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Im getting anxious because I kept staring at someone and then I got an intrusive thought what is a way to overcome it please help!!

a little bit of TMI but please don’t judge i HATE using the bathroom because i never feel clean no matter how many times i wipe. i spend hours in the bathroom (2+ hours) just wiping. its so uncomfortable, upsets my family which just induces shame, and i cannot stomach the idea of getting up without wiping until im absolutely 100000% sure i’m completely clean. i’ll wipe, check the toilet paper, it could be completely white but my brain says “no no one more time just to be sure” and its a cycle that loops for hours on end until i just can’t anymore and i’m either in pain, about to cry, or i just give up because its been hours and i just can’t do it anymore. i hate this, can anyone relate? how do you manage it?

this is probably gonna be all over the place so sorry in advance but lately my intrusive thoughts have been driving me up the wall and i feel so exhausted because of them. i recently pinched a nerve in my neck and its causing me a lot of discomfort (some dizziness & a little bit of stiff neck) and because of this, my intrusive thoughts have been so loud because i keep thinking i’m gonna faint every time i stand up since i’m a little dizzy (not enough to actually pass out), and i also keep worrying i’m gonna get paralyzed because my neck is stiff (i can still move it just fine). its like i logically know i’m worrying over nothing, but i can’t help it. its getting to the point where other symptoms are popping up like i cant sleep or relax, my stomach can barely handle food, and my muscles are tense at all times. i feel so exhausted. im disassociating so hard that i havent felt like ive been present for the last three days and its making me basically bedridden. its moments like these where i really wonder if itll get better. sometimes i feel too tired to even fight off the thoughts and i let myself panic. last night i had a small anxiety attack because i was so concerned about this pinched nerve and it made me feel so sick. i just want these thoughts to stop. how can i even teach myself to accept them and combat against them if i cant stop fixating on them? everybody says you need to stop giving the thoughts power and i fully agree, but god its so difficult to not worry. sometimes i dont even give the thoughts attention and they still give me physical anxiety symptoms. its just so exhausting. i guess all im wondering is will this get any better? i know it probably will, but i dont know…just moments like today make me really worry ill be like this forever. i dont even know what step to take to get myself back to normal at this point. ive been taking care of my neck to make sure i dont injure myself any more, and itll probably go away in a few days, but im afraid the mental affects will be longer lasting. i just feel lost and confused. my head hurts and i want to figure out how to relax myself again. i dont like seeing myself stuck in bed, forcing myself to focus on every thought and worry i have. im just tired

Hi this is the first time that i’m posting something on this and i’m very anxious because i am scared that i’ll say something wrong or something. So i have been diagnosed with ocd in 2022 i think? this year i’ll be going to a mental hospital for my ocd, ptsd, axiety and personality problems. The treatment will be a year in total. I came across this app and thought that it would be nice to talk to people who understand me, and to have a place where I can share the thoughts that make me feel embarrassed, without any judgement. I have been experiencing a lot of instrusive thoughts lately. I Have a girlfriend and she is the sweetest. But i keep having these thoughts like: she doesn’t find me attractive anymore, thats why we havent slept together this week. she never wants to have sex with me again. she wants to have sex with someone else. She misses her ex. she only cuddles with me to make me feel better and not because she wants to. I disgust her she thinks im disgusting because i have a higher sexdrive. I feel guilty and disgusting because so many thoughts are about sex and it makes me feel like a terrible person who only wants sex. Even though i know thats not true. I love her with my whole heart and that would stay that way even if she would never want sex again. idk does anyone have thoughts that are similar to mine and do you guys discuss this with your partner or not?

Ive tried to remain uncertain about this... I really tried... Im so depressed... and I feel alone... theres no hope... My pocd keeps saying that my worst fear of unknowingly cybering with a minor has actually happened and it's really triggering the hell out of me... I feel so horrible...My pocd keeps saying I "unknowingly erotically role played with a minor" when idek if this actually happened or not... this was nearly three years ago... (september of 2021) for context we were erotically role playing on an 18+ discord server, (she wasnt verified, but I assumed she was 18+ because we were on an 18+ place) and then she suddenly stopped responding, before leaving the server shortly after an unknown time... im so freaking anxious and scared... her grammar was fine at first, but then as we were going on, she kept making errors like "boxer" or "then" instead of "than"... my pocd keeps saying that I "UNKNOWINGLY EROTICALLY ROLEPLAYED WITH A MINOR" when idek if this happened or not... some people told me she sounds like/is a young adult... chatGPT tells me she sounded like a teenager... I genuinely dont know what to believe anymore... (these two photos are from her account, and the beginning of our ERP... I hope she wasnt a teenager... I really hope she wasnt...)

