently. I recently talked to someone from a dating app, and my OCD still showed up—questioning my every move, making me doubt my own decisions. I haven’t yet done ERP specifically for ROCD, but I know that’s my next step. Just like I’ve learned tools for managing my other OCD subtypes, I need a set of strategies for when intrusive doubts hit in relationships. My goal this year is to stop letting uncertainty control me—to learn how to sit with doubt instead of trying to “figure it out.” I want to break the cycle and be able to build something healthy without my OCD sabotaging it. I know I’m not alone in this, and I know healing is possible. I’m hopeful that working with a therapist will help me develop exposures and thought loops to practice. I don’t expect to eliminate doubt entirely—after all, doubt is a part of every relationship—but I want to reach a place where it doesn’t paralyze me. Where I can move forward without constantly questioning whether I should. And where I can be in a relationship without feeling like OCD is pulling the strings. I would appreciate hearing about your experiences with ROCD. Please share your thoughts or any questions in the comments below. I’d love to connect and offer my perspective. Thanks!
- Date posted
- 19w
Hello, I unknowingly have lived with ROCD or OCD (not sure what one. I’m new to this). It has ruined so many amazing romantic and platonic relationships and I am so sad that just now I am finding out what the hell is wrong with me. Maybe life would be different if I have known. My OCD and anxiety is at an all time high (ATH) due to some horrible events that have happened in the recent months. I am at the point where paranoia has taken over my life now. I had my first panic attack a few weeks ago where I fainted. My anxiety attacks are so extreme I go thought cognitive distortion that has lasted days. My girlfriend of 3 years is my emotional guardian and she no long has the energy to be that and honestly it’s not her responsibility to be that. She is bi and wanted to have an open relationship and for someone who has OCD this has not been good for me. She also was assaulted in my own home by a good friend of ours when I was out of town but it’s not a clear situation because it sounded consensual at first. I just left my very high paying job. I am financially secure but the job was emotionally abusive and looking back made my OCD worse. I am taking some time off to get my head right…but now, all I have to do during the day is live in my OCD. I’m very happy I finally figured out why I act the way I do but I don’t know if I can get better quick enough to save my relationship. I have never been so worried about myself (M 28 years old). I am a confident young professional and never thought I would be writing on a page like this. Anyway…I hope it gets better.
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