I'm having a horrible day. I'm scared my existential OCD is actually schizophrenia bc my brain tells me that I'm like for sure in a different reality or dream or something. Idk what to do anymore. I feel like I'm too complex to get better at this point.

Is it normal to feel detached from reality with OCD? And also Is it normal for OCD to get worse before it gets better?

@Amagicmarie I have this same theme. I had horrible anxiety thinking about if my life was real and thought I had schizophrenia. But I went to NOCD therapist and started ERP and I learned a lot about EOCD. It can feel worse before it gets better, but really every exposure is pushing you in the right direction if you try to stop ruminating and doing other compulsions. Best of luck

@Anonymous I feel like everytime I try to keep mind busy, it just ends up building inside of me until I can't take it anymore and I go into a full blown panic attack. Idk how people on here can just keep their mind busy. My mind is thinking "the world isn't real" no matter what I'm doing

@Amagicmarie I totally feel that too. It’s not about keeping you’re mind busy though. It’s about accepted the intrusive thoughts and uncertainty

@Anonymous Any tips for that? Because right now I'm bawling my eyes out and i just wanna give up

@Amagicmarie The best thing that happened to me was realizing that my compulsion is to try to disprove the fact that the world might not be. Like I would always try to fight the thought off with evidence. You have to try to not do anything like that. Additionally as far as the schizophrenia fears, what I realized is that there’s a real difference between anxiety and have delusions. You shouldn’t try to reassure yourself too much, but it’s likely if your aware of this as being an issue then you probably don’t have psychosis of any kind.

@Anonymous Thank you! I'm just tired of being in a 24/7 panic attack. I miss my old life. And I want it back so bad.

@Amagicmarie This is a podcast that really helped me understand OCD: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7an640SEH9SxrA8sdnc5ZK?si=skfwymmaRxatfI_nAiiVFw&dl_branch=1

@Anonymous I listen to that podcast too! I listened to the one on existential ocd but it wasn't too helpful. Do you have any in particular that you reccomend?

@Amagicmarie Yeah the existential one wasn’t amazing. The one I sent you a link to I highly recommend. Also there’s a few more where he interviews the same guy which also are very good. Then there’s another one I think called “fear of going crazy” that was helpful to me

Thank you. It just feels like when I'm making progress, I feel better for a little bit then I get way way worse and IDK why. Existential OCD and derealization don't mix well. My brain convinces me that I'm crazy