Explaining OCD

Intrusive thoughts. The questioning yourself about them, asking yourself if they’re real, feeling like they’re real or they might happen. SO HARD

Constantly feeling on edge, like you’re waiting for your fears to come true, instead of enjoying life. It’s also exhausting when you finally get over one, just to have another one pop out and takeover.

The paralyzing confusion a lot of the time, I find myself over analyzing certain situations then end up completely lost. Then it feels like a loss and now it’s anxiety. It can be so hard to break out of that and just focusing on step 1; taking a breath and just starting

How GENUINELY AGONISING handwashing can become. I was fine with it for a while but once your hands start getting all red and cracked and bleeding you try to talk about it and it seems people don’t understand how actually torturous this compulsion is, it’s depicted as such a minor thing but it’s so time consuming and irritating and physically and mentally painful, more so than I ever thought it would be

When it’s seen as an “adjective” or “something cute”.. it’s so common for TikToks to have content like “acting on my impulsive thoughts”. It’s seen as rather a slap in the face for others with OCD who have suffered with this issue on a daily basis

Overthinking and overanalyzing about the uncertainty and situation. ADHD and OCD is the worst combination.

The utter helpless of it. Loss of power. I’d rather have an operation without anaesthetic than this.

The battle we all face in our minds and how much we don’t want it.

That you can't just stop thinking about something and how a single thought can cause you so much pain and anxiety.

That it’s really hard to stop doing compulsions! A few years ago my friend stopped talking to me because she said that i was using OCD which according to her “really isn’t that serious” to get away with stuff. She thought that i could stop the compulsions easily, when in reality i was struggling to even try.

Being a Christian explaining religious OCD to other Christians. I never did it because I can imagine them telling me that the intrusive thoughts are God and that I am being willfully sinful for not engaging in compulsions.

That giving me reassurance, sitting and talking with me about and trying to help rationalize my worries is harmful. It’s hard for people to understand that a very human and natural desire to help can actually be harmful if it ends up giving reassurance or certainty.

Not knowing when it’s OCD and when it’s me. :/

I think that for me the hardest is making people understand how much suffer is involved talking as a person who has suffered from a very young age is really hard to understand that some thought aren’t or nothing is going to happen with you move something you know? I think people see OCD as organization but it’s literally living with fear and agony.

Not being able to tell the difference between ROCD thoughts and your partner truly not being the right fit.

Feeling like it's all my fault and I deserve to feel this way.

not living in the moment in my relationship because i’m ruminating about his past. it’s not fair. also the fact that my ocd theme is organization and it becomes impossible to organize every aspect of your brain and surroundings so then you just have to deal with it which makes me ruminate and do compulsions even more to make me feel better about it not in my control. i feel crazy. i feel like im faking it until i realize im only talking inside my head and not out loud for everyone to know. and when i do talk about it i can’t stop i feel like i make it a personality trait then.

that it’s not a quirk, and it’s not an adjective

How much suffering this disorder causes.

That we deal with more internally than that will never know in fear of judgement. That to them it may seem pointless or no big deal but during the middle of the exposure or trigger it really does feel like life or death.

How obnoxious it is to hear people describe someone who's meticulous as "being OCD"

Why I focus so much on one small bad thought whereas others can just let it go. Also mental compulsions as well.

That the perception about OCD is isn’t actually what they envision or that people can appear fine and still be struggling.

Bring asked to “stop” when you are in your head on a tangent but you can’t

The hardest thing is when they don’t realize you feel crappy all day everyday !!! even if they see you smiling or doing life ( pushing thru I call it ) this feeling is always here :(

Hiding away after you pick at your face and the shame associated with it

How persistent the thoughts and compulsions can be. Especially when you don’t want them to be present anymore!

That OCD is not just about repetition or cleanliness. There are other forms of OCD!

The intrusive thoughts. Being bombarded by thoughts and images that make no sense!

