POCD need help

I was at the mall and I'm 19f, me and my friend were grabbing food and looking for a table to sit and I wanted to near these boys I saw, I guess just for attention. I did not realize they were like young teenagers until I actually looked at them when we got close. I thought they'd be around my age, maybe 16-17 years old I really don't know what I was thinking. But whenever I saw they were definitely younger (I have bad eyesight I can't see very well even with contacts) I got up from that table and moved away and just felt disgusted the entire time with myself that I wanted attention or wanted to be seen by them. I feel awful and it really triggered my POCD. What can I do? I'm not a pedo, I know for sure, it just still feels disgusting. Can anyone help?

issphra 🫶🏻

Date posted: 45w

Biologically, humans aren’t necessarily wired to be attracted only to those 18 and older—often, attraction includes anyone post-puberty. However, that doesn’t make it any less inappropriate to date someone significantly younger or to be interested in someone because of their young age. So, even if you were just looking for attention and misjudged someone’s age, it’s really not your fault, especially since they appeared older to you. Ages 16-19 can be hard to distinguish visually. The fact that you feel so disgusted with yourself just shows that you have strong morals and respect for boundaries. Try to view it as a harmless mistake—you thought someone was older, found out they weren’t, and you adjusted accordingly. It’s like in a movie where a character discovers someone they’re interested in is younger than they thought, and they immediately back off. There’s nothing wrong with that initial moment of attraction—what matters is your respectful response. Be kind to yourself; you’ve shown you have good intentions and boundaries.

Kellymerellie

Date posted: 45w

I have the same issue, but the situation is very different. The world now a days are filled with very messed up people who would actually do disgusting things like trying to have relations with a minot, but the fact you are disgusted with yourself proves you aren't one of those people. You have morals and boundaries. We all want to find a partner as we get older and you just miscalculated the situation. It was a honest mistake. It doesn't define you. If I were you, I would just move on and have fun with your friend. Eventually, the feeling of disgust will subside. I am actually telling this to myself in this moment. I sometimes have really awful intrusive thoughts while typing and I feel guilty and upset with myself and I will keep retyping till it feels right. But, I am facing it and the feelings it brings. I know that the thoughts aren't real and I haven't retyped much. It bothers me, but I know that giving in makes the compulsions worse. That's what you need to do, just move on. Sit with the feeling and eventually it will go away. You are just fine. I hope you have fun with your friend. Friends are good to have in situations like this.

RadiantlyRed...

Date posted: 22w

POCD 😭

TW Just saw a judge video where a girl was complaining about a mom suing her for money when her mom is her agent and gives her younger sister (at 17 years old) better work because they exploit her body and THEY SHOWED PICTURES. I saw it and was like “oh my gosh is that actually what I think it is?” Then after realizing it’s like I was too shocked to look away. What is bothersome is that I wasn’t immediately repulsed enough to turn it off and didn’t immediately do so and when the picture kept showing up it’s like I kept looking at it to make sure what I saw was actually what I saw. Also, the false memory is hitting hard because now I’m wondering if I had intrusive thoughts judging her body. Now I feel like a perv and pedo 😭 It’s like I’m anxious over not being anxious enough about the situation while actually being incredibly anxious. I don’t if that made ANY sense but someone please help. I will say my mind was already incredibly vulnerable because of burnout and other very stressful events recently. Still, I feel terrible and feel I deserve to be in jail.

EndOCD!

Date posted: 21w

Just want a response

So one day a couple months ago I saw some posts on threads pop up on instagram and they said I’m 17 and horny and 18 and horny or I think I even remember see a 16 year old one. I’m 20 and I remembered that when those popped up I clicked on them and I don’t know if I did it out of true attraction or out of the urge to make my anxiety go away. I feel like often times if I see something that says any number under 18 even if it has nothing to do with age it could be talking about season 17 of a tv show my mind immediately goes what?? 17??? And then I click on it to make my anxiety go away. So when I remembered all of this I downloaded the threads app because I wanted to see if I could get reassurance and see if I could rekindle how I felt in these moments. When I opened the app all I saw was posts like that but everyone claimed to be 18. The only problem is none of the girls looked 18 they looked like 14-16 so I started to panic I and worry that because I clicked on the threads in the past it popped up more and I was a pedophile for that. All of the accounts all pretty much had only fans links so at that point I was like well they have to be 18 then but now I’m worried that maybe it’s a scammer and they are using underage pictures of girls and putting them on onlyfans. Which I know is out of my control but I just feel like a Pedo and like I did something wrong. Does anyone have any advice? Or have any similar situations/ similarities with this?

isharemycigs

Date posted: 20w

What do I do

when I was 15 soon to turn 16, I met this girl in a IG group chat made by our mutual friends. We started talking and eventually we started flirting and talking sexual towards each other, though eventually we stopped talking because she was being really weird. A couple months later In July of 2024 my friend found out that she was actually 13 and that she lied to me about her age. It's been 10 months since l've found out and I still feel so disgusted in myself. I had my suspicions at the time but I let them go since she said she was 16 turning 17. I was completely oblivious trusting someone I only knew online especially since i've never seen their face either. i'm struggling on what to do since i've been suffering with POCD since I was 15. Till this day I still feel weird and disgusted in myself because of that. But it feels ironic since i'm sexualizing someone that's 2 years younger than me and I waited to confirm she was around my age range to sexualize her. I feel so weird and guilty about it idk what to do

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