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working to conquer OCD
Good evening, Does anyone has good tips on how to manage the handwashing because I try some many ways but I still manage to backfired. My problem is I don’t count right so I have to constantly start over
I have been on medication and doing good with my ocd for a very long time. It’s been about 7 months. One of my biggest themes was that I might be attracted to my father in a weird way and wish I had someone like him or enjoy him. Almost like incest ocd. But I just saw him for the first time in a week or two and got super anxious when he complimented me and told me that I looked ok while I was upset I have gained weight. He was just being a dad and being thoughtful but my ocd took over and make me feel like I wanted more and what if I like him like that?? Now I’m super anxious and wishing that I never went over there today or talked about my weight and just ignored it. My dads super uplifting and sometimes I take that as complimenting and it makes me feel good but in a way that I’m also anxious 😬
hey! i was thinking it would be cool if there would be a place where we could find people and become friends with other people dealing with ocd. it could be a safe place for us to say our experience so far, or to just talk about anything, even if it’s not ocd related. lmk what you think about this idea and comment what you think we could/should make it on!
I’ve had 4 sessions with a therapist and I feel worse. At the moment, she is trying to get to know me and my problem, but that’s not helping me at all. I want to know what to do when I’m triggered, like things I can say to myself etc but she says it’s a process and there is a method to it. We can’t rush it, but right now, I feel worse when I’m with my boyfriend (I have ROCD) and am seeking more reassurance than ever before. I feel more stressed. I don’t know whether to trust the process of therapy and take that leap to try something different or try another therapist? I do really like her and the way she works. I’m so so unsure. What if I waste all this money and feel worse at the end of it? That will really defeat me and I will feel so hopeless. All I want from therapy are WAYS to actually help myself, I don’t want to just talk about my feelings and thoughts and why I feel them!! But is that the process of all cbt therapy? Do they have to get to know you in the first few sessions before giving help on how to help the problem? Or do some give you strategies when you ask? We are doing formulation diagrams, worry diaries etc. What if I see another therapist and they actually give me strategies straight away that I can use to help me? Because right now when I’m triggered, I’m completely helpless because I have no strategies to use to help me. Therapy just confuses me and if I take advice from the internet for strategies then what is the point in paying for therapy if I’m not getting strategies from it but someplace free? How do I know if this is the right therapy for me? These last couple of weeks I’ve never had this many what if thoughts, I just want to feel certain about something 😪 (my ocd hates phrases like red flags, or that doesn’t sound good etc, just hopeful advice would be amazing 🙏🏻)
In the summer I did a shameful compulsion a couple of time to check and get rid of the thought (did it 2 months ago) . I feel horrible about it every day I regret it badly. Like why did I do it. I promise myself o rather kill myself then do it again. Because I cried after I did it. How do I forgive myself. I already posted a post like this before but I feel like I’m not allowed to forgive myself. It was a BAD compulsion. I hate this. I feel like ocd made me a monster
I have been having sexual and taboo type thoughts lately, and while they were causing me a lot of anxiety and panic, but now I don’t feel as scared. It almost seems like I want these thoughts or rather to want to act on the situation. Like I think “maybe this actually isn’t too bad” or even “I do like this thought.” Even thinking I only suppressed these thoughts and feelings because society deems them as bad, and now I have let them go and I have accepted them as actual desires. I don’t know if any of that makes sense or if this sounds truly disturbing or weird. Like I know deep down I should not be okay with this type of thinking or wanting to act on the thoughts, and honestly I just feel confused. Like part of me feels like it’s okay with these thoughts and that I should act on them because they align with me, but I don’t know. Sometimes it just feels like I’m denying myself my true feelings or just suppressing them in some way, like I actually want the thoughts but just scared of the consequences. Plus I feel like I’m not trying hard enough to combat them - like I’m purposefully thinking of them and enjoying them. And I don’t know what this means about me as an individual and what do is means for my life. I know people say are actions are what defines us, but maybe I want to act on those things or I will?
Has anyone have had any experience with prozac (fluoxotine)? I have to take it and I'm very much afraid of the side effects like suicidal thoughts, more anxiety, but over that I have MAAJOR anxiety about having serotonin syndrome..
I'm still in Nepal and I'm still taking care of my OCD and health. I'm in Nepal until May if they will let me stay that long. I think in May I will travel (possibly through India) to Sri Lanka. They're saying India isn't for beginners all over YouTube. I wish they'd told me, lol. I know if you aren't tough when you go to India then after a year there you WILL be tough. Nepal is laid back and serene and I can walk a lot and walking is my favourite exercise. I have proper trekking (10-14 day treks) planned for spring. This is recovery and I hope yours is going well.
