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How do you perform a proper exposure? How do you handle the thoughts that pops while you do a exposure, do you maybe label the thoughts? It would be helpful for me if someone can explain me the DO's and DONT's of doing exposures

I feel so bad— I’ve gotten casual intrusive thoughts about the guy in my past but ITS GOTTEN SO REPETITIVE AND BAD THESE PAST FEW WEEKS. I FEEL so bad for my current partner (well we are not in a confirmed relationship but we are definitely committed to each other). My brain compares everything he does and not only that but whenever he doesn’t reply or talk to me, my brain tells me I deserve better and I should go back to the guy in my past. Let me tell you this, the guy in my past played a significant role in my life— I never dated him but we were pretty close and I might have had feelings for him but I never really had the desire to “get with him” but NOW my brain is using that against me. The guy in my past was very toxic and although he was very nice to me, I really don’t want to be associated with him. The guy I’m currently with is the MOST wholesome, funnies person ever. I love talking to him and although I’m not quite sure if we are in the “love” stage yet, we definitely really like each other and talking to each other. But I also get triggered by the fact that we aren’t commited and not necessarily “in love.” Again I’m not sure if I’m in love but maaan I really like him. I feel like I’m lying as I’m saying this. This is so stressful and difficult. All I want to do is cry omg :((((((((( I really don’t want to hurt him, he’s the greatest thing that has happened to me in a while. He’s so patient and sweet to me— I feel so guilty :(((( I got triggered because he didn’t reply to any of my messages and my thoughts have been telling me that I deserve better and stuff but I really don’t want anyone else. Also my thoughts intensify when I think of love stories and stuff, especially with the destined fate thing and stuff. I feel like I’m destined to be with the other guy in my past but I don’t really want to be associated with him. I really am committed to a long term relationship with the guy I’m currently with (sorta, like I said we are not quite confirmed). Oh and I’ve been doubting my feelings for him since the beginning of our talking stage and I feel terrible. The thoughts I normally get are: - What if you don’t like him and you like the guy in your past? - What if you’re using him - what if you like the idea of him - if you keep thinking of x, then you don’t like him - Why do you even like him? If you have nothing to say then you don’t. - Oh remember when the guy did this in past with you, don’t you like that more?

It made me super uncomfortable because i welcomed gross intrusive thoughts and like I didn’t stop them and then I caught w hold of myself and like I am thoroughly disgusted with my thoughts and this guilt makes me feel immensely uncomfortable. I don’t like it and I don’t agree with the thoughts at all, but I feel like a creep for even thinking that way I am genuinely disappointed in myself I feel like I failed and I hate it. I came to and realized how messed up the thoughts were and I believe thag was my intention beforehand but I think I just wanted to get it out of my head or something while still keeping it in, but like I still thought some messed up stuff and I don’t like that. I am doubting if that was actually me or if it was intrusive and I hate it. I got worried about being a creep and letting loose all my fucked upness in erp but like it makes me feel as if I am in denial of something, like erp is just my excuse to let loose almost like I will enjoy it, but that is scaring me. i am doubting the person I am and I don’t like what is happening in my head. I keep saying hey you didn’t go there in your head but thw problem is that I went to some dark places and like it was truly awful. I was about my senses for the most part and it is making me feel so bad. I feel like I am just a bad guy because I am thinking this stuff, I don’t wanna think this more than anything I want it to go away and I figured maybe by enabling dark thoughts it would get it out but like I feel so much guilt and I don’t even like the thoughts pr anything they’re intrusive but part of me is convinced that I am enjoying them and I feel so awful, I am not getting off on these disgusting images I project in my head amd the thiughts that follow but seriously I don’t like it and its getting me to a point where I want to avoid things like even looking at people and I have found myself stopping breathing because I domt wanna smell things, or mot swallowing the food in my mouth because I was mistaking it for something else. I didn’t like the thought it just happened but I still hate that it was there. I am trying to move on but I just like don’t like where my head went, I don’t think I did it right, but I kept thinkimg bad things so I figured facing it head on would help and when I had an intrusive thought which I forced sorta I feel nothing but shame amd guilt. I never got off on amy of it and I wnjoyed absolutely none of it I was mad in my head, I was feeling immensely uncomfortable the whole day but after that I feel as if I am ok, I enabled an intrusive thought, and thought about stuff it was gross and made me uncomfortable so I pulled away from the grossness in my head.

