- Date posted
- 6y
- Date posted
- 6y
Yes, I went to therapy for a long time before I was diagnosed with OCD by a psychologist. None of my therapists before that even mentioned the possibility of OCD, even though I had the symptoms then. But once you are diagnosed it is so helpful, because now you can start treating OCD specifically.
- Date posted
- 6y
Looking back, it seems so obvious that it was OCD. I wonder what it would’ve been like if I had gotten treatment all the way back then.
- Date posted
- 6y
I feel the same way! It seems so obvious now. I wonder that too, if I would have my OCD under control by now.
- Date posted
- 6y
@Jayge I literally experienced the same exact situation. My thoughts came after experiencing a major trauma but I had the same kind of thoughts. I was diagnosed as MDD and proceeded with talk therapy for the next 5 years. It did very little to help. In fact when I look back a lot of what happened in therapy only perpetuated the OCD. In hindsight it was so obviously OCD. Ten years later and only 2 months ago did I receive this diagnosis.
- Date posted
- 6y
I feel the same. Speech therapy didn’t help at all with my OCD, which made me feel so hopeless. I wonder how common that story is. I think there is a general lack of knowledge among a lot of doctors and therapists concerning OCD.
- Date posted
- 6y
I also got misdiagnosed, for 20 years. I have relationship ocd (obsessive jealousy), which isn’t well known or common. So most of my therapists told me I had attachment issues or was insecure due to a shitty childhood. I actually did my own research (Dr google!) and found (very few) things online about ROCD - but still something - that made me think “huh, this is not just simple insecurity!”. I went to an ocd specialist and told them what I thought, and they immediately got it (finally)! But that was just 2yrs ago, so I’ve been suffering with no knowledge of what was going on for 20 years!
- Date posted
- 6y
I was sent to a psychiatric facility when I was 15. By this time i had been experiencing symptoms as far back as I could remember, but I hid them. About a year earlier I realized I had OCD when I read a book about it. I told the doctor in the facility and he scoffed at me. I didn't know it then, but my mom told me later I was diagnosed with schizophrenia (totally unrelated and ethically wrong to diagnose a kid with this who showed no symptoms) because I didn't know i had that diagnosis anytime I went to psychiatrists and said I have OCD, they read in my chart that I had schizophrenia but also did not tell me that. I also was diagnosed with Tourettes at one point. Only this year, at age 35, did I receive the diagnosis I knew all along I had, over 20 years ago. So I'd say yeah, western medical health is very far behind and does not respect or listen to people about their own minds and bodies. By the way it's EXTREMELY obvious I have OCD so there's no excuse for any of them ;,)
- Date posted
- 6y
I was called “just anxious”
Related posts
- Date posted
- 24w
I've never been diagnosed with OCD, but have thought for a long time that I do have it. I've tried to bring it up in therapy but have been shot down as "OCD tendencies". Luckily I'm with a new therapist and am planning to bring it up again. Especially after reading a lot of your posts, I'm really resonating with them. Especially my anxieties and obsessions with my health. God forbid I feel any weird pain or ache, I instantly think I'm dying. Sometimes I get a weird pain in my head and think it's a stroke or aneurysm. Ill go as far as the perform the stroke FAST test. This happens multiple times a day. I also have HUGE anxieties about death and my mortality. If I think about it too much, I get this deep cold pit in my stomach and spiral. Even talking about it causes me sooo much distress. I'm just worried I'll be dismissed or told I'm just self diagnosing because I related to a post online. But if any of this sounds accurate, please let me know. I'd love to be reassured of my obsessions rather than just dismissed as being anxious.
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 23w
Looking back, I realize I’ve had OCD since I was 7. though I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 30. As a kid, I was consumed by fears I couldn’t explain: "What if God isn’t real? What happens when we die? How do I know I’m real?" These existential thoughts terrified me, and while everyone has them from time to time, I felt like they were consuming my life. By 12, I was having daily panic attacks about death and war, feeling untethered from reality as depersonalization and derealization set in. At 15, I turned to drinking, spending the next 15 years drunk, trying to escape my mind. I hated myself, struggled with my body, and my intrusive thoughts. Sobriety forced me to face it all head-on. In May 2022, I finally learned I had OCD. I remember the exact date: May 10th. Reading about it, I thought, "Oh my God, this is it. This explains everything." My main themes were existential OCD and self-harm intrusive thoughts. The self-harm fears were the hardest: "What if I kill myself? What if I lose control?" These thoughts terrified me because I didn’t want to die. ERP changed everything. At first, I thought, "You want me to confront my worst fears? Are you kidding me?" But ERP is gradual and done at your pace. My therapist taught me to lean into uncertainty instead of fighting it. She’d say, "Maybe you’ll kill yourself—who knows?" At first, it felt scary, but for OCD, it was freeing. Slowly, I realized my thoughts were just thoughts. ERP gave me my life back. I’m working again, I’m sober, and for the first time, I can imagine a future. If you’re scared to try ERP, I get it. But if you’re already living in fear, why not try a set of tools that can give you hope?
- Date posted
- 21w
I started dealing with OCD when I became fixated on health issues, particularly the fear of contracting a life-threatening disease. If I experienced any kind of medical symptom, no matter how small, that even remotely hinted at something potentially fatal, it would drive me crazy, and I couldn’t stop obsessing over it. Then one day, I started having intrusive thoughts about accidentally hitting someone with my car, and I would end up driving in circles to check if I had. Eventually, I found myself overwhelmed by a flood of new obsessive thoughts and compulsions. One day, while I was at the park, a squirrel came near me, and for some reason, I felt like it attacked me. I Googled it and learned that squirrels could carry rabies, which spiraled me into a deep fear of rabies. I became consumed with the thought I received a bite from a squirrel, raccoon, or bat any time I’m in areas that trigger me. It started off only being inside then transferred to even being in my own home. This made me obsess over every physical sensation in my body, compulsively checking to make sure nothing was wrong. One compulsion that I hated the most would to be putting rubbing alcohol on me to make sure that I had no open wounds. Every day feels like I’m walking around in a fog of anxiety, constantly worrying that I won’t even make it to old age. Sometimes, it gets so overwhelming that I just want it all to end. It stresses me so bad at times to where my brain feels like I’ve been studying all day.
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