Community discussion: How long did you wait for a diagnosis?

Over 40 years. I've been in treatment for anxiety and depression since I was a teenager. But regardless of what the therapists tried, nothing worked for long and then I'd be worse off than before, feeling hopeless and defeated, with my world getting continually smaller and losing any joy in my life. None of the mental health professionals I'd worked with figured out it was OCD. Out of desperation I finally checked into a PHP program a year ago where I was diagnosed with OCD on the first day and suddenly the struggles of the last 40+ years made sense. I just started therapy with NOCD last month and right now I'm in the really hard beginning phase. But I'm sticking with it. What have I got to lose? I encourage people who are struggling with OCD to not put off getting treatment for it. OCD has stolen so much from my life, I'd hate for it to do the same to you.

30 years . Always thought it was anxiety, it’s actually OCD.

It took me 20 years. I thought it was anxiety my whole life. Turns out it was OCD but I’ve been in remission for a couple of months now

I have not been diagnosed because i am still a teenager but everyone except my parents think i have OCD. I personally do not think i do but I am starting to doubt myself because every sign of anxiety and depression and tidiness leads to OCD.

6 years old. I have never known peace lmfao

I was taken into the doctor for anxiety at age 9, perceived ibuprofen for neck pain from anxious joint cracking and sent on my way with no help. At 15, I finally entered talk therapy. First SSRI at 21. Here I am at 29 finally diagnosed and getting better after 20 years ✨️

22 years 🫠

22 years of going to therapists off and on and just being told it was anxiety

Diagnosed with it when I was around 5-6. Diagnosed with it again recently on here.

Over 30 years

I am thankful I realized it was probably OCD at 15 or 16. Officially diagnosed at 17.

23 years! i can look back and see where ocd controlled my life, and how real it all felt until i was diagnosed. ocd treatment has truly been a blessing 🩵

42 years.

39 years

24 years

11 years. Always had an idea that I might have OCD. Many misdiagnoses later… finally took the time to get proper treatment.

i was 21. but in therapy since i was 9.

I first went to therapy and was put on meds when I was 12 for major depression and severe anxiety. Nothing worked for long. No amount of talk therapy really did anything substantial. I always got “Why can’t you just drop it?” From my parents for years. “You always do this. It’s like a thought just latches on and you can’t drop it.” It took a therapist at my university to recommend me here. I finally have a diagnosis and a therapy process that is working. Just took about 18 years

officially diagnosed at 19!

36 years. I remember having intrusive thoughts about harming when I was very little and they scared me. Confessed every little thing to my mom I did bad cause I felt awful. Somehow it was quiet from like 11-25 the my mom died and I spiraled. Wasn’t until 2024 when I got proper treatment. Looking back, I’ve had ocd my whole life and just was scared I was messed up in the head. Now I’ve found my people and realized how relatable I really am.

I’m grateful it only took 3 years. I struggled my whole life with anxiety and depression and finally had a therapist who helped me understand and said “I think this sounds more like ocd than adhd.” We talked about how adderall had an effect of treating the “loop stopping” and preventing my thoughts from looping on repeat so I could focus. I had no idea what ocd was until he said that, I think it kind of saved my life.

Didn’t realize I had OCD until I was about 22 years old, I thought all of the distressing thoughts and compulsions I had were normal 🫠 it took my OCD actually affecting my quality of life for me to think hey maybe all this anxiety and stress isn’t normal!

37 years 🙃

11yrs

17 years!

About 30

36 years

28 years

I think 19? I don’t recall but I was in early college years and had just started seeing my now husband :) ADHD took another year or so after I started meds and specialized therapy for my OCD, anxiety, and depression. Only after I did ERP did I realize there was another thing going on in the background

15 years 🥸

18

What if you’re outside of this norm? Is it a bad thing if I was diagnosed at 29

This is absolutely true. In fact, I think it was more like 23 years for me.

22 or 23 years 🫠

I definitely had it as a young child, so 20+ years

I got diagnosed at 21!

33 years... I was originally diagnosed with OCD and GAD when I was 16. My treatment was medication and years of therapy that helped some for my anxiety but did nothing for my OCD. I was diagnosed again last year by an amazing therapist here at NOCD and since then have been learning how to sit with uncertainty and practice ERP. Although far from easy and a lot of work, ERP has been a real life changer for me.

