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working to conquer OCD
For everyone who believes In Christ donāt let your faith waver because of this, no matter the theme remember that if we are able to overcome this mental hell then it is a testament to his sovereign power. Let His love and grace saturate you and illuminate out of you, I know how low the lows can get and your emotions are valid, He also will never change and His word endures forever. āI can do all this through him who gives me strength.ā Philippians 4:13
So recently things have started to take a turn for me. In January I started having awful harm intrusive thoughts. It was awful and I couldnāt get out of the house for weeks. I was scared to be around anyone and even my boyfriend thinking I would lose control. Recently I have got ahold of these thoughts. I still get them but I am able to shake them off much easier. This happened when I noticed I may have some form of OCD (I have not been clinically diagnosed). As these intrusive thoughts have been easier to manage all of the sudden I have a near fear that circles my head often⦠the fear of a psychosis or schizophrenia⦠I am constantly on edge recently. It is almost like the moment I noticed my intrusive thoughts were just thoughts⦠my brain found something else to worry about. I have not hallucinated or heard things that were not there. But I am TERRIFIED that I will. For example⦠Iāll look down a hallway and be convinced if I look hard enough for long enough I will hallucinate. Or I will have an image in my head of an object while Iām driving that is in my house and Iām scared that I will hallucinate the object moving when I get home. Iāve become very afraid I will lose touch with reality. I have told myself they are just thoughts. Which I know they are. But this has become very distressing for me. Also, I am a performer and Iāve had the fear that I will get on stage and I will see a hallucination in the audience. Which I know wonāt happen. I just canāt stop circling in my head about this. If anyone has any suggestions on things that have helped them or have the same story feel free to chime in. Iām really sad, Iām tired and Iām sick of living in constant fear that I have a psychosis and Iām tired of living with intrusive thoughts (I know Iām not the only one). This is very new to me and I would love help and encouraging words. Thanks so much everyone.
Anyone know how to miraculously reignite a flame? Iāve been trying to tell my husband Iām unhappy but he told me last night it sounds like a heart issue/spiritual problem. He said I was unhappy before we got together (I was struggling with depression and got on meds), but Iām just not really happy with my life lately. I donāt feel like I have any choice but to stick it out cause weāre married. He said heās just waiting for me to come around and that heās fine, heās not going to voice his opinion anymore and just let me do whatever I want. Iām going to look into counseling again for us but I just feel kinda numb. Itās nice to have someone close but I wouldnāt say āIām happily married.ā I didnāt think Iād feel this way so often when Iāve been married only a year. I feel alone in a lot of ways. Should I just keep trying to do things that make me happy and just accept what is?
How do you deal with ocd latching onto some you care for? Not once in a million years did I think I would be struggling with this. Itās awful because I genuinely donāt know who I am anymore. I feel so confused most of the time and I hate not knowing how I truly feel because of the doubt. My mind is scaring me more and more everyday. It tries to trick me in any way possible. Iām worried that one day this will actually be my reality .
Hi guys - writing because I want to know if anyone else has experienced this. Hopefully so! I have seen people in here articulate the situation with OCD, commonly with Harm, where they feel āevilā, their intrusive thoughts are āI want to do X evil thingā, there is little/no anxiety present. I have experienced that on and off for the past few months, and itās truly terrifying. I reguarly experience bouts of dissociation where things either feel ultra real/Iām hyper aware that Iām experiencing life through a set of eyes, in a body, look at my hands, they donāt feel like mine. Etc etc. Standard dissociation stuff. I have just about got to grips with it after a very bad episode, triggered by the latest season of āYouā. In true OCD style, this harm-evil OCD has manifested into a fear of developing DID/splitting personalities when I experience dissociation and that feeling of ābeing evilā. So while all that is going on, Iāll look in the mirror and the intrusive thoughts go āIām not Lucy (my nameā and other ridiculous statements in order to participate in the act of being someone with DID. I can see the tricks being played by OCD this time: I have experienced virtually all subtypes, and particularly with schizophrenia OCD and harm, the intrusive thoughts would present as statements that correlated with the theme at hand. Eg schizophrenia āpeople out to get meā *seeing faces in patterns* (all other things a āschizophrenicā would think; harm āI want to kill this person/Iām going to stab them nowā. Blah blah blah. I can see the OCD for what it is and how sophisticated it can be. I am just partially reassurance-seeking, but mostly curious. Has anybody experienced this in a similar way to me? It feels very niche, but I thought that of a lot of my subtypes until I used this app, and felt way less alone! Any tips on how to deal would be great. Thanks in advance!
