- Date posted
- 4y
- Date posted
- 4y
Hello! I'd be more than happy to share my story. I believe you're correct in that majority of sufferers with HOCD move on after treatment. And that's awesome! However, it is very important for people to share their success stories. For me, ERP was not super successful. I tried my best with exposure and response prevention, but my therapist mostly focused on exposure and lacked in the RP area. This would cause me to spiral and then have no way to deal with the effects of HOCD. It was so consuming! ACT really helped me. Just learning to accept the thoughts and realize the bigger picture was a relief for me. I had to be very hard on myself. I quit "cold turkey" so to speak. I refused to go on chats or look up lesbian/gay quizzes, and forums. I stopped asking my husband for reassurance. I just decided that I was going to beat this thing one way or another. I promised myself that no matter how terrible the thoughts and feelings became, there was no use in seeking reassurance or checking anymore. It is what it is! After many months, I finally began to see a lot of progress. Honestly, it flooded back to me rather quickly. I began to worry that I was just forcing myself to feel normal again (don't you just love OCD?! :)). However, I've managed the symptoms and I am so grateful for my life now. Of course, I still deal with OCD. It does not simply go away. I am a graduate student in clinical psychology and I plan to do basic research for our disorder because I believe so strongly in finding help and treatment options for us. In a way, being in this field makes me feel even more accountable for my behavior. It gives me a reason to not fall into the traps that OCD has created. I have a purpose in life and I know I want to achieve it! I suggest finding something that you also can look forward to in life- it will help you cope! You will never find an answer wasting your precious time on something that hurts you and causes so much pain. I hope that you will soon find your own way to cope and work through OCD. Have a lovely day and I'd be more than happy to help if you have questions about treatment.
- Date posted
- 4y
Thanks Kylee. I feel I’ve become treatment resistant to ERP as well and something like ACT might be more helpful.
- Date posted
- 3y
Hi lovely! I’m just starting ERP treatment and am extremely nervous! Do you feel a lot happier now? And as though you know the difference between ‘real thoughts’ and ‘ocd thoughts’ ? X
- Date posted
- 3y
@O94 Hey! So glad you reached out :) I understand feeling nervous. One thing that helped me was to lean into the fear, not just "white knuckle" it through. For example, if your therapist exposes you to pictures, don't grit your teeth or shut your body down or ignore/numb it. Your goal is to feel all the sensations without judgement. And believe me, you will feel tons of sensations. A lot of females in particular seem to need extra help in this part of the journey and many get stuck on a specific event of arousal (if you have a sexual OCD type). For instance, I just helped a lady that I've peer supported for many months who is worried that she must leave her s/o because she got aroused by pictures of naked women during therapy. It was extremely convincing and devastating for her and it made her feel like she was in denial even though she adores her partner. The thing is, OCD is so great at masking our true desire, so the best way to defeat a subtype is to lean into those feelings (even if it is arousal!). I won't get too into non concordance arousal or the complexities of human sexuality, but for the sake of this example, it was clear that she was suffering from the exposure. You must learn how to respond. It is equally important as exposing yourself! As for me personally, I have my good days and bad days as anyone with OCD. But I've learned to cope with the thoughts and feelings and let it go a lot easier than from before. A lot of people claim to be fully cured, but I know from my background that it isn't possible (yet). So the truth is that this is what the DSM 5 would classify as one of the top ten most damaging mental disorders. The good news is that the OCD community is probably the most loving and sensitive group! 🤗🤗🤗 I really enjoy supporting everyone on here because I see myself in everyone and can empathize deeply with our shared experiences. So I'm suggesting that after therapy, you should become an advocate too!!! As far as happiness goes, that is more of a philosophical question that I think can't be truly answered. Happiness is a fluid feeling, it can come and go just like any other emotion. I think the word you may be seeking is called balance (or maybe peace). And if that's what you're wondering, then yes, I'm much more at peace with my life and my emotions, and you can be, too! I wish you the best on your journey through recovery and I'm with you every step of the way! Feel free to message me or if you need peer support, my door is always open! Good luck!!!
