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How do I do it? I need help.

Anyone else with HOCD get thoughts of like "people in denial try to distract themselves" or anything along those lines when just trying to move on from the thoughts. Having a pretty bad episode this morning at least anxiety wise.

When I was a child, before I knew this was OCD, I struggled with constant "magical thinking" compulsions (don't step on the crack or mom's back will actually break, etc). When I later learned this was OCD, it almost immediately solved it. Any time I got a magical thought, I would say to myself "that's just an OCD thought. ignore it." and it just stopped coming! Like seriously it fixed the magical thinking stuff forever. But of course the OCD has resurfaced in other ways. So naturally, I've tried to use the same strategy since I had so much success with it previously. But I wonder sometimes if telling myself "that's just OCD" is almost functioning as a reassurance compulsion? I hate how meta this gets. For example, I have ROCD that comes and goes. So sometimes I'll get a thought like "what if i'm still in love with my ex?" and then I'll tell myself "that's obviously just an ROCD thought" and will feel relief, almost like reassurance. But it comes back. So is telling myself that it's OCD a reassurance compulsion ?? It's just so weird because it worked so perfectly as a kid with the magical thinking thing.

Tw Tw Tw Tw Tw Tw Tw Tw Tw So there’s manors on this app ( purposefully misspelled) and I know it’s their choice to click the 18 plus posts or any posts they want but my point is what if I say something wrong to a manor or what if I think I did ( my compulsion ) is to take a picture of the conversation so just incase I get blocked for whatever reason or the post gets deleted I have proof I didn’t say anything bad and besides I never have …but it’s like I don’t trust myself ughhhh I know there’s manors everywhere on every social media app but just the thought of manors on an OCD app that always has very strong topics like you don’t have to go looking for them they’re just there vs things like facebook has a variety of posts and if you want to look up a heavy topic you have to search it unlike on the NOCD app it’s easier to access because everyone here is talking about their intrusives but usually nothing else … it just makes me so paranoid that there’s manors on this app …. I don’t know how else to explain it …. Hopefully I’m not coming off as wrong … if anyone is confuse please ask for clarity before you get upset or assume ❤️

Background: I'm 18 today. I cheated on my boyfriend with this guy S( which I now cut contact with) months and months ago, I came clean to my boyfriend and he forgave me but that's when this all started. I'm not diagnosed with Ocd yet but jm seeing a local counselor. Now: In the past months I've been having thoughts like " what if I love S" "What if my boyfriend is just a friend to me" "I'd rather S did that * insert sexual thing or normal romantic thing*" " S wouldn't do that" "What if I secretly love S" "I love S" and I kept imagining scenarios with S to test how I'd react physically. These thoughts are there everyday for me 24/7, some days it's worse some it's better but I cry about them everyday because they build up and I just explode. I don't want to have them but they get worse and worse with time and I'm scared they reflect some kind of truth because of my past. I finished to have a crisis now, lasted at least 1 hour and I cried my heart out, my mind was like " I dont want anyone else to touch me like my boyfriend does" but then it said back " I love S" " I want S to do that" ecc ecc, got so bad I need to refocus during sex and I need to see my boyfriends face to be sure it's him because I'm scared S is gonna come into my mind and I'm gonna get turned on for him thing that scares me to death. I don't want these thoughts. I don't want them. I had the same with pedo like thoughts, for a while I had to avoid children because I was convinced I was a pedo. This comes and goes but the theme it's most in my mind it's this S theme around my relationship. I love my boyfriend and I don't want any of this, can someone please suggest me what to do? I'm really desperate can someone help?

What is everyone’s funny phobia … no I don’t mean in a like post it and we will judge you sorta way I mean like unique and usually not heard of obviously if it’s too distressing don’t post it but I was just curious… mine is the big blocky cctv security cameras that you see at like Walmart or Kroger etc but at the same time it’s funny because it’s such a strange thing to make someone feel anxious or in a sense scared

I’m a first year Political Science major and music minor at Oregon State University and am currently finishing up my second term (trimester system). As a PoliSci major doing a Bachelor of Arts, about all of the work I do is writing, and if it isn’t its a group project (which also is probably mostly writing), reading, or multiple choice. But my main point is that when I sit down to start writing I think “Am I doing this right? Is this how the professor wants this done?” In a nutshell this is how it goes but I essentially sit there for hours and think like that and more. I failed a class the first term because of this and it shouldn’t have even been that bad. There were 2 writing assignments per week, one of them is writing about what you find on this website or smth along those lines. The other was write about this news article. This sucked because I was thinking “How do I re summarize something that’s already been summarized?” Both of these had to be between 3-500 words long, EASY. I failed this class and almost another one because of thoughts like this the first term and I went into academic warning Now during the second term I’m currently failing my history class because of thinking like this. It was 2 assignments at the beginning of the term that were notes on a book, and a discussion on a movie. 200 points combined. The midterm I didn’t do too bad, but it was messy and under the word count, but the professor liked it and I got 78% so I’m not that upset about it. The only time I really don’t have these thoughts is when I’m writing about myself (like this) or when writing music. I think it’s because of a more personal attachment and I can criticize myself on it when working on it. But anyways, has anyone else experienced something like this? I should say it definitely goes more in depth than this for me, this is just what’s happened most recently.

