Community discussion: What you wish you’d known earlier about OCD

I wish I’d known how the mental compulsions become a part of your life and it’s so easy to think it’s just normal until you talk to someone and realize they don’t spend their time trying to figure out if they’re bad people.

That what you resist, persists…the more you try to block thoughts and feelings, etc away, the stronger they get

Wish i knew what it was earlier and could of gotten medicated earlier

I wish I would have known about mental obsessions and compulsions and how to address those.

Recovery/relief is not linear and sometimes it can get difficult after weeks or months of feeling better or in control.

It’s not me. It’s my OCD.

Thoughts are not actions.

slow down! often times our brains are going at hyper speed doing compulsions like mentally reviewing or ruminating. take some time to breathe, and pull yourself out of the spiral, name what you feel, and use whatever phrases help you sit with uncertainty (ex. “i feel anxious and fearful about XYZ. i feel it in my chest, throat, etc. i am going to choose to sit with the discomfort and to not figure out this thought”.

That intrusive urges where a thing, not just intrusive thoughts. Also, that intrusive sensations can happen that feel like you might be turned on by something that you really aren't and you're appalled by

That so many of my biggest hurdles were OCD related and I didn’t know. OCD can be so many things.

I wish I would have known earlier that I was searching for certainty with my OCD and that OCD is the doubting disease.

that its rlly not that serious. some people have cancer!

I wish I’d known that the fear of judgement was universal.

I wish I had known that it was OCD! I was wrecked with doubts about religion and life, and thought the thoughts meant something and I was truly bad… For many many years. Had I only known as a kid that this is a mental disorder and it is simply my brain firing in the wrong ways, my life could have been a lot easier….

I wish that OCD had awareness many years ago. I feel I suffered in silence for way too long.

I didn’t know that mental compulsions even existed

That it’s not what we want to be thinking about! It’s just a thought!

That all I needed to do was nothing! SMH 🤦‍♀️ I always fought my thoughts. I still get sucked in sometimes, but I’ve learned and realized a lot… no engaging with thoughts, not even when it seems like a helpful thing to do. Pure O is very tricky

I wish I’d known that the feeling / fear / thought was OCD and not solely anxiety. I wish I’d known I was also not the only one going through it.

I wish I had discovered that what I was mistaking for anxiety was really OCD. And that what I thought was intuition or my “true inner voice” just being honest with me that I was ignoring or too scared to face/act on was actually just compulsive thoughts/doubts/fears.

1. That OCD attacks what you value! Intrusive thoughts about a family member is there because you value the family member etc.! 2. Everyone has these thoughts sometimes, but we react to them like they’re an emergency!

I wish I knew that there was a difference between anxiety and OCD. I thought OCD was just about neatness, symmetry and or germs. For years I thought I was just super anxious and mentally unstable/crazy. I suffered in silence while also making it difficult for the people around me.

I wish I knew how much memory space OCD takes up. Also, how it can create false memories.

I wish I had known that the more you push back on it the harder it pushes back on you. I wish I had known that the OCD doesn't care about how you feel or what you're dealing with, it's still going to take its rights

I wish I'd known that OCD was the cause of my cyclical thoughts. I always blamed anxiety or uncertainty as the reason for the debilitating thoughts that prevented me from participating in life. Even now, knowing that the thoughts "aren't real" I continue to struggle.

I wish i would’ve known that OCD can also manifest in sensations… even after getting my diagnosis it still took me a while to realize certain sensations were my OCD.

That the reason for my suffering had a name.

I wish I had known my anxiety was actually OCD. My fears were “normal” until they weren’t. It’s not just “tidiness” or counting.

I wish I knew about mental compulsions and how common it is to have addiction issues with OCD!

I wish I would have known that ocd isn’t just thoughts. It’s terrifying sensations, urges, it comes with DPDR, makes you feel like you’re in psychosis or genuinely losing your mind. I wish I would have known how terrifying it is and what a war zone your mind can become. Also, no ocd flare is the same, they all feel different, some WAY more distressing than others.