I hate to keep posting on here as itās a compulsion but I want to know Iām not crazy, basically through the past 3 weeks I have been stressing over multiple mental issues like.. the world not existing, schizophrenia, harm ocd and then I saw someone mention trans ocd which I did not know was a thing and then I was like am I a boy? And now Iām worrying about dissociative identity disorder, it feels so realistic and I am scared Iām also struggling with depersonalisation at the moment and apparently a lot of people worry about DID with it. Itās basically been a theme of different things to worry about but before this state I would think of these things and Iād be scared but I wouldnāt convince myself of these things? I just wanna know if someone has gone through a similar experience and gotten through it and what to do here.
OCD ruined my life at one point. I'm scared that I can never fully and satisfyingly express/articulate the STRANGE, BIZARRE, and SCARY ways I acted in public. Talking aloud, fiercely, to myself nonstop. Taking my feet out of my shoes and rubbing them incessantly so it would relax me in a specific way that was never achieved. Doing this in all my classes. Having all of my teachers contact my mom talking about my strange behavior. Not being able to tell people the truth about anything. Not being able to adequately express my reasons for doing these things to my mom or siblings or anything. Seeing myself as a martyr for continuing the compulsions and watching them spiral and feeding the spiral because if I didn't I thought I would be depressed forever. Seeing my Being pulled out of school. Having blisters break out all over my feet and having the strong, sweaty smell linger on my feet and my hands. Doing these compulsions at school, at the doctor's office, at church, at giant church gatherings, in front of huge huge crowds during choir performances, at home, in every room, deeming every room contaminated, everywhere, all the time, all-consuming. I sat in the same position I had a whole scheduled network of checkpoints. I continue to be absolutely appalled at what I trained my mind to do. I lost my siblings' trust. I watched them cry and run to my mother after seeing me get a worn-out tank top from the trash because, even though rubbing it around my waist didn't relieve me anymore, it was less emotionally contaminated than the other one I wore. Then I wrapped it around my waist and tugged and tugged as if no one was nearby, even though I knew my brother was in the room and that he was gawking at me sobbing and blubbering, "Why did she get it out? Why did she get it out of the trash?" I could only wear very very specific clothes with very specific textures. Soon, rubbing with the cloth didn't do anything. I needed a more intense sensation around my waist, to zap my brain the right way and give me some comfort. Bear in mind that, all the way through this, I was NEVER comfortable. I was in MISERABLE MISERABLE AGONIZING SOUL-CRUSHING PAIN. My thoughts were stabbing ny heart, telling me how horrible I was, how horrible the world was, how every single object and person and idea and dialogue and action and movement was HIGHLY CONTAMINATED, indicative of my less-peaceful past, and I needed to press EVERY SINGLE external and internal stimulus through MY SACRED FILTER or GOD'S SACRED FILTER to retain peace, stay PERFECTLY FOCUSED, and succeed in every little task PERFECTLY WELL, with no emotional distractions from the people around me (including friends and family), and no extraneous thoughts that distracted me from my holy task in ANY WAY. My mind sped up and sped up and soon I was producing nothing but adrenaline and cortisol. This is according to a psychiatrist. It certainly felt like this. Sometimes, I hear my mom's voice and I think of how she talked to me when I was sitting in a chair hunched over, rubbing my feet, coursing through a million thoughts with my hair thrown over my face. I was in this position for at least fifteen hours every day. Moving or looking up at all erased my spiritual progress. My little brother came home from school one day. He walked in on me in the kitchen. I was home from school. My mom had left me a meal, but the chairs were my safe zones where I could continue rubbing and avoid any distracting stimuli like eating. I couldn't cope with opening my eyes, seeing the world, and moving. At one point, somehow, I actually stood up. But I was stuck there for HOURS, doubled over, jerking crazily and grunting out of exhaustion and anger and desperation. I absolutely could not move until I felt some relief. The amount of distress that came with moving was insurmountable, like I was losing losing losing all my compulsions