35 years. :/

I Wasn’t diagnosed till I was 30. Didn’t have an idea that what I was experiencing was OCD.

I'm 37...

These all sound like lengthy prison sentences 💀

I got diagnosed officially at 31, but I had to actively seek out OCD treatment because I noticed my thoughts were driving me to insanity and it was the only thing that made any sense besides psychosis or schizophrenia, which I don’t have even though I thought I did lol I had been hospitalized many times before and was in traditional therapy treatment for like a decade before officially getting diagnosed with OCD. It’s the only type of therapy that has truly helped me. Apparently admitting myself to the psych ward was a compulsion for me which makes sense now looking back. So glad to have found NOCD 🫶

20 years

I suspect I've had it since I was at least 10. I was treated for anxiety and depression throughout my teenage years, and until this year I didn't realize I was struggling with OCD until I saw a tedtalk and I brought it up to my therapist this year. 18 years. :) I'm so grateful, ERP has been letting me take more control of my life!

Over 7 years

11 years

Got diagnosed this year lol

I think it started around age 10?? Maybe younger, but I wasn’t diagnosed until age 26.

Over 30

30 years

34 years which in combination with severe and worsening migraines leading to severe depression and anxiety that left me almost non functional and broke me but miraculously I was able to turn the corner and am finally making progress and regaining love for life and happiness

Formally it took almost 30 years.

Still haven’t had a diagnosis. Every time I think about setting up an appointment my anxiety grows and I chicken out.

15 years 😭

It's hard to say for certain! Reflecting now, I definitely can see signs of AuADHD from childhood. From the time I started feeling "off" has been about 10 years.

It took more than 30 years before I was diagnosed with ocd. .. I was treated for Anxiety and depression mostly earlier.. PHP , frequent psychiatrist and therapy appointments helped me manage it better

Diagnosed at 18 but had it growing up. Meds helped a lot at 18 but it’s bc I also was able to mask w performance and high achieving. I didn’t know a lot about it or the long term effects or the thought of relapse. At 32 I got off meds to have my first child. Things started getting bad. This was also when Covid happened. Then a few months after my son’s birth I got pregnant again. It went to hell fast. I needed a trauma informed ocd therapist who understood scrupulosity and didn’t just take standard clinical approach. Instead I got generic treatment and then was diagnosed w bipolar or shitzoeffective disorder ( both were misdiagnosis) I was in and out of psych hospitals and tried over 100 meds in 5 years. I ended up divorced and am having to rebuild now that I have found the right therapist, I’m living in a stable home environment, and I have weened off antipsychotics. I’ve got a ways to go but things are much better. I just wish I had more time w my children.

I’m 29 and was diagnosed this year. Previously just diagnosed as anxiety. I think a key thing that led to my own diagnosis was seeing that my symptoms were actually that of OCD vs anxiety. (Ruminating, checking, and compulsions) I’m so happy to see celebrities and experts becoming more and more vocal so that regular everyday people can see them and say “woah that sounds like me!”. I have very mild OCD comparatively but knowing that anyone can improve with treatment and we can all take more of our lives back from it is a testament to incredible science and hard work. I hope anyone reading this knows that it does get better, the scary thoughts will tell you otherwise but they are wrong. You will get through this day and tomorrow and the day after. 🩷

17 years

Within a year

18 years

Well I’m assuming I’ve always had it even as a child to some mild degree. But I didn’t actually get a diagnosis until I was 27/28 and by that point it was rampant.

9 years

The first time I noticed something was very wrong was the first 4 months after I had my daughter. I was up all night making plans of “if” the house was to light on fire, or “if” someone broke in to take my baby, or “if” she stopped breathing. I would cycle through these possibilities, not sleep, and panic. I thought I was a terrible mom. I went to the doctor and got on anxiety medication specifically for Postpartum depression, anxiety, and OCD. I genuinely thought I was going to kill her. The feelings never subsided really, just began attaching to other things. When I got very ill in 2025 with an abscessed tooth and had to have surgery. I didn’t know how bad it had progressed and I had a trail of damaged relationships with family that I suddenly needed to repair. I have been in therapy since, and assessed areas of my life that needed adjustment and have been recognizing my compulsions head on. I’ve been rocking it! There will always be hiccups but at least I know what OCD looks like and can carry it with me rather than submit to it.

