- Date posted
- 5y
- Date posted
- 5y
OCD manifests itself. I read an account once of a woman who had intrusive images of a billboard for two years. OCD isn’t a logical disorder, it’s one of emotion. It’s also super coming to wonder if it’s OCD. How you have the disorder, or why, isn’t important. It’s that you do have it, because knowing what it is and the experience of it is far more pertinent to your recovery. Wondering about how it happened is doing nothing to ameliorate the circumstances you’re now in.
- Date posted
- 5y
This is helpful thank you.
- Date posted
- 5y
I'm wondering whether the reading articles and listening to podcasts has shifted from information seeking to reassurance seeking
- Date posted
- 5y
I definitely think it has.
- Date posted
- 5y
@autumngrace Do you think you could take a pause from it and see what happens?
- Date posted
- 5y
@NOCD Advocate - Katie I think I could. I’ve been listening less than I did a month ago
- Date posted
- 5y
@csquared that is a wonderful point. I spent a lot of time wondering why or how my OCD developed, was it something I did? Something that happened to me? After bringing this up to my therapist he gave me this advice - even if you could know what brought it on, would it change anything? The answer tends to be no. I also put it this way - even if we could figure out what gave us/why we have OCD, our OCD would just question it anyway.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 20w
I haven't been able to read about experiences similar to mine when it comes to my perfectionism OCD so I was wondering if anyone had any "uncommon" experiences.
- Date posted
- 19w
I was diagnosed with OCD around the age of 6, subtype- contamination primarily. It calmed down as I got older and I assumed it had gone away, but also didn’t realize it can show up in other ways, and it still had been effecting me which I know now. I’m not 31 and I’ve been in therapy for a year and it’s helped a lot, although I sometimes get thoughts that what if some of the stuff I’m dealing with isn’t ocd and I’m exaggerating. I feel like thoughts will feel sticky and I’ll do certain compulsions but then the thought eventually vanishes if I do it a few times which makes me think maybe it’s not OCD since other people/friends I know would probably do the exact same thing. Not sure if I’m making sense, but I guess my question is if that thought comes up with anyone else? Just being unsure if something you’re doing actually is ocd or not.
- Date posted
- 16w
Hi! It’s pretty difficult for me to get the courage to post this but I’m really struggling to figure out if what I’m experiencing is OCD or Anxiety or neither. I think I have the “pure O” type of OCD where most of my compulsions take the form of ruminating and trying to figure out something all in my head. When I hear this talked about in forums or online the intrusive thoughts don’t really match mine- I worry often about things that seem more “grounded” if that makes sense. A common one for me is my own identity- i will spend long amounts of time stuck in my head trying to figure out my feelings (often sadness or other real emotions I have and patterns I have) and why I feel that way and what in my life caused that and how it’s impacting other things in my life. I also think often about which parts of my personality are the real me and which aren’t. Sometimes this takes the form of strictly ruminating and sometimes I have fake conversations with people I know. It’s intense and I feel I have to figure it out but with no specific intrusive thought that says something like “you have to figure this out or all of your loved ones will die” but it’s very intense. I think also often of all of the decisions I need to make in the future and how they’re going to affect those I love and care about as well as how much I’ll regret them. I imagine all of the ways I think my actions will emotionally hurt others and how to make the least harmful decision, but to me this feels like a valid concern but go over and over and never come to a conclusion. I often just get scared and never make any move because I don’t see an option that doesn’t hurt someone somehow. But again I’m having a hard time identifying the intrusive thought behind it. But I also don’t choose to think about these things most of the time. This is almost all decisions but especially big life decisions. It’s such a struggle because they are things I eventually do have to make decisions about. There is so much more to it that would take too long to explain but in general a lot of my fears revolve around pleasing others/ understanding others emotions to ensure they’re okay, my own identity and personality, and work/school performance. Someone mentioned OCD to me because in my head it feels like I have to solve these things and will go over and over them but I seriously can’t figure out if it’s anxiety, OCD, or none of the above. It’s all very disruptive to my life. I am never not thinking or not trying to figure something out and I feel as if I have no control over it Anyone have any insight?
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