- Date posted
- 10w
diagnosis questions
hi! how did you guys get your ocd diagnosis? what was that process like? did it take a while? do some of you not have a diagnosis but just know you have ocd?
hi! how did you guys get your ocd diagnosis? what was that process like? did it take a while? do some of you not have a diagnosis but just know you have ocd?
I live in the United States, so I don’t know how this works in other countries. I reached out to the mental health department of my health insurance for general therapy in 2021. I tried 2 therapists, and the second one recommended I be screened for OCD. I got in touch with a psychiatrist, and she diagnosed me. I was then referred to NOCD. I suspected I had OCD for a long time before I sought treatment.
My sister has diagnosed OCD and my mom is a hoarder so she clocked that I have it, but I didn’t get a diagnosis until I told my most recent psychiatrist about my intrusive thoughts. Once I explained all my symptoms and he asked me some questions it started to make sense. When I was a kid I used to count my steps in 10s in my head, step on tiles to get the exact feeling under each foot/same amount of tiles, and literally hit myself to make my body sensations even 😂 I’m surprised nobody figured it out earlier
@Swickless Those are just some examples of, in my opinion, obvious OCD symptoms. I still have a problem with symmetry but I’ve learned to ignore it more. I suspected I had OCD when I looked more into what it actually is and not the societal perception of it.
I got diagnosed through NOCD. It was a snap. So easy to do. I think I was diagnosed in the first or second session.
I actually just went thru this today! When you start therapy, you do a screener before the first appt. They will discuss it with you and ask questions to better understand your symptoms and then give a diagnosis if one is appropriate.
@bksk1427 are you talking about starting ANY therapy? like general therapy? or the therapy that nocd provides
@Pandora_2003 nocd specifically. I’m not sure how all other therapy practices approach it, but in my experience it’s similar
Getting an OCD diagnosis can look different for everyone—some people are diagnosed quickly, while for others it takes longer or they recognize the signs themselves. You’re not alone in wondering about this, and your experiences are valid whether or not you have a formal diagnosis. Help is here at NOCD and we can assist you in finding outside help if needed too. Also here are some helpful resources: https://www.treatmyocd.com/blog/how-long-does-ocd-treatment-take/ https://www.treatmyocd.com/blog/can-i-get-over-ocd-if-no-one-knows-i-have-it/ https://www.treatmyocd.com/blog/for-years-no-one-listened-to-my-ocd-struggle-im-making-sure-no-one-feels-the-same-way/
When I was in my early 20’s, I was seeing a psychiatrist (my fave ever) for other mental health conditions, but after some months he changed my diagnosis. It then took 2-3 years for me to actually believe it, but I now realize I have had ocd since I was around 5 years old. So while my behavior was noticed by family, it wasn’t identified as ocd when I was a child. And even when I was seeing professionals as a teenager, I got misdiagnosed with depression, gad, and bpd. Now I feel confident that I have ocd and bipolar 1, but it took about 10 years and half a dozen doctors to figure it out. I learned that an uncaring or overconfident doctor can really derail proper treatment.
For me it started with my psychiatrist. I get my meds from Talkspace and they recommended this app for therapy. I’m sure you could even start with this app and they will screen you for OCD before you even start therapy
i was recently diagnosed with ocd and i think im having a hard time identifying what is my ocd and what isn’t? or im not really sure how to express myself but i feel like i still don’t really know much about ocd and feel like an imposter saying i have it because i don’t know enough about it to really understand it? like all my life these things i would do or say or think or feel were i guess “normal” to me,, so how do i move forward when i don’t know really where to begin?
Ok, so first of all, I’m undiagnosed. However, I’ve been pretty certain for a while now that what I’ve been struggling with is OCD. My problem though is that it’s not easy to get diagnosed, and in some cases, it would require me to pay money. It frustrates me that I have to pay to deal with my mental health. Is it worth it for me to get diagnosed? I know I don’t need a diagnosis to start healing and working on these things, but I also don’t want to be “self diagnosing” the problem, because that makes me feel like a liar and an imposter. My other problem is that I fear my family doctor won’t properly diagnose me. I came to him about mental health related issues once before, and he read off a very generic list of mental health symptoms. when he got to what sounded like the ‘OCD’ section, we asked one or two very generic questions that had nothing to do with my themes, and since I couldn’t relate, I just answered no to them. He then told me I was fine, that I was just a “type A personality”, and that I was just being too hard on myself. I fear that my doctor might not be very knowledgeable or up to date on current information regarding OCD, and this might make it increasingly difficult for me to get diagnosed. Another problem is my symptoms seem to come and go. I often have an obsessive cycle that can last months at a time, and then it just goes away. Sometimes I won’t experience any symptoms for years. This makes me feel like I don’t actually have OCD or that it’s not ‘bad’ enough to be diagnosable.
Some background: I’m a woman in my 30s who’s been struggling to find the right diagnosis for years. Since 2022, I’ve had multiple psych hospital stays, and with each stay came a different diagnosis and different sets of medications: Bipolar II, CPTSD, MDD with psychotic features, “high functioning BPD,” and most recently, Schizoaffective Disorder (depressive type). Before all of that happened, I had been seeing a therapist for CPTSD and AuDHD traits for 2 years, but after they left the practice, I struggled to find someone I trusted again. Most of my breakdowns happened during my last relationship. Looking back, I was in survival mode with them, leaving who *I* am behind. I got to the point where I started doubting my own reality from the abuse. This eventually added up and landed me in my first episode of psychosis. That combined with my attempts is what got me my schizoaffective diagnosis. After finally leaving that relationship 1.5 years ago, I’ve slowly rebuilt my life: new town, new job, new friends. Many of my old symptoms (major ones) haven’t returned, which makes me believe I may have been misdiagnosed due to reliving past childhood trauma and stress responses from the abuse. Through all of this, I’ve felt like nothing ever truly fit. I journal, I reflect, I replay the recordings and I’ve even watched old vlogs –the puzzle pieces still don’t come together. It’s left me feeling like I’ll never really know what’s going on, and I’ve started to fear that my diagnoses will just keep stacking up without ever leading to effective treatment. Recently, I opened up to a friend about this. She mentioned that her neighbor went through something similar not exactly like me but she thought it would give me a starting point—multiple diagnoses that never felt right—until a new doctor finally identified it as OCD. That one diagnosis changed everything for her. It made me realize I really don’t know much about OCD beyond the stereotypes. I didn’t know OCD could involve intrusive thoughts, rumination, or mental compulsions. My friend encouraged me to look into it, especially as I start searching for a new therapist. Facebook and Google lead me here… So now I’m wondering: could OCD be a better explanation for what I’ve been experiencing all these years? Questions for the community: 1. What steps did you take to find out if OCD was what you were dealing with? 2. If you had a long history of misdiagnoses, how did you finally find a clinician who got it right? 3. How did you advocate for yourself when people dismissed your concerns? 4. Is there anything you wish you had done earlier in your OCD journey? Thank you so much if you made it this far. I’m really grateful for this space and just want to start finding answers and the right kind of help.
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