Hello! It’s my first time using this app. About to get really personal. I’ve struggled with OCD for a long as I can remember. Picking at the skin around my nails, having “scary thoughts.” After I moved out, my OCD seemed easier to manage for a while. However, a year and a half ago I was rapped. Ever since that night, the OCD has come back and is so much worse. Being raised Catholic, my intrusive thoughts center around the fact that I am no longer “pure”. I know that what happened to me is not my fault, but my OCD loves convincing me otherwise. Sometimes it’s almost like PTSD where I have flashbacks to that night. Any suggestions?

Hi, I’m new to this app and I’m not sure if it’ll help me, but I’ll try anything to get better. For anyone who wants to read, here’s my story: I think I began having OCD when I was young, after my parents divorced and I went through being abused by the parent I was living with, while also going through bullying at school. I went through a trauma, and that’s when it set in. I’m now 21, and within the past 2 years I’ve got my first car, first real job, moved out on my own, and had a baby. So a lot of major life changes. This has thrown the OCD into a state that’s just unmanageable. I can’t fold laundry because it’s impossible to get it perfect, so it stays in the dryer. I can’t clean up anything without having absolute silence and taking hours. It’s hard to shower, having to OCD anything I touch. It’s hard to make dinner, it’s hard to wash dishes. Everything is hard anymore. I tried medication, but it just gave me severe headaches and dizziness, which only agitated my OCD more. I just want hope that this is something that can indeed be treated. It only keeps getting worse with age and it’s extremely hard to live a normal life like this. If anyone has similar stories feel free to share, I will definitely read them.

Hello everyone this is my first time writing on here and I’m really scared to even say something because I have never had proper help with ocd or been diagnosed but I’ve been dealing with severe ocd since 2017 now. I just want to get better but it feels like there is no way out at times. My most common are sexual thoughts or pocd or ocd related to my family, sexual or harm. Yesterday my niece was at my house and I adore her to bits but over the past year I’ve become very distant with her and I don’t like hugging her or touching her or just being close to her. It makes my heart break because she is everything to me and I have to push her away when she comes to hug me. Yesterday I tried to get over it and play with her again so I hugged her and sat by her side with my head on her shoulder but a sudden urge came into my mind and it was so disgusting. I kept thinking I would touch her inappropriately or without her consent and that thoughts just took over my mind. This will sound so stupid but my thumb or fist was on her back and I had a thought that it was wrong to touch her so I pulled away but the thoughts came rushing back and I let my fist be placed in that same position again. I feel so disgusted I know it’s nothing and this sounds completely insane but I feel like I’ve done something disgusting and touched her in a inappropriate way and I havent been able to get over it because it feels like I let the thoughts win and they made me do it? What if it isn’t ocd? I’m feeling like I just can’t get through the night please tell me if real event ocd happens to you guys and how to deal with it? Is this ocd or am I just this disgusting person who did something to her? I keep replaying the moment in my head but all of it is fuzzy and I can rationalize it. I just feel disgusting.

hey yall!! i’m new to this app and it’s so comforting to see many others share similar experiences that i’ve went through to start this off, my ocd rooted from religion when i was around 9 years old. i have a huge family, mostly catholic, so growing up i believed in god due to my surroundings (they were never forceful w religion). it began with intrusive thoughts like “do ___ or you’ll go to hell” or intrusive thoughts that would make me do things or else i’d be disrespecting god which, as a child, terrified me. then it went on to my extreme fear of germs. i would wash my hands constantly and use hand sanitizer every second to a point where my hands were cracked and bleeding. i had to see a dermatologist in order for the skin on my hands to go back to normal. growing up my intrusive thoughts became extremely overwhelming (especially as a teenager), having to do with sexuality, not knowing if what i remembered was real or if my mind was making it up, relationship ocd, thoughts ab me/ a loved one being harmed, ocd about sexual things, etc etc. i always felt so gross bc of these things as i had thought that i was the only one who experienced this. i’m so glad i’ve found a community where so many of us can relate to these things, as i feel so comfortable and not alone. i’m currently still a teenager and have managed to handle my intrusive thoughts a little better, but i do have an extreme amount of anxiety as well, a lot of it surrounding those intrusive thoughts. i can’t really get therapy due to personal reasons but i’m grateful i can vent in a safe space:) i feel so welcomed on this app, i hope all of you are well <3