Hello. I am a mom of a 15 yo who has been diagnosed with severe OCD and also depression and anxiety disorders. Medication was recommended. Specifically clomipramine. As of now he refuses to take it. Says he 50 % of the way considering it. He was not able to complete most of his HW last week, spends much of the day feeling anxious, isolates in his room for hours. Says he wants to try to manage it - says he’s doing better bc he was able to focus in his math class - says he doesn’t want med bc he is afraid it will mess w his mind (numb his feelings). Any advice for how to get him over this hump? Any good experience from med? It’s hard for me to watch him suffer knowing that med is an option and he could be feeling better. Also hard to watch him get zeros in classes when he is smart and capable. Thank you ahead of time. Also, his NOCD therapist is on vacation but had recommended med as well to help my son engage better in ERP
I feel like I’m mentally failing off again, I keep thinking about things that I saw when I was younger or just things I saw on complete accident I had a major porn addiction up until a few months ago, I got introduced to porn when I saw around 11, and between ages 11-17 it became a really bad porn addiction I’m almost 4 months clean from watching any porn now and I’m proud of myself for that but I when I younger, and a few months ago (and what is really what tiggered my pocd in the first place) I saw some really gross fanart when I was younger of underage characters, they were all like fictional characters from cartoon or comics, and but since they were my age i didn’t really think anything of it because everything around me was so sexualized by my friends I just thought, I don’t want to say normal, but it was just…there, and my “friends” they normalized some really weird stuff to me that I recognized as I got older that those things weren’t okay and haven’t touched since but I watched one barely legal video a few months ago before I stopped watching porn all together and before my pocd got triggered, and before that I again didn’t really think much about it but now that it is I still feel guilty about it I’m 17 so I’m still a minor and I know it was “technically” fine (feels gross just typing that out..)but I just can’t get over the guilt of things that I saw The stuff with the weird art I forgot about it for years but it all just came back when I saw a weird drawing of one of my favourite characters, and it was completely by accident and it really freaked me out so I just stared thinking about how at least I’d never seen anything else like it, but then I remembered all the stuff I saw when I saw younger and then I realized how messed up it really was, and I felt so guilty for not feeling freaked out when I saw it when I was younger, and obviously you can’t know what you don’t know when your younger, but since remembering all the stuff it just feels like I have this crushing guilt in my head, and remembering that stuff is what triggered my pocd, I’m always struggled with thinking about bad thing / bad things happening to me but pocd has latched onto me so hard that I just feel disgusted and honestly with I could go back to how my ocd was before when I was just worried about bad things happening because at least it wasn’t about other people and know for 100% certainly that I don’t want to hurt anyone but all the intrusive thoughts I have make me feel like I’m going in circles I know anything to do with kids getting hurt disgusts and devastated me but I feel like I’m dangerous but it’s weird whenever I’m alone that’s when the intrusive thoughts get the worse but when I’m actually around kids I’m fine and barely have any intrusive thoughts and I can brush them away easily when I do but when I’m by myself again my brain attacks me again I just feel so lost
Please no nastiness. Myself and my boyfriend have known each other since I was 14. I met him because he and my sister were best friends. Anyway, I grew up and thought he was attractive. We tried getting together when I was 18 but I ran off. Anyway, we didn’t speak for over 10 years. I knew my sister and him kissed and had an incline they slept together but neither of them told me and my boyfriend said possibly but I don’t remember. Anyway, we have been together 10 months and my sister told my mum. My sister is telling me to leave him because he ‘lied to me’ but I don’t want to leave him. Then, she told me that in 2019 they exchanged texts but I was in another relationship at that point a long term one at that, so again my current partner wasn’t my concern. She then randomly stated that my boyfriend grabbed her bum when me and him met up again when we first got together (I don’t believe this for a second) I have also confronted my partner and he said absolutely not. When I had the incline that they slept together I said to my partner that I didn’t care, however it has come out now and naturally I feel a bit grossed out BUT he is very loyal to me, I trust him and ultimately I love him. Obviously I have mental images running through my heads and what ifs and makes me feel sick.
Hey guys, I’m 25 years old and have been struggling heavy with OCD for most my life. Even though it comes in waves, when it hits it does take a lot for me to overcome. Recently for the past couple of months, I obsess over work to the point I get extremely stressed. I thought it was due to the amount of stress I had working in Information Technology so I made the decision to switch jobs to lookout for my mental health. After the job switch it’s still all I think about to the point I wake up at 4:30am thinking about it and it doesn’t stop till I go back to sleep at 9:00pm. It has greatly affected my life as I have breakdowns weekly where I can do nothing but cry. The thoughts give me anxiety and they range from the job itself to me feeling as if I’m wasting my life now that I’m not in a career position even though I did this as a break for my mental health. Any thoughts on what I can do to help this? I’ve already spoke to my doctor about changing medications as I feel it is not working anymore.
