- Date posted
- Yesterday
1st Post! Addiction or OCD?
First post - hello all! Tysm for reading, I hope to be part of this forum for a while - I wfh so my social interaction is quite limited lately. I have been working diligently on my mental health for 9 years. Diagnosed with severe complex PTSD that stems from both 2y of childhood SA and general fear for safety based on a sibling (8y older than me) who likely has psychopathy. It has been a long journey, and I have had the same therapist since I graduated in 2019. In the last 6y things have improved greatly - I have better shifted a work/life balance, gained a career, formed a strong marriage (2018 on), and now have a son. I credit a great deal of that to emotional regulation - one of the cornerstones of DBT therapy, the main focus of the last 3y with this therapist. Unfortunately, I feel like I’m getting into addiction and OCD and my therapist alone isn’t really getting me where I’d like to go. With things slowly getting in order I’ve tried to work on compassion of self more. I’ve learned that weight lifting is my favorite thing and is a healthy outlet for me. I’ve also learned that my unhealthy habits are damaging my self esteem greatly, and I feel that for me to feel my best self, I need to drop them. Diet is one, but a normal constant back and forth. Pornography is not though, and has been labeled in my mind as an addiction. I’ve had a strong relationship with pornography as my #1 outlet and coping mechanism since I was 11. My usage was extremely high, even before teenage years. I’m 27 now and have been much more serious about curbing this addiction the last year. Since August of last year, I’ve worked with my spouse and managed to cut my usage to probably 15-20% of what it was before. I’m proud of that, but want to keep whittling that value down further! Recently, I’ve started thinking that this is less Addiction at this point and more OCD. I have a strong defined genetic history of OCD and have seen themes of it pop up periodically in my life. I had a drug problem in college and dried out over 3mos… my feelings rn don’t feel similar to that experience at all. Rather than desiring pornography and giving in, most of my motivation to engage with this content is thoughts that push me to. I’ll start my day and either give in to the thoughts so as to enjoy my day without the noise, or I’ll deal with fighting back the constant nagging growing louder and louder that I must engage with that content to relax/be free/etc. I think it’s very self destructive. I feel like my brain almost shuts off and gives me brain fog, insisting that if I want to be productive, happy, etc - I MUST give in to the compulsion and engage in this behavior. Often, I’m not even aroused whenever I choose to concede. I know very very little about OCD and though I have friendships, I’d like to have some form of relationship with people who truly relate or can help me through something like this. I’d be more than happy to do the same. Thank you to any who read, and to the folks who make this forum happen.