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Hey y’all I am struggling a bit with the concept of sitting with anxiety - what is the difference between sitting with anxiety and actually just avoiding taking responsibility for self care / coping? Any thoughts would be helpful

My roommate just had septum surgery about a month ago. & she couldn’t life anything heavy for a while. But, it’s been like 3 weeks to a month, like I said. & my birthday is on the 15th of March. I REALLY want her to take our Christmas tree (that I decorated with Valentine’s Day decor) down before my birthday. She refuses to let me do it myself. But I get so angry & anxious thinking about how it’s STILL up & what if it ain’t down by then? I’m so frustrated. I feel disrespected. Anybody have any (kind) advice?

I know I am not saved. I can't repent and know when judgementday comes I am doomed. I wish I never existed.

Hi friends! I have been really struggling with sleep problems lately because of my OCD. I either deal with nightmares related to my obsessions or unable to sleep with rumination. It seems like no matter what I try nothing helps. Has anyone else experienced this? Or have any suggestions to what has helped you? I appreciate you all 🙏🏼😊

I’ve had this problem for a few months I question if I actually believe myself, it could be something small like my fav color or if I really love someone. If I think I like something my brain automatically goes to “you only like it because you think people want you to like it” even if I’m saying that I like something in my head and no one would ever know, it’s just small things throughout my day like that; that have me questioning who I am and if I even know anything about myself. I don’t know if this is related to ocd and would like to know if anyone has experienced this.

Intoxicated I believe I done a horrific crime (r*pe) to a lady walking by when I was walking home on my own, evidence starting to come alight to me more and more like I had a two cuts in my knuckles & a scram on my chest, I found underwear in my laundry basket with a stain in but don’t know if that’s from that night 80% positive it was, I use to have OCD as a teen but thought it went but all the mix of alcohol I’m unsure what to do next however nothings came of the night, what shall I do next?

I used to be terrified of driving. I’d get a pit in my stomach telling me I would die or cause a terrible accident. It was very visual. Almost close to panic/or sometimes even panicking. And normally connected to my husband dying. With ERP, I learned to do it anyway and I learned to tap into the motivation to drive (see family, be independent). I live in a city where I normally take public transport but this week I was visiting a place where I had to drive. This week, I drove without my “safe person” in an unfamiliar place on huge highways and I was absolutely fine. I was bored, yes. I was annoyed at times, yes. But by the end of my trip here, I realized driving can actually even be pleasant. I absolutely prefer public transport for a whole host of reasons but I know I can drive even while feeling uncomfortable. The intrusive visual images and pit in the stomach feelings almost feel like old memories than present day intrusive thoughts. Is that the point of ERP? To get comfortable with these intrusions to the point that they don’t bother us? Don’t get me wrong, I have another trip coming up where I will be doing a lot of driving and ocd has latched onto that. But it’s less intense. I’m more comfortable with those feelings of anxiety. I can recognize that the images my brain gives me are just images, not reality. I can choose the narrative.

I wish there was an option for a real event ocd support group or meeting or perhaps even the option to get therapeutic help not only with the ocd aspect of the real event but also to help us with the actual real events themselves. For instance, a therapist that can assist us in understanding why we did what we did and to help us move forward while being aware of the ocd component involved to avoid making that aspect worse. I think that the fact that this subtype involves real events not just thoughts/feelings/sensations, creates an additional aspect that makes everyone with this subtype feel alienated. It isn’t just a thought or a feeling or a sensation for us. We did things we probably shouldn’t and we need help addressing that aspect. This is not to imply that this subtype is worse than any others because every subtype is horrible…ocd is horrible. We just need help with this extra aspect. I would give anything to get this kind of help. I am struggling so much with the bad choices I made in the past. I wish there was someone I could speak to that could understand that more needs to be addressed than just the ocd in this subtype for me.

So, I’m hardly ever interested in getting to know someone. But when I am, oh my god, my brain doesn’t stop . I come up with every scenario that could potentially occur and I only know their first name and what they look like. I hate myself for it so much. Right now, I have a lil crush on this guy, but I’m obsessing over whether or not he’s gay and I’m not picking up on the social cues because that would be embarrassing. Or what if he’s not and I’m a horrible person for assuming that. I shared this with my sister and she told me to smoke a joint 😭 I’m embarrassed af and I wish my brain would just stop. It’s moments like these that I try to just forget even happened.

How am I to know whether I have ROCD or if I should leave. I keep having critical and negative thoughts about everything my partner says and does and the way he looks and acts and his personality: literally everything! But I know he’s not the problem, I am, because he’s not toxic or bad. So how do I know if it’s ROCD or if Im trying to force myself to like the wrong person? I’m so lost and confused. He’s such an amazing person and I don’t want to hurt him. I just wish these thoughts would go away and I could see him through rose coloured glasses. But I’m feeling so discouraged and getting tired of trying.

