One thing my therapist told me when I’m having a lot of doubt and fear over false memories and real event is to tell myself how long I’ve been engaging in compulsions. This is pretty helpful as it helps you assess to not engage in further compulsions as the mind is so capable of making up new memories. Another thing is to use cognitive distortion strategies, like seeing the positives of that situation rather than the negative. Hope this helps and clears out some doubt for you guys. We have to accept uncertainty. Good luck y’all ☺️

I understand, my main compulsions are seeking reassurance as well. We really have to sit with the anxiety, making sure that no matter how many times we’re gonna confess, more anxiety is gonna flare up, and that isn’t gonna be helpful to our situation. Try recording a mindfulness script, where you record yourself to acknowledge your intrusive thoughts, and gently go into a progressive muscle relaxation state, thinking about your surroundings. Try distracting yourself with some self care, like meditation/yoga, art, reading, writing, puzzles, an OCD self help book etc. I found this really helpful, especially when you’re a student, it’s easy to get lost in coursework and not look after yourself. Are you currently seeing a therapist if you don’t mind me asking?

I was your age when I first got diagnosed. I also was ashamed to talk about mine, but with the help of my parents, I was able to get the therapy I needed. This is a really tough thing to be navigating at this age, I’m so sorry that you’re feeling this way but I also wanna congratulate you because you’re showing a lot of progress! However sometimes, suppressing thoughts like “stop” can be a compulsion. It might sound like this is working, but it’ll quickly bounce back. Maybe a different way to respond to these thoughts would be, “Maybe I am/did, maybe I’m not/didn’t, I’m not going to figure it out now”. Don’t be afraid of therapy though, it’s seriously helpful, even with taboo thoughts, therapists are completely non-judgemental. They’re there to help you. Have you discussed about this with you parents yet? Perhaps something that might be helpful is finding an OCD information booklet and sitting down with your parents and discussing about it. As a child you would be entitled to several counselling organisations as well.

Yeah, these thoughts are difficult too, but you still have to accept that the thoughts are in your mind, not literally agreeing with them. This is all part of the process. No matter how terrifying the thoughts are, you can’t give power to them. It’s your OCD miscontruing things. Disclosing OCD is hard. I know some people with OCD who say they have anxiety instead of OCD to GPs to reduce the stigma. However, it is good if your family knew to some of the extent of your OCD. It is very tough I know, you don’t have to tell them the nitty and gritty, but it’s your call to tell them how bad you’ve been feeling lately.