progress. At one point, I was holding a bowl with my medicine, and I was stuck holding it for so long that I screamed with all of the anger in my lungs (I had been quiet as possible before then), hurled the bowl at the floor, and quickly returned to rubbing. I was still standing up, doubled over. This is how my little brother found me when he walked in from school. He said, "I'm home..." then, "Oh," in dismay. I was grunting, panting, and desperately twisting the tank top around my waist. Everything was pitch black for me because, for 95 percebt of the day, my eyes were clamped shut and my face was hidden behind my hair and I was doubled over. I jerked and twisted like a zombie, staying in one place and exhibiting no awareness of my surroundings. I heard my brother scramble up the stairs and call my mom. He started sobbing about how he found me. I put my siblings through a traumatizing situation. I made their home lives distressing. I don't give a damn if it's my fault. I feel like it's impossible to overcome the pain of losing their trust and making them both sob the way they did. Their cries deeply wound and haunt me. I thought I lost the respect of everyone I loved. Again, I don't give a damn if it was my fault or not. I was super concerned about my friends' thoughts, but my siblings' and mom's most of all. I wrecked my mom's life. I did. Every day she was on the phone talking to a friend about my mental breakdown. Between bouts of compulsions and not eating the waffles she made me, I looked up in brief, distracted moments and saw her inside or on the porch sobbing in the phone. I became an animal. My family didn't address me. They talked about me in the room like I wasn't there. All the time, every day, while my face was in my hair. My brother said to my sister and maybe to me that he had researched it and he was certain I was schizophrenic. In any case, I fully heard him, and for a minute, I was the pain and frustration and anguish in his eyes. It's been three years. I was an insane person. My mom told me to my face that I looked like I was going to kill her. This was after she pinned me down in my bed because I would never stop rubbing and trying to get relief. I was furious at her and I wouldn't stay still. I rebelled and disobeyed my mom because I thought I was a martyr---Mom, I'm so sorry, but you don't understand---I MUST and WILL fulfill this noble cause of rubbing my feet and rubbing my tank top around my waist even though I'm bleeding and wounded and raw. It's okay that I'm bleeding; it's GOOD to suffer if it's for a greater cause. I'll suffer forever and ever. This was all about 3 years ago and I don't know if I will ever overcome the shock of this horrible hell.
Any automotive techs here with OCD?
Lately Iāve been hearing that criminality is a social construct and people agreeing and explaining and itās super triggering with my sensitive ocd brain because then I start thinking my harm and horrible ocd thoughts are going to come true and that Iām going to start thinking itās ok to do bad things ughš
I struggle with taboo themes, so I'm usually always depressed (diagnosed with major depression) and I lost interest in things I used to enjoy (going outside, drawing, even music) I get triggered sometimes doing fun things because I get intrusive thoughts , and also thoughts that I don't deserve to be happy so I usually just stop halfway through. I've been trying to workout daily and I don't feel happy or like Im doing anything really. I've been in a tough spot since August of 2022. I'm used to being alone,but my family has started working longer shifts so I'm alone at home more than usual. This is scary for me, and also makes me feel like lazy garbage because I could be out with a job like them if I didn't have such bad anxiety. I wish I was normal. I wish I was like my friends who have stable mental health, money, a car etc. Then again even if I did have those things I'd still feel empty. I feel stuck and don't see a point in life sometimes if I'm suffering every day and I have to do the most just to feel okay. My theme will always just make me plummet and feel like I'm not worth anything no matter what.
Does anyone have any advice for overcoming binge eating? I know it doesnāt have much to do with ocd but I did have an unhealthy obsession with eating ārightā and would avoided a lot of food on fear of gaining weight. I realised this was unhealthy and I fortunately when I stopped I ended up binge eating and gaining lots of weight back I can feel myself falling back into binge eating again and I donāt even know why I do it it feels almost like a hobby or comfort but I just donāt wanna be fat anymore. What can I do to control this unhealthy habit?