- Date posted
- 3y
@NOCD Advocate - Kylee C. Thankyou so much for your response Kylee! 😘 Did this also happen before you got married or while you were married? Me and my partner are trying for a baby and I feel like OCD just wants to ruin it! Even though I know deep down it’s a disorder and not me! Xxx
- Date posted
- 3y
@O94 Hey no problem! I had it both before and after I married my husband, so you're definitely not alone. Although we don't have kids, I do totally sympathize with you and I can imagine that trying for a baby would bring so much additional stress from OCD. Have you gone to your first therapy session yet? How's today going so far? I wish you the best!
- Date posted
- 3y
@NOCD Advocate - Kylee C. Any chance I could speak direct with you? X
- Date posted
- 3y
@O94 Sure! Feel free to email me at kyleecarrier18@gmail.com I give a lot of personal peer support so I'm more than happy to help!
- Date posted
- 3y
@NOCD Advocate - Kylee C. Just sent you an email babe! X
- Date posted
- 4y
I can share my partial success story! I had two very bad bouts of HOCD, both of which happened after falling in love with a guy. I felt so depressed because I thought that I couldn’t be with my current boyfriend because I might be gay. The first time I was diagnosed but didn’t get treatment. The two years in between the boyfriends I still had obsessions just not as bad. The second time around I finally got treatment. It was so bad that I could only watch nature documentaries and struggled to be around female friends and I would have major panic attacks and took time off from work. I felt so depressed. Anyway, the success part is that I got treatment and did ERP and had a really good therapist. It was so hard at first but I knew I didn’t ever want to be at that rock bottom again. I just hit this point in therapy where I really didn’t care anymore! Like I just couldn’t be bothered. A few things that helped: -My therapist was very unbothered by my thoughts. Like I would just tell her what I thought was the biggest piece of evidence and she would just keep saying “so? So what?” It helped me be unbothered too. -Telling myself that maybe I had OCD and was also gay at the same time. And telling myself that I was never going to “figure out” my sexuality in this super anxious state anyway. This just helped me really focus on treating the anxiety and being dedicated to ERP. -Sticking with the ERP and noticing the subtle compulsions I was going. They can be soooo sneaky! But once I worked up the hierarchy to watching The L Word and stuff, everything else seemed so easy and I could function in normal life again. -Once I was doing much better I also did a ten day silent meditation course. It helped so much but I would definitely not recommend it when you are in the thick of things! So the other thing that happened was during this time my boyfriend dumped me because he didn’t want to deal with my anxiety (I never told him the theme). So this took away some of the anxiety because I didn’t feel as much urgency for certainty (like “I need to figure this out so I can marry him”) or as much sadness that I might really hurt him if we broke up cause I came out or as much guilt that maybe I was lying to him. This is part of why I say that it is only a partial success story. I think that it will come back pretty strong when I fall in love again, but I know that I have tools to deal with it and I will start therapy right away. I think that getting into a relationship will be the ultimate exposure. I do still get triggered by coming out stories and obsess from time to time (like once every three months of something) but it is nothing compared to how it used to be. I do not avoid anything anymore and I can watch anything on tv and hang out with any friend and feel happiness and not think about my sexuality 24/7! I hope this encourages you to seek treatment cause you can have success!
- Date posted
- 4y
I would love to hear some success stories as well!
Related posts
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 19w
Looking back, my introverted nature and struggles to find belonging in high school may have set the stage for how OCD would later impact my relationships. I had my first relationship in high school, but OCD wasn’t a major factor then. It wasn’t until my longest relationship—six years from age 18 to 24—that OCD really took hold. The relationship itself wasn’t the issue; it was what happened after. When it ended, I became obsessed with confessing past mistakes, convinced I had to be completely transparent. Even when my partner was willing to work past them, I couldn’t let go of the intrusive thoughts, and that obsession landed me in the hospital. From there, my struggle with ROCD (Relationship OCD) fully emerged. For years, every time I tried to move forward in dating, doubts consumed me. I would start seeing someone and feel fine, but then the questions would creep in: Do I really like her? Do I find her attractive? Is she getting on my nerves? What if I’m with the wrong person? I’d break things off, thinking I was following my true feelings. But then I’d question: Was that really how I felt, or was it just OCD? I tried again and again, each time hoping I could “withstand it this time,” only to fall back into the same cycle. The back and forth hurt both me and the person I was with. By the time I realized it was ROCD, the damage had been done, and I still hadn’t built the tools to manage it. Now, at 28, I know I need to approach dating differently. I recently talked to someone from a dating app, and my OCD still showed up—questioning my every move, making me doubt my own decisions. I haven’t yet done ERP specifically for ROCD, but I know that’s my next step. Just like I’ve learned tools for managing my other OCD subtypes, I need a set of strategies for when intrusive doubts hit in relationships. My goal this year is to stop letting uncertainty control me—to learn how to sit with doubt instead of trying to “figure it out.” I want to break the cycle and be able to build something healthy without my OCD sabotaging it. I know I’m not alone in this, and I know healing is possible. I’m hopeful that working with a therapist will help me develop exposures and thought loops to practice. I don’t expect to eliminate doubt entirely—after all, doubt is a part of every relationship—but I want to reach a place where it doesn’t paralyze me. Where I can move forward without constantly questioning whether I should. And where I can be in a relationship without feeling like OCD is pulling the strings. I would appreciate hearing about your experiences with ROCD. Please share your thoughts or any questions in the comments below. I’d love to connect and offer my perspective. Thanks!
