- User type
- Therapist
- Date posted
- 22w
OCD and Work
OCD doesn't take a break just because you have work to do. What are some ways that OCD has popped up for you at your work?
bollybeeeebollybeeee
- Date posted
- 20w
My perfectionism made it impossible to manage my emotions while I was teaching. I had to switch careers altogether. Now my perfectionism is still problematic at work, but at least I don't feel like it's having a negative impact on kids.
- User type
- Therapist
- Date posted
- 20w
That sounds like a lot of pressure you were trying to cope with as a teacher! How do you feel about feeling like you had to change careers completely due to these thoughts?
smileycat7 smileycat7
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 20w
It has knocked my confidence and held me back in my career a lot
- User type
- Therapist
- Date posted
- 20w
I see that so often with some of my members. I am so sorry to hear about the impact that OCD has had on you in your professional life. I see your conqueror status (congrats!) How do you feel like you are coping with it now?
smileycat7 smileycat7
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 20w
@Deborah Ward It’s definitely tough! I’m doing quite well, I’d been dealing with a flare up for the past few months but I’m finding my way out of it now
- User type
- Therapist
- Date posted
- 20w
@smileycat7 - I am glad to hear that! OCD can definitely keep trying to strike and tear us back down, but I am glad you are finding your way through it.
anjgallopinianjgallopini
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 20w
I was symptom free for 3 years and all of a sudden I am completely taken over by thoughts 24/7. I graduated therapy and honestly was in the best place in my life and I feel now like I can barely get through the day especially at work. I just hope and pray this gets better. I’m restarting therapy tomorrow 💙
- User type
- Therapist
- Date posted
- 20w
@anjgallopini I’m glad you are finding your way back into it. I’m sorry to hear about the symptoms spiking for you (especially at work), but we know that our treatment journey may have a couple setbacks at times. I wish you all the best and please reach out in the community if you need any support 🙂
smileycat7 smileycat7
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 20w
@anjgallopini Well done for restarting therapy, and don’t beat yourself up, relapses happen to all of us. I had a flare up after 1.5 years of minimal symptoms. I recently realised I had forgotten how to really embrace anxiety, pain and uncertainty and was running in circles trying to avoid it. So my advice would be to accept that it’s here for now and try to face the anxiety head on as much as possible. Do what YOU want to do, not what anxiety wants you to do.
DreamydreamDreamydream
- Date posted
- 20w
@anjgallopini Same thing happened to me /: which theme do u struggle w the most
ro5es1006ro5es1006
- Date posted
- 22w
touching the trash can or taking the trash out
- User type
- Therapist
- Date posted
- 20w
I can imagine that is extremely difficult. How do you feel like you've been able to cope with that part of your work?
lala623lala623
- Date posted
- 20w
When people come to work sick, uncovered sneezing/coughs, seeing people leave the restroom without washing their hands, and watching people lick their finger to gain grip on the money they’re counting.
- User type
- Therapist
- Date posted
- 20w
I could definitely see all those things piling on and being huge triggers for you. How do you manage all that exposure at work?
lala623lala623
- Date posted
- 20w
@Deborah Ward I would either wear a mask depending on how far away they are and grab the bathroom doors with a paper towel to exit. When I would see people licking their fingers to count money, I would just think to myself “must be nice to be that careless”.
bollybeeeebollybeeee
- Date posted
- 20w
I am in a workplace which is much less sensory-stimulating, and I have more control over my environment. I don't feel the same pressure to rush, rush, rush, so I feel more freedom to take a moment to breathe, take a walk, or whatever else I need to do. The pay isn't as good, but it's been worth the stability.
- User type
- Therapist
- Date posted
- 20w
I am glad you were able to find a new environment that is less stressful for you. Has your perfectionism come up in other ways at your new job now?
allykayyallykayy
- Date posted
- 20w
Intrusive thoughts about getting fired because toxic management groups together people who are doing well with people who are doing bad. Makes me overthink and overanalyze and OCD convinces me I will be fired the next day. I hate it 🥺😭
italianjew82italianjew82
- Date posted
- 21w
I have issue with authority. I’ve always had ocd but wasn’t diagnosed. Now that I’ve been diagnosed and am on a medicine regime, my OCD feels very out of control. I know understand why I’ve struggled in work. I just don’t know how to work through it.
- User type
- Therapist
- Date posted
- 20w
I am so sorry to hear about your struggles! I am happy that you've been able to have an evaluation and be diagnosed. I see that you are on a medication regime, but have you participated in any type of therapy for you OCD?
italianjew82italianjew82
- Date posted
- 20w
@Deborah Ward I have not had specific to my OCD therapy and that’s what I do believe I need at this point.
- User type
- Therapist
- Date posted
- 20w
@italianjew82 - ERP therapy can be extremely helpful in managing OCD thoughts! If you would like, NOCD is able to offer a free 15 minute phone call with our care team to see if we would be a good treatment option for you!
