It's officially been a whole year...

Thank you!! 🥲🩷

I had the same reaction when my research began to point towards OCD and then to have it confirmed by a medical professional? I'd been devastated and afraid of what the future held for me. Especially with how severe things were back then for me. I'm sorry that you're in a similar spot now, but while OCD doesn't have some sort of miracle cure, it's treatable to a point where it's BARELY, if at all, noticeable. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that it's manageable, and recovery is 100% possible. OCD can be triggered by changes in routine or major events, so it makes perfect sense why it's worsened. For general advice, I'd say be patient with yourself. Recovery isn't linear, and you will have good days and bad days. When you first embark on this journey, it might feel like you're taking one step forward, two steps back, and that's okay! I'd also recommend looking into different compulsions and identifying which ones you perform, and then practicing preventing yourself from doing them. Compulsions, like reassurance seeking, bring temporary relief, but they do more damage than good in the long run... This is going to be one of the key things to work on! :) ERP therapy (Exposure Response Prevention) is the gold standard for OCD treatment. If you can't afford to see an OCD specialist who is trained in ERP, don't worry. There's a lot you can do at home. For example, there are YouTube channels that speak on OCD or articles published by NOCD that can be helpful. Nathan Peterson on YouTube is who helped me understand this disorder and how to handle my thoughts and obsessions when I first started looking into OCD being a possibility. He has a playlist for almost every theme of OCD on his channel with specialized videos for that theme, and he even has tips on how you can practice ERP by yourself. Lastly, just practice self-care. Get good sleep, eat balanced meals, stay hydrated, exercise (go on walks, dance, go to the gym, etc...), treat yourself! Don't let OCD prevent you from going out and living life, even if it's tough. It's okay to show up fragile, and it's okay to lean on others. Surround yourself with loved ones, spend time on hobbies... Journaling also helped me a lot. I'd write my thoughts down when I needed to and use it to keep track of my progress.

@nae nae thank you so much. this was so helpful especially the piece about finding compulsions‼️ and thank you for the youtube recommendations OCD comes with lots of homework😅 but i’ll definitely look into it

@stephbussin Of course!! I'll be wishing you all the best!! Good luck on your OCD journey!! You got this!! 🩷

Thanks, Dee!! 😭🩷

Hi, Crook! I'm sorry to hear that you're struggling with getting started. It's definitely not easy... Especially quitting compulsions. That's something I had a difficult time with as well. There's still a lot I'm working on, but I have definitely made a lot of progress since then! If you're comfortable sharing, what compulsions or thoughts are you struggling with the most? I'm just wondering what advice I can share! :)

@nae nae I appreciate your willingness to help. My theme is somatic, basically that I will notice a sensation or think of it forever. Like today, I am mainly just being worried that I will start doing it, instead of actually doing it. It’s so frustrating and weird. My compulsions are basically trying to figure out of to get back to normal without OCD if that makes sense. To make it short, I’m worried that I will have my OCD forever and can’t recover. :(

@Crook I understand. That's a worry I used to have, and it's difficult to believe otherwise when you're in the thick of things, but recovery is 100% possible. It might take time to reach it, and there will be ups and downs, but things won't always be this bleak and hopeless. I believe you'll eventually experience little breakthroughs and see that it's possible for you to recover too! Being able to recognize your compulsions is really important because it's preventing those compulsions that's going to help us begin recovering. So, maybe make a list of compulsions that you notice yourself doing. Anything that is bringing you temporary relief from those obsessive thoughts. Once you've done that, the hard part is actually being able to resist the urge to perform the compulsions. It'll take practice, but even preventing the compulsion by a couple of minutes is progress. Each time you feel the urge to complete a compulsion, practice resisting for a couple of minutes. Set a timer for five minutes, and then ten, fifteen, twenty, etc... I feel like Somatic OCD can be tricky to deal with because it's hyperfocusing on bodily sensations, so it might be a little more uncomfortable to sit with not doing those compulsions, but that's still where you need to begin with this :(

@nae nae Thank you so much for the reply and the assistance. Last question, I promise. After you really committed to cutting the compulsions and stuff, how long did it take you to start feeling better? And when you did start feeling better was it less thoughts, less anxiety, both?

@Crook Well, when I first began cutting the compulsions, it was really difficult. The anxiety actually spiked for me, but I think that's normal. It's just the OCD trying to trick us back into that cycle. I spent a lot of nights just crying in my room, but eventually, it got easier and easier to resist the urge to do the compulsions. There were a couple of times I caved, but that's to be expected, so don't beat yourself up over it if it happens. I think it probably took me around a month or so to begin seeing obvious progress. As for how this progress presented itself, there are definitely fewer thoughts and less anxiety because of it. Compulsions are what fuel those thoughts, so after I committed to avoiding doing any, the thoughts began to fade, and with them, the anxiety. I've also just learned a lot of non-engagement responses to use when I get intrusive thoughts, which really helps. Responding with sarcasm has been a lifesaver. There are still times when I struggle, as I'm still early in my journey in recovering, but at least now I'm able to live instead of just surviving.

@nae nae Wow, this has been so helpful! I was like stopping compulsions for like 3 hours and still having the thoughts so I was thinking it wasn’t working.

@Crook I'm glad! And yes, it'll take some time in my experience. We're rewiring our brains to function differently! :)