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Can anyone share any success stories from doing ERP therapy and anything else that may have helped you? I understand now that I've probably had OCD most of my life, but getting started and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel are two completely different things. I really want to recover from this. Mine stems mostly from real events, but I have other themes as well.

Is anyone going through something like me ? I have false memory intrusive thoughts , thinking of the possibility of having committed a crime and no remember about it And also have religious ocd thinking that God is angry at me for some reason , and that's why I'm not able to pray, like i used to... I'm so sad because he is so important to me and I would feel such big connection to the Lord when I would pray, and right now I'm afraid ...

Does anyone have any tips for controlling perfection impulses while folding laundry? Whether it be my husband and I's laundry or my kids' laundry It literally take me 45 minutes just to fold one hamper of clothes because I will stand there and adjust or refold. Everything has to be folded a specific way the same way or I lose my mind if I don't refold it. Everything has to be sorted into category. I just can't stop myself because I know if I don't do it I'll obsess over it until I do something about it. I saw a tip that said to just hold my hand out so I can't see it or something but that doesn't work for me.

I feel so disconnected from myself. Like everything I’ve ever been happy and comfortable with has been a lie. I don’t know what and what not to believe anymore. I feel like I’m straight/bi now. I keep having these thoughts that tell me “you’ll get with a man and like it. You know it” and I hate it. I hate the groinal response I get with sexual intrusive thoughts too. I try to keep in mind that attraction is supposed to feel good and natural, but OCD tricks me into thinking that the hypotheticals DO feel good. Just never natural. I hate it.

I'm terrified that my biggest fear happened on a night I drank too much and blacked out. I now keep finding/looking for evidence to try and prove/disprove and it's terrifyingwhen I find something that supports the belief. Does anyone else experience this. So angry with myself for letting myself drink to this point. Have been so depressed

I am in my third year of university for my law degree, and I finished and submitted my essays without a proper proof read. I read over one of my essays and realised I made a mistake using the wrong word, it auto generated the wrong word and I must have clicked on it. Anyway then a whole obsession stated about me worrying that the university are going to think that I have used Ai. The thing is, I used wordtune to enhance my writing (reword my own words) but I didn’t use it to reword other people work and pass it off as my own. Anyway I’ve just terrified myself that I’ll get accused of using Ai to cheat and basically it’ll ruin my life. I can’t stop obsessing over it. I obviously haven’t cheated and it is my own work, I just used wordtune to improve my sentence structure where if needed more clarity. I don’t know if that is considered cheating or not. I’ve read up on if and it seems to be cheating if it’s used to paraphrase someone else’s work (which isn’t the case). I had to rush my assignments so that’s why I’m worried. My brother says I’m being ridiculous. I honestly can’t stop worrying.

I need advice for this, i hope someone can help. After years of therapy i still notice that when i have emotional pain and i start to accept it, i let it take charge of me, i cant see is as not reality as just my state now, and if i start to say "its just a feeling" i get afraid that i dont respect my emotions... I had a bad experience this weekend, i was so emotional that every little problem made me feel like im a failure. So to not fight with the thoughts and emotions, i started to accept that i feel this now, and i started to search why. And then i thought "its a trauma, i didnt got enough love, i need attention, im envy other" all this made me feel worse and i was lost in the emotion, but when i want to view it as just an emotion and dont pay attention to it im panicking that i dont give attention to it, it will come back(actually comes back everytime) and i feel that i need to work with it deeper but i do and i get lost... and then when i want to get out, i feel thaf its actually trauma, i have a problem, but i dont want to deal with it cause it scares me so i rather avoid it, and this thought makes me feel guilt... All i hear is to work with your emotions, see the deep problem, and i dont talk about just ocd fear, but when you get frustrated,have a bad reaction, or have an intrusive feeling that ylu dont like, anger, envy, depression, and you get deeper but all you think is "its because im depressed, because i have a deep problem,because its trauma, im a bad person,because i dont love myself" or the worst when i start to believe the emotion is actually right, that the situation is thaf bad as the emotion says. Sometimes i can accept an emotion and im able to see that its not true its just an emotion, and i accept it, but when its more triggering, strong, that "its just a feeling" its triggering, feels like a compulsion or that im avoiding real problem... i dont know how to accept these strong feelings, and how to go deeper if i have to go without getting lost in self diagnosis and judgement? I think if it was helpful it wouldnt make me spin more and be lost more in the pain, so i feel like getting deeper isnt helping me. Or accepting reallity, often i accept this is how i feel now and i start to believe its my reality... if you can give mr advice i would appreciate it Also i know we dont have to accept is as reality but in that moment you cant decide what i need to do, accept the pain, go deeper, or just ignore...

Recently i’ve been feeling lonely. My bf moved away to finish his last semester of college, and i’ve been struggling to make friends at my college. I can make “in class friends” but it’s hard for me to further those relationships bc idk, i think i overthink asking people to hangout? i’m so afraid of rejection, and in my major everyone knows everyone so it feels like one wrong step and no one will like you. But because of that i don’t think i’m even taking a step. My childhood friends have dwindled down to three lovely people but they all live far away, so i’m desperately wanting to make friends i have common interests with and i can do stuff with, on a whim just bc we’re in the same city. I really don’t know what to do, and i don’t want to spend the other half of my college years cooped up in my apartment by myself. Any advice on how you’ve made friends and how to hangout with them is greatly appreciated 💜

It’s so hard to deal with the conflicting feelings that come up. It’s hard but sometimes I’m able I to feel love for my bf again and want to continue being with him, I enjoy our intimacy and the bond we share, but my mind keeps screaming at me that something’s wrong and I don’t want to be with him 😭 that I wouldn’t be happy with him in the future even though everytime we’re together I never want to leave or have it be over. Everytime I try to envision myself with a woman the fact that’s there’s no anxiety and feels calm to think about is so scary to the fact that I’m anxious when I think about a future w my bf and it feels like it’s not what I want:(

For those of you who struggle with severe HA, how do you balance being your own advocate for your health with health anxiety. In my particular situation I have been to see a specialist who felt my situation was normal and recommended no tests or follow up. I have spiraled down the what if rabbit hole- what if they didn’t feel what I am feeling, what if they aren’t reading the same journal articles I am, what if something was missed and it’s going to fester. My friends and family feel I should accept the medical knowledge given and not seek a second opinion as that would be reassurance. So how do you find the balance?

I’ve been dealing with OCD for quite some time, and have had plenty of themes come and go. Some lasting years and some months. I have three major themes that still haunt me. They’re this constant dread of death, my moral dilemma of if I’m a good person, and recently my gender identity as a man. They all tie into each other and I more or less look at them as evolved forms of “conquered” themes. Like my self harm, Sexual Orientation, and pedophilic/assault themes. Death is a hard thing to accept though and I no longer have too many intrusive about harming myself or others for that matter because I’m constantly afraid of death. I don’t feel like a good person for my constant compulsions and compulsive behavior. I feel weak to them. I give in to my constant googling and forum browsing. I know for a fact I ask for reassurance constantly. I question my own sexuality and gender identity quite often because I’m not sure if I’m a good man and how could I prove that I am? I have a lot of compulsive regrettable and more importantly unproductive sexual encounters to make me feel like 1. I’m not gonna die 2. I can do something with my life that isn’t destructive 3. I’m a man doing my duty. Now for the gender identity portion of this I wanna make it clean that I love people from the LGBTQ+ community and support them 1000% but I feel like I’m a horrible person for being anxious and uncomfortable with these thoughts because nothing’s wrong with being gay or trans y’know?It’s either what if I’m in denial or what if I’m being too feminine y’know the whole “what ifs” thing? I don’t wanna die, I wanna be a good person. I am genuinely just scared, I just wanna live and not have the noise so loud. I mean I have panic attacks constantly. I try not to ruminate but it’s an ugly battle. It seems to me that my OCD flares up moth to month like I’ll have a good month of manageable intrusive thoughts but then the next moth I just decay. You know how many times I’ve scanned my mind just to find proof for and against all these themes? I’m sure some people can relate. OCD has made my life so isolated and I hate myself for that. I’m sorry for all the words, I’m just a mess right now. If you read this far I appreciate you so much.