Hi came to vent. Sometimes people tell me to stop overthinking and that I need to change that. And I try to give myself grace because I know ocd is real. But then I think “Or am I just lacking accountability?” Because then I hear stuff from people like “you’re just not helping yourself.” Or “you think so negative.” This and that and sometimes I really do feel like it’s just hard, because it feels so automatic… And it hurts my feelings when I’m told that I’m too much, or too negative. Or I need to work on this and that. Then I feel MORE guilt for not being able to accepting criticism well. Because the criticizing voice gets stuck in my head constantly.

Tw throwing up The other day my friend and I were making jokes and it hurt the feelings of two of my other friends and they really blew up at us. (Later another friend confronted them about how extreme their reactions were for the situation which is important) I felt so horrible about hurting their feelings I had a horrible panic attack and was crying so hard I threw up. I have felt sick the last few days even thinking about the fact that I hurt any of my friends feelings and I haven’t spoken to either of them in four days to give them space but now since my friend told me she confronted them and I agreed with her they could have been overreacting I feel like I’ve been faking being sick to make it seem like I care about their feelings when I don’t really. I also feel like I’ve been avoiding them to avoid the consequences of my actions like my friends being mad at me. Not looking for reassurance just for advice on things I can say to myself to help or other ways you have felt with something similar.

A lot of my problems are tied to massive instances of childhood abuse, especially emotional/psychological abuse where I was flat out being told that I was ugly, unlovable, worthless, lazy, etc. I don't really believe those specific things, but I think I feel those emotions stronger than other people because of the fact that I wanted to prove that those things were lies. Like when someone I'm dating loses interest, I go from 0 to 100 in my emotions. I also convince myself that my childhood wasn't actually that bad and I'm being overdramatic and I feel silly talking about it. Yet, at the same time, I want people to recognize my struggles and feel like I'm sophocating from holding it all in. Being lazy probably hits the hardest, because I never feel like I'm doing enough and I'm so exhausted and unmotivated but I tell myself I'm making excuses. I can be so unmotivated and depressed that I don't shower for a couple weeks and there is trash on my floor and even if I'm genuinely embarrassed by people seeing that...I just can't do it. But even typing this I feel dumb for asking for validation in that instead of doing something productive with my time.

Can I hear some examples of specific parts of ERP that has helped you? I've been doing talk therapy for a few years and the major issue I have with it is that I already have analyzed all of my problems from every angle, so I'm kind of just sitting there yapping about it for an hour. I need solutions and things that make me feel better.

I feel guilty for sometimes wishing that bad things weren’t bad. It’s such an OCD-driven thought process—if they weren’t bad, I wouldn’t have to fear them. It’s like wishing morality didn’t exist, just so everything would be acceptable. But then I feel guilty for even thinking that. I don’t think I actually want that, I just want this to be easier. The bad things—violence, pedophilia, incest—need to stay bad. But I’m scared. Scared that my anxiety is the only thing stopping me from doing something terrible. Scared that I don’t actually have morals, just a fear of social judgment. If there were no consequences, no stigma, would I lose control? Would I become someone awful? Do I fear *being* a bad person, or just *being seen* as one? Today was an easier day, but still a hard one.

Hello, i know its late but i did have one question, is Hocd actually beatable? Like can you fully recover from it? Menajng no more false attraction, no more it feels real, i have confidenve im not gay but straight, no more doubts, basically meaning can you beat HOCD?

I am a 21(female). I have only ever kissed one guy and it was horrible and I cried after. I stress about my sexuality constantly. I only want to be straight and know I want to end up with a man, but picturing it stressed me out and I am so scared to kiss a guy I think about it and get so stressed and cry immediately. I have severe intrusive thoughts about kissing everyone my teachers my best friends and it creeps me out and then I go down a rabbit hole of sexual orientation ocd! If anyone has any tips that might help that would be great. Again I don’t want or think I am gay but being so scared to be intimate with a man starts me down a spiral.

