Having a difficult time talking to my mom about my OCD diagnosis. She thinks that’s not what I have and that I’m probably just searching for something to call it. She associates OCD with the hand-washing and cleanliness, however I deal with harm and religious OCD. Explained I thought it was general anxiety but with the obsessive intrusive thoughts and mental compulsions I’ve been experiencing I suspected it could be OCD and had that confirmed by my therapist. Anyone else have a hard time talking with their families on the subject?

Im 21 years old, I had ocd seen I was 14 when it started it stopped me from telling anyone I have it. It was really bad at the time and I had no clue how to deal with it I even was able to kill myself at one point but decided to have hope it would get better. In time it did got better but I had no clue what was wrong with me and I didn't want to tell anyone. Until this year I finally found out what it was and my ocd started getting bad again but I'm doing better now. Is been 7 years but I really want my mom to know what I been through but I feel like if I tell her it hurt her and I feel bad for not telling her when it started. I just need same help getting the courage to tell her.

harm ocd is the bane of my existence. people always tell me that if you have anxiety over a thought, that’s ocd. and these intrusive thoughts cause me IMMENSE anxiety. i’m constantly looking for reasons why i’m not what these thoughts tell me i am. but WHY DOES IT FEEL SO REAL?? it’s like i can’t reassure myself that this isn’t me and i don’t want to do it, but i also look for reasons why it’s not me. my brain is constantly telling me “if you don’t act on this, you’ll never feel free”. WHAT EVEN IS THAT?? and why does it feel real?? anytime i think about getting therapy, i constantly think that it’s not going to help me positively but help me realize i am this person. i just wish someone with harm ocd could get into my brain, understand me, and tell me everything will be okay. i wish someone in recovery could tell me that they’ve been where i am, felt the same feelings, thought the same thoughts, and got through it when they thought they wouldn’t. i feel like i’m drowning in it. another thing is i think about how my mom knows a surface level understanding to this form of my ocd, but if she knew it all, i’m scared she’d never look at me the same. i’m scared she’d be scared of me and think i need psychiatric help. IM TERRIFIED.

So I recently got diagnosed with ocd, and due to me growing up in a household who doesn’t believe in it I have an even harder time grasping if it’s a real diagnosis or not. I know it is but my parents still get mad at me when I tell them not to reassure me and things like that, since they don’t want to understand me anytime. They always put the blame on me and they do everything and how I’m ungrateful. I am very greatful but I told my mom to try to understand this condition but she refuses to, my dad just completely ignores that it exists. It’s just hard to cope around it and not be stuck in a loop, I’m leaving in a few months after graduating so hopefully that will help. It’s hard when my parents don’t want to try to understand what I go through.