Rylieraz

Date posted: 5y

Hi all, I’m new to the app. I have OCD and anxiety. I am pretty new to my diagnosis- just 3-4 months- but knowing that there’s a label to how I feel is relieving. I also have dermatillomania (skin picking) which is one of my compulsions. I got put on medication- Zoloft- almost immediately after my diagnosis (I’m up to 200mg/day now). Something that has been coming up more frequently is my obsession that something bad is happening to my family. I won’t get into the details but I vividly imagine my parents, siblings, or friends being injured or dying. Can anyone who has experience in these areas give some tips? I feel pretty alone right now I’m how I feel and sometimes I feel like there’s something wrong with me.

boogieman85

Date posted: 5y

Hello Rylieraz, Be careful of asking for reassurance. This post can lead you into a rabbit hole of pain. The best way to use the app is to get specific advice about treatment, and give support to others. If you get into reassurance, you will be feeding the rat and making life a lot worse for yourself. Have you had any experience with ERP and therapy? Its It's the only way your symptoms will go away. Medication helps for a while but not on its own.

Rylieraz

Date posted: 5y

Thanks for the advice! I really had never thought about that before. I have been in therapy for about a month but I feel that it’s just making my symptoms more obvious to myself and it makes them feel more intrusive and impossible to get over.

boogieman85

Date posted: 5y

That's good to hear. Is your therapist experienced with OCD? Are you going to do exposures? I had a couple of negative experiences where the therapist didnt know how to treat the condition - it was interesting, there was a good chance to talk about things, but my symptoms got worse and it set me back a year or so. Are you alright asking your therapist for evidence they've treated OCD successfully? It can be a little awkward, but you might need to do it to get better.

Rylieraz

Date posted: 5y

I’m actually not entirely sure. All I can do right now is the free weekly therapy that they offer at my college. I just barely got off the waitlist for it and it isn’t permanent- I’m in the process of setting up another therapist at a practice for once the free therapy is over. I am not quite sure what exposures entail but I will have to ask next time I see him. I’ll also be sure to ask if he has experience with OCD- I can definitely see how if they don’t have experience that it could set me back and I definitely don’t need that this early on.

boogieman85

Date posted: 5y

@Rylieraz Basically no matter how much you are suffering, to recover in a serious way you need to commit to a process, and see that process through. ERP is a process. A qualified therapist will get you recovered. It will be like rocket fuel. It depends how serious you are about getting better. If your brain is kidding you, telling you it doesnt really matter, you can sort it out later, or that there isnt help available - OCD attacks its own treatment - then it's likely you wont properly seek help and commit to the process. If you can get your proper realistic self care attitude focused, find a qualified therapist and get going with ERP, then it doesnt take long to shift. It will also help you with your studies, job prospects / income level and other elements to your quality of life. Bear in mind, OCD tends to get worse in mid 20s into 30s. Left to it's own devices, the prospects are not too pretty.

Anonymous

Date posted: 5y

i feel like i could have written this post! i have dermatillomania and i also worry about something bad happening to the people i love. it was also what led to my friend's OCD diagnosis—she would imagine bad things happening to her family every night before bed and it was so distressing that she went to therapy. so you're definitely not alone. i wish i had some good coping tips, hopefully we can work on this theme and find some peace.

Rylieraz

Date posted: 5y

Hey @dandy my derma is really bad rn. Any tips for stopping myself from picking? I’m almost home after being at college for four months and I’m worried that I will be tempted to lock myself in my bathroom and pick away like I did before I left to college.

Anonymous

Date posted: 5y

@Rylieraz my derma's really bad right now too, i'm sorry to hear that you're struggling so much. :( i buy non-latex nitrile gloves off of amazon and wear them almost all the time, because my hands look disgusting (i've had people make mean comments before). it also makes it hard to pick other parts of my body, since no part of me is immune to wandering OCD fingers lol. i also try to refocus my thoughts and lay my hands flat or keep them still every time i notice that i'm picking. i do some breathing exercises during that, too. i wish i had better advice, i'm still really struggling. please let me know if you ever want to chat, it sounds like we have some similar fears and i'm happy to support you!

Oryx1997

Date posted: 5y

Hi I also suffer from dermatillomania. It can be really debilitating. Keep trucking through therapy. I got my picking down from twice a day for several hours to a few times a week.

yourfriend4ever

Date posted: 5y

Look for this woman I've been messaging on here. I think you all have an OCD theme in common, about worrying about others. Her name is Dinou.

yourfriend4ever

Date posted: 5y

I wish I could have a therapist better trained for working with OCD, but I don't have the luxury or privilege or something. I don't have much choice.

yourfriend4ever

Date posted: 5y

I don't even have much choice in what therapist I see because of my insurance being Medicare.

yourfriend4ever

Date posted: 5y

Because not everyone in the office where I go can see Medicare people.

yourfriend4ever

Date posted: 5y

People with Medicare, I mean.

Dinou

Date posted: 5y

I always have thoughts not to harm anyone. My biggest fear is to cause them something that is coming from me, I know the feeling. I think more or less, we all seek for reassurance here and that’s very bad for us. I do it all the time and it always makes me worse. Believe in your therapy and you’ll get better someday.

H399Rocd

Date posted: 20w

Medication for OCD?

Medication for OCD? Hello all, 19 male here, this seems like a cool community that isn’t nearly as triggering as reddit. I have pretty severe bouts of existential thinking or fear of going crazy ( psychosis ) after some pretty heavy mushroom trips a few years ago, I know logically I should be fine but I do know what it’s like to lose it and it’s scary. Currently I deal with relationship focused OCD, it’s all day from before I even open my eyes. I want things to work out with my girlfriend badly. Also I can come close to a panic attack sometimes which perpetuates everything. Anyway, I mention the fear of going crazy because the way my anxiety/derealization makes me feel is that I’m not mentally stable cause I feel out of it or unreal. I saw that a lot of anxiety and depression medication can cause psychosis and I feel like I could use some help in getting ahead of my OCD because the compulsions are had not to give into when I’m in such distress/not knowing. Plus overall I just feel like I have no idea how I feel about close to anything. Anyone relate about that ?

Anonymous

Date posted: 19w

Newbie and mama searching for help

Hey all, This is so strange to share this, and I have been judged by others and misdiagnosed many times. About a year ago I worked with an OCD therapist and it was really triggering. For me my thoughts are mainly about suicidal ocd and harm ocd centered around my children of all things. Fear that I could or would want to hurt them, then feeling so horrible that I believe I’m suicidal then I go back and forth on that. After reading a few of your posts, it makes me truly have a bit of hope that I can overcome this.

Suicidal OCD

CelinaDavs

Date posted: 16w

I’m unsure if i have ocd…

i’m a new user on this app, I downloaded it just cause I was curious, I don’t really know if I have OCD. Because in school all I learned about OCD is things being out of place and having it to be perfect almost like perfectionism, but I’ve just recently realized there’s a whole kind of different types of OCD, some things I struggle with daily is a fear of bad things happening or almost like an impending doom of when is it gonna happen? I’m always in my head thinking feels like I’m having multiple conversations at once. Sometimes it doesn’t even feel like I’m having a conversation with myself. I have horrendous anxiety about everything and anything talking to people being around people. It just feels like it consumes my everyday life and I don’t know what to do. I can’t clearly remember anything from my childhood and some things I feel like I may be imagining I just don’t really feel like a person. I’m always thinking the worst in my relationship over analyzing and stressing out thinking of scenarios or thinking, my boyfriend‘s cheating on me. It almost all feels out of my control.

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