I was diagnosed at age 11. The compulsions were not hidden, one example being I was washing my face for hours on end. I don't fully understand how people don't receive a diagnosis right away or know they have OCD.

I’ve definitely had it since I was a kid, but symptoms really ramped up when I was 18 and then I got an official diagnosis when I was 23 ❤️ The diagnosis and subsequent treatment has changed my life, I’ll be forever grateful for it

50 years

I was diagnosed in my late teens, but at that time, the only option was medication. I tried the medication but felt no difference. I really didn't have a better option and so I tried to self treat and for the next 35+ years I traded compulsion for compulsion just to ease the anxieties I felt. I became passive and a people pleaser and very introverted (though I have fought to be more outgoing). I recently started dating after I lost my wife (no reassurance needed 😉) and my GF saw the passivity quickly and saw my struggle. We talked about mental health (since she has her own struggles) and I realized how much damage ocd had caused. That's when I found Nocd and started 5 weeks ago. It's amazingly hard, but amazingly worth it. I'm taking control and am even going to be assessed for ADHD. I'm learning so much that I wish I'd have learned sooner. But thank God for my sweet GF who encouraged me to seek help. I even shared with a friend and found out her 25yo son is dealing with ocd. I encouraged her to send him to Nocd and get treatment now. I told her, "I'm him from the future telling him what will happen if he doesn't take care of it now." Of course I said that "tongue-in-cheek", but I told her I don't want him to go a lifetime burdened under ocd. We all have a story to tell and someone we can help because we understand the pain they're going through. Use this mess as a message and this test as a testimony to someone else.

I was 28

Less than 6 months, maybe 2? I was superduper lucky, but my OCD didn’t really present until I was almost 40.

Had symptoms for about 20 years. I was in therapy for about 2 years...talk therapy. Couldn't understand why nothing seemed to be getting better.

i got so so lucky. i got it at 7 years old because my dad recognized his own symptoms in me and realized our OCD was genetic 😢❤️

22 years. I show a number of signs that I hadn’t realized were OCD in my childhood. It wasn’t until I was 22 and looked up what obsessive thoughts meant and finally saw a specialist to get help. Everything in my life, it was like it had finally made sense.

First diagnosed with anxiety at 16, I don't think my OCD got to be a problem until I was about 24, so five years. I know how lucky I am lol, though god i wish I knew when I went to the mental hospital twice from how bad it was

I didn’t realize I had been struggling with OCD my entire life (I was 22 when I was diagnosed). While struggling with debilitating anxiety and depression right after COVID, I decided to go to therapy to get my life back. I am so blessed and thankful that the first therapist I went to listened to what was prompting my anxiety and in the first session recognized that it sounded like OCD and referred me to NOCD. That was four years ago now and my life hasn’t been better.

dx at 20, exhibited symptoms at first at age 12, so i guess 8 years

I received my OCD diagnosis 2 years ago as of this month. Up until then, I was diagnosed with GAD. As far as I know, I've had my OCD my entire life, so it's been 28 years with nothing! I am extremely grateful to have received my diagnosis, even when it was a terrifying prospect. Life is getting easier now with the right treatment.

More than 30 years here too.

Diagnosed myself at age 22 when I googled “why do I keep having violent thoughts?” Suddenly, my whole life made sense - since age 6, I had dealt with pretty much every OCD subtype. So, 16 years, but I wasn’t brave enough to seek therapy for a few more years after my self diagnosis!

Ever since I got diagnosed march if this year I noticed I’d been struggling with it for a long time💔 I was admitted into a psych ward in February, got my diagnoses and entered a php program for a couple of months. Now I’m doing therapy with nocd working up to less appointments over time and gaining confidence to beat ocd❤️

Around 10 years, since I first started therapy to now, I feel lucky

9 years

I wasn't really diagnosed until I was in my early 20s. I guess that's normal. My compulsions surround mental processes rather than physical actions, so it's been difficult to understand where obsessions start and end. I'm excited to be finally starting with a therapy that can get to the bottom of this and provide some recovery.

About 6 years for me. Started at 14 and diagnosed at 20 at Shands research hospital in Florida. I was paralyzed with ocd before they diagnosed me. That’s when I was introduced to Fluvoxamine aka luvox. Changed my life.