TW// MENTION OF DR8GS, SXUAL CONTENT false memory ocd is targeting my earlier teen years, around 16, I had a friend and we both did droogs (spelled it like that for a reason) one time together. I was scared to do the other stuff we had so she did it. but I remember us like touching eachothers chest as like girl stuff I guess idk it was weird lol… like about our sizes but then later on I had asked her smthng about ohh “would u ever wanna do stuff? or would u feel like that’s weird” something along those lines… and I remember her saying “ohhh I mean idk I would but I wouldn’t want it to make things weird between us”.. now here’s my thing. I remember just agreeing and accepting it and moving on, but obviously feeling weird cus that was sortve rejection. But my brain is saying what if u kept asking? Or questioned her? (We never did anything but likeee my ocd is like what if u tried to push it) and my brain is like what if u wanted to do it just bc she was under influence? I wanted us both to do it while under influence 1. Because we wouldn’t be anxious 2. I thought it would be fun at the time 3. I felt like it would be less weird if we were high. I did not PLAN for us to do these substances just for this reason but it was in my head that maybe we would do stuff if we had a sleepover or something plus I had just gotten out of a relationship with a guy and I also like girls. All im thinking is what if she said yes? MY high wore off before hers and hers was lasting longer so she would’ve been under the influence and that would’ve been super bad I would’ve felt like I 🍇 her or something… that’s why im scared right now. Idk if these what ifs are true and I literally am sick with uncertainty. If it’s true that would make me feel so terrible, like a predator (like I tried to coerce her or something) but idk what’s true and what’s not. I just remember this false memory being triggered by the fact that I asked when we were on stuff but my stuff had already wore off is what’s bothering me. (We took different things) I remember worrying about this false memory before, and was able to move on. Also me and that girl were friends for a couple years after that until we fell out over stupidity. And we also had sleepovers after that and idk if I already asked her for reassurance like ohhh are u sure I didn’t make u uncomfortable.. but idk if I did. I want to ask but I can’t because I guess she is not around right now. Like MIA.(her own personal stuff im assuming) Any advice would help :(

Idk if this is OCD per se, it feels more like perfectionism than anything. but I was wondering if anyone can relate. I’m a girl approaching the age of 20 and there are certain things I really want to be able to enjoy and pamper myself with, like getting my nails done, or getting a lash lift. But I’ve discovered that doing either brings me a lot of stress. For example, I just bought some nice press on nails last week and I put them on last night (which took me soooo long) and I’ve been so stressed about them since. I keep worrying that they’re going to fall off right away and I keep checking them and pushing on them to see, so much so that I worry I’m going to make them loose. I already had one looking like it was starting to lift, and instead of leaving it I pulled it off entirely cuz I’d rather start over and redo it than have it fall off, and now I’m worried my other nails are gonna fall off and that I should just pull them off now before they do. I keep pushing on one nail that feels loose to me. But it hasn’t lifted, but I’ve pushed it so much now that I want to rip it off. And another example, when I get a lash lift I worry so much because I start obsessing over the evenness of the curl on both sides. It always feels like one side is more curled than the other. Or that one side looks more fuller (more lashes) than the other and it makes me stressed. And I also obsess over those pesky lashes that just didn’t want to curl and I try pulling them out sometimes to make it look for even. It’s just little things like that which make these experiences unenjoyable for me, even tho I so badly want to enjoy them. I spent money on these nails and I want them to last and I’m so worried that I did them wrong and ruined it. I just don’t want them to fall off. But they’re caused me a lot of stress in the last 24hrs and I’ve been hyperfixating on them so much.

i’ve been dealing with this “thing” since i was 15. (i’m 23 now) if i have a bad memory that i have done when i was really young or just an intrusive thought i feel like i need to tell my mom or boyfriend. it’s been on and off ever since but since January hit it’s been an everyday thing about the littlest things. mostly about my relationship. an example is i was talking to someone random at my job and we were talking about taxes and when im in deep thought or just thinking i do a thing where i bite my lip (not in the sexual way) and i had a thought when it happened “was that sexual?” and i felt like i did something wrong and i went for a while thinking that until i told my boyfriend about it. or like my ex’s face has popped up in my head in the most inappropriate times and i feel the need that i have to tell him. (my ex was not a good person) i feel like im a prisoner in my head everyday, trying to justify thoughts or remind myself that its just a thought. i didnt know that this was or could be a form of ocd. it runs in my family but i’ve just never considered it being this. i always called it anxiety or depression but i always felt like it is more than that.