So in the summer I tend to get bored a lot, but lately it’s been so insanely stressful how bored I am if that makes any sense. First of all, my mind wanders so bad when I’m bored and I end up stress eating or sleeping or staring at my phone. My dad gets mad at me for staring at my phone all day but it’s the only option other than sleeping or eating and I don’t want to do either of those. I used to love all my hobbies, drawing, painting, reading, playing piano, playing with my dog, etc. but not they’re all a chore and don’t bring me any happiness I hate it. Playing the piano is boring cause I don’t know any songs and extremely stressful of I try to learn a new song, I have to be in the right mood for painting or drawing and I’ve been way too worn out emotionally to do either, I don’t have any good books right now and can’t seem to find any (plus they feel like a waste of time in my head though I love reading), and I can’t do much outside when it’s scorching hot. If you have any suggestions I’d be so so so grateful for the help

A question for creative folks who have been able to be creatively-productive, (writers in particular!): What tips, ideas, advice might you have with getting started on something and sticking with it enough to get into a creative FLOW? I used to make and write things all the time but I have a hard time starting and sticking to projects. A lot of stuff I’ve tried to write lately is unfinished and in fragments, and I want to get back into that flow state! I think depression and my inner critic make it worse alongside OCD and ADHD; and that “stumped” cursor blinking on the screen or blank-page overwhelm thing happens! Drives me nuts!

Antone else feel like ERP isn’t really helping? I’ve only been doing it for a few weeks now but i don’t feel much different at all :(

Is questioning why do things happens , and why they are what they are , and the need to have an answer for every complicated question such as ( what is consiousness and how do our mind create signals and who is the I and do i control my mind or does control me and many many questions about the universe and reality) Are also considered ocd ? I saw a post for a schizophrenic friend asking same questions And i fear that is the start to me losing my mind Can anyone relate to the questions? And are they okay ? And what helps to live normal (knowing that im on paroxtine 30mg)

While mental health awareness has made great strides in recent years, misconceptions and stigma around OCD persist. People may say things like “I’m so OCD about that” to describe a preference or personality quirk, when really OCD can be debilitating to those with the condition. So how can you actually describe what having OCD feels like to people who just don’t get it? We asked members of the NOCD community to weigh in: "It's like having your worst enemy live inside your mind." "It's like living with a monster under your bed that you can see, but no one else does." "It's like watching a horror movie on repeat." "It's like your mind is being hijacked by disturbing thoughts or feelings that you just can't shake." How would you describe what it’s like to live with OCD? Reply with your description of how it feels to live with OCD.

