(This is in no mean to make fun of or make anyone feel bad or anything, just curious) how do so many people with pure o go through this for years without getting help?, its incredible to me, i developed pure ocd Sep 2020, its only been like 3 months and i cannot take it anymore, its a living nightmare, im meeting with a physiatrist in 2 weeks so hopefully i get help. I cant imagine how it must be for those who go years like this :,( everyday for me is a horrible struggle so just knowing people go years like this is just shocking to me.

^^ the same for me. For around a year and a half I had no idea what was wrong with my and my mother suffers from anxiety so I just figured that’s all it was, anxious thoughts. I kept it at bay with compulsions (at that point I didn’t even realize they were compulsions I was just avoiding everything that made me anxious like the plague) but yeah. I always suspected OCD but never understood. But after being diagnosed it opened me up to recovery. I didn’t even think it was possible and honestly thought I’d never be able to watch a serious movie, listen to music, or go outside at night again. I am currently battling doing those things now, and I wish I had gotten treatment sooner because it would have been so much easier early on. Props to you for having such a desire to get better. I think that’s awesome and catching it early on is always the biggest plus.

I only found out I had OCD when I was unknowingly engaging in a compulsion. I was reaussurance seeking on the internet and I found out pure-OCD was a thing. I can’t imagine where I would be if I hadn’t come across that information and genuinely considered it!

lack of information was the reason for me. i didn’t even have a name for what i was experiencing. the only thing i could understand from it was: it made me feel awful and it wasn’t something most people went through. i’ve finally gotten my diagnosis of ocd in 2020 and the earliest i could remember having this was 2007. it’s been years of suffering in silence

Yeah, you get accustomed to it as a way of life (albeit a hard one) for a while. My symptoms started around 11. Got much worse at 15. Didn’t find out until this year at 21.

Shame/maybe I am a bad person. I couldn’t tell anyone and risk that maybe I just was bad.

I'm not even sure why it's been like that for me. Maybe because I didnt want to get therapy (but I sometimes think about going for it)