Recently I’ve been getting these awful intrusive feelings that I want to hurt people. And it actually feels like I want to do it or am about to do it. It feels like there is no way out. I am absolutely terrified. Why is this happening? I thought I was past all this but now it’s come in so much worse and out of no where. I am so scared that I need to be locked way. And when I’m in the middle of the panic, it feels like I cannot focus on anything else and that it will never go away.

I was watching the news where a boy k*lled his sister and buries her and I got a thought that what if I do that to my family however I didn't feel anxious in fact I didn't feel any way about it and now I'm wondering if I would actually do it and end up in jail and now Im wondering if it's an intrusive thought or it's me thinking and I'm so scared that I might k*ll someone.... Now I just feel the need to stay away.

I've figured out thatit isbetter for me to avoid people. They have a strong tendency to annoy me. I've stayed away from people today and I've gone from a very grumpy morning to an evening where I feel like I'm recovering. Obvs I'm transitioning between a schizophrenia disgnosis to an OCD diagnosis and whenI'm moody OCD tells me I do have schizophrenia. For a fact I bottle up my anger in an effort to be polite for some reason. Also being confrontational is a side effect of my escitalopram. It is hard to work with Drs while travelling as there is a language barrier, the health services might be struggling and I move so much.

Guys I’ve been really struggling lately. I’ve been having thoughts that are sometimes not triggered by anything and sometimes they are. The thought is that “ I don’t want to marry my partner”. I’ve also had thoughts about not loving partner not knowing if we are for sure a good match etc. . Idk why it’s so upsetting, that it’s a definitive thought. It’s not what if and that scared me that it’s not what ifs cause that means that it’s true. I don’t want it to be true and I’m trying to just sit in it and it’s not working. I just feel like idk what my reality is and I just want it to stop. I’d like to know if anyone has definitive thoughts as well. I feel so alone and I feel like everyone here that has OCD mainly have what if thoughts.

One fun thing about what I’ve experienced is that even if I go to people for reassurance, more often than not it doesn’t help and makes things worse. I see how from an outside perspective it looks like denial and the moment I open my mouth to talk about it the instant thought is “you’re faking it, you know it’s true and you’re faking it”. And it’s great when people say maybe you are this or that like it’s no big deal, …but it is? And then again it’s like maybe they see something I don’t?

can i talk to someone?

I have people in my life pretending to be therapists and psychiatrists constantly exposing me to triggering things as some horribly toxic idea of exposure therapy. It’s actually been extremely abusive and has resulted in me developing more triggers. I’ve become completely isolated and they chalk it up to me being “too fearful”. My triggers come from SA trauma and physical abuse. The idea that anyone could play around with someone else’s mind like pretend health professionals is awful. You wouldn’t pretend to be a surgeon, don’t pretend to be therapist either. Let the doctors handle medical care and apply exposure therapy the correct way instead of screwing with ppls mental health. I have actual health professionals that I’m working with that aren’t prescribing any of these methods and they’ve been a dream. That being said this is not okay. Purposely triggering people is not okay. They don’t have the right or the knowledge required to give fake healthcare. Your friends are not your therapy and shouldn’t be playing with this.

