- Date posted
- 4y
- Date posted
- 4y
I had the same thing happen and got through it. We are married with a baby now and I feel deserving of his love. It really is in the past. You aren’t that person anymore and it’s your ocd that’s making you feel this way.
- Date posted
- 4y
Thank you for responding. It means a lot. How did you find self forgiveness?
- Date posted
- 4y
@Azl When my ocd targeted something else, I realized it had been ocd and forgiveness was a never ending compulsion. Pureolife gave really good advice.
- Date posted
- 3y
Did you think you cheated? I have done the same thing and would love to know if it’s cheating or not
- Date posted
- 4y
Please STOP confessing to your girlfriend right now. (1) it is a compulsion, (2) you’re making her part of your compulsions, and (3) it is cruel. You need to separate her from managing your ocd and get treatment. Seeing an ocd specialist would be the best option, but you can also join an ocd support group, sign up for an ocd online course, or buy an ocd workbook. Whatever you choose: do it on your own and stop sharing your intrusive thoughts with your partner. It is incredibly unhealthy for both you and your relationship. You did not develop ocd because of guilt. You have a lot of guilt because you have ocd. Spending all day every day trying to “forgive” yourself is likely a compulsion. And my guess is that with your current strategy it will never happen. You need to get real treatment for ocd and learn to handle the discomfort these memories cause without performing compulsions to confess, erase, or make up for your intrusive thoughts. If you treat your ocd, your relationship can greatly improve. But it’s on you to do it!
- Date posted
- 4y
Thank you so much I am starting ERP on the 30 but how can I forgive myself if my partner doesn’t really know who I was? I feel like she has a false image of me and I want her to know who I was so she can make a decision on wether or not she wants to stay with me. I feel like she was living a lie and I feel so bad about it.
- Date posted
- 4y
@Azl The question you just asked is your obsession and what you’re doing with all of these compulsions is to try to solve it. I cannot solve it. And neither can you. Treatment will not involve solving this. It will involve the exact opposite: learning to stop solving it and to manage your emotions and anxieties without compulsions.
- Date posted
- 4y
I went through a similar thing last year. I was watching porn behind my girlfriend’s back and finally came clean and quit porn. The guilt and shame stayed for a very long time. I found myself confessing over and over, feeling the need to tell her ALL the details to “make sure” she knew who she was staying in a relationship with. After a while, it became hurtful to our relationship because (1) your partner doesn’t really need to know all the details (2) it’s a compulsion to keep confessing becuase you are just seeking this feeling of being “good enough” for the relationship (3) your partner is NOT your therapist. For me, I believe it is actually more loving to our partners if we do not treat them as our therapists. They can be there for you and support you in what you are going through, but they do not have to know every little detail. It puts an unnecessary strain on the relationship. One thing I found helpful when talking to my partner is that I would talk about “process” and not “content”. Instead of going into all the details and seeking an answe to my heavy questions, it is more helpful to say “hey, I’m feeling anxious right now and I am in my head a lot. I don’t need you to fix it, but I just want to let you know this is what I am going through.” That way, you are still being open and communicating, without seeking reassurance that your feelings are true or false.
- Date posted
- 4y
Thank you so much for replying. I am going to incorporate all of the advice I’ve received from you guys. You guys are right. My current strategy is getting me nowhere, if anything it’s making things worse. All I can do is love my girlfriend with all my heart and stop stressing if I’m good enough. If one day she decides that she doesn’t want to be with me then I’ll deal with it when that day comes, but until then I’m going to treasure the moments we do have. I love you guys I wouldn’t be here without y’all ❤️
- Date posted
- 3y
Do you think you cheated or not?
Related posts
- Date posted
- 24w
When I was single, I watched a lot of porn, specifically lesbian porn even though I’m straight. When I got into my current relationship I dwindled down and eventually stopped watching porn of any kind, around six or so months ago. I had a flare up recently that has caused me to question every part of myself including my sexuality and my identity, my relationship, and other things that are important and valued to me, and porn keeps popping up in all of these things. I feel like my porn usage was me cheating on my boyfriend, especially in the early parts of our relationship. I broke down to him last month about it and he said it was okay, that he forgives me, but I’m still hung up on it because I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve wronged him and that I’m a terrible person and that I need to leave him because of this. This is so excruciatingly painful. I don’t want to keep confessing over and over and over again, but I don’t want to be a dirty lying cheater, which I feel like I am.