I’ve been having intrusive thoughts that I am a bad friend. There’s no reason in particular, just this nebulous feeling that I am an overall shitty person and terrible friend. That maybe I haven’t asked how my friends are enough times, did I show them how much I care enough, did I show enough interest in their lives, am I empathetic and compassionate enough, etc.? Another thought is that “it’s no wonder my friends don’t really text me often, who would want to be my friend and have to deal with my anxiety, depression, and ocd.” My dad has told me that I no one would want to be my friend due to my fears of contamination and germs. I’m trying to tell myself they’re just thoughts and that doesn’t make them real, but my anxiety and depression have spiked recently due to my job and I feel like I’m a liability instead of an asset. I’m terrified of ruining people’s lives. However, I know that I am a genuine person who is very compassionate and empathetic and cares a lot about others. I am a volunteer manager and I genuinely care about my volunteers as people, so in emails and conversations, I always ask how they are and that their families are well and I hope they’ve enjoyed their weekend. I have recently learned that that is one of their big complaints about me— they find my “how are yous” and “I hope you are well” to be abrasive and mechanical. My volunteers trigger the anxiety, depression, and OCD. Does anyone have any other tools they use to help with intrusive thoughts? Am I alone in this? I feel so alone.

On this day 1 year ago, I had my first appointment with NOCD. The weeks prior I had begun doubting my sexuality, but not in a healthy way. A way, where I was crying almost every single day. A way where I could barely eat. A way where I just felt like someone completely else. I was ruminating 24/7. When I was out in public I could not stop analyzing if I was looking at a man or a woman more. I was googling almost non stop on my phone, and so so much more. Days kept getting worse and worse. I could barely make it through a day at work, and when I was working from home I would crawl under my desk and nap for decent periods of time (something I usually don’t do). One day, when my wife met me for lunch at work, I broke down, telling her these persistent thoughts that were plaguing my in regards to my sexuality, how it had been going on for weeks, but that I think it was something I experience 7 years ago (at the time) called HOCD. Years prior, during my last battle with HOCD/SOOCD, I was diagnosed with GAD during a night stay in a monitored mental ward. I discovered that it was SOOCD weeks later while taking a test online at work, but I overlooked the last three letters OCD. That period of time haunted me, for years while OCD tormented me in other ways, all the while I was oblivious to what was really going on, instead thinking I was just anxious. That time of untreated OCD and the many years prior to then before I had any realization of what was going on was perfect fuel for the fire of doubt that OCD loves to keep burning. Last year, I always thought of the spot I hoped to be in next year, but never did I imagine that I would exceed even that goal. ERP therapy truly revolutionized my life and has help me find peace that I hadn’t done before for years! If you are someone who is considering therapy or just started therapy, I highly encourage you to do so/keep going. (Trigger warning but push through it) You might be reading this post hoping that I can give you a step by step process of how I have learned to overcome OCD, but I can’t. I wish I could tell you that the thoughts and doubts will go away, but for my experience they don’t. I wish I could tell you that each day will get easier, but I can’t do that either. I still have the feelings and thoughts of doubt when it comes to my sexuality, whether I truly love my wife, whether the medicine I take is actually keeping me trapped in a false reality etc. I would love if they didn’t happen at all, but conquering OCD is not about stopping the thoughts (because that is an impossible goal), it’s learning to live with the thoughts, feelings and doubt and not feeding them. If you’re here it’s because you have OCD. You will doubt that you have OCD because you have OCD. You would love if there was someway to confirm with absolute certainty if your fear is true or not because you have OCD. No matter what you want to do to achieve that certainty, it will only be a matter of time before you doubt it and go down the rabbit hole again. You have an illness, the doubting disorder, and it sucks. It really f****** sucks! BUT you can live a happy life with it. OCD is a liar and a bully who wants nothing more than to keep you engaged with it. It’ll take time, a lot of time, to learn to live with this disorder, to live with that uncomfortable what if feeling, but you can do it! You will have bad days as you start getting better. Not every day will be better than the rest and you’ll want to do therapy completely right, but you won’t. This illness unfortunately takes time and effort to deal with, but you can deal with it. Be kind to yourself and keep on pushing yourself. You are not alone in this fight!

Hi everyone. I’ve been doing therapy for about two months now and I would say it’s slowly helping me a lot. I explained to her the breathing techniques and “sitting in the anxiety for a bit” and I feel like those are helping. But then my therapist said “don’t sit in the thought because then you might act on it”. I don’t “sit in the thought” but rather i sit in the anxiety to comdition my brain into thinking it’s not a threat. But ever since yesterday, my therapy appointment, I’ve been really shooken up. Even though I don’t “sit in the thought” I feel like a bad person that she even had to bring it up even though I explained it wrong. I’m so upset I feel like I just took 3000 steps back from my progress and this little thing is really scaring me. Am I a bad person? I don’t want to act on any of my thoughts and it scares me so bad I hate living.