does anyone else get scared that they might have schitzofrenia symptoms like making yourself imagine your imagination is talking to you but you know your jus pretending and it’s really just your ocd trying to scare you

Is your OCD a lot better now? Thank you for your help. I just started using this app and it’s nice to have a community of similar people.

@shahsand Hahah no it is not sadly. It did get better (it basically went away!) for a good three years but It’s back again now. I never got proper treatment until now though so fingers crossed that it stays a lot better and doesn’t come on as strongly throughout the rest of my life. It rears its ugly head whenever I’m going through a big life transition or stressful time in my life so I’m back on the therapy grind. And I know what you mean about feeling nice to know there’s a community of people who deal with this shit. Trust me, you’re not the first or the last person who’s freaked out about having some other type of mentall illness! As someone who’s been there and done the whole “what if I’m schizophrenic?” thing, my advice to you would be this - try to not seek answers or reassurance or certainty of any kind! Whether you have schizophrenia or not is irrelevant! The distress you’re feeling is because you’re trying super hard to find an answer to something that you won’t ever be 100% certain of! Trust what your therapist says and stick with the ERP and it will get better. Think of it this way - do you spend all day worrying about an asteroid hitting earth? No, because you know that while it is very unlikely, you can’t control this and it’s not worth stressing yourself out over the small possibility that one does. You could consult all of the NASA scientists in the world but still never be certain that one wouldn’t hit the earth! Same thing with your worry about schizophrenia. You’ll drive yourself crazy trying to figure out if it’s just ocd or real or blah blah blah. No amount of digging will satisfy your OCD so it’s best to just try to let it go and not ruminate on it.

@gglittle that is so true my brain was trying to make me think of a scary voice speaking to me but i know that it’s at my will and schitzofrenia voices aren’t something u control so i don’t think my intrusive is true.

@shahsand I think you’re right but try not to think of it in terms of true or false! You’re still trying to find an answer to your anxiety. Just take the thoughts as white noise!

Does it mean it’s real or just a ploy from our ocd to cause fear?

@shahsand The fear of it is very real. And the obsessions and rituals people develop around it are also real. The doubt that it might not be OCD and something else is real as well.

@NOCD Advocate - Carl Cornett Exactly. However in luckily one my case I don’t think it is since i don’t feel any of the symptoms that separate it from ocd.