I don’t know what to do anymore. Anytime I feel the highs OCD ruins it and I feel like I can’t be happy. Im 20 and I can’t imagine living the rest of my life like this. I have no idea what to do, im so hyper aware of my actions (blinking, etc) a complete hypochondriac and I cannot enjoy life anymore. There is no quality of life with horrible OCD.

This isn’t OCD related, but i need to anonymously vent as well as have someone offer advice, or personal experiences. I am obsessively in love with my best friend. I have never been in love before, and she drives me crazy because she’s never clingy. For me, clingy people are safe, but they are also a major turn off. She drives me crazy and I am sick and tired of being controlled by my addiction to her. Im sobbing because its been years that I’ve been obsessed with her constantly. She is the source of my pain but she is also a relief and distraction from my pain. She causes me so much anxiety but it’s hard to think that this is not love. My feelings for her are so strong that everything else in my life is just bland and I don’t really seem to care about anyone but her. I value her as a friend and she is also the only person I have which means I wouldn’t be able to handle cutting ties. I also know that she loves me a lot too, so I don’t want to abandon her. I sometimes get hints that she might like me too, so I get my hopes up. But then i remember, even if she did, us being together would just be painful and hard. She’s emotionally unavailable and is traumatized from her childhood. All of my past friendships it felt like I was constantly being smothered and running away, ultimately ending up ghosting everyone. With her, i have never felt smothered, and so In turn I am the one chasing for the first time in my life. What should I do??? I am terrified and lost, i am frozen because I know I need to take a step, but I don’t know what to do. I have this ravenous urge to fix her and be perfect for her so we can fall in love and be together. I also have to urge to just ghost her and never talk to her again. Any advice or thoughts or conversations is welcome.

Hi…I don’t know whenever I eat anything I feel heavy in my stomach and chest….i also feel tightness and heavy breathing is followed by….i Don’t know if it’s anything related to ocd or anxiety but every time I have a meal I feel this way. Does anybody has any advice on this?

After 16 years of letting OCD control my life and experiencing how treatment wouldn't help if I still did compulsions before, during, or after exposures I learned my lesson. I went to treatment for 3 years. It helped, but it was not as effective because I didn't fully embrace ERP's principles and didn't fully commit to it. That was my reality until recently. I finally decided to surrender to OCD. I restarted therapy, this time aiming to face this the right way: resisting my urge to fight, resist, neutralize, and any other compulsion to the best of my humanity. I even reduced my workload in preparation for probably needing time off in case OCD got worse. I really expected this to get bad... seriously bad... the biggest fight of my life. To my surprise. I HAVE BEEN KICKING OCD's ass!!!!!!! And I mean I'm kicking it bad!!! ERP (done well) really works!!!!!! I can't believe it. I can finally see a way out of this, and it is through our fears, not around them. So far, my biggest and most important learnings have been: (1) that this is really not about the content of our fear. Regardless of your type of OCD, the best therapists I've learned from always said it, and its true: it's the same disorder (OCD) leading the charge against us. And (2) this is not about proving our brain is lying to us. You may (and most likely will) reach that conclusion anyways. But it's not the goal of ERP. Actually, you learn to live with the possibility of your fears becoming true. Ever since I learned this, I've seen my anxiety levels come and go on their own, without me needing to do anything about it. It leaves on its own, and it comes weaker with as time progresses. I don't have to do anything, just resist compulsions and move on with life. That has been true for every single trigger I've had and every unique and creative "what if" my brain has created to lure me into the rabbit hole. I'm defeating triggers I developed as far back as 15 years ago!!!! And you know what? I'VE ONLY GROWN STRONGER! Never in my existence with OCD have I felt this hopeful, strong, and courageous. Never have I been more proud of myself! And I can only wish every single one of you experiences this too. ERP works! Please, do it! Seek help and if not available, use self-guided available resources. There are plenty of great books! Do it right!! ERP will bring more anxiety, but then you will see the beauty behind facing your fears and just how strong you are!!!! I never thought I could get to this point!