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 18w
December 14, 2024, marked two years since my first ERP therapy session with my NOCD therapist, Mixi. And October 2024 marked a year of being free from OCD. It was not an easy journey, confronting my fears face to face. Exposing myself to the images and thoughts my brain kept throwing at me, accepting that I might be the worst mother, that my daughter wouldn’t love me, and that I deserved to be considered a bad person. It was challenging having to say, “Yes, I am those things,” feeling the desire to run, but realizing the thoughts followed me. At the start of my therapy, I remember feeling like I couldn’t do this anymore. Life felt unbearable, and I felt so weak. I longed for a time before the OCD, before the flare-ups, before the anxiety, the daily panic attacks. I thought I’d never be myself again. But I now know that ERP saved my life. The first couple of sessions were tough. I wasn’t fully present. I lied to my therapist about what my actual thoughts were, fearing judgment. I pretended that the exposures were working, but when the sessions ended, I went back to not sleeping, constantly overwhelmed by fear and anxiety. But my therapist never judged me. She made me feel safe to be honest with her. She understood OCD and never faltered in supporting me, even when I admitted I had been lying and still continued my compulsions. My biggest milestone in therapy was being 100% transparent with my therapist. That was when real change began. At first, I started small—simply reading the words that terrified me: "bad mom," "hated," "unloved." Then, I worked on listening to those words while doing dishes—not completely stopping my rumination, but noticing it. Just 15 minutes, my therapist said. It wasn’t easy. At one point, I found myself thinking, “Will I ever feel like myself again?” But I kept pushing through. Slowly, I built tolerance and moved to face-to-face exposures—sitting alone with my daughter, leaning into the thought that my siblings might die, reading articles about my worst fears, and calling myself the things I feared. Each session was challenging, but with time, the thoughts started to lose their grip. By my eleventh session, I started to realize: OCD was here, and it wasn’t going away, but I could keep living my life despite it. I didn’t need to wait for it to be quiet or go away to move on. Slowly, it began to quiet down, and I started to feel like myself again. In fact, I am not my old self anymore—I’m a better version. OCD hasn’t completely disappeared, but it’s quieter now. Most of the time, it doesn’t speak, and when it does, I know how to handle it. The last session with my therapist was emotional. I cried because I was finishing therapy. I remember how, in the beginning, I cried because I thought it was just starting—because I was overwhelmed and terrified. But at the end, I cried because I was sad it was ending. It felt like I had come so far, and part of me wasn’t ready to say goodbye, even though I had already learned so much. It was a bittersweet moment, but I knew I was walking away stronger, equipped with the tools to handle OCD on my own. If I could change anything about my journey, it would be being open and honest from the beginning. It was the key to finding true healing. The transparency, the honesty—it opened the door to lasting change. I’m no longer that person who was stuck in constant panic. I’m someone who has fought and survived, and while OCD still appears from time to time, I know it doesn’t define me. I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments. Have you started therapy, is something holding you back? Is there something you want to know about ERP therapy? I'll be live in the app answering each and every one today from 6-7pm EST. Please drop them below!
- Date posted
- 18w
I haven’t been diagnosed with it, but I feel like nothing else describes me better. If you do have this feeling and thoughts, what are some ways to lower your anxiety ?
Be a part of the largest OCD Community
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond