I feel like the community tab is becoming less and less therapeutic everyday. I see more and more reassurance seeking and providing and the moderators do nothing, I don't think this feature should be treated like Twitter, as it is meant to be a therapeutic tool. If we just use it as a place to communicate by feeding into each other's compulsions (even unintentionally) why does it exist? Come on, mods.
Hi, this is Dana! I am one of the NOCD staff that often is in the community and responding to posts when I can. I made sure to share your feedback with our team! The community is meant to support recovery, not unintentionally reinforce compulsion cycles, and that tension is something we take seriously. We're actively working to improve the experience, and want make sure this space is comfortable for everyone here. Better moderation and clearer community guidelines are part of what we're working toward. We are already discussing ideas on ways we can better identify reassurance seeking in posts. Thanks again for sharing! Voices like yours help shape how this space evolves and how we can make it better. 💙
Thank you for your reply
I also think the "Trigger Warning" feature is underused, if your posts mention ab*se, graphic details, and/or other potentially triggering materials, PLEASE tag it as such. It is there for that reason.
I so agree with everything you’ve said. There’s so many people on here striving and struggling and doing the hard work to heal from OCD and we all have bad days or days we give into reassurance-seeking for sure. But it’s really discouraging how frequently I see people who put in their bio something like “I know reassurance is bad but I don’t care, I need it” or who (often with the best intentions) comment things like “not to reassure you, but xyz is totally normal and you’re not a bad person this is just your OCD.” I’ve been on this app for almost 3 months and I think I’ve seen a moderator comment maybe twice and the NOCD AI assistant maybe another 2 times. It doesn’t feel like a moderated forum at all. Just my perception 🤷🏼♀️
I also agree. Reassurance is a very common (and very difficult to resist) compulsion, and I do expect to see some amount of it, but for the community tab to be effective, it needs to be gently pushed back on by moderators, professionals, or other members if they feel up to it. At the very least engagement with others' compulsions should be gently brought to their attention. I don't want to see this place become shed tumblr/Twitter ya know...
@coriqo 100% agree!
@coriqo I will usually bring it to the member’s attention that when they start an inquiry with “Has anyone…” it’s just another form of reassurance seeking. And I also realize no one’s perfect.
Can you give an example of unintentionally feeding into each other's compulsions?
Reassurance. I see many people saying "don't worry, you're not [X]" and that can be very disruptive when healing from OCD and trying to not engage with the thoughts. It encourages mental compulsions, checking, and confessing as well.
@coriqo I know people are trying to help but it's good to try and be more conscious of
@coriqo Hard agree. I get what you are saying now.
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond
