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Has anybodys ocd presented itself like this. I sent this to my therapist, this is different then anything I've ever dealt with and I don't know how to handle this. I don't even know how to explain these thoughts. Are they statements or what.

Has anyone taken this medication for OCD? What dosage helped you feel better? Side effects?

Hi guys, do some people with ocd not take any medication ? Do you just manage it with ERP? Or do you have any supplements you use that can help instead? Thanks :)

I was Reading about pure ocd and It says that it Is not included in the dsm-5 and that the obsessive compulsive disorder in the dsm-5 has ALWAYS physical compulsions/actions. So what if this doesnt exist and I don't have ocd? I don't get It. I don't do ripetitive actions at all. I Just try to research things every second, ask for reassurance, try to solve my thoughts for hours, think about the past.

I started my OCD journey not long ago, yet for people with OCD or other forms of mental illness, not long can seem like an eternity. For me, OCD has been with me my whole life, but it wasn’t until September of 2023 that I let OCD begin running my life. I was in a constant state of fear, panic, and confusion. Thinking that every disturbing thought I had defined who I was. Thinking that every disturbing or terrifying thought meant I was going crazy or I was doomed to be this way forever. Thinking that, “there’s no medicine, no therapy, no remedy on Earth that could help me and that I was somehow different or worse than anyone else.” And you know what? I believed those thoughts….and I felt like no matter what I did, I couldn’t win. I have been an athlete my entire life. Played football for 17 years and was always competitive no matter what I was doing. So to me, I saw OCD and Mental Illness as something I could just…learn to beat and be rid of forever. Like the big scary boss you face at the end of a video game. But I was wrong… instead, thinking I could just be rid of OCD forever, actually spiraled into many different OCD types that made my life worse. Suicide OCD, Harm OCD, Existential OCD, and this would turn into full blown panic because I thought my mind was just going to break permanently and I’d be ruined forever. And with my competitive spirit, I constantly felt I was losing, and losing so bad you didn’t want to even try anymore. BUT! I decided that it was time to just… do something. I hated feeling this way, and for those of you that suffer alone i did or still do, you’d do literally ANYTHING to be rid of OCD. I took that statement and said, “I and going to do whatever I need to!” Now, everyone is different! And everyone will react differently to different medicines and different therapies. For me, I refused to take SSRI’s of any kind. Why? Because OCD made me believe that if I took them, only the negative side effects would take over and I would only get worse and worse. My thought pattern was, “ya, if I take this, it could change my life for the better, but what if it makes me want to commit suicide or become so depressed that it becomes my reality?” That alone, scared me so badly that I couldn’t take them because I couldn’t control how my body would react to them. If you currently take them and they work for you, I AM SO HAPPY AND GRATEFUL YOU HAVE FOUND SOMETHING THAT HELPS YOU!!! I also didn’t do therapy. Why? Not becuase I didn’t believe in the miracle of ERP or other talk therapies, it is something I wanted more than anything, but couldn’t because my insurance barely covered anything and I couldn’t afford it out of pocket. And my finances was already something that I constantly worried about enough. If you are in therapy, IM PROUD OF YOU AND I PRAY IT IS HELPING YOU OVERCOME YOUR STRUGGLES!! So? What did I do? I learned. I learned. I learned. I learned and studied what OCD is, what it does to you, and how it tricks you. I learned and read many stories of those who are affected by OCD daily and I saw that I was not in fact different or broken. Am I messy? Yes! But humans are messy, and I learned to come to peace with that fact. In addition to learning about others and their stories, I also talked to people about what they did and how they learned to manage. In other words, I sought wisdom of others because I wanted to learn I wasn’t alone! I learned what was making my thoughts worse, and what made my thoughts subside. I learned that OCD is not something I’ll ever be rid of, but rather, something I need to embrace as if it is another piece of me…because it is and always will be. I learned, that while OCD cannot be cured… it can be managed! It can become quieter and you can get your life back! For the past 9 months, all I have worried about is, “what will become of me because I have this incurable illness?” And I know how afraid you feel and how lost and hopeless it can seem. I know! And so does everyone here. I just want you all to know, that you can win! You can overcome! You are stronger than what your mind wants you to think! And in the end, you will become an even better version of yourself for having faced this journey head on.

I had my first real severe OCD flare up almost two weeks ago and it scared the living crap out of me (intrusive thoughts). At the time I had no idea what it was and it was causing insane anxiety and panic attacks. After a bit of research and reaching out to numerous professionals for help with anxiety, I then learned it was OCD. I had a pretty bad week and then started to feel better. The thoughts were still there but I felt like I was learning / understanding how to just not fall victim to them. Now today, I had what I felt like was a bad day. Had what I think was a derealization type episode. Horrified it was going to turn me into someone else. I can’t even explain. I calmed down, but ever since it happened I’ve had ocd on loop about how that specific event happened and what could happen next time if it does happen again. Im truly scared for it to happen again. I was stuck in a loop for hours. Then now just all of the sudden I feel ok. Like a moment of clarity that I know what all of it was. Like I know it was the ocd. And that I’ll handle it better next time. And that I’ll be ok. But then my brain tries to tell me I have more than ocd. That I’m actually losing it. Has anyone experienced these moments before? I know people have good days and bad days but has anyone wone had days where they feel like it’s unbearable but then a couple hours later feel like you have your mind and rational back? Or should I actually be concerned there’s something else going on here? I meet with my therapist on Friday and will fill her in on all this, even though it’s only my second session with her, but just wanted to see if anyone could relate.