Also Fluvoxamine is specifically for ocd. If you have not, maybe ask your health care provider about it if needed.

i’ve had it since I was a child, didn’t start therapy until this year. I’m 22 now 🙃

22 years!!

Just diagnosed thru NOCD, but I’ve had symptoms for as long as I can remember, so probably about 15 years. I’m 24 now.

Didn't realize i had it for most of my life til I was in my late 20s. Thought ocd was monk. Comes in many forms.

18 years! Started therapy at 9 and didn’t get an accurate diagnosis until 27

If we go from first therapist ever, about 20 years

I was correctly diagnosed at 8, though they briefly thought I was psychotic at 9. That said, I did not get the right treatment for another 13 years, and it would be another 4 odd years before I had effective treatment

30 years and one mental breakdown later…

22 years sadly

In and out of therapy of various forms for close to 30 years. Was just diagnosed 1.5 years ago.

I was 25 when I got diagnosed

I had OCD for over 25 years before I was diagnosed, but I was sure of it long before I was formally diagnosed this year at 39 y/o.

30 years

43 years, I just thought I was broken and crazy

40 years

When I was in my twenties, I read about Harm OCD in a book about panic & anxiety disorders (looking for help in dealing with why I was having panic attacks regularly....After years of not finding the type of treatment that helped me, I finally at the age of 49, started really learning just how much of an impact my OCD actually had on my life. So very grateful to have finally found the right treatment, and to have so much more of an understanding of it now. So much of my life was spent on ruminating, compulsions, and knowing that something was wrong, but not knowing what or how to fix it. I felt a physical release in my entire rib cage (like a hand had been grabbing me, intertwined in between my ribs and had been clenching my entire life, that finally started to loosen its grip on me...then went away entirely...I never knew that this was possible) once I started learning grounding techniques, how to do body scans and identify what I was feeling and where in my body I was feeling it. I am learning how to practice techniques and how to now manage & identify my personal OCD symptoms....It has taken a few years of therapy, and I feel that I am in a far better place now. Getting treatment was life changing for me, and my hope for others is that they can identify it and get help far sooner❤️. So happy to see more knowledge being spread & accessible treatment options for OCD these days, and hope that it keeps growing.

I wasn't diagnosed until early this year. I seem to have had symptoms since I was a child so probably around 30 years haha

Hm probably like 6 years! Been in regular CBT/DBT therapy for years and it didn't come up until I found NOCD. Grateful for this app and community for helping identify it sooner rather than later!

14 if I am doing my math right 😂

19

Age 20 was the first time I hit an accurate diagnosis

15 years!! they brushed it off as insane anxiety even when i pushed for more help. it only took for my OCD to say if i didn’t attempt my family would for them to help me!!

18 years I believe

First symptomatic at 7, finally diagnosed at 21 :’) 14 years on the dot

23ish years. Struggled with "being a nervous kid" since I was 7. It got bad in college, so tentatively started searching symptoms. Self diagnosed with generalized anxiety. Started dabbling in therapy and eventually got on medication for that, which dramatically helped for a while. Accepted the anxiety diagnosis. Have been with 7 therapists over the years including an EMDR therapist. None of them saw it. When it got bad again, my sister, who has OCD, saw me doing a compulsion and said "I think that's OCD". Been doing ERP with NOCD for a little over a year and a half now, and it all makes so much sense now. It's truly life changing to have the right diagnosis and the right treatment with that. It took me a while to accept that I have OCD and not just "anxiety that I managed with some OCD-like habits." 😂

20 years something. I was always diagnosed with high-performance anxiety and never with OCD. It only was diagnosed 2-3 years post severe anxiety occurrence.

16 years. I was diagnosed at 12. I had no idea what OCD really meant until this year. I’m 28

i was diagnosed with depression first and diagnosed with severe OCD at 12

I was diagnosed at 15, but I didn't really start taking treatment seriously until now at 22. I can look back at my life and see how much I was under OCD'S influence for so long, going back to even my childhood.

11 years of signs, full blown severe for 5!

20 years old

About 20 years. I had symptoms very early, as far back as I can remember and probably longer. I’m 29 and was diagnosed at about 23.

