- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 3y
this was me and it’ll attack when i’m with him and it is hell. but i know just sitting with it was hard but it helped! i’m not going to lie, my boyfriend and i HAVE had some issues so i didn’t just dismiss but now i can decipher which is ocd and which is i’m genuinely upset rn but your feelings don’t magically changes in one night! and ROCD is a hard one! it’s very tough but you can do this! don’t forget, love is a choice. NOT A FEELING!
thank you for the advice ❤️
i get worried because it feels like my feelings are hardly there for them lately but they also are the only person who gives me comfort and i can’t seem to stay away from them. i just feel out of it and my emotions and sense of self feel gone. i also keep going over interactions between me and them all the time to see how i’m feeling until i feel right about it
i totally get this and do the same thing. you’re not alone
@ anonymous it’s so hard knowing whether it’s rational or irrational and it breaks my heart because all i want to do is feel the way i felt about them before. this all happened out of nowhere. how do you cope with it
@getwellsoon literally same exact thing with me. happened out of no where and all i want is to go back to the way i felt before. i had a different theme then and it feels like that one was so much easier than this one
@ anonymous me too. this one just came so unexpectedly that it’s hard for me to tell if it’s an intrusive thought or not but i know deep deep down i don’t want to give up on them.
Yes, very much so. I have had this happen to me where you question the relationship n ocd makes you obsess
Absolutely. When I was dating my (now) wife I had that kind of ROCD really, really bad. It took a very deliberate choice. Marrying her had more to do with a firm choice than it did about how I felt all the time. I just knew that when I wasn’t anxious, things were good, and that when I was, I couldn’t connect. Obsessions often focus on things that are important to you, so no big surprise that it has latched onto your relationship! Just know that when you’re analyzing how you feel about someone it basically makes it impossible to feel positive emotions. I will tell you that as soon as I made a “final” choice (getting engaged) my anxiety didn’t disappear but it did reduce by a significant degree.
thank you so much, that gives me so much hope
Glad we are here to talk to each other about this.
feeling very drained
Lately, I’ve been feeling so disconnected from my boyfriend, and I don’t understand why. When I look at him, it feels like I’m looking at a stranger, and my mind keeps telling me that I don’t like him, that I never really loved him, or that I was just attached and comfortable. It feels real, and that terrifies me. I know logically that ROCD makes me overanalyze every little feeling, but it doesn’t make this any easier. I keep waiting to feel something—love, excitement, even relief—but instead, I just feel numb and distant. When we talk, I feel weird. When he kisses me, I don’t feel much. I keep thinking, ‘If I really loved him, wouldn’t I feel something?’ And the fact that I don’t just fuels my anxiety even more. It scares me that I can’t remember how I felt before ROCD took over. I look at old pictures, and my brain tells me, ‘That wasn’t real, you were just excited to have a relationship.’ And because I can’t access those feelings right now, it makes me doubt everything even more. I also feel guilty because my boyfriend is so loving and patient, but I feel like I’m hurting him. He tells me he doesn’t feel loved by me anymore, and I hate that I can’t just snap out of this and be the way I was before. It’s exhausting. I don’t know what’s real anymore. I keep checking how I feel every second, and it just makes me feel worse. I know that’s a compulsion, but it’s so hard to stop. I keep searching for certainty, but no answer satisfies me. Even when I try to accept the uncertainty, my mind screams, ‘But what if you don’t love him? What if you’re just lying to yourself?’ I want to be present with him. I want to feel love naturally again. But I don’t know how to get there, and it’s terrifying.”
Right now I feel like I’ve realized something awful. Like maybe… I never truly loved my boyfriend. Maybe in the beginning I was just excited to be in a relationship. Maybe I confused that excitement with real love. And when the intrusive thoughts started, maybe it wasn’t ROCD — maybe it was the truth hitting me. I write this and it feels real. That’s the scariest part. It feels calm and clear and like maybe I’ve just been lying to myself all along, holding on because I “should,” not because I truly want to. I can’t remember how it felt to love him — and that makes it worse. I feel so disconnected, so numb, like nothing makes sense anymore. Every time I try to feel something for him, it feels like I’m faking it. Like I’m playing a role, not being myself. But the thing is… I’m not at peace. If this was really the truth, why does it hurt so much? Why does this “realization” come with panic, guilt, emptiness, and so much fear? I don’t want to hurt him. I don’t want to lose him. But I also don’t want to keep living like this — doubting myself, my feelings, and my past. I feel like I’m stuck in a cycle I can’t break, and I’m scared I’ll always feel this way. Has anyone ever felt like this before?
I believe I have ROCD — at least, that’s what many people here have told me based on what I’ve shared — and I really need help, because I feel like I’m falling apart. I don’t know what I feel anymore. I don’t know what’s real. My thoughts come as loud, cold statements — not questions. They say things like: “Nothing is the same.” “You don’t love him.” “You’re just staying because you’re used to him.” And even though I know I’m supposed to let the thoughts pass and not engage with them — I can’t. I get stuck in them. I try to find answers, I ruminate, I check, I cry, I panic. Everyone says “love isn’t just a feeling” — and I know that. But… I still want to feel something. I want to feel warmth, or connection, or even just peace. It’s been so long since I felt anything like that. Now everything just feels empty or terrifying or cold. My brain only gives me negative interpretations. No memory brings me comfort anymore. Nothing feels like it used to. And the worst part is — it all feels true. Sometimes I think: “What if I’m just denying the truth?” “What if I’ve finally realized that I don’t love him, and I just don’t want to admit it?” This feels like the worst version of myself. I’m so confused and scared and tired. Even therapy didn’t help — my therapist said things that made it worse, and now I don’t know who or what to believe anymore. I just want help. I want to know how to face ROCD — if that’s what this really is. I want to believe I can feel love again. I don’t want to lose myself in this forever. Has anyone else felt like this? How did you start to get better? i cant even remember past good memories with him, my head tells me that i didnt love him and i was just “excited “ to have someone. We have 2 years together and i have been dealing with this for a year and a half.
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond