Posts getting flagged is unfair

@Anonymous Literally I can’t afford it 🙁 I’ve had ocd since 2022 till now and I’ve been suffering all these years on my own dealing with it 🙁🙁 it’s so hard

@Anonymous I understand what you are saying. The only reason I write in the app is because I can’t afford therapy and I’m sure there are other people on the app who are in the same position and they have no one in their lives they can talk to and having to deal with ocd all on your own is very very difficult and tormenting. As for engaging in harmful behaviours I don’t really understand that all to well because I haven’t had therapy and haven’t been taught how to deal with any of this. I would say it’s more harmful if someone is awake all night because of it and waking up miserable in a constant state of stress angst and confusion crying and feeling alone for me that’s more harmful than asking for reassurance. Sometimes people just need a check back into reality and to be reminded that they are okay and there’s nothing to worry about when they are going through such rough times without any help. It’s sad we have to pay just to feel normal and if we don’t pay for a therapist we can’t even confide in anyone in our lives because of the nature of this problem risking people thinking your crazy. It’s so sad. It didn’t even cross my mind that my post could trigger anyone I just write how I’m feeling when I feel really lost and hopeless hoping someone could reach out to me in that dark place 🙁🙁

@Anonymous i empathize with you and forgive me but did your ocd make you click on each reassurance seeking post? i guess i can see how that would be triggering, tbh in my case i use this app selfishly and dont click on other posts but im not really in the mindset to be helping others when im rock bottom

@lu22 the monetary barrier is 100% the worst part of seeking treatment, i feel you. i also understand how being told reassurance seeking is triggering might trigger your ocd cause it’s kind of doing that with mine but it is important for ppl to set boundaries but also it’s not your fault you have ocd and are priced out of treatment. idk i feel like a bad person for seeking reassurance, but no one ever feels like a bad person for handwashing until their skin cracks

@ihateithere No I don't click on posts I'm talking about from healthy scrolling not like hours or constantly checking. Reassurance seeking is harmful to OCD so that's why it was triggering. When support systems are taught how to help someone with OCD the first rule is to not help reassurance seeking.

@lu22 Part of the suffering is from still engaging in harmful behaviors. I can't afford therapy either but there are a lot of amazing resources out there. There's a YouTube called anxiety and OCD that has really helpful explanations for why reassurance seeking is actually the problem not the solution. Also as I said, this is specifically a therapy OCD app that has a community tab, so engaging in behaviors that trigger others or make our own OCD worse isn't going to be encouraged here, but there are a lot of other online and in person OCD groups that would come more from a surviving before therapy perspective than a trying to recover from OCD perspective. I struggle with reassurance seeking sometimes so I understand why you're trying so hard to hold onto it. But it's the OCD making you want to do that. It's not actually relaxing you to be reassured, it actually feeds your OCD. Basically intrusive thought -> compulsion (reassurance seeking is a compulsion) -> temporary relief -> thought comes back -> compulsion is worse -> loop continues

@Starrystarrynight99 I don’t want or mean to bother anyone but I don’t have a therapist and I would really like to talk to someone, I feel like I’m going crazy 🙁

@This Ocd Life Sucks Thanks a lot I appreciate it, I’m not sure how to message people on here?

@This Ocd Life Sucks I had this one ocd spiral before where I suddenly had a thought like ‘imagine you acted on it right now regardless of how you feel’ (it was a killing thought about my mum) and it felt like an urge and it was really terrible I never thought I would come out of it but I did and now recently it’s happened again but even worse it’s like I think about it all the time and it feels like a real desire or an urge to just do that horrible thing anyways and it feels like I’m having an identity crisis like I genuinely don’t know if I’m evil or not, Its almost like I want to believe it or idek what’s going on but it’s really bad. It’s 7:30 am I’ve been awake all night and I’ve been staying awake all night because I don’t want to sleep despite being exhausted because I keep feeling this dread that tommrow I will have to deal with this all over again and suffer and maybe something bad will happen. I have this weird feeling like I have evil desires and suddenly I’ve discovered I want to be evil and I’m deliberately thinking about it instead of pushing it away 🙁🙁 I can’t even explain it well but it’s really terrible and I’ve had ocd for like 5 years dealing with it on my own and I’ve become desensitised to it so I don’t react the same to the thoughts and that makes me think I’m evil because before I use to get a lot of anxiety and knew I hated it but now I don’t even know if I hate it and it feels like I like it and want it 🙁🙁

@Nismobug I understand that in some cases reassurance makes things worse and can continue the cycle of ocd but sometimes someone may be dealing with something they haven’t dealt with before or may be going through something so troubling that they feel they are going crazy or getting too lost in the thoughts and even a small word from someone could snap them out of that and bring them back to reality and remind them that it is all just ocd and not to get ensnared by it

@lu22 That's why reassurance seeking is unhealthy and continues the cycle. It makes OCD worse. It is a feature of OCD not a treatment.

@Kim Best it’s not just thoughts but the feelings that come with it that make it more real and difficult I understand you 🙁 I found that the more you try to forget the more it comes, especially when I have a horrible thought that I know I don’t want and that it could potentially cause a big spiral for me I try to push it out my mind and that creates importance to it and then it keeps coming back. I understand you it’s very difficult 🙁

@lu22 Absolutely 💯 true. Thanks for replying

Thanks