AileeAilee
- Date posted
- 20w
Memories of when I had done wrong to others - popped up recently and it's making me horribly guilty and ashamed. I have been trying to figure out how I can ammend for this wrongdoing. Also I am not in good terms with that person right now. Hence it's nightmare when I think about how they would react if I confess my bad deeds to them.
kalanicarzkalanicarz
- Date posted
- 17w
i work in a space with lots of kids, and have to wash my hands or use hand sanitizer every time i touch things, because im very paranoid about getting sick or pink eye or anything else under the sun. i touch things kids touch all day. so i developed dishidrotic eczema on my hands as a result of the chemicals i was using to clean my hands many times a day, including lysol or clorox wipes. ive since been in therapy and try to use gloves instead of constantly using hand sanitizer and wipes to let my skin heal.
ashleighdsouthashleighdsouth
- Date posted
- 20w
Unfortunately my ocd triggers center around the work I do currently. It’s been hard to manage.
- User type
- Therapist
- Date posted
- 20w
That must be extremely difficult to have your work be a trigger for you. What types of things have you been doing to manage these symptoms?
ashleighdsouthashleighdsouth
- Date posted
- 20w
@Deborah Ward I try to just do my work. I have bad anxiety before I go to certain places/interact with certain individuals. But honestly I just try to be courageous and keep in mind that I can do hard things. It’s slowly gotten better, but I still carry a lot of anxiety and ruminate a lot before I have to go to do certain things. Before I used to journal a lot and google search worst possible outcomes, now I just try to be mindful and breathe before interacting/doing
KaileymaekKaileymaek
- Date posted
- 19w
I have gotten irrationally mad over things not being done the right way many times in the work place. Normally have to physically shake my body before I can calm down
Related posts
Deborah Ward
- User type
- Therapist
- Date posted
- 22w
Relationships and OCD
Relationships can be challenging for everyone. What are some ways OCD has come into your relationship and added extra struggles?
Anonymous
- Date posted
- 21w
Advice on getting by?
Hi! I’m new to the NOCD community, but I’ve been dealing with OCD since I was 12. I’m almost 29 now, and my biggest issue is health anxiety. It’s gotten to the point where getting work done is nearly impossible because i can’t stop spiraling. I’m lucky that i work remotely, but also makes it easier to be in my own head… Asking for advice - how do you all deal with the intense anxiety and are able to make it through a 9-5 work day? Any suggestions on how I can actually be productive? Thank you!
uncertain_Aly
- Date posted
- 20w
Does OCD impact your ability to get to work?
Often times I find myself spiraling out in the morning about all sorts of things. When I try and catch myself and figure out what I am obsessing over it’s like it goes away. I haven’t moved. I have been sitting frozen on the floor because I can’t go to work because I am behind on work and I hate being late and I hate being messy but I am frequently late and my room is cluttered and full of stuff. I want to be good and move and go to work but I don’t know what is coming today and I hate my job so I know I will get bored and when I have nothing to keep me busy and engaged I like start thinking and taking an inventory of what is going on and then I will feel a sensation and what is the sensation? How did it happen? And I know that I will pick up the bad emotions in the office and get contaminated, I was really worried about things like this as a kid too I cried because I had to touch dirt in kindergarten. I know I am this way and I have been this way for a while but at the same time I think I might just be normal and like I don’t know why I get stuck in thinking like this. Then I begin to doubt that OCD is real because everyone has a brain with wiring and everyone gets stuck in thought sometimes. I feel disabled from whatever this is because I am stuck. I literally cannot move because I don’t know what’s wrong and I know I have to go to work even though I feel like every moment I spend there is making everything worse because other people are so stressed and I get it from them. And I don’t feel ready because I just feel off and something is wrong and I just don’t know what to do because if it’s OCD or not OCD everything anyone knows about me is coming from me and I worry that I am often masking all the thinking I’m doing because thinking all the time is rude and inconsiderate and inconvenient for those around me, but I can’t stop. I just don’t feel right, right now - and I want to know WHY?? Why is everything off all the time? How do I even know that I am not making up the experience of OCD in my head to cover up something really wrong with me and now I am taking on the symptoms of OCD like an actress, because this could be something that I can latch onto as a final hope for explaining why I am stuck. So stuck so deeply and terribly stuck sitting on my floor next to my bed just scrolling to avoid thinking because any time I start thinking I am left with no answers or help or anything just this swirly feeling. I know I am trying, maybe not my best, but as much as I possibly can. I want to be a Special Education Teacher but I have so much so so so much doubt and uncertainty about every decision I make and everything I know that I can’t get there right now. I can’t do anything right now until it feels ok and then I will. It never feels ok. I know I have to be ok not feeling ok about it. I can be unsure and still be ok. I know it’s just my thinking and my body but I just can’t get past this feeling. And then I know that because I can calm myself and be ok even though I spent 2 hours of my life today already feeling stuck and spinning around and around and around in my head - I don’t feel sure about my OCD and I think it’s a bit of a scam made up by people to cultivate pathology around deep human thought because one day I might figure it out and we all think a lot.
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