Welcome to
the NOCD Community

Please reply, I know this can be seen as seeking reassurance but I think in some cases people need it and I am really suffering and am not in therapy or have ever been 😞 Is it possible with harm ocd that you can get use to the thought to the point you don’t get anxiety but the ‘urges’ can still be there? Or it feels like you ‘want’ to act on it or ‘like it’ or my head has literally convinced me that I like the feeling of doing that horrible thing and I get no anxiety when thinking about the thoughts (thoughts about smothering) and it’s stressing me out because I get no anxiety but it feels like I would suddenly lash out and do that and it’s because I ‘know how it feels to do that and enjoy/like the feeling of doing that/stopping someone from breathing with a pillow) I feel very upset and don’t know what to do, I’m carrying on with things but I’m constantly carrying this with me and I’m not stressing out over it every second of the day but I feel like I just don’t know what to do it feels so real and like it would actually happen and it’s ‘not the right circumstance for it to happen’ and Im just a mess and don’t know how I can live my life this way, believing this? It feels like it would happen or is inevitable and it would be because I like the feeling of smothering and it’s so horrible and I don’t know what to do I don’t even feel any bad feelings of anxiety or anything anymore but the other fake urges/feelings are there and it’s weird and I’m worried and don’t know how to deal with this

Hi guys I’ve had ocd since I was a child I’m 37 now. I’ve not been diagnosed but I have all the symptoms and looking back at my life it’s so obvious I had it from lining up my ribs as a child to more mental compulsions now of having to ruminate and get thoughts just right to stop bad things happening BUT!!! Even tho I know I have ocd I still can’t start erp I feel like I’m constantly waiting for the right time to start erp, any advice on starting erp and seeing it through. Thanks

How can you tell if a thought is an intrusive thought versus an anxious thought? Cause I know the treatment for both is different like with anxiety you can sit with it and acknowledge and ration with it but you’re not supposed to with ocd

Some days it gets really bad and other days it's not here at all. I don't know what's wrong with me. I was sick like weeks ago but I'm just left with this annoying cough that won't go away. This happened last summer but it went away. I can't help but look things up. I just hate this annoying cough.

I feel terrible for something I did during the talking stage. My partner and I are now 2 and a half years in, and when we were just talking and getting to know one another and going on dates, I was still talking to my ex partner who I dated for a month prior. He was a close friend, but there were times where we were intimate during the time period of dates with my current partner. I feel so guilty, I love my partner to death and would never in a million years think of cheating on him and I’m afraid I did something awful and I don’t know if I deserve him:( I want to be happy, but idk how. This haunts me and it makes me wanna break up with my partner because he doesnt deserve this.

I recently have been under an extreme amount of stress. Working full-time, taking care of a toddler, taking an intensive course with deadlines all in 1 month. I broke down Wednesday with rolling panic attacks. For the past 7days now I have panic attacks where I profusely shake, heart increases above 100, and feel like I am going to vomit my insides out. But worst of all, is the intrusive thoughts that I am losing my mind. My OCD revolves around loss of control and fear of going crazy. Ever since a kid. I have been through OCD counseling before but never did ERP. Instead, coped for 4 years using ACT. I have been to the ER and a Behavioral health clinic both in the past 7 days from my panic and fear of losing my mind. It's been so exhausting. Fear of insanity is so tremendous, when the panic sets I feel like no one will be able to help me and I'll be stuck in my mind forever. It's been the lowest I have ever felt. Hoping there is hope for me. I have little faith in myself 🙏 🪷

It's like a neverending cycle of doubt that I'm even straight. Too much physical and mental evidence which I cannot seem to let go of or ignore. I can't see myself with the same sex or getting married to them but how do I even trust that I don't? I know if I even have to ask that it's probably OCD but I'm sure at some point I'll get some thought or image of that and start liking it if I let go. I'm not even sure if I can get into a relationship with a woman because I've never been in one in general and I'm in my 30s and who knows if I'll be good enough sexually in the moment going forward.

I started Prozac a little over a month ago and I feel like my OCD could go into remission. I went from being so exhausted to the point where even getting up in the morning was hard to arguably the happiest I’ve been in almost a year. If you’re scared to take medication for your OCD, let this be a sign that it’s gonna be okay! ❤️

Is there anything special for handling command thoughts? It is exceedingly distressing and I've been considering hospitalization... I'm experiencing these for the first time, almost certainly because I read about them and I set up a wall against thinking them...

I went to the emergency room a few days ago (I am military) due to intrusive thoughts of self harm and they have enrolled me into a 5 week program and I’m really scared for my career in the military. Anything anyone does to combat the anxiety my ocd is telling me if I go there I will loose my family and my wife so I’m terrified to even step foot in the building

What’s been the worst time of your POCD? I’m just wondering so I could see if I could relate to any of them.

Does anybody here watch adult videos? (P0rn) Do you think it cause your brain to have intrusive thoughts about literally everything?