- Date posted
- 22w
okay so, i had this friend i met in the 8th grade when i was 13 when we became friends and my nickname for her was “red” and i had a crush on this friend before we became friends and once we became friends the crush faded away and i just grew a close platonic friendship with her and no longer has any crush or attraction or romantic interest in her. then i got a girlfriend named lisa in the 8th grade also and we were all friends and hung out but that summer going into highschool lisa broke up with me, we dated only for 2 months so you know it wasnt a big deal. and my friend “red” she and my other friend lana we are a trio and they helped me move on from that. then i started 9th grade (my freshman year of highschool) and i went into this year thinking i was gonna stay best friends with this trio but we ended up splitting paths but me and my friend “red” always had a more special bond in the trio we were like the duo because we trauma bonded and dealt with mental health problems. and in the end of my first semester i fell in love with this girl named riley (who became my 3 year serious relationship) and i love this girl so much i met her when i was 15 and she was 14, me and riley (who is my current partner) were very toxic during freshman sophomore and junior year. she was very insecure over my ex from the 8th grade who i didnt care about because she was my first girlfriend. and she was also very insecure over my friend “red” because she was my best friend during the time i was with my ex and she reminds her of my ex for some reason. i still wanted to be friends with “red” at the time and we would get into numerous fights about that. she would control me and who i was friends with and said i couldnt be friends with her and i felt so awful and defeated bc i had a close bond with this friend. she then gave me an ultimatum of either her or my former best friend and i chose my partner obviously but she was so in her head i think that she still broke up with me for like 3 days and that day she broke up with me i had to go home with her since she was my ride home and i was broken and she was obviously angry and i was crying while we were walking out of school and then she stormed off without me all upset and my other guy friend and his girlfriend saw me and went up to me to comfort me and asked what was wrong and i told them she broke up with me and then my partner yells my name very upset from across the street comes back and grabs my arm aggressively and drags me past everyone very aggressively and angry while telling me to stop crying because her mom is going to be upset and ask questions and i felt so bad. we got into the car and i had to try my best not to cry and my partner who was visibly upset a few seconds ago just completely smiled at her mom and asked how her day was with such a happy tone of voice and i was completely in shock. hours later since we were broken up i texted my former friend “red” (the one who my partner broke up with me over) and told her i needed emotional support that reyna had dumped me and i needed a friend. and she came over and talked to me. that was all nothing romantic. and then 2 days later my partner says we are back together and i was happy but felt guilty because i hung out with my friend who she dumped me over. Now years later im still with this partner after many splits but we are finally healthy and healing and shes been super supportive and there for me and loving during my recent journey discovering my ocd. i have been confessing over and over many past mistakes or things i thought were mistakes. i last confessed something on monday and ive been feeling better and relieved after confessing up until yesterday when i remembered a past mistake (which was what i just shared) and now i cant stop ruminating on it and feeling guilty and feel the need to confess this to my partner but i learned that confessing is my ocd compulsion and if i give into it ill be feeding my ocd and not breaking the cycle. but im also feeling conflicted on if i should genuinely let her know and confess because i feel what i did that time was wrong but i dont want to give into my ocd but also what if i basically cheated on my partner by doing that and if i tell her that i did what i did even tho i didnt cheat but i told her i never liked this person even tho i had a crush on the former friend and tried to get my partner to let me keep this friendship because its not like i like her romantically which is true i dont but i used to. so i feel like i betrayed her even especially by hanging out with her so now i dont know if i should tell her or if its my ocd and i dont have to share absolutely everything especially if its in the past. i dont want to lose my partner and im scared if i keep confessing it will ruin our relationship and drive her away but it will also make me lose myself and my own privacy and also feed my ocd and compulsions but im scared if i dont confess ill never stop thinking about it and i will feel like im lying to my partner and like i cheated and i wont be able to enjoy the good moments and the present because im stuck on my past “mistakes” and now im scared ill have the end my relationship to feel better but that will hurt me more but im scared if i stay im just going to try to avoid my partner in fear ill confess or feel the urge to confess every time we speak. i dont know what to do im completely lost this is the hardest thing ive ever dealt with and i have a lot ive dealt with in my life already. im barely 17 i havent had a year of a break
- Date posted
- 11w
As a teenager and in other ways up until age 21, I was just an absolutely horrible person. It wasn't just a one time event that I regret, it was a lifestyle. I was a hedonist and a narcissist to an unbelievable degree and didn't even realize it. I read people's stories on here related to their real events and I just feel that I've done so much worse so it fuels this feeling that I'm unredeemable. And again it's not like I just made "one mistake." I was living under such a cloud of self-delusion and non-confrontation that I couldn't even embrace that what I was doing was wrong. Something pulled me out of that one night and I was forced to confront my actions (I believe it was God) but I've been living in this hell that is obsession ever since. I'm so guilty and ashamed and I'm desperate to find redemption. I can't forgive myself and I can't understand why I was the way I was or how on earth I even covered up what I was doing from others and even from myself mentally. I would just put a veil in my mind and not even think it was an issue. It's more likely than not that I am what I fear I am, so I guess trying to unconditionally accept the possibility of being what I fear is the only real way through this. Realistically I deserve all the suffering I'm receiving but I realize I can't have that mindset if I'm to have any hope of recovery. This is unbelievably isolating and I can't talk to anyone because of the risks involved. All I can do is try to limit compulsions, try to (somehow) accept the possibility of the worst case scenario and do my best to serve others.
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