I wish I would have known that it was a disorder and not normal or just the way that I thought. I didn't realize that anything was wrong because I lived with it for all my life until it erupted 50 years later.

While I understand now that sometimes it gets worse before it gets better, I wish I knew that (with therapy and meds in my case) it CAN get better.

Even today, I wish more people really understood it.

That what I thought was just bad anxiety was actually OCD. I had to unlearn and relearn coping skills and how to deal with the anxiety in a complete 180 direction because they’re both different issues. And I could have gotten help way earlier in life

I wish I knew research could be a compulsion. Really huge one when I was trying to get pregnant

that it attacks your values/what you care about the most

That there are mental compulsions and what they are. I probably would have been diagnosed sooner and not lost so much time.

I wish I had known what the heck OCD was so I could have understood what was happening to me sooner. I might have been diagnosed earlier, learned how to manage it from a young age instead of suffering in silence. Education can be the difference between living a life you love and feeling scarred, hopeless, and alone—or worse. That’s why mental health awareness is so important! Happy OCD Awareness Month! 🩵

Sometimes OCD will try its hardest to convince you that you don’t have OCD!

I wish I knew sooner that my thoughts/feelings weren’t solvable. It took me a while in therapy to recognize that ERP is a matter of acceptance

Fighting the fear of OCD only strengthens it, freedom is in not entertaining OCD

That I have OCD. I always thought it was just anxiety and PTSD. It has explained so many things and given me so many more tool to work with.

That some of the things I’ve done such as washing hands so much has become a habit that can be broken and that I can retrain my brain

I wish I would have known that it was not just about being a stickler for cleanliness.

that trying to rationalize my thoughts and provide myself for reasons i wasn’t sick or didn’t have specific illnesses is a form of reassurance that was keeping me in the cycle !

I wish I’d known that it was just my brains faulty way of keeping me “safe” and that I could be healed into a better response; that I wasn’t permanently broken with fear.

I wish I knew how OCD could effect your body and sleep patterns. It can manifest very physically at times !

That ERP therapy existed in the first place

I wish I’d known that it takes time to see results, but the more consistent and disciplined you become with the therapy the more of a positive difference you’ll experience

OCD also impacts emotionally and physically. This is not just mentally. Also this can impact different relationships you made have no matter family, friends but with your partner too.

How genuinely powerful the mind actually works. It’s so easy to be manipulated by our own impulsivities that we forget we are actually the ones in control.

That there is a big difference between information seeking and obsessive research/reassurance.

That my religious fears and paranoia were actually OCD- and the realization that others who grew up in the same environment didn’t absorb the messaging in the same toxic way I did (ie. needing to know the “right” beliefs/answers etc.

That it attacks what you love most.

That it’s always bluffing and just move on with your day 🤙🏾

I wish I knew that everything was going to end up ok. The world wasn’t going to end, immediately at least, and that I have lots of support. :)

That I had it 💀 I was undiagnosed until my 20s but started having OCD as a toddler. It made life so much harder and took so many opportunities away from me.

That’s it’s not the thoughts that really matter, it’s the entire thinking pattern. If certain thought wasn’t bothering me, it would just be something else

That just because my mind says something doesn’t mean it’s true

Whatever is causing me anxiety and stress and feeling life ruining and decisive is ALWAYS OCD.

I wish I knew what I was dealing with before I did. Then I may not have dug such a deep hole, so to speak.

U never now when something weird could happen, but you still have to fight through it

I wish I'd known ERP earlier. Thanks, NOCD. Podcasts and articles are helpful.

I wish I knew ocd wasn’t just cleaning or being anxious around germs, I think if I was more knowledgeable about ocd I would of got help sooner

I wish I had known that the oppressive fear and self-accusation, all the intense introspection - which was encouraged by the culture of the particular denomination of Christianity that I was brought up in - was actually unhealthy. I wish I'd known I had OCD.

i wish i knew about the though loops sooner! something ive struggled with for so long but was convinced it was just me being over dramatic

you cant think your way out of ocd, you can not chase peace. just dont think about curing ocd live your life

That obsessions and compulsions change over time.