Is it possible to resolve suspected OCD on my own?

I (22M) don't know if I actually have OCD or not, but I suspect I do based on what I had researched and heard from other people on here. I also did an initial intake form explaining my situation for one therapist, and she said she works with people that have issues similar to mine. At the same time, I never had an official diagnosis, and I can't find any therapists to talk to. The one I did the intake form for didn't have any availability and beyond her, there weren't any other therapists in my area that had availability and took my insurance. To that end, I was mostly on my own until I could possibly manage to move back to my hometown where there were more therapists that took my insurance. So, I was wondering if any of you managed to get to a point of it being manageable on your own and if you'd be willing to share any insights, by any chance.

Ashzz

Date posted: Yesterday

I have some experience in that. My ocd started when I was 13 and at the beginning I mostly had only one type of intrusive thoughts (harm ocd). They were super scary and I was too scared to talk to professionals, so I tried to survive on my own. First I didn't even know it was ocd, but when I had the courage to search for information I found a lot of ocd related stuff and self help instructions etc. I started to try and follow them, basically the only thing I did was just not acting on compulsions and let the intrusive thoughts be. And, during the next 1-2 years, I managed to get rid of that ocd subtype and to this day it hasn't come back (it's been about 5 years since it stopped). BUT that's not the whole story for me. Even though those thoughts stopped, my whole ocd didn't stop. I got new kinds of intrusive thoughts and compulsions along the way and in no point I was free from ocd, just free from the specific thoughts. And now I have other mental health problems too. Im pretty sure getting professional help right at the start would've helped me not to get into the situation where I am now (but at least now i finally am in therapy). Though my ocd wasn't exactly very mild originally so maybe in milder cases it could be possible to actually get enough help from self help programs. I don't know about your ocd's situation but if it isn't possible to get into therapy then you can try to find those self help instructions and see if they could help! But also I hope therapy will become possible at some point if you feel like you'd need it too

Anonymous

Date posted: 15h

I went through the same thing. The key answer here is uncertainty, if you have any thoughts that make you think maybe your a P then tell yourself “maybe I am, maybe I’m not” and go on with your day. Now if that’s hard and you feel like you gotta investigate and search for an answers of any kind, or block out the thought to make you feel better (don’t) and if doing so ups the stress, then let it. You don’t wanna block out these thoughts, you don’t wanna amplify them, you don’t wanna tell yourself “I accept that these thoughts mean something” and u don’t wanna bring them up intentionally to test if you feel a certain way when having them. Just let everything and anything (simply be there) let these thoughts with the feelings come up automatically and leave automatically. Once you do that, they will eventually lose their meaning. So again, if thoughts like “what if letting these thoughts stay here turns me into the thing I fear,” respond with neutrality, (maybe they will maybe they won’t, I do not know) and go on with whatever your doing. I know all this is a lot easier said than done but you are definitely capable of getting through this. If you have any other questions feel free to ask👍🏼

Anonymous_co...

Date posted: 22w

My problems with being Undiagnosed

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.

PenguinB

Date posted: 21w

Getting through life when therapy is unaffordable

Hi everyone, I'm in a bit of a difficult situation and I wanted to ask for some advice. I recently finished my studies and I am living from my savings while I look for a job. However this process has turned out to be a lot more difficult and tedious than I expected. I suspect I have OCD as I relate to a lot of the experiences described here, in particular those corresponding to pure OCD. I have continuous intrusive thoughts about how what I'm currently doing is not enough, I constantly need to reassured that what I'm doing is right, with some magical thinking and concerns about my relationship sprinkled in. These intrusive thoughts have made it very difficult to make any significant progress in looking for something. Added to this I'm not even sure I have OCD as I don't have the money to afford therapy right now (my mind keeps telling me that it's silly to write this message because there's no way I have OCD). I live in Switzerland so as far as I understand my insurance won't cover sessions with NOCD. In conclusion I'm a bit stuck, therapy would help with finding a job but I need a job to get therapy. If any of you have had any similar experience and have some piece of advice it would be very welcome.

Kinjared

Date posted: 19w

ERP THERAPY BY MYSELF

It could be possible to treat a severe scrupulosity OCD without taking medication and asking guidance from the psychiatrist? I can't afford for professional consultation 🥹. Can anybody give me some advices on how to deal with these intrusive thoughts? 🙏

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Is it possible to resolve suspected OCD on my own?

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