I'm looking for some comfort. I'm having a hard time at work this morning unfortunately, because I mistakenly mentioned my OCD to a coworker who is completely ignorant to anything anxiety related. He replied, "I dont like labels, you just have tendencies" he seemed to scoff at the idea of needing a therapist. I was reminded of how fragile i am, because I got so angry at the thought of all the internal suffering and torment i went through because of ocd, and that some people have no clue just how severe it can be.. And to think someone completely ignorant to it thinks they know what I went through when they dont even have an inkling..I'm hoping someone here will reply and remind me there are people who get it. It's not a joke, it's not exclusive to keeping things orderly, it's not something you can just get over

If you are anything like me (and most of you are, because let’s face it, we are all on this chat), you have OCD. Real OCD, not the organisation, matching colours everyone thinks it is. Real OCD. I’ve always known I was different, known that my brain does some waking things and deep down, I’ve always known I’ve had OCD. But there is just something that changes when you finally get the diagnosis. It makes more sense, you have an explanation for your behaviours. So naturally I told my friends. When they ask why I had to stop and step four times on a tile I said ‘oh, I have OCD’. I finally had a word, a tangible concept that I could explain to people. But nobody warned me about the massive misconceptions about OCD. Instead of support or acceptance, my friends seemed to question the diagnosis saying ‘that’s not ocd, don’t you just like things organised?’. And no matter how much I explain it they don’t seem to get it. And that’s the part that feels so cruel. I go through hell in my head and it can all be reduced to a phrase of ‘oh, aren’t you organised’. So please be careful out there you guys, and if someone try’s to downplay your experience, know that you are valid and that what you are going through is probably something that they could never handle. It’s a lesson that took me time to learn, but it’s important because our experience matters. Our real experience.

I’m kind of frustrated because for YEARS I’ve been trying to express my concerns. For about 6-7 years I’ve been concerned about having OCD. I’m not diagnosed and I want to talk to a professional to confirm whether or not I have it. I have been struggling with several symptoms over many years of my life and it has been absolutely distressing. I’ve expressed my concerns to two doctors. One of them pretended like they didn’t hear me and the other did give me scenarios that I experience. When I said yes to the ones that applied to me, she said “well it’s very normal for people to wash their hands a lot and check door locks” well yeah but what I experience is so much more than that and it’s been absolutely horrendous. I have super bad compulsions and intrusive thoughts, at some point I broke a TV because I felt like I had to throw these little coasters at it for 5 times. And then after those 5 times, the way I threw it didn’t feel right, so I had to do it again and again until it felt right and then it broke :/ The doctor later told me that they can recommend me to professionals but my mom didn’t want me to because of fear that I can get medicated. But I just want to talk to a professional to be able to express my concerns about it. I also feel bad about talking about what I experience because I don’t want people to think that I’m trying to self diagnose myself. I just want to be able to recognize my struggles and try to overcome what I go through. All I want is help. At some point I went to therapy and I had three sessions and then my mom pulled me out. But in those sessions I haven’t talked about my struggles with OCD yet, I was talking about other issues and my therapist was still trying to get to know me. :( Sometimes when I’ve talked to my parents they don’t really try to listen. Sometimes they tell me “well everyone has a little bit of OCD”. Okay, well I’m not talking about everyone, I’m talking about ME. And back when I struggled so much with violent intrusive thoughts, it was also a time where I felt like I HAD to tell my parents about every thought that I had. And my parents were concerned and thought that I was just in general violent. But I’m not violent, I don’t believe these things. And they STILL don’t want to hear me out on my concerns after all of that. I just want to feel validated with what I go through. I am convinced that I struggle with OCD, but I want to be SURE. I don’t want to feel like I’m self diagnosing. I want to KNOW what I’ve been experiencing all these years. I really do like this app because I feel like I finally relate to other people and that I can REALLY talk about my struggles while being understood. Whether or not if I do have it, I feel really understood and I really understand and relate with others. But anyways I hope I can figure this whole thing out one day😓🙏

Hi! I have just recently been diagnosed with OCD and it’s come as kind of a shocker to me. My friends aren’t that surprised (most of them are psych majors lol) but my parents/family are very skeptical and have been telling me that it’s just anxiety. I was diagnosed with general anxiety disorder and severe depression when I was 14. I’ve had hydroxyzine NPR since then and I’ve tried lexapro and propanalyl (both made me feel like i was going crazy) and then was misdiagnosed as having bipolar 1 (hypomania). I finally have found a therapist that specializes in OCD and we did the assessment and concluded that my anxiety/depression has stemmed from it. Most likely I have experienced my OCD symptoms since I was 11 (when my anxiety first appeared) and I am now 21. I mostly have obsessions, but I do have a few compulsions. Most of them relate to my personal space or social settings. I have a good amount of driving anxiety as well and I have a set route for every single place that I drive to regularly. I have a set morning routine that I am only comfortable with being disturbed when I have had ample time to prepare myself for a change. This new diagnosis and learning what it is and what the different types are has kind of uprooted my social life and drastically decreased my mental health. I guess I’m here to try to find some balance and some people who actually understand what it’s like to feel like there’s something wrong with your brain and no way to “fix” it. I’ve tried talking to my friends/bf/family and none of them truly understand or could even begin to imagine what it’s like inside my head. I’m just trying to find my bearings and feel the ground under my feet, but I don’t exactly know where to start.