Here's some hope for my fellow OCD and depression sufferers. This is my personal story (spoiler alert: it has hope and a happy ending). Without going into every single detail, I'll make this as short as possible. My entire family is plagued with some type of mental illness. I am not excluded from that. The majority of them turned to drugs and alcohol, disability or unemployment because they couldn't hold a job for very long. A fair share of them have attempted the big "S." Anyways, I personally chose not to follow their particular route in life. I've had my several struggles with major setbacks. I have had some of the worst days possible, mentally. Back in early 2020, I was FINALLY diagnosed with OCD. But still, it didn't make complete sense. I just didn't believe it and I felt otherwise. Based on what I personally experienced while spending several years stuck deep inside my head, I was convinced I was crazy. Literally crazy. I felt severe doubt, nothing made sense and I became paranoid. I was also severely depressed which in turn fueled my OCD. There were days that I wasn't sure how I could go on another day. I started losing all hope. Thankfully, for the sake of my kids and my own determination, I somehow knew I'd get the help I need. I saw several therapists, doctors and consulted my friends and family. Mind you, OCD was very unknown within my family so they weren't of any help or support. I felt alone and disconnected. Finally, my FIFTH therapist, from this very app helped me navigate my OCD and helped me understand it a lot better. With that said, I would still continue to relapse and become angry with the lack of results but I kept on trying. I ended up combining therapy with my own research on this disorder to the point I finally understood it better. Ironically, what helped me the most was learning what OCD was and how it worked but also learning to not understand how it worked. Confused? I know I was. I learned that OCD is hyper awareness of meaningless thoughts that we all have. These thoughts scare us, therefore, we obsess about them as if they mattered. At the same time, understanding the above paragraph allowed me to realize I need to stop trying to understand those random terrifying thoughts and leave them be. I understood that I needed to stop understanding everything that entered my mind and just let it be. That's mindfulness. Fast forward to today, I am happy, content and I can allow my silly thoughts to pass thru my mind, no matter how terrifying they seem. I've learned that by doing NOTHING about them, I've trained my mind to disregard them. I struggled for years while trying to correct the thoughts without result. So why was I still trying? That's what I learned. Let them go. You aren't a bad person. You aren't sick. You aren't crazy. I've experienced virtually every theme. Yet, I'm still here and happier than ever! I have a great job, stability, two new cars, mortgage on a nice house and a great family. I chose to not succumb and suffer indefinitely. I triumphed over OCD and depression. When I have paranoid or depressive thoughts, I let them pass because compulsion don't work! If I'm having a bad day, instead of fighting it, I accept it as is and it goes away MUCH MUCH MUCH faster than it ever did before. I live the life that was dealt to me and honestly, I have no regrets and I live it and love it now! You can do this.