Hi all, I’m just coming off of a bad cold and I think my husband is sick too and I feel so much guilt around making him sick. He keeps trying to assure me it happens but, I can’t help but spiral a bit about it.

Is there a correlation between a hormone imbalance and ocd? I have low testosterone and ocd and didn't know if there may be a link between the two. I'm just trying to figure out why I have ocd, how long I've had it, and when it might have started. I've been suffering for years now but was told it was bipolar disorder (early 2000s) since I was in high school (I'm 37 now). It wasn't until this last year that I was diagnosed with ocd and never was bipolar to begin with. I still can't believe I have ocd. I always thought that those were people who panicked about germs and washed their hands way to much. I've always had bizarre and intrusive thoughts but I just thought that's the way I was. I'm just trying to figure out a link or if it's something I've had since birth.

I posted about this yesterday but I’ve felt sick about it literally all day. I was talking to my friend about a tiktoker I said was hot. They said the person looked too young. I started freaking out because I never thought of that and ended up finding the person’s age. Turns out they are 17. I’m 24. I feel like a monster. My heart has been stuck in my throat for over 24 hours. I keep going back to look at the person’s profile to see if I still think they’re attractive after knowing their age and it’s confusing/scaring me even more because when they wear makeup I feel like they only look a few years younger than me. I had nightmares all night last night. I feel like I’m not a normal person, I’m like one of those people that hit on teens online. I feel so depressed. My gf thinks I’m being ridiculous for worrying so much about this. But I’m 24 YEARS OLD and this person is 17. What is wrong with me? How could I think something like this? I’m scared that what if I didn’t stop thinking they’re attractive. I just want to sleep and cry all day. I hate myself and I feel disgusting. I just don’t know what to do.

I used to love commentary youtube in the background but now I cant watch it because it always making me spiral into epsiodes of thinking that I am being talked about in the visdeo/have done all these things the people that are being talked about in the video. I get scared that they will mention me or talk about me in the video and say that Ive done all the things theyre talking about, even though I havent. Is the ocd related

Please share you story if you feel comfortable. I’m posting way too much on here but I’m feeling absolutely defeated lately and I’m just wondering if anyone on here has been dealing with pocd for a long time, has it gotten any better for you? Do you have a therapist, and how did you bring it up to them? How do you deal with it? I’m looking for a therapist now on psychology today and I’m relieved to have found people I’m interested in working with. I’m so scared. This is the worst my life has ever felt I really hope one day I will be recovered. I miss being happy to be alive

i suffer from limerence so badly that i legit want to merge souls and become one with the people i fall into limerence with. i understand that ocd plays a part in this as well but if anyone has experience on how to NOT DO THIS please …it needs to end i fear its creepy and just weird. i just want to like people to the normal extent

It's been so long full of ups and downs and multiple themes but this theme has been destroying me mentally the most. I'm not a homophobic person but I've always been woman crazy, loads of crushes on women, dreamed of being sexual with a women and have strong sexual fantasies about doing things with women and have had multiple girlfriends it made me happy truly happy I'm not homophobic I don't care what people do but for me personally imagining doing sexual things with a man gives me icky feelings like I said not because it's wrong (it's not wrong) but because I prefer women it makes me feel comfortable, happy unlike when I imagine being with a man I get depressed, anxiety, panic etc because it's not something I authentically truly want. During this time while hocd has been ruining me mentally I've also noticed alot more good looking men and became insecure about my appearance which has ruined me even more this has done nothing but ruin my identity and mental health. I'm a handsome man, my girlfriend thinks so too and I think she's beautiful I'm able to egknowledge a handsome man or pretty women but when it comes to who I feel the urge to have sex and feel good about its always veen women. Whenever I workout, go out or feel like myself I begin to not care and feel straight again but it's moments like this where I'm losing myself and becoming confused. I also have a porn addiction too idk if that plays a role in this but I'm looking to stop and better myself I want my life back I want to have money, be in good shape, be with my girlfriend without having any of these doubts I just want this to all go away :(. One of the biggest reasons I haven't gotten therapy is my fear that I'm actually bisexual which I'm afraid of because being bisexual wouldn't make me happy or comfortable seeing men that way in real life. I can't imaging being romantic with a man it would make me cringe and being sexual with a man wouldn't make me orgasm I'd have a Intense ick feeling during the whole thing I wouldn't have the pleasure I'd have with women. I'm sorry for typing so much but I just needed a vent it's truly so exhausting to be dealing with this at times but I'll always fight and never stop fighting until this all goes away and I can be happy with my amazing beautiful girlfriend who I'm one day going to marry.