Growing up in a Christian household and struggling with intrusive thoughts (when I didn’t know about OCD) wrecked me. I’ve been taught to say “I rebuke this thought in Jesus’s name”, and that started to become less effective, to the point that I went to a deliverance service. Years later, I found out about OCD, and it was the greatest lightbulb moment in my life. I find this particular struggle point painfully ironic, and I have some much older religious family members that I wouldn’t even attempt to explain this to.

That it grabs on to everything you hold dear in this life, makes you have a fear based relationship with God, and makes you question the kind of person you really are. Everyday/All day.

Why I am not present or engaged and “seem upset/down” while I’m having constant negative thought loops.

How real it feels

Feeling crazy or different. Knowing you can physically stop but still can’t really control yourself.

That OCD isn’t by choice.

That simply being a self-described “neat-freak” or feeling anxious if your living space isn’t organized to your specifications or thinking your behavior is “SO OCD” doesn’t mean you have OCD (maybe, maybe not though). Also that “contamination OCD” is only one sub-type and not everyone diagnosed with OCD “washes their hands all the time” or is a “germaphobe.”

It is not real. Even if I think horrible thoughts, I'm not a horrible person

The literal pain that is felt. Also feeling like you’re in a trance and explaining that to family/loved ones when they get upset because they want to snap you out of it so bad (more so for mental ocd / pure ocd)

- The shame after doing compulsions. - That no matter how hard I try to avoid it, OCD will show up. - taking an action because a thought/feeling feels “real”- but then it’s actually OCD.

TW: Struggling with Suicidal OCD and needing to be extremely careful talking about it because of the fear that others will think you’re actually at risk when that’s the last thing you want to do

Feeling like you’re lying to yourself and the people around you. And feeling like because you’re lying/not being entirely truthful, you are not entitled to compassion

I think one thing that feels the hardest to explain is why i do compulsions, or why i struggle with what seems so small to others, why I can’t just move on

How exhausting each day is once I’m out of my house (my “clean” space) constantly using hand sanitizer and Clorox wipes even at work and I work with the public so it’s even worse at work, not being able to stop the compulsion of cleaning my hand every 30 seconds (not exaggerating) and getting funny looks while you’re already going insane

That I actually don’t want these thoughts even though I have them

Accepting that it’s not my fault and I don’t have to feel guilty or hold myself accountable for thoughts. Because it feels like it *is* my fault and I should be ashamed, even if I don’t want the thoughts (though it’s also especially hard when OCD starts trying to convince you that maybe you *do* want them somehow).

the constant ruminating and thoughts that spin off of others and being sooo overly aware of my actions and thoughts and overanalyzing everyone else’s actions and expressions. and questioning if i’m a good person or not, omg it’s debilitating sometimes.

Trying to explain the thoughts that go on in my head related to negative associations, even if they have nothing to do with one another. When you try to explain them out loud, it doesn’t seem to capture the intensity and realness that they give in your head. A bad habit of mine is trying to wish them away and compare myself to others…when I’m in the throes of it, this is soooo hard for me not to do which only makes the ocd stronger 😣

The constant thought that if i don’t do this specific thing the right way that something bad will occur and it will be my fault because i didn’t bang on the wall as many times as i should’ve of or i didn’t wash my hands the right way

How completely impossible it feels sometimes. Ruminating and trying to find answers that will never be satisfactory and thinking about things over and over again from every possible angle. Questioning myself in every decision I make and thought I have to the point where I don’t know who I am anymore. Feeling confused and unsure how to ask for help or how to ask my friends for support out of fear it’s not understood or I’m reassurance seeking.

The intrusive obsessive thoughts

The obsessive thoughts

It’s so difficult, the compulsions are so hard to resist. I gonna make it a goal to do 45 minutes to 1 hour of ERP each day

Explaining the psychical compulsions.

