HOCD success stories… I feel there’s a lack of information on HOCD/SO-OCD success stories. I think the people who do get better and manage this theme either move to something else, or just move on from typical apps or forums because they no longer need them to discuss. Is there anyone on here who actually has “beaten” or managed their HOCD to the point where it’s barely a blip on the radar anymore, if at all? If so, what skills or things did you do that worked?

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.

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!

I would love to hear some success stories as well!