- Date posted
- 7y
- Date posted
- 7y
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
- 7y
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
- 7y
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
- 7y
@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
- 7y
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
- 7y
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
- 7y
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
- 7y
I was called “just anxious”
Related posts
- Date posted
- 19w
Ok, so first of all, I’m undiagnosed. However, I’ve been pretty certain for a while now that what I’ve been struggling with is OCD. My problem though is that it’s not easy to get diagnosed, and in some cases, it would require me to pay money. It frustrates me that I have to pay to deal with my mental health. Is it worth it for me to get diagnosed? I know I don’t need a diagnosis to start healing and working on these things, but I also don’t want to be “self diagnosing” the problem, because that makes me feel like a liar and an imposter. My other problem is that I fear my family doctor won’t properly diagnose me. I came to him about mental health related issues once before, and he read off a very generic list of mental health symptoms. when he got to what sounded like the ‘OCD’ section, we asked one or two very generic questions that had nothing to do with my themes, and since I couldn’t relate, I just answered no to them. He then told me I was fine, that I was just a “type A personality”, and that I was just being too hard on myself. I fear that my doctor might not be very knowledgeable or up to date on current information regarding OCD, and this might make it increasingly difficult for me to get diagnosed. Another problem is my symptoms seem to come and go. I often have an obsessive cycle that can last months at a time, and then it just goes away. Sometimes I won’t experience any symptoms for years. This makes me feel like I don’t actually have OCD or that it’s not ‘bad’ enough to be diagnosable.
- Date posted
- 14w
Some background: I’m a woman in my 30s who’s been struggling to find the right diagnosis for years. Since 2022, I’ve had multiple psych hospital stays, and with each stay came a different diagnosis and different sets of medications: Bipolar II, CPTSD, MDD with psychotic features, “high functioning BPD,” and most recently, Schizoaffective Disorder (depressive type). Before all of that happened, I had been seeing a therapist for CPTSD and AuDHD traits for 2 years, but after they left the practice, I struggled to find someone I trusted again. Most of my breakdowns happened during my last relationship. Looking back, I was in survival mode with them, leaving who *I* am behind. I got to the point where I started doubting my own reality from the abuse. This eventually added up and landed me in my first episode of psychosis. That combined with my attempts is what got me my schizoaffective diagnosis. After finally leaving that relationship 1.5 years ago, I’ve slowly rebuilt my life: new town, new job, new friends. Many of my old symptoms (major ones) haven’t returned, which makes me believe I may have been misdiagnosed due to reliving past childhood trauma and stress responses from the abuse. Through all of this, I’ve felt like nothing ever truly fit. I journal, I reflect, I replay the recordings and I’ve even watched old vlogs –the puzzle pieces still don’t come together. It’s left me feeling like I’ll never really know what’s going on, and I’ve started to fear that my diagnoses will just keep stacking up without ever leading to effective treatment. Recently, I opened up to a friend about this. She mentioned that her neighbor went through something similar not exactly like me but she thought it would give me a starting point—multiple diagnoses that never felt right—until a new doctor finally identified it as OCD. That one diagnosis changed everything for her. It made me realize I really don’t know much about OCD beyond the stereotypes. I didn’t know OCD could involve intrusive thoughts, rumination, or mental compulsions. My friend encouraged me to look into it, especially as I start searching for a new therapist. Facebook and Google lead me here… So now I’m wondering: could OCD be a better explanation for what I’ve been experiencing all these years? Questions for the community: 1. What steps did you take to find out if OCD was what you were dealing with? 2. If you had a long history of misdiagnoses, how did you finally find a clinician who got it right? 3. How did you advocate for yourself when people dismissed your concerns? 4. Is there anything you wish you had done earlier in your OCD journey? Thank you so much if you made it this far. I’m really grateful for this space and just want to start finding answers and the right kind of help.
- Date posted
- 12w
hi! how did you guys get your ocd diagnosis? what was that process like? did it take a while? do some of you not have a diagnosis but just know you have ocd?
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