Hey everyone, I have been dealing with OCD for about 3 weeks now as of today. My first 7 days we’re very torturing and tormenting. I remember the exact moment everything started, I spiraled and really panicked from an intrusive voice, though in my head after being exposed to a triggering image in person. My reaction to it really caused all of this, because it was such a disgusting thought I didn’t let it move past me as I usually would. I’m not even a drinker but I was under the influence of wine and a little alcohol at the time so I believe that played a big part with my reaction, I also had been fasting then broke it so my mind was in no condition to see a graphic image. I went home and prayed for a legit 45 minutes to an hour after that, at about midnight. I cried and yelled out to God for days but it was as if it made it worse. Don’t believe that, God Is there for you, ask God to sustain you and fight for you because you can’t do this on your own. I will give some good pointers at the end of this message, please keep reading. I don’t know about you but my Anxiety, Trimmers, and shakes occur most in the morning and throughout my sleep. I wake up at 3-4 am everyday as if my body is anticipating more trauma. I am a speaker, mentor, photographer, and mixed martial artist. My favorite time spent is studying the Bible every morning for 2-3 hours. I have not indulged in much of these passions the past 3 weeks but I will say I do see progress from day 1 to day 21, no matter how my brain tries to trick me. In the beginning it felt like an extreme dark cloud and as if demons we’re constantly jumping me every where I went. My compulsion is googling, watching YouTube videos, trying to reason with the voices in my head. So much as to I would sleep 12-14 hours then wake up and be tormented for the rest of the day. We don’t give ourselves enough credit, I’ve realized I haven’t watched a YouTube video in a few days and anxiety has lessened, I have googled somethings but it has been more of encouragement based researching. Reassurance really takes a toll on you, I’ve realized my phases of this already, SEVERE anxiety, days of exhaustion, days of hope but feeling like you’re going backwards, having burst of energy of feeling like your old self and then some random trigger would happen and send you into a 2-3 hour tense episode of OCD. When I’m too relaxed I would panic because I feel as if I’m okay with the thoughts or something when I truly do hate them, it would send me back in to panic mode. But I’m beginning to understand these are one of the phases after doing some more self education. As I’m writing this, a voice is lingering and telling me to “ Shut The Eff Up, don’t write this.” Then there’s s voice that says, “ Good Job, I’m proud of you.” I can feel weight being lifted as I write, even though it’s an everyday process. Accept this challenge and let it build your character, much easier said than done because I struggle tremendously, but my faith is in Jesus Christ. He can bring you out of anything and everything, just have faith and put the work in, perseverance is key. We got this everyone, we will overcome this. Pointer number 1.) Yesterday I went swimming and that was the BEST I’ve probably felt since this started, swimming calms you, relieves stress, and allows your thoughts to flow more naturally. I’m going to be swimming everyday now. Point number 2.) I know it’s very hard but working out at an medium to intense level literally makes me feel like I am releasing OCD slowly. I’ve transitioned to running more since this started, doing a lot of sprinting without overwhelming myself to highly. We have to get that sweat equity going, I find that I have the best days when I workout. I encourage you to get that going. 3.) Put your faith in God, continue to pray. Thank Jesus for the battle you’re in and say it under your breath silently, I find that asking him to take the voices away is not reality. I had to change my language and vocabulary quickly when it comes to OCD because this is a marathon. I’m speaking Victory over OCD before I’m out of it, it’ll be there but it will become less of an impact over time if we stay persistent. You will get back to your normal self, you will. Embrace who you will be after this, try not to look back. It causes more depression when you do that. Yes, I still struggle but I know that Jesus will never fail me. 4.) WRITE these thoughts down. On a sheet of paper write down the voices, thoughts, and images that aren’t you, then write down what you TRULY desire and who you know you are. It’ll help you distinguish your good vs bad thoughts. That’s brought much encouragement to my mental the couple times I did write. Replace those thoughts with higher knowledge and positive self talk. If you don’t believe in God/ Jesus or any higher power I understand. Expecting to win this battle on your own is not reality though. Look to a higher power, you got this!! 5.) These thoughts, voices, and images aren’t you! These thoughts, voices, and images aren’t you! These thoughts, voices, and images aren’t you! If you bottle this up inside of you please talk with others about it, get a therapist please. No more suffering, the more we release the better off we are. Embarrassing as it may be! Take the steps, make the progress. You are not OCD, it will not have master over your any longer! Yes it’s extremely hard and I can’t believe I had no clue about this before I was triggered. This needs to be talked about A LOT more in society from a mental health aspect. This is not some small jokey phrase as society likes to makes it seem. Now I really wonder out if all the suicides that have happens in our existence, how many of them actually had OCD but had no clue or just we’re to embarrassed to talk about their story? 🤧. We must uplift one another consistently. Life will humble you, at any small moment it will change and you absolutely do not see it coming but we will overcome this together!!! Much love to all of you, let’s make an uncomfortable step today!!! God is good!!!

I feel like I should be worried because im still having intrusive thoughts and whatnot and i have those intrusions telling me I like those thoughts although I dont but its not causing me any stress or guilt I just feel nothing and I am extremely uncomfortable because I cant react with discomfort to my intrusions, I can react with counter thoughts but it still doesnt feel, “right” to me. I get worried with groinal responses even though I have no or little movement and quite literally feel nothing when I think the thoughts I don’t like them but my reaction feels forced can someone please explain this?

Guys I literally feel trans. I literally feel like I have to come out and that I’m not a girl anymore 😭😭 I can’t believe my life has come to this.

Okay - I probably shouldn’t be doing this because it’s possibly seeking reassurance, but I really think I want to know out of curiosity. With my OCD I have subtypes that’s easy for my to list and explain, yet there is some feelings that I struggle with putting into words but I am going to try, so here we go. I used to love scary movies, especially all the classics, but now I can’t watch them. I also want to state that I was diagnosed with OCD at 12 and for the majority of my life since then, I never struggled until this past February when I accidentally ate a Delta 8 cookie that had a 150MG dose (keep in mind I’m not used to weed 🙃). I went into a panic attack and ever since I’ve been dealing with awful intrusive thoughts and anxiety. Anyway, one of my OCD quirks is I will think of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and start feeling anxious - (I know he’s not real). If I see a weird field or dirt road that resembles the ones in the movie, I get anxious and uncomfortable. It’s almost like I’m stuck in a scary movie inside my head. I am now super hyperaware of feelings. If I feel drowsy I start getting anxious and if I laugh to much I start getting worried. Last night my husband and I watched Avengers: End Game, and I was a WRECK and the end. I was crying and laughing (because of how ridiculous I looked) at the same time and then all of a sudden BAM! I got anxious and started thinking “omg is crying and laughing like this normal or am I going crazy). I literally feel like an emotional wreck 😅 Can anyone relate?

