How do I know if I should seek therapy? How do I know if I am actually mentally ill or if my brain is just playing tricks on me? How do I know if I’m only experiencing normal day to day anxiety or if I actually have a disorder? Do I see a therapist or a psychiatrist? Aren’t the two different somehow? How do I know what kind of help to look for? I know how I feel but I do not know how to say it with words. What could a therapist/psychiatrist possibly do for me if I can’t even tell them what I am feeling? I want to try but I am so afraid of failure.

Demonrise

Date posted: 5y ago

Try to go to a therapist first all psychiatrists will do is more hastily throw a diagnosis and meds at you whereas a therapist will talk to you and do therapy and help you understand yourself and change your habits and if need be refer you to a psychiatrist. If therapy doesn’t work then you go to them as a last resort but otherwise before everything else just exercise or do light cardio and meditation an hour a day for a month or two the effects are miraculous

GregJ

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 5y ago

Has exercise and meditation really helped?

Demonrise

Date posted: 5y ago

@GJ7 It’s almost a panacea the Buddhists have been using it to treat mental illness as an early form of clinical psychology. There are a lot of articles academia just started looking into the matter unfortunately psychiatrists rarely suggest it because they haven’t been spoon fed this knowledge from school or an article and thus some possibly don’t know it

GregJ

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 5y ago

@Demonrise Have you personally gotten better from exercise and meditation. And if so, how and what did you do each dat

Demonrise

Date posted: 5y ago

@GJ7 I just started but it helps lower stress and increase relaxation while sharpening the mind and stimulating it too. They both release dopamine and serotonin which are great for depression. Half an hour of treadmill and half hour moderate weights of u don’t have weights just do a bunch of sit-ups body squats pushups and stretch every muscle in your body especially in your spine and hamstrings till it hurts. Will feel like you took an opiate or something afterwards

Jac

Date posted: 5y ago

My advice is to take it one step at a time and don’t expect a straight line in recovery. All we can do is try. I went through several therapists that I just couldn’t connect with and now I have two amazing ones that I look forward to meeting with. I prefer psychologists over phychiatrists but everyone is different. The important thing is to keep trying and you will start to feel better simply by being more proactive about your mental health.

HaleyK

Date posted: 5y ago

Thanks for the advice. It is more helpful than I thought it would be. I want to try therapy I think, but I need to find the motivation to do so. For me, getting better isn’t enough motivation and that makes me sad.

missbluesky

Date posted: 22w ago

Therapy

I know I need therapy. I have a flare up every three months that rocks my world— it’s been like this for four years. I’m just too scared. I’m too scared to have a therapist tell me I’m a lesbian. I’m too scared to do ERP and have it not work because it wasn’t actually OCD. I’m too scared for the ERP to work and me finally feel comfortable with being bisexual or a lesbian. I don’t want any of that to happen. I don’t understand how I can get over this and still be straight. I’m petrified at the thought of therapy, but what is going to happen to me?

Sexual Orientation OCD

FairyWithaKnife

Date posted: 20w ago

I just don't know

I've gotten diagnosed with OCD and I'm in therapy. But I'm worried that I don't have OCD/that I got misdiagnosed. And recently I'm worried that I've just gotten myself into a habit of thinking of dirty minded or just plain old terrible things after I see/hear certain things because I feel like I need to prove I have OCD or else I'm faking(sometimes this goes away). Or that I'm just mimicking symptoms of ocd to cope with real problems I may have and that im just really deep into denial. I don't know...I'm just so tired. I mean, what if I really am what I think I am and this is my brains only way of coping? I don't even really feel anything towards most of the thoughts anymore either I just know they go against my values and I don't want them. I don't know if that's because I'm so mentally exhausted, I just don't care, or that the thoughts are true and I'm comfortable with them.

hopelytle

Date posted: 17w ago

Question for those who have been in therapy

I am wanting to go to therapy to hopefully lower my OCD symptoms but I am terrified to tell anyone else, like a therapist, about my intrusive thoughts. Has anyone else had this experience and if so how did you get over it?

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