- Date posted
- 5y
- Date posted
- 5y
You are not alone. I have that chest tightness feeling. You have to allow it to go through you and resist google searching or reading forums to see if your symptoms match. If it didn’t feel real, you wouldn’t have ocd about this. Accept it “feeling real” as as thought, acknowledge and move on to something else. Otherwise you’ll end up analyzing why you got that feeling and it spirals into more compulsions and a worse form of HOCD.
- Date posted
- 5y
Thank you. It’s great to not feel alone.
- Date posted
- 5y
if u don’t want a certain emotion or feeling to happen, u will most likely experience it which is why u feel like ur attracted to them. the whole point is to accept that maybe u are attracted to them, maybe not. you just have to learn to be okay with that. it’s hard and it’s painful but that’s just what erp is ://
- Date posted
- 5y
When you start resisting compulsions, your brain will double down at first. It REALLY wants you to do compulsions, so it will send new intrusive thoughts/feelings/urges to get you to cave. Don’t. This is perfectly normal for your theme. And you should expect to keep dealing with it for awhile. Face it and don’t run away. Every time you use compulsions to avoid these things you only show your brain just how important/right/scary/real these thoughts are to you. And you take away an opportunity for yourself to see them for what they are: just thoughts you don’t need to do anything about.
- Date posted
- 5y
Beautiful, thank you.
- Date posted
- 5y
The physical sensations associated with different emotions overlap a TON. the less we read into our sensations, the better. Your heart jumped. That happens sometimes. There are loads of possible reasons-including anxiety
- Date posted
- 5y
How do you do your ERP I also kind of get triggered but by the opposite “femine” looking guys
- Date posted
- 5y
So helpful thanks. I'm trying! ❤
Related posts
- Date posted
- 22w
I struggle with HOCD or SOOCD. I’m a married young woman to an amazing husband. I’ve had this since I was 16 but it only came in flair ups. However this round started in October, and it’s been really rough and I would just break down all the time. I went up on my medication and I actually noticed a difference! My thoughts were still very present but I wasn’t really paying attention to them or giving them power. HOWEVER right when I thought I was getting better, my brain started feeling and saying to myself that I just know I am bi but you want to make excuses for it like “oh it’s normal to find someone hot since we as a society have an interpretation of what that looks like” or “I see the girl as myself and that’s what ‘turns’ me on” or “well I mean that girl looks kind of like a man” and it’s it’s making me spiral. I won’t ever come out as Bi as deep in my soul I don’t feel I am. I have always wanted to be with men sexually and romantically and that has not changed but my brain is making me believe I am and I just don’t want to admit it. Please help me, what has helped you?
- Date posted
- 20w
So my OCD has been bad lately. I’ve been ruminating and obsessing over my sexuality again. And it just keeps getting worse. I hate it so much. I try to sit with the discomfort but then my ocd does the backdoor spike. And the groinal response is what keeps me looped. It SUCKS. I am not attracted to men, but my OCD is trying SO hard to convince me that I am. There have been days where I’m just so mentally exhausted that I “accept” what my ocd tells me and I just walk around a hollow, lethargic shell. But then I rethink it and I feel better. It feels like I can only find my TRUE self when I tire my nervous system out enough that it literally breaks down and has me suicidal and hopeless. And then accepting my OCD’s “truth” (that I’m attracted to men) feels like a burden and a chore. I woke up today from an OCD dream, tried to go back to sleep, and my stomach kept cramping bc I was so anxious and ruminating over my intrusive thoughts. I’m starting to doubt it being OCD anymore. My brain is too tired to fight and cry about it anymore.
- Date posted
- 19w
Hey everyone, just wanted to post an honest update on where I’m at in my HOCD recovery. Right now, I'm stuck in what feels like a 24/7 spike — nonstop thoughts, intrusive sensations, identity doubts, and hyperfocus. The worst part? It feels real. Like I’ve “lost,” like I’ve accepted it, like I am gay. The thoughts don't feel like anxiety anymore — they feel like truth. I’ve been trying to do ERP, but the spike has been so constant I don’t even have to “do exposures” — the thoughts, feelings, and sensations are just there all day long. It’s like living inside an exposure. And it’s exhausting. BUT — here’s what I’ve been doing (and what I’m sticking to now): I say once: “These thoughts and feelings are welcome to stay for as long as they want.” I let the doubt, the feelings, the hyperfocus exist. I don’t check, test, or analyze — even when it screams at me. I live my life anyway — folding clothes, watching TV, eating, walking — with the storm in my head. Even when it feels 100% real. Even when I’m fully focused on it. I’ve stopped trying to feel better. I’m letting it all burn — and just not fixing it. It doesn’t feel good. It doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t feel like progress.
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