Hear me out. If you aren’t in therapy, please please give it a chance. I was so scared of therapy because I was afraid my therapist would just tell me my intrusive thoughts might be true. I am so glad I gave therapy a chance because my therapist is giving me the skills I need to manage my intrusive thoughts by not engaging with them or giving them meaning. Don’t struggle by yourself. Please get help. I highly recommend Erin Swedish (NOCD therapist). Don’t forget that your life is SO meaningful. You are so worthy of love, happiness, and freedom, and you can recover. ❤️

Thank you 💜 yes, my ocd would jump to crazy conclusions that scared me. Now that I’m learning how ocd works, it’s much easier to just not engage with it.

@Anonymous Any tips or tricks to not ruminate? I’m engaged and it’s been putting a strain on our relationship:/ Also, has females portrayed sexually ever aroused you? My ocd takes this as proof

@OCD33 I’m sorry that you’re going through that. Absolutely, but my therapist helped me realize that groinal responses are meaningless. OCD tries to use unwanted arousal as proof, but it’s not. Also, scientifically, if we are focusing hard on groinal responses and really don’t want to have them, we will probably have them. My best advice would be not to argue with your thoughts or try to explain any unwanted feelings of arousal. Just let it be and enjoy the freeing realization that your OCD is lying to you and that you don’t have to pay attention to it. I also advise really committing to not engaging with the thoughts/feelings and not expecting immediate results. I still get lots of intrusive thoughts, and I’ve been working with my therapist for about three months. The key is focusing on the long-term goal, which is to get to a point where your intrusive thoughts don’t bother you because you know they are meaningless. And ultimately, remember we’re talking long term here, the thoughts and unwanted arousal should start to decrease. But for now the goal is just to realize that you can live with them without them having a significant impact on your life. You can do this. Everything is ok.

@Anonymous Thank you for being so kind and taking the time to respond to my comment. I made my barbies “make out” when I was a kid and this feels like so much proof. As well as being “aroused” by females portrayed sexually. I think my story may be different. ;( Have you had SOOCD thoughts before?

@OCD33 You are very welcome. See this is your OCD trying to get you to engage in a logical argument with it. Don’t do it. I know that it is so so difficult, but it will pay off. OCD puts these burning questions in your head and makes you feel like you have to answer them. For example, your OCD is saying “oh I made barbies make out as a kid, does that make me a lesbian?” I know how badly you want to answer that, but answering it just gives your OCD attention and power. Don’t give in. Just observe, acknowledge as OCD nonsense, and move on. I literally say “this is OCD. Don’t engage” every time I get an OCD thought. It’s difficult but it gets easier with time.

@Anonymous Thank you so much. I’ve been in ERP twice now and I really think I give right into the compulsions. It feels too real. I need to disengage completely.

@OCD33 You’re so welcome. Hey, if OCD didn’t feel real, it wouldn’t be a problem. It’s a difficult thing to go through, so don’t forget to love and be proud of yourself. Don’t engage, and don’t give up. Good luck. You’re gonna get through it 💗

I’m sorry I know that’s a huge factor. The biggest thing I’ve learned is not to engage with your thoughts. Regard them as meaningless and not worth your time. OCD is an illogical thing, so you can’t win a logical argument, so don’t even try. When I think an intrusive thought, I just say ok this is my ocd and I’m not going to engage with it. Because we have OCD, we give meaning to thoughts/sensations that are actually meaningless. Once you learn that these thoughts are meaningless and choose not to engage with them, the thoughts become less scary and start to impact you less. Be patient and do not engage with the thoughts or perform compulsions. Think long term recovery over short-term relief. I’m not an expert but this is the best advice I can give based on my own journey with OCD. Please don’t hesitate to ask anymore questions!

You probably haven’t hear success stories because people don’t come on this app to share success stories because they are moved on and living their lives. People generally come on this app when they are in the middle of a difficult OCD episode and are looking for help. I have heard of plenty of success stories for your themes, and I am currently recovering from the same themes you are experiencing. I also had another really bad ocd episode (different theme) in high school that lasted for around two years, and I completely recovered from that. I heard somewhere that once you start OCD therapy, it typically takes six months to a year to fully recover. So I would advise you to consistently practice the skills your therapist teaches you so that you can achieve long term results. Be patient. I know how difficult this is, but recovery is absolutely possible. Don’t give up. I can’t stress this enough: stop giving meaning to your OCD thoughts. Do not engage with those thoughts under any circumstances. Good luck.

@Anonymous Thank you for your knowledge!

@Anonymous Can I ask how long it took for you to recover from those themes? I have experienced my first episode last year and didn’t knew what the heck it was, I ignored it and it completely went away. Happened twice last year, and first flare this year. I finally found out what it was and seek treatment.. which ultimately made it worse because now I’m experiencing ROCD (my brain adapts to it after finding out that it was a possible theme 🤦🏻‍♀️). Some days I feel like yesss I’m slowly healing, some days like today, I’m like shit will this be forever? I’m trying to find that hope of finally being able to live the life I was living before.

@Anonymous I totally understand how you’re feeling. It was a really slow recovery for me and it took a year or two for me to be fully recovered and completely living life like I had lived before that episode. But I had no clue that it was OCD and wasn’t engaging in ERP or in therapy, so fingers crossed that this recover will be much quicker. I have already made a lot of progress. I know you will recover too :)

@Anonymous I’m glad to hear that you’ve made a lot of progress already! Did you had a “relapse” with the same subtypes rencently? I really appreciate the encouragement :)

@Anonymous I’m happy to help! Kinda, I had like a mini episode with this theme maybe two or three years ago, but I never really properly addressed it. And then I relapsed really bad out of nowhere this past May. But I’m hoping to learn how to prevent future episodes of any theme now!

@Anonymous Ahhh we’re somehow experiencing the same issues! A big flare occurred to me this September & that’s when I did enough research to find out what it was. I’m also working on it and hope I’ll learn the skills needed to prevent future eps of any themes! A month into therapy so far 😁 sadly I had a therapist who wasn’t too serious and canceled on me 3 times 😞

@Anonymous Very similar stories! My initial therapist was not a good fit and I switched and only started making progress once I got my new therapist.

@Anonymous I hope that your new therapist is a good fit too 💕

@Anonymous Ahhh super similar! I’m glad to hear that your new therapist is helpful. To great recovery success 💕

@Anonymous We got this ❤️