I was watching modern family with my mom and it was at a point where the father was talking about his son coming out and how it was hard for him. It made me feel really uncomfortable and in my head it was like “don’t act weird you’re in front of your mom” “what if she thinks you’re lesbian” “what if you need to come out to her” but I’m not lesbian!! I have a loving boyfriend that I am so in love with and I can’t imagine myself getting old with a woman. I want to marry a man. I hate when this happens, I was getting anxiety when that scene came on but when I watch it alone it doesn’t affect me that much. Does anybody else get anything like this??

How’d you do it?? I really wanna marry my boyfriend and I’m scared I’m gay cause it feels so real

@takingmylifeback By doing exposures! Are you doing ERP with a therapist? If not, you should start. If I ever think that I might be a lesbian, I tell myself, “yes, maybe I am, I’ll never know for sure.” I also refuse to try to “figure it out” because that’s impossible to do! That probably sounds scary, but once you do it a lot, it’s not scary. I’m at the point where I very rarely even think about it, and when the thought does come up, I’m able to shut it down really quickly by accepting the uncertainty.

@Yayfortherapy I am doing ERP but I feel like imaginal exposures don’t cause me as much anxiety. Do you have any idea of exposures I could do? I also tell my thoughts maybe or okay and I am getting better at not figuring it out but I’m still working on it. Do you have any other erp ideas? It just feels like I need 100% certainty because it’s stopping me from being happy with my boyfriend.

@takingmylifeback Hmm could you try looking at pictures of attractive women? I wonder if that’d be a good exposure. I usually write for my exposures, you could try typing on your phone or writing on a piece of paper about how you might be a lesbian. Lastly, could you record yourself saying that you might be a lesbian and then listen to the recording? those are a few that I’ve done! Keep working at it until you find one that makes you really anxious! You’ll get there.

@takingmylifeback Feeling like you need 100% certainty is just a crappy part of OCD, it’s frustrating! But when you do your exposures, you’ll eventually feel better about it. I wonder if I good exposure could be saying/writing “maybe I’ll never be happy with my boyfriend because I can never be 100% sure of my sexuality.” If that makes you super anxious, you’ll know it’s working!!

@Yayfortherapy Okay thank you I will try it !!!

@Yayfortherapy I’m definitely going to try this thank you. I also feel like I’m at a place where I don’t feel anxious I just feel sad because it’s making the thoughts feel even more real. So I think if I feel like any emotion it will be good

@takingmylifeback I’ve been there, sometimes my OCD just ends up making me sad. :( sorry you’re going through this!

Whenever Im alone with my mom, I panic that Im just going to blurt it out. Its so stressful

@Sake Yes! It happens to my mom and uncle, like I wanna blurt the words out but I know it’s not true.

@Sake Same!!

Ugh I know exactly how you feel!