- Date posted
- 4y
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 4y
Let me ask you a question now, does being with the sex you are concerned or fear about give you comfort? I know your mind tells you to do it and your body may react like you’re actually attracted, but does it make YOU comfortable? When you’re attracted to someone, you want to be around around them, their presence gives you comfort and you generally enjoy being around them without questioning it. Now everyone is different and I don’t want to give you assurance that what I’m saying is a guaranteed truth. But, for me, when I have struggled or do struggle with “my mind is telling me I want to be the same sex, I can’t stop having thoughts about it, it feels like I get aroused by men, I don’t feel the same about the opposite sex like I used to” I’ll ask myself, “can you honestly be yourself and enjoy wanting to be with the same sex?” And even though my mind will try convincing me that I do, I know if I am in that situation, I would react the same way I would BEFORE my ocd began, because that’s my normal response, I would decline it.
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 4y
@Anonymous So, in my experience, since I’m a straight man, when I was going through it, I would look at men online who are perceived to be attractive to many others. I would look and check myself to see constantly if I was attracted to them based off how my “groin” would react. Not once did I actually become aroused, but at the rate I was going, I would never stop because I always had to “be sure” that I for sure was never aroused. It lead me to watch gay porn once and it didn’t feel right to me from the start to finish. Despite all of that, my mind would still tell me “just watch it again, the more you do, the more you’ll learn to enjoy it because it’s who you are now” well, it doesn’t make sense to me to say I’m a orientation that doesn’t sit right with who I am and who I’ve always known myself to be. To address your question specifically, it sounds like to me and correct me if I’m wrong, that you’re forcing yourself to be exposed to content to check yourself. That sounds like a compulsion to me and I would recommend from personal experience that you should cut down on doing that. Because as I described above, no matter how many times you expose yourself to it, or even physically do it, if you’re questioning it this much and it’s giving you this much stress, entertaining it will very likely only cause you more confusion and anxiety.
- Date posted
- 4y
I go through the same thing. I sit with it then picture myself with my eyes open how I want to be.
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 4y
I feel you, I’ve dealt with groinal sensations a lot the last year. My therapist told me the science behind a groinal and how it’s not a real arousal, I wish I would’ve written it down and remembered what she said. It’s frightening, and I still deal with it, I personally don’t want to feel an erection towards the same sex because I’ve always been attracted to the opposite sex and never questioned it the first 24 years of my life. And it’s where I still feel comfortable to this day. To combat it, it’s much easier said than done, but it’s apart of exposure response/imaginal response therapy. I don’t want to tell you exactly how to expose yourself, because you should never do it on your own or without the advice of a licensed professional. So I can’t tell you sadly what that looks like for you, but the end result basically is when you do exposures that have been mapped out for you, you will be able to train your mind to not tense up, feel uncomfortable, or worry about how your body will react to whatever sex it is that you fear you’re attracted to.
- Date posted
- 4y
@Anonymous i feel exactly the same and now i am in a place of confusion of whether it's really hocd or just denial, i feel you and i've done everything you're describing, just hang in there you're not alone xx
- Date posted
- 4y
Thank you guys for the comments im going through this process again and this time anxiety isnt high at all its all groinal and intrusive thoughts
Related posts
- Date posted
- 23w
what the hell? this entire day ive been trying to do ERP right? allowing the thoughts feelings, sensations be there with very little reaction, saying"oh that's a thought", "that's a feeling" don't care" etc. But it seems to be making it 100x times worse. Like its impossible to just"ignore" it, it feels so freaking real as if this was the truth, the doubts are real, the false attraction feelings and lip sensations are REAL and genuine attraction, feels ego-synotic, its impossible just to ignore or move on from it because I think I'm so hyperfocused on it all so it last the whole day. IDK right now it feels and seems as if I lost? like its not a what if but it feels factual like"I'm naturally gay, I'm gay" and it feels like normal and become ok with that. But I don't want that I don't want to be gay.
- Date posted
- 20w
Like I can’t think straight. This is making me doubt everything I’ve thought about myself and even makes me feel like I like the thoughts when I know I don’t. Like I would be less anxious at a time while I still have the thoughts and my mind would go “oh so you like it you must be gay” or the other one where I’m not anxious and I think of my attraction for girls that I’ve had my whole life and my mind goes “see now you’re not into them you’re gay” like it’s so stupid but so effective. I clearly remember being into girls my whole life but my mind is making me believe that all these attractions and feelings for women were all fake or “a thing of the past”. But I can still get aroused by women but I have this weird anxiety going on which brings these sensations/feelings and it’s so weird. Today I’ve spent my whole day thinking about it like I’ve been doing for 5 months now. I know that this aint normal but my mind just won’t let me live in peace. I never cared about my sexuality cuz I simply liked women my whole life but now my sexuality is a fundamental philosophy. I hate this.
- Date posted
- 12w
I’ve recovered from HOCD before and got my attraction and my usual actual identity back. I was recovered from end 2022- start 2025 until I got triggered UGHHH😭 My HOCD is REALLY trying to convince me and it’s SO annoying cause I genuinely don’t want these thoughts. I know I naturally like men and always have done so. I can’t wait for my first therapy session in two days Omg! I need your advice, not necessarily reassurance, but more advice? My HOCD is throwing random “proof” I did/ saw as a child in my face, which back then had no meaning in my life and I continued to live a perfectly heterosexual life. I’ve educated myself about arousal non concordance / child’s play, but it still doesn’t remove the HOCD. I’ve read therapists great explanations on how it’s not a sexuality issue, BUT ITS AN OCD BRAIN ISSUE. So basically I’ve been straight and i will die as straight. But my ocd is still continuing with the intrusive thoughts/flashbacks. I’ve had some moments where I haven’t done as many compulsions and had less anxiety but still had those damn thoughts and I DO NOT want those damn thoughts. I have so much proof and factual/logical explanations but HOCD is still continuing to thrive. I absolutely hate this and I feel so alone. I wish there was a reset button cause I don’t want these thoughts to happen. I want a man and I stand by that. How do y’all deal with these situations? Cause sitting with the thoughts is clearly not helping.
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