I just wanna know why i had to get all the mental illnesses in my family

Why does it feel like we have to accept more uncertainty than most? I know I may be wrong, but I cant help but feel that it is so wrong to not worry about potential issues, if I’m making the wrong choice about my relationship especially if there were and can be real problems involved, if I’ve harmed, if I’ve been harmed, if this is not even OCD. It feels like Im being kept in the dark and it feels so unfair. Is there really no way other than to accept uncertainty? These are such important things (to me at least) and I’m supposed to not be sure about them? How is ERP going to help with OCD mixed with « real » problems? Ive been feeling so sad and frustrated about this lately, especially with « is it even OCD or am I supposed to be doing something else? Can someone please let me know how they overcome this?

I was raised religious and It giveds me safety and comfort when I was younger because when I prayed I told to someone me though and worries so that comfort. Later I didn't believe In It anymore but rn because of the OCD episode again I rethink everything because when I prayed I asked things but didn't got It and there was like also a person that had that and god told them like just because I font give you what you want doesn't mean I don't love you around those lines. And I was like Oh I didn't got that when I was younger what I asked for but I got comfort and safety because I needed that and he knows best what people needs. And I got that water on me head when I was you so maybe also that's has something to do with It that I am contected to It. But Idk what to think or I should go back to that because I want that comfort and safety back but rn I don't believe In It but this makes me rethink everything because It probably won't work because you have to believe In you hart I'm It and when I was a kid I did because I didn't doubt It or something so rn I am panicking because It makes sense and what If he exit's for some people and sometimes I think I hear him or like a feeling that he Is there but also could be all OCD. AND CAN ANYBODY HELP ME WITH THIS like should I go back praying every night and saying all that just to get that back but even I don't believe In It anymore like wtf But I always said that I had religion trauma but was Iinying to me self because rn I think different about it and I would be a better person and I should ask god what to do rn or what he wants Idk

Can I carry on in my happy relationship even though there was no initial spark or infatuation on my side but we’ve grown so close ? And that I have anxiety based on my levels of attraction at times ?

Hi, I'm new here-- I don't actually know how to tag these posts, so I'm sorry if what I'm going through has nothing to do with your condition. I want to preface this by saying I am confident that I will never harm any child, nor do I feel any urges to harm a child outside of intrusive thoughts I know I would never act on. My distress stems from the morality issue of groinal responses and unpleasant imagery involving children. My arousal triggers incredibly easily unfortunately, I could get aroused watching a mantis mating video (and if you know about mantises, you'll know how incredible that is). Even so, I get an incredible distress when I am given a groinal response from the intrusive images of children. I know that you can be uncomfortable by something and still get aroused, I know that any image reguardless of what it is can trigger arousal if it's of a sexual nature. However, my mind ignores these facts and just says "You're feeling too good thinking about this. People don't mean this when they talk about groinal responses." But the worst is when I'm attempting to maturbate. Whenever I masturbate, my intrusive thoughts in general can "quicken" the experience. It isn't just children, it can be my relatives, or animals, or maggots, etc. So I know it's not the fact that they're children, but the fact that it's a taboo topic. It doesn't matter what "material" I find, no matter what, when I'm nearing the end my brain is desperate enough to imagine taboo thoughts just to reach the edge. I've been thinking about trading off the child intrusive thoughts for thoughts of incest or even beastiality, if it means I'm not thinking about children while doing 'that'. I believe I've actually tried this before with sucess. Reading this, you may be thinking "wow, you seem to have it all figured out." Yeah, I do! It doesn't help. I know the facts presented to me, I know I'm not a pedophile and still, I have doubt. That's how horrible this disorder is. Sometimes it helps reading other people's responses on these things, but other times it can be disturbing. Some people say they at one point enjoyed aspects of these thoughts, or enjoyed specific actions with children. I do not think that's POCD. But I'm not a professional. However, if those things can also be symptoms of POCD, that's even more demoralising, because it blurs the line between pedophilia and the OCD disorder. It's sad that there's no definitive answer on the difference. Sorry for the incredibly long post, I really just wanted to talk about what I've been going through in detail to see if others feel the same way. I am currently seeing a therapist about this, and no, she hasn't told me my thoughts are pedophilic, so that's good!

