Is there a link between PTSD and OCD? I was mlested when I was eight years old by my older best friend at the time, I was showed adult films and flashed by an older family at a very young age, that was when I started acting out and my behaviour changed completely. 1-2 years after the event, I began to display OCD symptoms though at that time I had no idea what OCD was. We ignored the symptoms for years which gradually got worse. I thought it had gone away after I had moved, I thought I had gotten better but the worst was still coming. I moved again and by this time my mind has pushed my trauma to the back, I replaced those memories with the good ones and forgotten all about life back home until I moved again. I hadn’t been talked about sxual assault, m*lestation or any of the above because my family is extremely religious and don’t discuss those subjects so I had no idea what happened to me was not okay I thought everyone’s friends did this to them. This was around the time I attempted, but failed which I am glad I did, though nobody knows about it. Once I started researching and hearing other stories from people who went through the very same thing as me as a child it opened my eyes. It also brought back flashbacks and intense emotions I had never experienced in my life. I’d get them on the bus ride home, in class, at home, I’d get triggered very quickly and easily. The flashbacks have stopped for now, though I still haven’t told anybody about the friend who violated me. That’s when my OCD began developing into what it is today, and I went to see a therapist and turns out I had it. Sometimes I wonder if I would’ve told somebody maybe I wouldn’t have this. I don’t like thinking about this or talking about it’s been on my mind for quite a while.

iamcami

Date posted: 5y

My mind constantly tells me that I never really experienced that trauma just like it tells me I don’t actually have OCD, why????

cfdh

Date posted: 5y

Oh god, how I understand you!!! I also have a trauma that I never talk about and at sometimes it seems that my mind is trying to convince me that it never happened. Also, I can only think of it if I try very hard, it’s like the memory is burried and I have to dig to get to it

Mariela

Date posted: 5y

I understand you!! Theres definitely a connection because OCD is caused by anxiety but also due to the sense of LOSS OF CONTROL; which is what happens when a child is molested. I was sexually abused too by my cousin and Ive had OCD since a child but my OCD NEVER VALIDATES the fact that I do have OCD and it took a lot of therapy for me to validate my own sexual abuse.

Fathomable

Date posted: 5y

There can be a lot of overlap in symptoms (depression, rumination, anxiety, fear, guilt, doubt etc) and my therapist believes my OCD was triggered by trauma. It certainly has gotten worse in the wake of later traumas. Maybe if I'd been able to talk about it at the time, I wouldn't have gotten OCD. But I couldn't, and later wouldn't, that's just the way it is. It doesn't help me much to think about what might have been. But it's important to go over it in therapy.

Mariela

Date posted: 5y

I don't think your OCD or PTSD could have been prevented; whether you told anybody or not. A child's brain is NOT DEVELOPED enough to consent or understand sexual acts; this causes severe TRAUMA to the child often manifested in different ways, one of which is OCD. ESPECIALLY if it was someone close to you and no one was there to help YOU, the child in need. This is not your fault AT ALL. You were just a kid. However, validating your experience WILL help you heal your inner child.

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