Struggling to complete a task with compulsions

Trying to get people to understand the guilt you have behind thoughts you genuinely do not want. Not to mention trying to explain what the thoughts are

Having doubt in relationship anxiety doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a sign of anything bad- it’s obsessional doubt! How it is to ruminate all day and not just be able to read a verse or snap out of it

I don’t even understand how I got this way and what some of my compulsions are I’ve been doing them for so long. So trying to explain it to someone else compounds the disconnect I feel between me and others.

i think the worst thing for me is not knowing who i truly am and constantly questioning it

People not understanding that I can’t control help my compulsions.

Questioning myself and what i’ve done. It’s MISERABLE. i lay in bed at night for HOURS on end thinking about anything and everything, things that could happen, things from the past, and the intrusive thoughts. i have somniphobia (fear of sleeping alone) because i worry something’s going to happen to me or my family while i sleep. I sob weekly over the fear and anxiety my ocd causes over school and the risks. it’s horrible.

Always seeking reassurance for thoughts that i know hold no grounds in real life.

Being ashamed :( I know they’re thoughts that you ultimately DONT wanna do and are afraid of, but I feel, like- evil for it

When people ask why you just can’t stop having compulsions or try to compare it to there own life. Total shut down.

To get people to understand how it feels to have the obsessive thoughts that won’t give up until it wins by having you do the compulsion in an infinite loop.

I’m still new in the OCD world. My biggest compulsion is sound ticks. Which started just this past year. The hardest part for me has been trying to figure out why this started in the first place. After the sound ticks began so did contamination, and with that comes breakdowns. People don’t understand how mentally debilitating it is and try to undermine it. Or when they ask about the sound ticks, I get crazy looks or no responses. It’s not something a lot of people are aware of as an OCD symptom. Phonemic OCD. If any of you have this and have any advice that would be amazing to know I’m not alone. Looking things up, it doesn’t seem to be that common? Stress makes it worse for sure, and meditation only does so much.

I think guilt tripping myself into thinking things or overthinking and hurting my own feelings

All of it.

Intrusive stupid thoughts that cause anxiety loop. I know how silly and illogical they are but this makes little difference.

Feeling guilty and anxious all the time when it’s all in my head. Trying to pretend to be fine when you’re struggling inside because you think people won’t understand your OCD. Being too scared to speak about it because it feels like if you say it, it’s true. Constantly doubting and analyzing everything you think, say, or do in case it validates any of the intrusive thoughts.

Revealing to people that you are struggling and that you have been pushing through so you don’t seem needy all these years because OCD seems a simple fix if you’re not living it.

The hardest part for me is trying to explain to someone that I don’t WANT my intrusive thoughts to happen, but I’m worried that I DO want them to happen.

The difference between intrusive thoughts and your “actual” thoughts. Unless someone has experienced it, they often have a hard understanding and I have a hard time explaining it.

To not ask reassurance from my boyfriend, mom and sister But also to have my mind make me think I’m doing all these crazy things that I’m not doing and that’s so hard to explain to someone

The hardest part is feeling like people think I’m crazy when I tell them if I don’t get reassurance i feel like I’m gonna go crazy or having to do something a certain amount of times to ensure something bad doesn’t happen. I don’t know how to explain it to other people except my parents because they have been on the joarney since I was little.

How helpless it feels. To be bullied by your own thoughts. How hard it is to bring it up to anyone, out of fear of what they may think. It can literally feel like being in a mental prison.

When I'm at work, I'm afraid of making things worse. I'm also new. I have a hard time deciphering whether I'm asking for information learning new protocols or for reassurance. Explaining OCD itself to coworkers was difficult because they were only familiar with contamination and just right OCD seen in media. They thought I was using it as a crutch. Thankfully, I got help and now limit my work and spend most of my time with family. The new coworkers seem much more understanding even though I haven't shared my dx and likely won't at work ever again.

Intrusive thoughts

How hopeless I feel

Probably the fact that I constantly feel stuck, negative and dejected by my own thoughts

The depth of reality alteration that occurs. “Feels real=is real” is so hard to break when you’re just getting started!

Just how much it consumes you and has an opinion on everything that matters to you. Why no one else thinks the sky is falling when you believe it is.