How to tell my parents that I’m struggling w OCD?

I originally asked my parents if anyone in our family had OCD, and told them that I thought I might (this was pre getting diagnosed). At the time, I framed it as dealing with a lot of overthinking and anxiety, although ocd is different from those things. They still don't know a ton about my OCD/fully understand it, and I mostly lean on my partner and friends for support (who I think have a better sense of the disorder), but I definitely found it helpful to tell my parents and have also found it generally helpful to send folks some online resources about OCD that they can read to get a better understanding of the disorder, before asking me additional questions.

I think you need to them that you need help. Have a sit down hard conversation. I had to do that with mine. I explained that I don’t feel ok. Explained the intensity and how there wasn’t any relief.

I’m in the same situation as you right now, I’ve literally been putting this off for months despite it getting worse and worse so I understand how you’re feeling. I know this doesn’t help much as I can’t talk from experience but I think to just tell them some of the basic things ur experiencing and hopefully they can try and help you get a diagnosis will probably be the best route. we’re in this together so ur not alone and I believe we can do it!

As a parent of three children, I say you should talk to your parents. Your parents love you and care about you and don’t want you to see you suffer. My kids each have their own set of mental health issues and I was glad they reached out sooner rather than later so we could get them the help they needed. On the flipside, I am from an older generation where mental health wasn’t talked about and I wish I was able to go back in time and ask for help, but it just wasn’t a thing when I was growing up.

To me, face-to-face is always best because nothing can get lost in translation. But if that feels too scary, maybe you could start with a text to the both of them, something like, hey mom and dad was wondering if I could grab you for a few minutes to chat about some things that have been going on with me. That might break the ice. Then I would definitely try to have a conversation with them in person so that they can see the pain in your body language. That will help them to understand. Then, rather than trying to diagnose yourself, you could say something like, I’ve been having these thoughts and feelings for a while and have been really struggling to handle it by myself and wanted to ask for you’re help and guidance and maybe see a professional about it to see if it might help, something along those lines.