I feel isolated in the OCD community sometimes…… outside of this app absolutely NO ONE recognizes anything that isn’t numbers, objects, or germs. In fact, to some people it’s laughable to mention harm, SO ocd, rocd etc. they think just because they can’t see the illness in action, that it simply doesn’t exist. I’m sick of it. I and many others who suffer from this type has never given a fuck about numbers, germs, perfectionism- so why is it the ONLY poster child of this illness??? Why does it only contain 3 forms of representation?? Makes me feel even worse and doubtful of my illness….

It is really annoying, POCD has been by far the worst one for me since it also comes along with real event and false memory. I really hate OCD, but definitely, the representation is really bad. I’m tired of watching OCD videos and the only example they give is “germs” “symmetry” and all that. But I definitely understand how terrible those can be, because OCD is in general is incredibly tiring and debilitating. But I think they do that because to anyone who doesn’t have OCD, some of the other themes become a lot more complex and taboo which is definitely not easy to talk about. But it is very important that we do so that it breaks the stigma and ignorance that comes with it. It’s incredibly hard to keep living life feeling that you’re a monster who may have or will hurt someone. But like you said, for now, you have a community here that understands you and definitely won’t judge you, we’re all here to heal and to help each other!

Idk why they think because you don’t physically do something that you arnt doing something very similar in your head. The intrusive Thoughts are very similar too. I use to have some slight physical compulsion but I get over those faster because in my head I see that it’s not logical but the mental ones are harder for me.

I think it's simply because the symptoms of those types are the most observable and so over time became recognizable to the average person as OCD and as such put in a box

I was diagnosed with OCD as a teenager (along with depression) and started SSRIs. I stopped doing counting rituals and I thought that my OCD was under control. Little did I know that my rumination was also a form of OCD. Several therapists missed it; I feel lucky (if that makes sense) that I have found NOCD as I am on the edge of turning 40!