Hello , I’m diagnosed with OCD as well as ADD and anxiety and short term memory issues . It’s so much sometimes, I don’t even like going out in public because being around people gives me me anxiety, if I see something out of place wherever I go I have to fix it because it will bother me . I never pick the first thing g from the shelves at the grocery store I will literally reach for the third one from the back . Sometimes I feel crazy and no one understands me . Just want to feel like everyone else .

So with my ocd I have realized that over the years my obsessions switch out like one week I’ll obsess over this and the next week I’ll obsess over that. I have one obsession that really scares me and it’s zombies because I’m severely terrified of them. I know it sounds childish but it’s making it hard for me. I feel embarrassed being scared of them. I’m currently obsessing about them now. I’m so scared of them and the walking dead show. A couple years ago I watched it till season 4 and I was fine the entire time. Then I realized how terrified I was getting so I stopped. Now it’s just a cycle that I can’t get to go away. And I have this cycle with many other obsessions too. I just wanted to talk about it to let it off my chest. I think it scares me because I also obsess over death and sounds like alarms. Alarms scare me as well. It’s just really taking a tool on me so I wanted to share. :)

I’m having very bad anxiety/ocd about myself as a mom. I struggle with harm ocd but have gotten SO much better. But of course, it always finds a way to show up. I have a 3 year old and sometimes when he gives me a hug, I don’t get the “warm and fuzzies” and that’s bothering me so bad. I asked my husband if he does every time and he said yes. So now I’m really freaking anxious that it must mean I’m a bad mom or I don’t love my son because I don’t always feel that way when we hug. Now because I’m paying attention to that, when we hug.. I focus the whole time on if I feel it or not which then I feel like ruins it. I know all of this probably sounds silly. But I’m just bothered that I don’t feel that.

So I’ve had this recent obsession that has made me upset. It’s basically an obsessing about blushing… when you’re young and see your crush people tend to blush for example, but people can also blush in situations of feeling embarrassed, anxious, joyful, excited, happy, nervous, feeling flattered etc… I am in a committed relationship and love my man immensely, ocd has been putting these thoughts/ideas of what if I blushed at someone and trying to make it seem like it’s a romantic/sexual/crush type thing… which I feel is making me very hyper focused on blushing… like it’s just making me uncomfortable because though I know we have no control over blushing, ocd saying to me I’m going to or have blushed over people because they’re attractive while I’ve been with my partner - makes me extremely uncomfortable!!! As I said blushing comes from lots of different emotions, it does not always mean you’re romantically/sexually interested in someone? I know this is kind of reassurance but can someone explain to me it is possible to experience blushing from multiple emotions and just because I see an attractive person doesn’t mean I’m going to blush over seeing someone attractive?? Like I blush when I smile (I have naturally very pale skin and redness in my cheeks a bit, and I find even smiling can trigger blushing)… I also go quite red from being anxious or embarrassed. I’m not in highschool and don’t have “crushes” on anyone, I am in a committed relationship and don’t want to feel I would be “blushing” over someone that’s not my bf in the way I would blush over my bf??? If that makes sense? Sorry I know this is so far fetched but I’ve been obsessing for days and trying to work on not confessing to my partner. Wanted to come on here to ppl who know what I’m going through and maybe see if anyone has any advice for me in this situation? I have started therapy but only see him once a fortnight and he isn’t an ocd specialist…

I often convince myself I have some kinda of life threatening illness… currently colon/ rectal cancer is what I’m obsessing over… anyways I struggle on when seek medical attention because I don’t know when there’s a real medical issue or if it’s just ocd telling me there’s something wrong. Does anyone else struggle with this, and if so how to decide when so see a doctor or when to ignore it