Hello. I’m new to this app, and I just wanted to put my story out there so maybe someone can relate. I was diagnosed with OCD when I was 8. It always has changed throughout the years, but most recently it is kind of revolving around praying. I have never been super religious, but about 7 years ago I started a prayer that I started saying daily and if I messed up or said something wrong or “didn’t feel right” then I would have to start over. I feel like now, if I don’t do it, then something bad will happen and I just don’t feel right. I feel like since it’s been a daily ritual for almost a decade, I can’t not do it without getting anxious. I have lots of other obsessions and compulsions but this one is causing me the most distress. Can anyone else relate?

i have a similar thing with goodbye rituals when i leave the house, if i miss a name i have to start all over. for stuff where i feel like something bad is going to happen i try to condition myself to ignore them by instead of thinking "if i dont do this someone will die", ill think "if i dont do this that chair will turn blue right now". that way when you ignore it you can have visual proof that nothing happened

I can definitely 100% relate to this, reading your comment made me feel like I wasn’t alone. I have set prayers that I say throughout the day on a daily basis, every morning I have to say them, and many other times throughout the day when I get a worry or an anxious thought, and just like you, if I mess up or say something incorrectly, or it simply just doesn’t feel satisfactory, then I will have to start all over again. I do these ‘set prayers’ to wipe out negative thoughts and worries that occur, or out of fear that something bad will happen, so I pray to prevent it from happening. And like you, I can’t go a day without it because I fear that if I don’t do them, then the things I’m praying to prevent from happening, will happen. I do these prayers continuously throughout the day and it’s exhausting, it also stems to my Contamination OCD because some of my set prayers are me praying about not getting ill or contaminated, but there are also many other themes and topics that I pray about- but it’s exhausting and I can totally relate to you.

I'm similar. Had Scrupulosity / Religion and Moral OCD for about 6ish years. After about a year of thinking and struggling I decided I didn't believe in my religion anymore, so I decided if I didn't believe in it then there was no reason to pray. I still don't believe in that Religion but I've decided there's got to be SOMETHING higher than us, a form of Creator or God, whatever that may be, a deity or not. I tried praying about 6 months ago or so and suddenly my scrupulosity came rushing back, the praying compulsions (including starting it over and feeling guilty if had an inappropriate / intrusive thoughts or feeling), the guilt, obsessing over my thoughts and feelings, etc. Currently working through it with therapy.