I was 19 but had symptoms since I was 3 and if I never would have this big crashout when I started college I don’t think I would even have the diagnosis now at 23

About 20 years I believe.

14 years and then another four to see the light on how much of my issues are OCD and understand you need specialized therapy

my ocd onset when i was 19 radically transforming my day to day experience within my head. it took 3 years to find out that was what was happening and the dark obsessions had done quite a bit of damage to my perception of self in that time. while i am now able (most times) to recognize my thoughts as symptoms of a disorder back then i feared they were reflections of some sinister true nature. i still struggle to undo the negative beliefs i internalized at that time.

My symptoms started their peak around 10/11 and I knew pretty early on that it was ocd. I was on a high dose of Focalin that made my symptoms manifest beyond the latent habits I already had like compulsive throat clearing. Got taken off of that and got put on Prozac for depression. OCD got markedly better then around 14/15 but still too bad to feel sale enough to say any of my thoughts aloud. Turn 18, get kicked off of child psychiatric care about a month later and go off of daily used Prozac, clonazepam, and Adderall. OCD becomes the worst I had experienced, in that I had more grounded obsessions than the ones around 10/11/12 but I was older and understood the concept of suicide. I had an episode so bad I couldn’t do anything but sleep and watch parks and recreation over and over again in the dark. All of my dreams would be nightmares related to my compulsions and I’d wake up and go from terrified to miserable. Every waking second was torture and I was severely dissociated/depersonalized. I voluntarily hospitalized myself for fear of suicide and basically told the clinician “I have ocd” and she said “well you sure do!” and I received actual treatment for the first time ever. I’m still on the hydroxyzine they prescribed me almost a decade ago

31 years. Misdiagnosed at 21. Symptoms were present as long as I can remember, but really took hold in high school. Destroyed a relationship, detoured my life from any path that caused anxiety/depression spikes. Feel like the years were stolen. Looking forward to therapy and to reclaiming myself and the years to come.

12-14yrs

25 years for a diagnosis, but I didn’t really embrace it and get true help until 31.

10 years. My parents always suspected it but weren't able to get me any help because therapy in the US is expensive, even with insurance.

First OCD symptoms at 10 years old, misdiagnosed with everything under the sun until 2022 when I was 36 years old. I’m 41 now and finally living symptom free.

Knew I had it but was never diagnosed until I was 21 and at my lowest

14 years

Had it for 2 years before I realized it was OCD. Had it about 12 years before I got an OCD diagnosis from a talk therapist. And now I've had it for 25 years and just started ERP with NOCD about 6 months ago. I wish so much I had gotten proper help earlier. My life would have been so different.

28 years

40 years! With 17 of them being misdiagnosed and receiving treatment that made the ocd worse in many ways. But it did help with other areas of my life. I’m so glad I found nocd! And especially the support groups where so much others share is so relatable

I'm 58 and was just diagnosed last year. I've probably had it for 40 years. I'm so glad I found Nocd

15 years My only compulsion was avoidance. Which wasn't a recognized OCD symptom until I had already gone through 15+ years of "general anxiety disorder".

6 years

Thank goodness I saw things on TikTok about OCD that led me to seek a therapist and get a diagnosis. I had been dealing with it intensely for about 6 months before I found out. I think I’ve had it for years, but not until this year did it affect me enough to seek help.

Always an anxious kid. Started anxiety meds at 19. Diagnosed with OCD at 33.

I haven't been able to receive a diagnosis yet sadly. I know for sure it's going on. Not just "anxiety"

Sought out actual help when I was in college around age 20 but ocd diagnosis came when I was 35. So 15 years of a load of other diagnoses until the right one! After realizing what ocd actually is I now know I’ve had it since I was like 5 or 6!

I am 30 years old and am just now talking about a diagnosis. My therapist recommended I may have ocd and honestly I feel so relieved

I think I've pretty much had OCD my whole life. It started to become disruptive in my life in middle school and became almost unbearable in high school when my mom got sick. I finally agreed to see a therapist at 18 years old during my last semester of high school. It was then that I was diagnosed with severe OCD and other mental health disorders. It was definitely a relief to finally put a name to this disorder. Unfortunately the talk therapy was not super helpful in treating the OCD. I am now 31 and luckily I found NOCD a few months ago. Progress is slow, but I'm seeing progress.

25 years