Hello! I have a phobia of a particular number which I associate with Satan and it gives me severe stress and anxiety. It causes me to have to do hours of rituals to feel “okay” again, and I try to avoid it at all costs. Today, as I was driving (which is also an ocd trigger for me) I saw a license plate with that number. I freaked out and have been in crisis mode for the past couple hours. I was wondering if anyone had tips on how to move forward after being at a high anxiety state for so long. Numbers are unavoidable and I was wondering if people had tips or tricks for coping? Thank you

One of my first memories of OCD was from when I was about 8-12 years old. I’ve always struggled with sleeping and prone to twisting and turning due to my brain going like 🧠 🗣️🗣️🗣️ Anyways once I couldn’t sleep and got out of bed one of my parents said, with compassion, ”oh it’s so late, why are you awake it’s school tomorrow” and when they followed me to my room I saw that the time was 22:22 and I felt a really scary feeling in my chest (today I know it was anxiety) and from that day on the time 22:22 🕰️ followed me for years. I was twisting and turning and feeling anxious about my digital clock (I’m a 90s girly) turning 22:22. I could get issues taking deep breaths, being sweaty, uncomfortable and scared and feeling like ”ITS SOON 22:22 AND WHEN THE TIME PASSES IT WILL BE TOO LATE”. I never really understood exactly what was going to be ”too late” but I’m guessing it was getting too little sleep absolutely blown out of proportion. As soon it passed 22:22 it was all good and I could fall asleep 😴 I don’t struggle with those numbers today instead I smile and feel compassionate towards little me. Still OCD sucks, I still struggle with sleep times to times and do have some magical thinking but the big difference is that I logically know that it’s not real even if it emotionally sometimes feel that way. Take care out there. If this made you feel less lonely, wanna share your first memories of OCD? ❤️

Hi! I have Religious OCD, and have been recently needing some tips on how to deal with this painful disorder. I constantly feel like God is telling me to do certain things for example, “don’t go there,” or “don’t do this or else it will be against my plan for your life.” This causes me so much anxiety, and makes me question if I am doing the right things to live according to his will for my life. I’m constantly worried I’m disappointing Him. Also while praying I get thoughts in my head saying I should for example, add for religious practices to my routine. This also causes me stress because while dealing with this disorder, daily religious practices become very overwhelming. I’m worried that if I ignore these thoughts during my prayer, I am ignoring God. I have truly hit a limit where I don’t even know what to do, and am searching for some tips if anybody on here has any. Let’s overcome this OCD together. Thank you

i suffer from religious ocd and it's been really bad recently. i don't consider myself religious but i still have religious OCD so things get complicated. i was raised in a christian household, but idk if id consider myself fully christian, i just believe in the existence of religion and life after death in general. anyway, i get very triggered every time i hear any word that has to do with religion. i always feel like i have to quickly pray or else something bad will happen or ill accidentally summon a demon or something. just writing this is making me nervous and i lowkey just prayed😭😭. and by pray i literally mean just a quick "in jesus name i pray, amen." or a "i claim no negative energy, amen." i also feel the urge to pray anytime i have something at stake, like a concert or a test, and i'll distress myself over these events and convince myself ill fail if i don't pray and anger god. and like i said, im not even sure im christian so this seems silly, i know! but i literally pray in my head hundreds of times a day and it's really frustrating and time consuming. also, i never feel like the prayer is "enough", so sometimes ill get caught in prayer loops where i just keep reciting the same thing in my head until i feel satisfied or get distracted. one time, i even convinced myself my stuffed animal was possessed by a demon and had a panic attack (i was aware it was irrational but you know how OCD is). i really need help because simple words trigger my OCD now and i can't enjoy things i used to, like horror movies, anymore. it's taking too much time out of my day and too much energy out of me. simple tasks are becoming distressing. does anyone have advice or a similar experience?