Ok so I’m a 17 year old female, and I’ve always thought I was straight. But I just really want to know how you would know the difference between so-ocd and actually questioning your sexuality. I have nothing against the LGBTQ community (in fact I am very much a token straight friend, lol) but I saw a video about comp-het recently and it sort of felt like what I was experiencing. I don’t want to be gay, I want to be with men, I want to like men, I’ve always liked men, but now I’m questioning whether or not that’s real? Because people can be gay but not want to be right? I’m single and I always have been. I think women are gorgeous, but when I try to imagine actually having any sort of romantic or sexual relationship with a woman it feels wrong, at least most of the time it does? Sometimes I’m less sure, and I’ve never been particularly boy crazy. I’ve liked maybe 2 or 3 people in my life, (not to say I’ve never found other guys attractive, but it doesn’t seem to be as often as most people) I have no particular reason to be afraid of being gay, very supportive family, safe area ect, but I don’t want to be, does that mean this is ocd, I don’t know what’s going on every time I say I’m straight I feel like I’m lying, but that might just be because I think about it so much. The idea of being with a woman doesn’t feel like something I would want, but is that just because I don’t want to want it? People online say things with so much sureness, if you feel like this it means this. Ect.

When I was a little kid, I used to be horrible. Every time I thought an animal was too cute or something, i’d get violent, terribly violent. I regret it so much and wish I never did anything like that. It follows me in my mind and I hate it even though I was a child. Then a year or two ago, I got upset at my cat and tossed her onto the bed very quickly and hard, and pushed her down. I remember feeling like I didn’t want to hurt her but I didn’t want to let go. I cried after it happened and gave her many treats. Around the same time, my dog got me mad i just smacked her nose but I still feel sick to my stomach thinking about it. Idk if i was 14 or 15 at the time? I would never do anything to hurt any animal now, but why did I ever do it back then? It makes me so sick thinking about it and now I can’t STOP thinking about it. I still never wanted to hurt my cat, but she got on my last nerve at that moment and it happened multiple times and I threw her pretty fast. I can’t believe I’d ever do that. I’ve been hating myself for it ever since i started thinking about it again. I can’t forgive myself and Idk what to do. I wish I could go back in time and never do what I did. She was still only about 5 months old at that time. She means the world to me and we have a very close bond, but now I feel like I can’t love her because what I did. I feel like I can’t have friends, or anything really because I feel like I don’t deserve anything. I feel like a terrible monster and I hate that I ever did anything to a little angel that didn’t even do anything wrong. Idk how to forgive myself. I hate that I did that and I wish I never did. It still wasn’t as bad as it was when I was little, but it’s still not okay at all and I can’t go back in time and change it, so now idk what to do with myself. I feel like I don’t deserve to be around my cats babies even though I love them with all my heart. I’m 16 now and not the same ragey person as i used to be. I had a lot of anger built up from an ex that I was with at the time, but still WHY would I take it out on my beautiful cat. The more I think about it, the worst it gets, it’s sucking up all of my happiness.

I’m trying to hold off having a panic attack but I feel this weird feeling in my stomach skin and it feels cold and kind of sore I looked it up which ik I’m not supposed to, but I was curious because it was not going away.It said something about nerve damage or diabetes? I’m kind of doing good ignoring the anxiety but I’m noticing part of my leg is also twitching a little and it’s making me feel more anxious, Idk what to do right now because I’m in college and I have to finish an assignment by today but the anxiety is making it hard for me to focus 😔

TRIGGER WARNING FOR DRUG USE: Hello everyone ! My name is Nicholas and this is the first time I’ve ever posted but I really just wanted to see if anyone has any experience like mine. I had tried shrooms about 4 months ago and took way too many and genuinely hallucinated and almost severely mutilated myself. During that trip I felt like I was stuck in a time loop and that the trip kept restarting. I was okay for a couple of months and then stupidly I thought smoking weed would be nice and could help calm some of my symptoms, and oh boy, I was severely wrong. I was thrown into what I could only really call PTSD, I could feel everything that I felt those previous months ago and that I felt like I was stuck back in this bad trip and that my reality was gonna fall apart, it’s now the day after and I’m still having those fears. I’m not really looking for advice, but I guess I could say more like looking for anyone with similar experiences? Just curious to see if anyone else out there has dealt with this :)