I’ve been with my NOCD therapist for seven months. I have come a LONG way since last year. I was completely agoraphobic and over came it. I feel like I’m on the edge of recovery and then I had a huge flair up a couple of days ago. Anybody else been there? I don’t want reassurance, just support!

My ocd has been really bad lately, and all summer I felt like a happy person until now… I feel so depressed and have no energy to do anything, all day I’m ruminating in my thoughts and it’s just so tiresome…

I know that talk therapy is not beneficial for ocd, and is not meant to treat it. However, I was wondering if anyone has done erp for their ocd while also doing talk therapy for other areas of their life and how that has worked out?

everyday i wake up anxious and my thoughts/doubts just come rushing at me as soon as i wake up. its very hard to get myself to calm down. my rocd has been flaring up so bad lately and its very debiliating. i keep getting thoughts like “youre only with your boyfriend because youre lonely” “you dont actually love him” “you dont want to be with him” and its very scary because my fear of the future makes me worry about stuff like “do i even want to get married or have kids?” when i think of a future with him i get very scared just because i don’t want to grow up and become a real adult yknow? and i think that triggers my rocd and is what gives me those thoughts like “what if you dont really love him”. these thoughts are just coming up 24/7 and it’s so hard to ignore them. i dont know what to do. i feel like it’s getting my actual feelings confused. when i tell him i love him i feel like i’m lying to him, but at the same time i’m not? i don’t know!!!! i’ve been crying about this all morning. 0/10 day so far. i seriously don’t know what to do and i just feel so stuck. can anyone else relate? any advice? :(

I’m at the stage where I’m doubting if I even have OCD (which is driving me mad) and now I’m worried I’m not obsessing enough over things. At the same time, my OCD is playing whack-a-mole with loads of different themes, and because I’ve already been through the ringer with SO-OCD, I feel as though I’m not obsessing enough over it even though I’m still scared I’m gay/bi and the compulsions are getting sneakier (internet searches, checking, panicking and talking about things, avoidance) and I just feel like a mess constantly, like I don’t know what’s going on with me from day to day.

I wasn’t asking for reassurance, I was simply expressing feelings if hopelessness in a moment of crisis in a post, that literally not 1 person here reacted to or responded to it. I wasn’t suicidal when I reached out with that post but I but damn well close in feelings of feeling miserable and gutted, and I feel worse now. I wanted to delete the post it before I slept, but I thought, no, let it be here, when you wake up maybe someone will know what you mean, respond. Nothing. So I deleted it this morning. Well, I’m not a needy person but I woke up and saw literally nothing and I can’t even begin to explain to you how further isolating this is and only emphasizes that I’m some kind of horrible exception as the cliché of OCD goes. People responded to other posts, and ones that were reassurance seeking. There are all kinds of people on this app, and literally nothing, so it must be me. I’m not posting this to get reassurance, but just to say F peoples good sentiments, when I’m in crisis it’s suddenly too much. Or I “word things wrong” or my “tone too aggressive”, my Just Right OCD and Moral Scrupulosity are going to eat this up. When I’m in crisis I do sound aggressive—Aggressively upset with OCD and my circumstances. Which means that when I’m in crisis in my real life or even on this app, everyone disappears. It’s such an eye opener. In the worst way. Thanks for nothing.

Hey guys, I am dating someone right now and experiencing regularly panic attacks. I start to overthink everything and I create scenarios in my mind, based on tiny things that happen. My fear is, that he is secretly meeting other woman and just playing with me. I had a couple of toxic relationships in the past, which my anxiety is based on. How can I gain trust again? I know I can't control anyways which decision he makes

the past day or so has been awful. my intrusive thoughts and just overall ocd has been nonstop. it’s constant thoughts that say horrific things about people, communities, friends, and a lot of thoughts even say slurs. i feel like i always have to react to them or else i’d be agreeing. for example, this morning i was brushing my teeth and i started worrying about a wisdom tooth removal coming up. my ocd was telling me that while i’m loopy or put asleep i’ll say the horrible things that my intrusive thoughts say. while still brushing my teeth i began to zone out in these thoughts and they were more vivid. they were of me in a dentist chair, knocked out, saying a slur or something, and then a few other random intrusive thoughts popped up. it was then that i stopped zoning out (still brushing my teeth) and my ocd freaked out and said that while “i” was thinking these things, i was repeating them out loud (since my mouth was moving from brushing my teeth). it was at this point that i literally couldn’t remember what had just happened and tried to think or “remember/recall” what the ocd/intrusive thoughts said, causing the ocd to repeat all these horrible things. i just don’t know what to do anymore. i can’t resist compulsions because every time i do, something worse pops into my head. i can’t tell the difference between reality or not within these thoughts. i can’t remember anything. did i just say this? or that? constant questioning. i hope this made sense, and if someone is still reading this far i apologize for wasting your time but i do appreciate it. just really stuck and confuses and panicky right now