Feeling so alone in this, always. I know several other trans women with OCD, including OCD about whether or not they’re actually women at all, and there are other lesbians here on this app who have OCD telling them they’re straight. Yet when I look for resources on gender- and sexuality-related OCD, what I find is materials for straight people whose OCD is telling them they’re gay. Much love to those people, but I hate having to try to translate materials for them into advice for my situation, which is similar in some ways but different in others. Everywhere I go in life it’s like this: the human world is built as though people like me don’t exist. No wonder I have OCD telling me I must be straight and cis instead of a lesbian trans woman.

Sexual Orientation OCD

rlr

Date posted: 5y

I’m so sorry for this, it’s the unfortunate reality of our world today. I really hope that in the near future ocd specialists and everybody else will take into account the fact that not everybody is straight/cis so people like you can have better resources and just feel more included in general.

ocdillustrated

Date posted: 5y

Unfortunately finding material written for people in your position is hard to do. Most content creators try to write for as large an audience as they can find, and that means people with marginalized identities get left out. I'm doing some digging to see if I can find resources for you. Here's the first one I came up with. https://medium.com/s/story/my-ocd-tries-to-convince-me-im-not-queer-36ec3c1c89c9

Vieira da $$...

Date posted: 5y

Thank you for doing this digging. I appreciate your digging efforts very much. It does help - I deal with many life issues, and so my energy for each one is limited. Maybe NOCD or its members can start a collection of links and book/article citations/excerpts for my condition and any other OCD conditions of minorities underserved or wrongly served by the existing OCD therapy infrastructure, which we all know is so insufficient.

Escape Artist

Date posted: 5y

I'm trans and used to have OCD about "what if I'm not really trans". It went away when I transitioned medically (which my OCD was telling me not to do). The idea of "what if I'm not really trans" still pops into my head now and then, but I just kinda think "well that would be a real mess wouldn't it?" and that is the end of that. Doesn't stress me out anymore.

Escape Artist

Date posted: 5y

To clarify, back when it was bad, I'd spend hours reading stories of people who transitioned/ people who detransitioned/ articles or taking dumb "are you trans" quizzes over and over again to find "proof" if I was really for sure trans.

Vieira da $$...

Date posted: 5y

In that case, maybe I should get more trans body modifications just to give the OCD a kick :D

Vieira da $$...

Date posted: 5y

@Escape Artist I used to be so, SO scared of detransition, jesus.

Escape Artist

Date posted: 5y

@Vieira da $$$ilva???? Same! Absolutely terrified. Couldn't stop picturing going through all the hoops twice and needing to come out to everyone again. Plus if I wasn't trans then my dysphoria must not be "real" and if I transitioned I'd cause myself to have "real" dysphoria. And so that "real" dysphoria must be so much worse and with my current dysphoria as bad as it was, I couldn't imagine dealing with something worse. I don't know if it makes sense to necessarily get surgery to tell the OCD to f-off unless you want to do that anyway and the OCD is stopping you. I think it is just a matter of doing whatever you'd do if you weren't questioning your transness.

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