Does anybody else start to remember a conversation differently than how it happened? Like suddenly you start questioning whether or not you said something bad/offensive even though you know you wouldn’t but it feels so REAL :/

Is my quote on quote regular OCD turning into relationship OCD? How do you know? Is it me being extra pre cautious or overthinking? Is it past pain from past relationships creeping back out trying to ruin my current one? Is it my OCD causing some worry and paranoia regarding my relationship with my significant other now? How do I know? I know my significant other would never hurt me in that way yet lately I’m questioning everything in our relationship? Need some advice please…. 🥹hate this and don’t want to ruin my relationship. 😖

Let me preface this by saying all three of my cats are alive, well, and healthy. Does anyone else get really distressed by their pets’ mortality? Like I cannot escape thoughts about their health, wondering if they’re happy, if I’m a good caregiver, worrying about when they’ll pass and how hard that will be and that I’ll inevitably feel like I’ve failed them. I feel intensely guilty often for things like leaving for work or not allowing them in the bedroom when I sleep (bc they keep me up) even though logically I know I shouldn’t feel bad. And I have a lot of guilt about not being able to take a past cat while leaving an abusive situation three years ago (she is definitely okay, she’s well cared for, I checked with an old mutual friend). I just love them so much, I want them to be okay.

I've been going back and forth about this for a while. I want to journal but I'm worried that journaling will only help to perpetuate obsessions. Alternatively, I feel like sometimes giving myself an outlet to be obsessive that's entirely self-contained might be a good idea. I find myself to be a verbal processor and simply getting ideas out of my head sometimes helps me to move on. The issue is that I will obsessively confide in another person and it hurts my relationship with them and journaling feels like a safer place to do it. Again though, I feel like the purpose of ERP is to be able to have those thoughts and simply not react to them and journaling would defeat that purpose. Do you guys have any thoughts on the matter?

back story: i have been having thoughts about my ex crush for like about two years now, off and on. I know I love my boyfriend and I want to be with him. But my ex crushes name always pops into my head every fucking day, my brain always ties back a connection with anything I fucking do, and I see his name everywhere which always makes me think it’s a “sign” I get sad bc my mind will always replay memories with the ex crush rather than my boyfriend and I get upset with it. I’m at my wits end and I feel incredibly guilty bc I don’t want this person, nor do I want him in my head. Has anyone gone through this where they had intrusive thoughts about a person for no reason?

Today went, actually really good??!! Didn't have any attacks at all and I was so sure I would because thinking about the trip had been making me anxious for days. I'm really glad I didn't give in and sit this out. We went to the mall and got some food, which another thing my OCD avoids. Though, it's kind of weird but a small part of me was kind of disappointed that nothing did happened, I was so ready to take on the challenge but since I didn't have an attack I feel like there was no growth. There were a couple of times felt a small amount of anxiety creeping up on me but it was for a brief moment. Someone on here had told me that you have to train yourself into wanting the panic attack to happen and be in the moment, so I guess that's what my brain was so stuck on. Of course, I still had a wonderful time and I'm excited to continue on with my journey. It's definitely frightening, but worth it. I see it as a journey to start relying and trusting myself!

Someone please give me some advice or at least tell me that this has happened to other people. As of a couple weeks ago i can hardly do anything without feeling lightheaded or like I’m in outer space and i don’t even know my whereabouts or my name. I’ve been doing my best to hide it from People I’m around because i don’t want to seem like anything is wrong. Although i might come off fidgety which will make it seem like something is wrong anyway. And i know I’ve felt this way before but i don’t know how i got through it, i think it just disappeared because of a new fear which was way worse( ex. Brain tumor, cancer, etc). And so the lightheadedness just went away. But now it’s back and i feel like it’s the first time I’m dealing with it which is so scary. And when i tell you i can hardly do anything i mean like anything. The only time I’m truly comfortable is at home sitting on my couch. Like i can’t go to work without panicking. I can’t do my weekly baseball game without panicking and feeling on the verge of passing out. And now i have a game tomorrow and I’m literally picturing myself passing out and now i don’t want to go 😭 and I’ve never passed out for no reason before so now I’m just nervous that one of these times it’s actually going to happen. I can just picture my eyes rolling in the back of my head and being in an ambulance 😭 please tell me other people have felt this way

Do any of you deal with OCD showing up in your dreams? Just had a dream where I fell for this beautiful girl and I felt so happy and then her face turned into a masculine face and realized it was a man after. In the dream, I even started questioning what if thoughts and scared why this happened. Now, I can’t shake off why the woman’s face I saw turned into a mans and why for a split second I was still thinking it was a woman’s face. I just feel sick and exhausted that I keep having this theme running around my mind. I don’t want to be gay ever and all these thoughts and now dreams make me feel ill

I think my brain literally just zapped under the amount of stress and anxiety I feel. It was scary.. it was like a physical jolt in my head. (even I’m skeptical about it) Nonetheless.. I also just want to see what other ways can I de stress or not be so anxious. I’m either reassurance seeking or ruminating. It’s hard to stay in the current moment and enjoy my life a little bit more.. I hate anticipating my whole life..

My contamination ocd has gotten so bad over the last 6 months. My roommate moved in with his girlfriend and I’m living in my own now, which makes it harder for me to suppress the urge to wash my hands. It makes me not want to do anything but stay at home. I’ve gotten to the point where I can’t even rationalize it anymore. Today for example, my girlfriend got out of the shower before me and wanted to get a new towel so put the towel on the floor. I didn’t have any clean ones except for the one that I use to wipe down my dogs feet after she steps in poop or mud or something. The towel has been run through the wash, but after using it I see that there were some brown streaks still on the towel, making me think that the towel didn’t get fully clean in the wash. It’s completely killed my mood and now I’m sitting here feeling anxious because I can’t do anything about it without feeling weird in front of my girlfriend. She’s very supportive about things like this, but I’m worried she’ll feel bad. Just wanted to vent, hoping it’ll make me feel better until I can go home and shower again