Hello there. So I have harm OCD thoughts about hurting people in general, but they started out as targeted toward my mom, whom I love with all my heart and have a great relationship with. I was starting to feel better after months of struggling, the anxiety associated with the thoughts has lessened. However, the fact the anxiety isnāt as present is freaking me out. Iām not sure if itās the fact that my meds and ERP are working or if I am becoming okay with the notion of killing people. I keep freaking out because the thoughts about my mom have returned and are really detailed scenarios in which I kill my mom. I donāt want to hurt my anyone, let alone my mom. But every time I tell myself I know i donāt want to do these things, itās always followed up with, āWhat if I do want to?ā Sometimes my thoughts will even say I want to. But I donāt, but these thoughts come in anyway and I question if I want to no matter how many times I say, āI donāt want to hurt anyone ever.ā āWhat if Iām in denial?ā āWhat if Iām planning?ā āWhy isnāt there more anxiety like before?ā āAm I purposely having these thoughts or are these automatic?ā Iām getting really bad suicidal ideations from this because Iām so scared that it is not ocd and I need to take myself out of the equation before I hurt someone. I canāt not say to myself, āI donāt want to hurt anyone everā because I feel like if I donāt , Iāll suddenly become murderous. Iāve never hurt anyone, I consider myself to be a kind and gentle person, but these thoughts are making me question every aspect of myself. I appreciate any insight anyone may have. I understand this may be triggering to read.
i feel like no matter how hard i try to explain how i am feeling about my current thoughts, im just overthinking everything. if i start to feel bad i get intrusive thoughts that im lying to myself or doing it for attention. its so hard to ask for help when im the inly one having a strong reaction. im not sure if that makes sense but i donāt know what else to do.
You may be thinking that you should or shouldn't tell your significant other the specifics of what your OCD thoughts are. With this, there is no right answer and the choice on whether to share or not remains with you and you alone. Personally, I did not feel the need to share my thoughts with my significant other and how some of them involved them. Another person may decide that they would like to share those details with their significant other. Whatever you decide to do is okay as long as your partner is supportive and understanding on this journey. Have you shared details about your intrusive thoughts with your partner?
Obsessive-compulsive disorder, also known as the disease of doubt, has a very crippling effect on an individual's ability to function at its worst. This seems to happen especially when the individual's obsessive-compulsive disorder is thematically related to violence, sexually inappropriate thoughts or other taboo topics. When the vicious circle progresses far enough, a person no longer necessarily knows himself at all, is not sure of who they are or what they want. I believe that the background of obsessive-compulsive disorder, like the background of mental health problems in general, is a feeling of disgust and revulsion towards some thought, scenario or self. The way in which obsessive-compulsive disorder manifests itself, especially in the so-called "pure o" form, is very complex, because the individual disgust-inducing thematicity manifests itself not only in thoughts but also in the form of feelings, temptations and physical sensations. In some cases, however, this goes so far that the person's beliefs about his own integrity begin to decay and the feeling of hope and the meaning of life disappear. The idea can be clarified analogously to Nietzsche's thoughts on belief systems. As a result of obsessions and other repulsive thoughts, feelings and temptations, a person's belief system about his own integrity begins to collapse, but when the belief system collapses - the belief in that belief system itself collapses as well. When it no longer seems meaningful or possible to believe in the realization of a familiar and safe belief system, there is also no hope for anything better. So there is no longer even hope left for a meaningful whole of self, which drives a person to deep anxiety and depersonalization, which in turn begins to displace a person from social relationships and from all meaningful activities that a person is used to enjoying and creating meaning for his life based on his own complete self-concept, which is no longer felt to exist. Any thoughts or similar experiences on this?
I was wondering if anyone else is experiencing what Iām experiencing right now. So I get like super obsessed with like shows and celebrities where I shut out the whole world and stop doing things I should be doing, and then I like research about them or just watch videos about them. I saw something saying itās like hyper-focusing Iām wondering if it has something to do with my OCD or anxiety. Does anyone else have this happen to them?