Hi i’m a teenager in high school and I don’t really remember when it started but I’ve been having really bad compulsions for the past few years. I think it started small with just little things like touching the light switch a few times because if not there’d be a house fire. But lately I think for the past year it’s gotten progressively worse. I haven’t been diagnosed and I don’t think i’m ready to talk to my parents about it so I don’t really know if I even have OCD or how to combat it. So i’m just gonna list some of the things that have led to me to believe I might have OCD: My number is 4, I have to touch things, do things, step on something 4 times. This has been happening for a while. The consequence of not doing it varys from the situation. If i’m home alone and I get scared I need to do everything 4 times perfectly and sit there until I do it right or else i’m unsafe and might die. I also have this “bedtime routine” you could say. Every night I need to check under my bed and look at each 4 legs of the bed and then say the number as I look then I need to take 4 deep breaths as I check too. After that I need to check in my closet and make sure the black hangers don’t touch the white hangers or else it’s contaminated and I might get sick. Then I need to fix my curtains to the way that I need them to sit. There’s a little more detail to each step that’s just too confusing to explain. Another big thing is stepping on something so it touches the middle or my foot and do so 4 times. I can’t explain everything because this is already too long but that is just some of the things I have to do. I also sometimes question myself and it scares me. Like I convince myself that I’m a psychopath and I am going to hurt my friends or family - but I am an extreme empath and can’t hurt a fly? It’s really scary and I just don’t know what to do anymore. So I guess moral of the story: Do I have OCD? And if so what can I do to try to combat it alone for now without alerting my family.

Hi this is my first post! My biggest thing is that im scared if I don’t do something something bad will happen. The consequences vary depending on the situation. Like for example one of my biggest fears is throw up so when my stomach hurts I have to touch something or do something or step on something in a certain way 4 times and I have to get it perfect. If not I think that I’m going to be sick. Thats just an example but my mind has fully convinced myself that these repetitive acts have actually worked and protected me. I don’t know how to stop or fight against it because I find comfort in thinking I have control over things. But sometimes doing these things can take so much time and it happens all the time. Certain rooms in my house there are certain things I have to do. It’s just becoming really overwhelming as a teenager especially. Does anyone have any advice?

I recently learned that the situation I am in could indicate a form of OCD, so I’m writing this wondering if that seems accurate based on the description I wrote. Basically, I spend a large amount of my time worrying about my loved ones or myself dying. I find myself keeping everything that connects to a memory with someone I love. I’m obsessed with taking photos, and not in the way that people my age are because they want to post on instagram or something, it’s because I’m constantly worried about wishing I had more physical evidence of a relationship if I were to lose that person. Whenever I have a happy moment with somoene, my brain jumps to “you’ll want to remember this if they die” or “make sure you write this down/ take a photo so you can look back at it if something happens”. I’ll look through photos with my loved ones and decide which one I would make the wallpaper on my phone if they died. I don’t even intend to make that decision, it just kind of happens. I have awful thoughts and images pop into my brain of the people I love being dead and thinking about what I would do if that actually happened, or how I would care for my loved ones if they lost someone important to them. I just feel like I’m constantly preparing for another loss and setting myself up to be left with lots of photos and other things just in case. I lost my best friend to cancer a few years ago, and I never dealt with this before that, so I think it’s all in response to that trauma. I get stressed when I know I took a photo with someone but they didn’t send it to me and worry I forgot to write down something that happened with a loved one that was important to me. I give handwritten notes and photos of us to people I love very often because I imagine they’d be important to them if something happened to me. I check my pulse and lymph nodes often and spend time googling or stressing about symptoms I have that could lead to something being wrong with me because I’m so scared all the time of getting sick and dying. Could I have OCD?

On here I read, that OCD is trying to keep us safe. It brings thoughts to our attention, that might be dangerous, so we are aware and are able to deal with them. I first thought it makes sense, but after a while, I asked myself, why, if OCD is helping us, does it force thoughts, images etc. on to use which we made clear, we don't want? Why does it cause physical reactions, feelings and sensations that massively scare us, if its purpose is to keep us safe? And what about OCD coming up with new themes, not only, but also often after we got a little break from the other theme(s) that terrorized us before? OCD is definitely not our protector/friend. Our brain bringing a possible dangerous thought to our attention and accepting our ruling on the importance of that thought is helpful. But that's not what OCD does, it's bombarding us with those thoughts relentlessly and adds feelings, emotions, physical reactions and sensations to the thought to make it as convincing as possible. That's not helpful at all, it' mental warfare. So my question stands? What is OCD/my brain trying to achieve with constantly attacking me? Isn't it in our nature to fight for our survival? If so, my brain is working hard to achieve the opposite, which doesn't make any sense.