I’ve been overthinking this for the last few days, me and the guy I’ve been seeing ended things a week and a bit ago, since then we’ve been talking like normal and I’m worried it’s not giving us the space we need to heal. Over and over again in my mind I’ve been calling myself pathetic, ridiculous, annoying. I see images of him laughing at me with his friends calling me a psycho (this has happened before and was a big rumour spread about me), the thing is neither of us are ending the talking, I’ve tried, I’ve said to him that I might need to stop talking to him as it’s not doing us any good and he said “you’ve gotta do what’s best for you” I then said if we could say goodbye in person so that when we see one another around town it’s not awkward and we don’t feel like we have to avoid one another or thing the other hates the other one. He agreed but since hasn’t said when he’s free. I wanna have the conversation so bad because my obsessive brain keeps saying I’m not giving him the space he asked for. Even though he’s messaging me back! He asked for space a couple months ago while I was off traveling and we both just keeps messaging the same way, nobody stopped or anything which I guess we should’ve done. Even when I went on an island with no service for 3 days he double messages me and told me about his day! So I guess I’m trying to figure out if I’m the issue, if I’ve not listened, if I’m a psycho. I’m really worried that I’ve done something wrong here. Even though the way we handle it is our own. I’m just so confused and it’s making me feel that I’m a problem

Hello everyone. The past 2 1/2 weeks I’ve been in day care clinic and they offered me to take meds. I think they talked about Citaprolam. I don’t know what to do. Lately I’ve been pretty stable and I have also been taking Johannis Herbs and it really has been helping me. But I wonder if a real antidepressant would hell me more?? I am just so scared. Everyone I ask either says I should take it or I absolutely should not take it. Would it be helpful even though I am stable right now? Do you have any advice?

So after ruminating on a memory for hours everyday for the last two months i stopped since I was getting quite confused. I was driving when I suddenly had this familiar feeling and then I had like a flashback and I recalled what ACTUALLY happened and this feels true but I’m unsure if I should trust it.

I’m not feeling too well today because these intrusive thoughts in my head keep cycling and cycling even though I don’t want to have these thoughts and I want them to go away. My girlfriend is getting so tired of having to hear what girl I thought abt and what situation i’m reflecting on even though I don’t even mean to be thinking those things. I feel so guilty and horrible these things come into my brain. I don’t want to think things about other women, my girlfriend is amazing and is very patient and has been so patient ever since i’ve been having obscure or other thoughts about women wether it be just a thought or even sexually. It’s not on purpose. It just keeps happening and I can’t explain how my brain keeps doing it. I just came across so much research about Pure O Ocd and I think I have that. I’m very new to this but my twin brother also has OCD and Bipolar and I feel as though i’m the same way. I’m so tired of having unwanted thoughts come into my head. I feel so upset and hurt knowing I have to tell my girlfriend exactly what it is that came into my head. I feel like a failure.

To see my life now compared to two years ago is unbelievable. There has been such a dramatic shift between who I was then and who I am now. I had my first intrusive thought at age 11. I wasn’t officially diagnosed with OCD until I was 36. I never knew what it was but was glad to put a name to it. A lifetime of suffering. I have struggled with at least four subtypes of OCD. POCD, SO-OCD, Self-Harm/ Suicide OCD, and ROCD. I can now look back on moments throughout my life and say, “wow, that was OCD and I didn’t even know it.” Regardless of the subtype, it’s all OCD. And when you learn how to adjust your behavior and response accordingly, you can heal. I started with my NOCD therapist in January of 2023. I avoided everything-people, places, church, things I loved…all because of OCD. I used sleeping as an avoidance behavior. I couldn’t even drive down the road and go grocery shopping without feeling anxious and triggered. I was ready to do something different. The meds were not working for me. Sure they helped the anxiety and depression to a degree, but they didn’t stop the intrusive thoughts which is what I wanted them to do. I now know and fully understand that you cannot stop your thoughts. You cant stop your obsessions BUT you can control how you react to them. Recovery is not linear by any means and I’ve had MANY ups and downs the past year and a half. But I’m here. I have made it to the other side. And it’s a beautiful place. If you made it this far in reading this, thank you. I want you to know there is hope. You can reach recovery and you can begin to heal. ERP saved my life. I can now step out into situations and settings without totally falling apart. I have learned to handle discomfort. I can spend time with my family, do the things I love and enjoy my life again. Most importantly, I have learned to be self-compassionate. If you’ve been hesitating to start ERP with an OCD specialist, I hope I can encourage you to make that step. It changed me in a wonderful way and I’m so thankful to be equipped with the tools to manage OCD for life!

Do you just be like yeah this could happen? Do you just be like yeah this is possible?

For a while now - like the last 6 months - I’ve been getting intrusive thoughts about SA, Pedophilia, and overall disturbing things but for some reason I’ve been sort of numb to them? Like they’ll come up and I’ll just look at them with indifference won’t feel anything and it scares me because it makes me feel like I’m sort of embracing the thoughts. Like I’ll have an intrusive thought such as “I’m glad they went through this horrible thing” and I’ll just say ok and move on??? How do I not feel numb when it comes to intrusive thoughts 😭 I don’t like it one bit. Makes me miss when I had those horrible ocd episodes because I at least felt SOMETHING.