Basically my good friend came out as bi. We were talking about how our parents would be if we said we had a boyfriend and she was like they wouldn’t be happy if she got a boyfriend let alone a girlfriend. I want to be supportive of her but when she said it I got wave anxiety and I feel like she might of thought I wasn’t supportive. So when ever I see her I feel like I have to be over happy like smiling and waving just so she doesn’t think I judge her which I don’t. Before hocd I just thought of being bi, gay, lesbian as normal as being straight even though my parents were homophobic and now I believe in my heart that but my brain has other things to say about it. So I don’t know what to do because I feel like I’m going back as this happened before when this other girl was bi, I would get such anxiety sitting next to her.

Like I can’t think straight. This is making me doubt everything I’ve thought about myself and even makes me feel like I like the thoughts when I know I don’t. Like I would be less anxious at a time while I still have the thoughts and my mind would go “oh so you like it you must be gay” or the other one where I’m not anxious and I think of my attraction for girls that I’ve had my whole life and my mind goes “see now you’re not into them you’re gay” like it’s so stupid but so effective. I clearly remember being into girls my whole life but my mind is making me believe that all these attractions and feelings for women were all fake or “a thing of the past”. But I can still get aroused by women but I have this weird anxiety going on which brings these sensations/feelings and it’s so weird. Today I’ve spent my whole day thinking about it like I’ve been doing for 5 months now. I know that this aint normal but my mind just won’t let me live in peace. I never cared about my sexuality cuz I simply liked women my whole life but now my sexuality is a fundamental philosophy. I hate this.

I struggle with HOCD or SOOCD. I’m a married young woman to an amazing husband. I’ve had this since I was 16 but it only came in flair ups. However this round started in October, and it’s been really rough and I would just break down all the time. I went up on my medication and I actually noticed a difference! My thoughts were still very present but I wasn’t really paying attention to them or giving them power. HOWEVER right when I thought I was getting better, my brain started feeling and saying to myself that I just know I am bi but you want to make excuses for it like “oh it’s normal to find someone hot since we as a society have an interpretation of what that looks like” or “I see the girl as myself and that’s what ‘turns’ me on” or “well I mean that girl looks kind of like a man” and it’s it’s making me spiral. I won’t ever come out as Bi as deep in my soul I don’t feel I am. I have always wanted to be with men sexually and romantically and that has not changed but my brain is making me believe I am and I just don’t want to admit it. Please help me, what has helped you?

The whole crux of this telling me that I’m a lesbian is because I think women are pretty. I know there is a lot more involved with actually being a lesbian than that. Now the thought what if you’re just bi came into my head. It’s causing some anxiety but at the same time I don’t actually like women. Like I like women as friends, but that’s it. I’ve never liked one as anything more than as a friend. But because of loss of attraction and false attraction I find like every woman beautiful and my thoughts are like, see I told you so. Yes, my anxiety is down. Yes, I know these are just thoughts. But sometimes I still get freaked out. Like even putting all this int existence on here I can see how silly this all sounds and how OCD this all sounds. Does anyone else identify with this in anyway? I just want to know I’m not alone.