I just wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU to this group. Last week I didn't want to be here.....I am in the UK and I got calls from this group to make sure I was ok and my therapist called me and Dr McGrath helped too. Thank you so much. I have done my erp for the last two days and am finding it very hard but I know if I persevere I will get better. This disorder is the cruelest of mental health conditions and makes you feel like such a horrible person. I am NOT and never will be bad or evil person even though right at this moment the OCD is saying I am. I am kind and caring and have a mental health disorder that causes me to have intrusive thoughts that upset me so much. Just because I have told people who I thought were like family makes no difference..... it is only since they fell out with me over Covid that these OCD thoughts have come in.....I have never thought this way about these people before but the OCD has latched onto this insecurity and the fact I can't get reassurance anymore. I WILL get over this episode and it is all thanks to this site. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your genuine concern and kindness. I will persevere with the erp even though it has been conjurung up all sorts of thoughts today. Thank you, just thank you xx

I am FINALLY starting to (somewhat) recover from this last existential spiral, which admittedly, was probably the cruelest my OCD has ever been to me. Only thanks to you all. You were all able to provide me with kindness, understanding and support… without the kind of reassurance that feeds OCD, of course. When I downloaded this app, I was genuinely terrified. I was so scared that I was permanently doomed to the endless whirlpool that is the thoughts produced by my own brain and that life as I knew it was over, that I would never be happy again. For anyone who might be feeling that way right now, your OCD is LYING to you! Whatever you may be going through, it CAN get better. As hard as it may be right now, HAVE FAITH! Get up and do that thing you want to do in spite of the fear and discomfort. Take the fear with you like a whiny, unwilling toddler and do it anyway. Watch the movie, read the book, order that takeout you’ve been craving, bake the cake, wash the dishes… Please do it anyway! It will be hard at first, I won’t lie. But the OCD part of your brain, like a toxic partner, WANTS to win. It wants you to give up on those things that you love, all those things that make you happy so that there’s no space for anything but itself. Don’t let it win. The more you push yourself, the more you rewire your brain to realize that as much as it may feel like, the obsession doesn’t matter! Thanks to you all, even without therapy (YET - I’m starting that journey on Tuesday because there’s still a lot to unpack, and I know that OCD won’t just magically go away), I was able to get a basic understanding of ERP and learning to sit with discomfort and how to live life in spite of it, rather than letting it take over my very being. So for that, I thank this community. I think I would be in a very different place right now if it weren’t for the people I’ve met here who truly understood my experiences. I hope you have a wonderful day. Please don’t give up. You deserve to be happy, no matter what your brain is telling you ❤️

To my dear OCD friends, I just want to take a moment to say how grateful I am to know each of you. Your courage, honesty, and support have meant more to me than you know. In the trenches of this struggle, it’s easy to feel alone, but then you all show up (raw, real, and brave) and remind me what strength truly looks like. Some days the emotions hit like a wave, or like a distressed baby crying out for comfort. And instead of pushing that pain away, we’ve learned to sit with it. To cradle it. To breathe with it. To say, “You’re allowed to be here, and I won’t run.” That is powerful. That is healing. Exposures are not just tools, they’re acts of defiance. Each time we step toward our core fears instead of away from them, we’re not just surviving… we’re becoming ocdemonslayers. We’re refusing to let a false alarm dictate our worth or our reality. That’s no small thing. Please remember: nothing in this life is worth ending it early. The storm feels so loud sometimes, but storms do pass. Life has seasons, and the darkest ones are often followed by the most beautiful dawns. Hold on. You are not your thoughts. You are not alone. God is good through it all; in the fear, in the doubt, in the healing, in the stillness. Even when we can’t feel it, His grace holds us steady. He sees the battle and walks it with us. I’m truly happy to know all of you. Thank you for being part of this fight with me. With love, Salad #ocdemonslayers

Hi everyone, my name is Patrick and I'm from Poland in Europe. I want to tell you that you are the most wonderful people in the world, empathetic, sensitive, and loving. I know that OCD is a difficult time for all of you, that it's hard for you to understand the nature of everything that's going on in your heads. I have harm and moral OCD myself, unconfirmed or confirmed—what does it matter? We're all made of different blood, each of us is different, but remember that these intrusive thoughts are simply lies—yes, lies, each of us is aware of it, and even though everything seems true, let's be honest, it isn't—there's a terrible fear within us, something alien, but let's be honest—life is beautiful, we have so many things to do, but you're wondering what's going on with our motivation? ANYTHING can be a motivation, I want to help you here because YOU ARE WORTH EVERYTHING, WE ARE NOT CURSED, WE ARE THE STRONGEST - BECAUSE WE FIGHT WITH IT EVERY DAY!!!