- Date posted
- 3y
- Date posted
- 3y
I go about it as, “I tend to get in my head a lot about things like you know when you had a conversation with someone and really weren’t sure how it went? Or you question if you’re in the right ____ job, relationship, etc. and you’re really unsure? It’s like that but my mind tends to obsess about it, and it’s hard to let it go. It really makes me question and overthink things that are important to me.” Think of some of those OCD type fears that a lot of people can relate to. People have some of the same questionings and fears but not to a disabiling extent. It’ll never be easy to explain, but try to break it down into bits they can understand. They’ll never be able to fully empathize but at least they’ll have something to relate it to. Good luck 💞
- Date posted
- 3y
Proud that you’re looking to be an advocate and help pave the way for others who may struggle with OCD 🌻
- Date posted
- 3y
Sometimes a think about It to, i live in Brazil and when i want surch for deep informativo about ocd i have to search in english. A feel that people dont really now what is the real ocd, that IS even more that they think about It. May you can create a YouTube Chanel pra something like this. People have to now more about OCD!
- Date posted
- 3y
Sometimes I just say, “Yeah I actually have really bad OCD. This event is hard right now because _____. It’s super annoying.” They’ll just nod and be understanding I find.
- Date posted
- 3y
For me it's more the opposite. I'm a very open person and I tend to over share things or over communicate my feelings with everyone, so for me sharing my ocd experience can almost become a compulsion. But every response was very positive/they were very understanding and compassionate but also said they couldn't relate. Most of my friends have seen my distress that I went through so they couldn't kinda tell smt was wrong. But if I tell people that didn't see me in that state I just tell them I have ocd and it's hard and I'm in therpay for it. And sometimes if I want to go deeper I tell them how I felt when I was at my worst and that i had these fears that made me depressed and I cried all the time etc. I more despribe how I felt than anyhting. But I guess that's just me 😊 I found so far that people are very understanding of it
Related posts
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 23w
Looking back, I realize I’ve had OCD since I was 7. though I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 30. As a kid, I was consumed by fears I couldn’t explain: "What if God isn’t real? What happens when we die? How do I know I’m real?" These existential thoughts terrified me, and while everyone has them from time to time, I felt like they were consuming my life. By 12, I was having daily panic attacks about death and war, feeling untethered from reality as depersonalization and derealization set in. At 15, I turned to drinking, spending the next 15 years drunk, trying to escape my mind. I hated myself, struggled with my body, and my intrusive thoughts. Sobriety forced me to face it all head-on. In May 2022, I finally learned I had OCD. I remember the exact date: May 10th. Reading about it, I thought, "Oh my God, this is it. This explains everything." My main themes were existential OCD and self-harm intrusive thoughts. The self-harm fears were the hardest: "What if I kill myself? What if I lose control?" These thoughts terrified me because I didn’t want to die. ERP changed everything. At first, I thought, "You want me to confront my worst fears? Are you kidding me?" But ERP is gradual and done at your pace. My therapist taught me to lean into uncertainty instead of fighting it. She’d say, "Maybe you’ll kill yourself—who knows?" At first, it felt scary, but for OCD, it was freeing. Slowly, I realized my thoughts were just thoughts. ERP gave me my life back. I’m working again, I’m sober, and for the first time, I can imagine a future. If you’re scared to try ERP, I get it. But if you’re already living in fear, why not try a set of tools that can give you hope?
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 20w
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!
- Date posted
- 13w
For those of you in relationships with ROCD, do your partners know of your diagnosis. I am new to treatment and new to this avenue of mental health. I am generally pretty open and honest with my partner about things but the dark side of my mind I keep hidden. I’m scared to tell him about this if I’m diagnosed. And I’m scared that if I’m diagnosed and something real does go south in the relationship then my diagnosis will be used against me.
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