please help. was anyone on here misdiagnosed? I just had a consultation with this young therapist and she said she doesn’t “think i have ocd” she says i have severe anxiety. I know I have OCD. nothing else explains this. I was vulnerable and told her all my obsessions and intrusive thoughts and how i do my compulsions to get rid of them or ease my anxiety. how i have to loop around 2-4 times driving thinking i hit someone or caused an accident. How i take videos and pictures and check 5 times if the stove and lights and water isn’t running and i turn it on and off until it’s just right. how i think i’m a bad person and i’m to blame for everything. how it makes me depressed because i obsess over things for 24 hours of the day for weeks and it makes my stomach hurt and i get all sweaty and anxious. I told her specific situations and how i think back on my past and will think i cheated on my partner when i was drinking and i’ll just never know and how i ask for reassurance. how i’m scared i’ll blurt out a slur or something bad and stuff i would just NEVER ever do and i felt horrible and gross. how i google 24/7 and have to do things 3 or 5 times. how i’m so scared of hurting people i can not drive or do anything normal. how i have to clean things and wash my hands because i’m so scared of contaminating somebody at work . i just felt so safe knowing that this diagnoses matches me. and this app helped me so much. and now she’s saying that i just have severe anxiety? I don’t know what to do. help

You are like the walking definition of OCD I might add.

@Anonymous 100 percent

@Anonymous thank you for responding

thank you.

i’m trying every place around me is booked. she was very young so idk get experience

@mbr her*

okay thank you

@mbr I believe that NOCD will accept you as a patient with a parent's permission

@Lms526 okay i’ll definitely ask my mom. i just feel like a fraud right now since she doesn’t think i have ocd what if i don’t . does NOCD diagnose?

@mbr Yes. Thats how I got diagnosed. The first session with your counselor is a 90 minute OCD assessment. At the end, it you meet the criteria, you will get an official diagnoses. The best I can give is be completely honest about your thoughts and experiences. NoCD therapists understand OCD and won't be shocked or judge you for anything you say. They have heard it all before. If you don't meet the criteria, then at least you will know.

@mbr Yea they do. And you feel like a fraud because that’s literally what ocd does. Ocd makes you doubt you have ocd. Take my word for it, you have intrusive thoughts and you have compulsions. Now a professional just needs to confirm it and give you the help you need

@Sasha thank you. she was also talking about prescribing anti depressants and it all seemed so wrong.

@Lms526 thank you.

@mbr Antidepressants can help with OCD. I’m assuming one of the SSRIs. It’s just helpful when the doctor knows you have ocd, because then they know what the medicine is for and the doctor has more intention in the medicine they choose for you

@Sasha ohhh okay thank you soo much

i guess i just felt more relieved when he heard about ocd and how it really explained what i was going through and she just wants me to talk about my problems instead of i actually want to work through them like how people do ERP. now i just feel like a fraud because i’ve been on this app for months and what if i don’t actually have it

@mbr Right! And the relief you felt was most likely reassurance for the time being and I agree ERP is most likely needed, not talk therapy. Have you tried scheduling with someone from NOCD here?

@Anonymous no, i haven’t im 17 :/

I’m sorry but I have to respectfully disagree. Being diagnosed properly for OCD, can save your life. It’s not about reassurance, it’s about identifying the problem and from there taking the proper therapy (ERP, Acceptance, CBT modified for OCD) and/or medication. Trust me- when you think it’s just anxiety, you don’t have any idea that you are doing compulsions to get rid of the fear and discomfort, and suddenly you have a panic attack and you thought you were trying to help yourself. I think that finding out I had OCD, gave me a sense that there was a light at the end of the tunnel. It helped me gain insight on how my mind operates. Because an “OCD” mind is different than just an anxious mind. And so I really think she should get a therapist who can diagnose her. And I might not be a therapist, but it’s obvious that mbr suffers from OCD. She has all of the traits she listed. An ocd therapist would right away know it’s OCD. So please get the help you need, and find out what you have.

@mbr Oh okay, I didn’t know they limited age. I had also spent time doing conventional talk therapy. I try not to look at it as a complete waste because I’m sure there are things worked through there that were helpful but not in treating the OCD and hopefully you can find either someone who takes you now or once your 18. Just keep trying to lean into the things that scare you and look for support in that. The anxiety will dissipate! My therapist will say if you’re feeling anxious about it, you’re doing something right.

@Sasha thank you, i think so too

@Anonymous thank you!

@Sasha My experience was similar to yours. I was misdiagnosed as having Generalized Anxiety disorder and never questioned it until I learned more about OCD.

@Lms526 Yea, it’s really common unfortunately

@Sasha Hey Sasha, I understand your perspective. I definitely think there is great benefit to learning what the issue is, I probably didn’t express that enough just because I wouldn’t want the compulsion to start where you think you’re safe bc it’s just OCD and then that soon doesn’t become enough reassurance. I agree learning something is OCD is game changing, and probably life saving bc it can get you into the right type of therapy. I’m glad it helped you as well in so many ways. I think I assumed he or she knew somewhat it may be OCD being on the platform and just got a new opinion from an new therapist who was likely very wrong. I do hope they connect with someone through NOCD!

@Anonymous Ah I see your point. I would normally say it is reassurance; but in this case it was a therapist telling her this. And so we tend to give therapists a lot of credibility for good reason, and so I think she needs to hear that the therapist is wrong because it could make it harder for her.

no this just happened earlier today i think i am going to stop seeing her and connect with a nocd therapist on here

@mbr Good, if you think you will not get proper treatment with her then you should try someone else. I can say that my experience with my Nocd therapist is the first positive interaction I have had with a therapist in my life.

@Hoor-Pa-Kraat Me too! I've progressed more with her in 3 weeks than I did in years of talk therapy.