Hello all!

Hi! Welcome. I'm actually pretty new here too. Been dealing with OCD for about 15 years now. It started small and simple. An awful thought here or there, and a compulsion to move my forearm over my head to stop it. Didn't really accept that it was anything I needed to work on. More thoughts slipped in, and a more diverse range of compulsions to "fix" them. Gotta say, as a kid, when a family member got obsessed with "The Secret" and was telling me all about how our thoughts manifest our reality --- that was about the the most terrifying concept when you're dealing with intrusive thoughts. And my thoughts would lean into "If you don't do X, your loved one will be met with a terrible fate. And because you just thought about the idea that something terrible could happen to them, it will now become reality if not fixed." That made things worse, but I still thought I was just weird and illogical, and never really dealt with it. Just thought I had an ocean of intrusive thoughts and a plethora of ticks; all that I tried to hide so regularly every day that it just became a normal part of living. It slowly got more and more overwhelming and my partner eventually helped me see how it was affecting so much in my life, my relationships, and of course my own way of viewing and treating myself. So research and this app are my first steps in trying to address and learn about it all. What about yourself? What brings you to this app (where it seems that everyone is pretty nice)?

Thanks for sharing! I believe you'll find this app to be a good place to find those experiencing nearly exactly the same symptoms as you, find tips and tricks, and to learn about all the different types. I didn't even know about all these subtypes before hopping on here. And people seem to be very supportive here too. Your experience sounds like the anxieties, intrusive thoughts, and compulsions/reassurance that would fit in well with OCD. I'm sorry you've had a rough go of it; I wish you only the best and that you find some answers here 💜 Accepting and addressing it puts you on the right track. And I believe therapy would be the most powerful tool whenever you're ready. I haven't started it yet either, but it would be a near next step for me too. As my partner loves to say "EVERYONE needs therapy. Only some slightly more than others."