Does anyone have any helpful vitamins or routines that seem to help reduce anxiety? I have been trying to get more sleep & read more (which sounds silly but is a great distraction from all of my thoughts) which seems to help so far. I just wondered if anyone has found things that seem to anchor them & help to reduce the spiral of ocd! Also do routines tend to help those with ocd or discourage the breaking of compulsions??? I feel like they help me but maybe they only give me comfort and reassurance which might actually worsen my ocd in the future??? I’m not sure lol if anyone has any suggestions please reply! :)

How can I forgive myself for the mistakes I made as a teenager (maybe 15 through 18 or 19 I don’t remember exactly) when at the time I had no bad intentions I just didn’t understand what I was getting into? How can I forgive myself for being so dumb? I should of known. But unfortunately now dealing with real event and other themes trying to find “proof” it’s so exhausting and unsettling especially when the worst case scenario about my self and my past comes up literally every day and I have to fight it with “maybe, maybe not”…when will it ever go away. Do I even deserve for it to go away? No matter who I’ve told whether it was a parent or a therapist they all say the same thing…….let it go……..how am I supposed to do that. I want to do great things in life. I want to make up for all I have done wrong. I want to help people but I can’t even help myself. I hate myself. I don’t even like myself at all. I would go back in a heartbeat. But I can’t. I’m stuck in this mental hell. Will I ever be ok again…….

I guess I just need to let out some of my feelings because I’ve been holding them to myself for so long and I don’t know what to do anymore. When I first got these thoughts, it came after a huge and debilitating episode of SO-OCD. It was just starting to get a little bit weaker, then obsessive thoughts about being trans hit me out of no where. At first, it was easy to say they were nonsense, that’s how it always starts. I started fearing how real these thoughts would eventually feel, because I knew with my experience regarding sexual orientation obsessive thoughts, it can feel so real and like you HAVE to choose something right away. Well, I wish I was aware that it would be even harder than I thought. I’ve dealt with so much, and I haven’t been able to talk to my mom or anyone about this theme. Because when I tried with my SO-OCD one, she was super stressed out and did little to support me. This whole theme was kind of triggered by my mom mentioning how she wishes she could be like the other parents who could support their kids if they were trans, and I guess that made this pattern start. Prior, I never once doubted my gender identity. But now the doubt gets massive, so massive that it’s hard to even know what to do anymore. Backdoor spikes get strong too so when the anxiety doesn’t come, I fear that means this is what I want. Not only that, but my head keeps telling me I’m feminine even though I just want to feel like myself again. I know that’s not what it means but it’s so hard to stop the doubt once it starts. I can’t count the amount of times I’ve tried looking at old photos or getting up and going to the mirror to see if I really was happy with who I was, or looked at part of myself and wondered if it was more feminine. It doesn’t help that when I was still new to this all, I saw all the symptoms of dysphoria and now I dread looking in the mirror because I’m afraid I’ll start developing it. For a small while it was with my facial hair and a fear that I was gonna start hating it but then that went away and it switched to my shoulders and that’s starting to fade now. I’ve never had an issue with being referred to with he/him, but now I have hyper awareness and I have to carefully analyze my reaction when anyone refers to me that way because I’m absolutely terrified I might start hating it. What makes it even harder, is that I’ve always struggled with my own sense of identity. I’ve wanted to get my own sense of style and to take care of myself better. I wanted to feel like more of my own person, and I’ve been working on this since 2020. These thoughts feel even stronger because they try to convince me it’s because of my gender. What confuses me is that I’ve never been upset about my body before or being a guy. I was always contempt with what I had and wanted to start crafting a clearer picture of who I was in my own head. There’s more I could say, I could go on and on, but there’s not really any reason to. I just wanted to talk about how I felt because it’s always felt like I’m trapped alone and like nobody can help me. I don’t want to be trans, I never wanted to be a woman, but the doubt and the random thoughts and all of it makes it so hard to know sometimes. I wish this could end, and I’m tired of the uncertainty, but I know that I’ll have to learn to sit with it if I want this to get any better.