((TW: POCD)) I matched with someone on tinder who’s 18 and I’m having serious anxiety about it because they just turned 18 last Saturday and I’m about to turn 22. I know it’s legal and I shouldn’t be worrying but it does make me uncomfy. I’ve had people lie about their age to try and talk to me years ago and it makes me feel really fucking gross even though I blocked them immediately. I’m so against talking to minors it’s insane.

I thought when someone add young adults with ocd, mid-life adults with OCD, or older adults with OCD were actually adults I’m worried because I would look at someone profile and assume they’re legal age and talk to them now I’m just like I probably exposed them to inappropriate stuff because of my thoughts

UPDATE: I couldnt do it... i couldnt stop posting... this situation is too triggering and thinking about the worst possible outcome scares me... in the past, I have been catfished by a man pretending to be a woman, had a minor on a dating app who lied about her age and i unknowingly flirted with her because I assumed she was 18+ and her bio said so, and sent an 18+ pic to a "woman" online who now I suspect of being a catfish... this is the reason why I'm so scared of whether or not I unknowingly inappropriately chatted with a minor without knowing... it genuinely scares me... Its making me think that I unknowingly inappropriately chatted with a minor in the past without knowing and it genuinely triggers me... I have tried to go back through most 18+ online interactions ive had with women online to make sure they didnt lie or they confirmed their age... i have two situations on discord that trigger me that ive posted about in the past... and a couple have deleted their discords so thats triggering me really bad... most who deleted their discords were verified but still... why delete your discord, you know...? for context i was on 18+ explicit discord servers meant for sex that you cant just join regularly on iPhone due to it being for adults only... Ive also been to a website dedicated to adult 18+ literature... they also have an 18+ chat room where you can talk to other users... i know ive made stupid mistakes going on here... i wont deny that... and now im paying for it with the uncertainty... veterans of the site, who have been on there for over 9 years, have told me that the chances of a minor lying about their age and coming onto the chat portion of the website are rare... but it still triggers me all the same... Im scared of someone one day in the future accusing me of doing horrible things like unknowingly inappropriately messaging minors, or have my worst fears of unknowingly explicitly messaging a minor confirmed to have happened and I didnt know about it...

I was watching a show with my girlfriend last night and I feel like I felt like the daughter character in the show was attractive. She's supposed to be like 16-17 in the show and I think she was around at age IRL. I'm 26F. I've felt nauseated for the past few hours, obsessively googling about ephebophilia. I'm upset and scared and grossed out now, but I feel like in the moment I didn't necessarily enjoy the feeling/thought, but I didn't feel horrified either. It felt like it was genuine but made me uncomfortable. My biggest compulsion is confessing and I'm so scared I'm going to confess to my girlfriend when she gets home. I don't want to gross her out and make her wary of me. I've confessed other things related to this theme in the past, but the older I get the more distressing it becomes because a 26 year old should not find a 17 year old attractive. I'm freaking out more as I type this. I just pray this is my OCD, but something tells me it's part OCD and part real. Idk what to do. I feel like a creep and a monster. I really want to stop googling but this is all I can think about now. Just reading comments of people saying how vile this situation is if it's real attraction. And I agree. I would do anything to make these thoughts and feelings disappear. Does anyone have any advice or thoughts?