I am so tired. I feel incapable of relaxing and just filled with anger and disgust over how powerful my OCD feels. I feel like a victim and that makes me even more angry because I donāt want to feel that way. My pride and ego are popping. Ocd runs in my family. My mom and sister and I struggle in different ways with it. My mom had an eating disorder as a young person and is better but now it mostly manifests in her needing order and perfection in the house and mentally in some cases. My sisters ocd was mostly about contamination and fear of the unknown. Hers was really bad, one time I witnessed her peeing herself in the name of needing to do a compulsion. CBT helped her a lot. I say all of this to say that my OCD has always felt less explicit and thus gaslit within myself. It first started when I was a tween, I would check if the door was locked several times before feeling satisfied, I had to wear the same pair of pajamas every night, I would journal the same sentences nightly about what I was grateful for, had to do a series of facial expressions in the mirror before taking a shower and my room was always pristinely organized. My main fears were about safety and throwing up. They then became more abstract as I got older; I developed self harm OCD and sexual orientation OCD. Then I developed existential ocd. I would say I mostly have pure O now. So much so that I obsess over if I even have ocd! What that even means. I definitely have relationship ocd as well. I can obsess over people so quickly and it makes me feel crazy. I know they arenāt thinking about me as much and as in depth as Iām thinking about them and that makes me feel pathetic. My ocd gets in the way of me being present with people because Iām mentally preoccupied or compulsively confessing. I hate to think that I use people to feel better. Ok I could keep going but this feels like a good start. I guess Iām here because I really just donāt want to waste any more of my life this way
My heath anxiety first started when I had my first panic attack. After having my panic attack I was anxious I was going to experience it again because the first time I thought I was actually dying. I remember feeling like my heart dropped. It left me so scared I didnāt want to feel it again which got me so anxious over everything. I would get chest pain everyday and it was hell. After months of being anxious I meditated and found ways to take my mind off it for a little and it slowly went away. I was so happy without it. But then it all came back to me like a couple months later. Iām guessing because I had a conversation about the black hole and how they were talking about dying and that got me really anxious. That night the same chest pain came back to me again. This time I felt left arm pain. And this made me so mad. After months of struggling trying to get away from this and managing to do so only for it to come back made me so upset. And now Iām here again with slight chest pain and constant left arm pain. I donāt want this to be something I struggle with my whole life I want to get away from this. Iām thinking about trying medication but Iām just so so upset Iām going through this again.
Just for background info, Iāve had anxiety and panic attacks since I was around 16. Iām currently 25. Iāve struggled with OCD for the last 5ish years. It started as a what if I hurt my husband or my animals and then spiraled into nonstop intrusive thoughts that lasted every day/second for several months until I got on Zoloft which seemed to help a lot. The thoughts ranged from harm thoughts, being possessed, being schizophrenic, going into psychosis, losing control/my mind, etc. then once I started the Zoloft and saw a psychiatrist that told me I was experiencing OCD, I felt much better about not being insane and that took a lot of the anxiety away. Well 8mo ago, we welcomed our first child into the world and it was a fear of mine when I became pregnant that the OCD would latch on to my baby. I just knew I would get intrusive thoughts. Well to my surprise, my OCD mainly stayed at bay and I havenāt had any spirals in a really really long time. Wellllll, then I see the Clancy case in the news and it sent me into a downward spiral. So fast. And I tried to help myself by reminding myself āitās just the OCD, you know what this is. This isnāt you. You wouldnāt hurt your babyā but I couldnāt help but continue researching this mother and comparing myself to her and trying to find similarities. Constantly ruminating in my head to try to figure out what drove her to do what she did and if Iām capable of the same. It has just been very dark in my head and so consuming. I feel guilty when I look at my baby. I feel like a terrible person/mother. The thoughts are just out of control once again. I sometimes have moments of happiness/normalcy and not thinking negatively but itās almost like Iāll ācatchā myself feeling normal and not anxious. And then boom, intrusive thought. Itās almost like I wonāt allow myself to be happy and feel normal. Itās so draining. Anyone else struggling with something similar?
If you are in crisis, please use these emergency resources to find immediate help.
OCD doesn't have to
rule your life