I use to be good at making friends but since my OCD and my mental health got bad I struggled with making friends I am know in OCD recovery and have been struggling making friends.
I haven't had any significant real life friends since I was 14. And even online people barely talk to me LOL
covid hit as soon as i was supposed to start college, and due to my contamination ocd i Never spoke to anyone without a mask on, didnt stay longer than necessary and just went home. i only made two friends when i was in my last year of college. recovery from ocd is so long and so hard but you will eventually find your footing. when i left college i went to a trade school and made way more friends. idk if ur in school now, but it will get easier. 🫂
I am
I sometimes feel socially akward
Me
I’m so happy you’re in recovery. You’re taking good steps forward. Making friends has historically been hard for me — social anxiety, I’m introverted/shy, and my OCD (even before I knew it was OCD) made me doubt if they liked me. Try looking for community events - volunteer events, or things like board game nights, group hikes, etc. I also recommend the virtual support groups here-it’s nice to make virtual friends in the community.
I can’t make friends nor keep any
Yes this is very common for us, talk to your therapist.
People who went from a really bad time with OCD to a better time now. Is it really possible? What was your theme? Did you take medication?
So, I know my capacity to get fixated on things. And it's normally something that's relatively remote but, my latest issue is really getting to me and I was wondering if people have any advice. I'm avoiding getting too into specifics, as I don't want this to get reassurance-y but, in essence.. I came to the realisation recently that people who I'd been "friends" (feels like the wrong term now) when I was younger were not very nice people, and normalized a lot of very unpleasant behaviour towards other members of the group. They really normalized it, sold themselves as figures of authority, as older and more responsible and grown-up than others, and looking back, they acted horribly. And coming to this realisation, that I'd been manipulated into just accepting their behaviour has just... broken me. My OCD has latched onto it and I can't stop feeling irreversibly tainted by it. I've talked to others about it, and they've reassured me, told me it's not a big deal and that I hold myself to too high a standard, but none of that sticks. I feel better for a bit, then think 'Maybe when you told them you were skewing it to make yourself look better' or 'Did you leave out a crucial detail'. I keep ruminating over and over, trying to remember exactly how everything played out, trying to figure out if I fed into the behaviour, if I did something bad myself (because y'know, I feel like I was accepting of it at the time, so what does it say about my own values?). I know I need to stop doing all this if I want to improve, but then some part of me keeps saying 'So, you're just going to let yourself off the hook then?' Normally, I can rationalize my own fears to some degree, assure myself something won't happen, but the realness of the situation, and the fact I only came to understand the reality of it because the thought had been bothering me means it feels so much more all-encompassing. I know confessing in itself is a compulsion, but I keep feeling that if I'm not I'm somehow concealing what I 'really am' from others around me, and any positive interactions are me deceiving them in some way. I feel like I can't enjoy anything in life right now, and a good part of me feels I should not enjoy it ever again. If anybody has any advice on it, I'm all ears. Or even hearing if you relate to these feelings, I might appreciate the solidarity at least.
Did anyone experience SA as a child. I've come out and people have blocked me almost across the board. I know this isn't totally OCD but it kind of is because I have so much doubt on how to proceed. I have no evidence and I believe I'll fail so much. Can I get through the turmoil of this with OCD? I'm a friendless mess.
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