I have an amazing fiance, our anniversary is coming up soon and I'm very excited, but my head keeps going back and forth on I love him or actually you don't love him. You hate him. It's so distressing. I keep looking up things to save relationships and comparing our relationships to other people like what am I doing wrong? And anytime I think of it, I also start thinking what if all of this is just in my head and it's not real or I'm just faking all of this. It's constant back and forth and it's making things hard. I'm not texting him as much as I use to and he noticed it. He feels bad and I don't want him to think it's his fault. He's the best fiance I've ever had and I don't want to lose him, but I want these thoughts to go away. Is it even ROCD or am I just losing it? I know I have OCD around food and gross sexual intrusive thoughts but I don't know if it's effecting other aspects of my life (I was only recently diagnosed) Please help, anyone.
does anyone have any tips for finding what medication works for you? I’m a college student looking for a step in the right direction
Today I had a really bad flare up. I left for work, and as soon as we got on the highway, I had an overwhelming fear I forgot to turn off my flat iron. I compulsively googled the user manual of my iron to see if it would auto turn off. Went on multiple subreddits finding the answer. Googled how many apartments were burnt down this year due to hot tools. I posted on the NOCD app. I told my boyfriend I had an upset stomach to plan for my escape from work so he “wouldn’t know” it was OCD. I got to work, went to the bathroom and had a panic attack, lasted a whole 10 more minutes more before I made myself sick and started crying at my desk. I told my coworkers and boss it was because of stomach flu and left. I heard sirens on my hour long ride home and was convinced they were headed to our apartment for a fire I started. I got home, I was scared to go into my actual building even though my complex itself was still standing. And when I entered, the flat iron was not only turned off but unplugged and rolled up, put away. I “knew” I had some memory of doing this but couldn’t remember for certain and convinced myself that I was just telling myself lies. I’m sitting here hours and a lot of ERP later, and while I’m a lot better, I’m also crying writing this - allowing myself to realize that OCD won today. I’ve gratefully been at a really healthy place these last 9-10 months but I needed to post this for accountability. There are going to be bad days. But it’s how we react to them what matters. I’m not letting this make me go down a spiral. Hope everyone is doing well out there - thinking of you no matter where you are on your journey.
. I just posted about a month ago about a compulsion I did to try and prove it was dumb to think I could lean my head toward my kid in a sexual way. So I purposely did it to show myself it’s harmless and to prove my ocd is stupid.My head touched her hair when I did it and I have been suffering ever since like I touched my kid inappropriately. Lost weight, quit my job. It’s been real bad. Well today I was like it is really such nonsense this doing normal things in a sexual way worry I have. So I tried to pet my cat and do it in a sexual way. Again to figure out how just petting its back could be wrong.Or just to show its dumb.Well now that is added to my list of this ocd spiral. Did I do something inappropriate to my cat and my kid? Ughhhh
My ROCD has started kicking up again, and really really badly. My compulsions are all the “fun” internal ones, but also confessing. I’m with a partner who I wasn’t with last time this happened, and I adore him more than words can express, so it KILLS me that I have thoughts about him that aren’t true to who I am. It will be like, a few months ago I had a thought where I questioned if I was actually attracted to him, or if I could do better (which i don’t care? Because I love him so much. He is enough in every sense) but the fact I had that thought, and even stopped and engaged in it, now has me feeling so so guilty. Like I know I love him, I know I’m attracted to him, and I know it’s normal to have thoughts that pop up, that don’t always represent how you actually feel. But it just really kills me, because I confessed this to him. He was so understanding and literally said thoughts don’t bother him. Only actions do. But it’s still eating at me, because the OCD wants me think I engaged in that thought for a reason, and how could I ever think that about the person I love so much. Does anyone else get this kind of ROCD? Where it feels actually hurtful to your partner. I know it’s normal thought, I know everyone has questions and negative thoughts at times, but still it’s so hard to get past.
I struggle with self harm and depression. I told my doctor a week ago that I have suicidal thoughts and she put me on an anxiety/depression med and she said it could make things better or worse. I have noticed I barely eat anything anymore and I started to self harm more. I go through my day struggling and I’ve lost my friends and I stay in my room 24/7. I don’t feel like doing anything anymore. People say “oh it’ll get better” or “you’ll overcome it” or “don’t worry it’ll be okay” but guess what it’s not true. I feel like no one gets me or no one will listen to me. No one understands the pain I go through every second of the day trying my hardest to put on a fake smile. I can’t do it anymore. I want it to stop.
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OCD doesn't have to
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