- Username
- Archer
- Date posted
- 3y ago
This sounds like a perfect storm of grief and trauma. Loss of a loved one, possibly witnessing death or pre-death, and OCD?! Does your school have any counseling? A lot of schools either have a counselor you can see or have someone you can see as you’re waiting to see a more long-term or more credentialed therapist. Don’t be afraid to tell them it’s urgent. Especially since this happened on campus and while you were at your campus job. In the meantime, please know I’m sending you extra strength and comfort and that any time you want a puppy snuggle, just whisper, “need you,” into the ethers and my boy is sending you so many lovins. 💪🏼💜
My school does have free counseling! I did it last year and loved it, it really helped me. I tried scheduling again this year but they said I had the skills to handle myself and should only schedule if it's an emergency. Then after my Grandma I tried scheduling but they were all booked. They do have another counselor coming in for the students handling the greif of the freshman passing?? But I'm not sure?? Also thank you for the support! I think saying "need you" will make me giggle and think of puppies :) I appreciate you!
@Archer I’d say give the counselor there another try. Even though I believe in you and that you have the skills to deal with lots, because we OCD people are so strong, this is more than you should be expected to deal with while also having to do normal school and campus job stuff. Again, I believe you can absolutely make it through! I just think this is why the school is getting another counselor on staff, so why not try? And while I didn’t get my dog till I was almost done with school, thinking of and smiling or giggling about puppies is totally what helped me through school! ☺️🐶
@ARTnotOCD Right after class I went to the counseling center! I asked if there was anything available and they said yes! I just need to make an appointment and I'll be notified when there is a group counseling session (specifically for the recent death). Thank you again so much for the help! This is absolutely the worst moments of my life and am so thankful for the pure kindness of others :)
Yeah, I walked in on my wife’s attempted suicide and found her. I thought she was gone and I’m not sure how I grieved the months after but I know one night I had a thought that I stabbed her to death and my ocd was born. I’m still in therapy for my harm ocd. I’m with them I would let the school counselor know you need them because this is something different than when you needed them last year. They shouldn’t turn you down.
I'm so sorry that you experienced that. I hope that the counseling is helping you? I did end up going to the counselor's office!! I'm going to schedule an appointment soon and will be going to the group therapy session!!
@Archer Thank you. It has helped but I’m not the same happy go lucky person I was before and I’m not sure if I ever see that day coming. I’m glad you went back and spoke up for yourself.
I have. My younger brother and only sibling passed away from an extremely rare form of brain cancer. He was in his early 30s when he was diagnosed. There are only 100 cases a year and 90% are kids under 18. He was sick for 18 months. He couldn't do chemo because it was on his brain stem. He had one setback after another. He had pneumonia, an abscess on his rectum, C-Diff, he fractured his back after a fall (I found him) This was before I knew I had OCD. I have a really hard time being around sick people, but especially terminally ill people. I also HATE hospitals. He passed away in May of 2013. Just a few days before my birthday. He died May 21st and my BD is May 26th. I did get to say goodbye. But I was not present when he actually died. I knew I wouldn't be able to handle it. So say it was devastating would be an understatement. I still miss him every day. I don't think I will ever completely get over it.
Hi Archer, I am sorry for the loss of your Grandma and truly sorry that you had to witness that freshman pass away and that your OCD bully has chosen that experience to latch onto and make you dwell on. Trying to encourage you to try not to pay attention to the intrusive thought of the memory of what happened albeit it probably the correct thing to say, sounds harsh, so instead I will say please hang in there and try to focus on happier thoughts instead. I am very glad and relieved that you went to talk to the counselor and will be scheduling an appointment and attending the group therapy. I am sending my best wishes and thoughts in your direction, stay strong and you will get through this. I, like most others have experienced major loss throughout the years. Having a history of cancer in my family has lead to many instances of loved ones struggling with or succumbing to it more than I’d care to remember. Add to that the prevalence for depression and alcohol abuse and more often than not most family gatherings are usually at a funeral. I will say the first death I ever experienced probably affected me the most. It was when my great grandmother passed away suddenly when I was 6 or 7. I remember feeling numb and distant, possibly because I couldn’t fully comprehend it, or possibly because of the chaos in my head between my undiagnosed OCD and ADHD. I looked at how others were upset and yet I felt nothing and started questioning if I was a good person or not and ruminated on that constantly. I pushed everyone away for years because I felt I did not deserve to be cared about since I was such a bad person for not grieving enough or at all when she died. I should have done what you did and talked to someone instead of keeping it all in my head. Stay strong and you WILL get through this and never be afraid to reach out to a counselor or a friend or even just posting here whenever you need advice, to vent or just a distraction for a few minutes. Best wishes.
my grandpa passed away in 2013 & he was like a father figure to me. he suffered with his own depression but I loved him all the same. I lived with him & my grandma & I witnessed some of the process of how he passed. I had never experienced death in the family or friends before so I had no idea what was going on. his passing is what triggered the onset of my ocd & many other mental health issues. I still haven't dealt with death of a family member or friend that often or intensely since then. that will be changing in the future but there's no easy way to say goodbye or let someone go.
Hi everyone, asking for prayers, advice, anything…My mom died very suddenly last night. I live in a different state than her and was not able to be there with her. I know that in this case, finding an OCD therapist is crucial especially in this time of crisis but i have to fly out tomorrow to go be with my family and want to focus on one thing at a time. I struggle mainly with pocd and can already feel the warning signs of it flaring up, I’m sure it’s triggered by all the stress I’m feeling but I’m still so extremely confused as to why I’m struggling with this theme during this time, it feels completely unrelated. I’m trying not to give to much importance to the thoughts and feelings im having but it’s hard. I have a lot support from my friends and family and partner so i feel incredibly blessed in that regard. I’m shaken and confused and sad and numb all at the same time. I’ve never lost anyone like this before.
TW death, terminal illness I feel like I could be suffering from complex post traumatic stress disorder, specifically due to loss. I just get these waves of sadness, not always physical but like a hole is in my chest and my body is compacting on itself. Sometimes it does come out in the form of crying. Random things trigger it, mostly music, and sometimes it seems like nothing at all has. Death has always been a core part of my life and my childhood. I have a massive family and im one of the youngest, so that means much of my relatives have and will die before me (potentially.) my grandma when I was age 2, great grandparents around 5-6, 2 cousins around age 8, grandpa at age 9, aunt at age 10, other grandpa at age 12, other grandma at age 13, more aunts and uncles age 14-16, and most recently, my uncle who I was very close with died when I was 18 a year ago. They’ve all died from rather horrific causes, glioblastoma, birth defect, cancer, dementia. Cancer is the biggest. I just feel like im always anticipating the next soul shattering loss. Will it be my mom or dad? My cousin? A baby cousin? My aunt and 2nd mother figure? I feel surrounded by death. I think this is why I have such intense, spontaneous waves of depression. I feel it right now as im typing this. I think writing it out is helping.
It’s the third month of 2024 and life has been just a lot of good and bad no in between, and it’s affecting my OCD. My sibling got engaged (at first we thought it was an abusive relationship but they seem to be working things out) I started majoring in sign language and made Deaf friends, My friend’s mom died and my soul sister’s best friend died and she found the body. The thoughts about me touching something the wrong way and someone dying is going INSANE and although I think that an important part of life is remembering we all die, So much death has happened I feel like the world is caving in. False memories, magical thinking intrusive thoughts etc. Any advice?
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