Welcome to
the NOCD Community

So I reached “conquerer status” awhile back, but never felt like I conquered. I masked my progress with willful avoidance. Then things got very bad for me, meta-ocd started pulling at subtypes I never aligned with, and it basically got my nervous system “stuck” where every day was a nightmare of anxiety. And then with help from my therapist, I leaned it. I challenged myself and stopped avoiding, because I had already been through hell. And in 3 weeks, my progress now is remarkable. I have my bad moments, but not so much bad days, and even if I do, I’ll tolerate them too. I may still be sick, but I’m definitely getting better. So now I can write this post and congratulate myself. Because I’ve earned that, and I’m going to keep earning it. If you ever feel like it’s not working, or you’re “doing it wrong” just keep doing it, reach out, and lean in.

My real-events are terrible. I'm plagued daily by multiple awful things I did as a child / teenager (please don't downplay it.) I've grown into a better person, but the memories won't let me see any progress. It feels as if my insides are dying from grief and shame. How do you go day to day not picturing yourself as a monster?

How can I stop thinking about my OCD? I’ve had a very bad day today and now it’s the only thing on my mind. Thing is, when I have it on my mind, I’m so hyper aware of my situation, everything begins to be victim to my OCD. How can I get my brain to stop obsessing over my OCD so I can get back to doing the things I like without stressing over my ocd getting to them?

I wanted to talk about my experiences with rOCD since I currently do still suffer from it but I know if I talked about them. My thoughts are just gonna get stronger, but I’ll do it for the sake of talking about my experiences to others who feel like they’re alone. I have a very loving relationship actually my first healthy relationship we are currently still dating one year and six months. I would say these intrusive thoughts started to happen once I hit the one year mark with him. Nothing in the relationship has made me think these thoughts, but it just came. Like when my mind tried to make me think I liked another guy other than my boyfriend and that I was losing feelings for him. I started to panic because I knew that my heart belonged to my boyfriend and having thoughts that were against that belief it made me really anxious cause I never had those thoughts before. I was in and out of the care center at my school constantly having anxiety attacks, and it was affecting me day by day. I talk to my boyfriend about it because my mind can never keep secrets from him because then I would feel like that I’m lying to him… my mind just kinda works that way and I believe it’s due to the situation I have with rOCD. Luckily, he was really supportive.. in thoughts I’ve had was what if I don’t like him anymore or if he doesn’t do this does that mean he likes me or if he’s even the one just a lot of doubts about me and him in the relationship. And for anyone who’s experiencing stuff familiar to this you are not alone invalid only what you believe is what is true. And I know it’s gonna be hard to know what’s true or not because these thoughts that you have versus what’s in your heart you get confused but if you know that you love that person then that’s what true. Also, the only reason why it affected me a lot was because I kept trying to solve it and the only solution is to let those thoughts in and accept that you have those thoughts. I don’t mean as an accept that these thoughts are true, but accepts that those are the thoughts that you’re thinking because if you keep on trying to find a solution to remove them, it only just get worse.

Hey everyone I am new here. I had my third session here and I am quite confused — one of my therapist told me that what I was talking about was not about ocd and quickly shut me down. I am not going to lie when he said that I felt really bad and was too embarrassed to ask him if our conversations are exclusively about ocd. Are they? Thx guys 💕💕💕

Please help… my religious ocd is now thinking horrible thoughts about Jesus and I feel like I should be freaking out more…

are they truly intrusive thoughts or am i thinking and creating automatically graphic images that i dont want to think? i think it happens because it's too easy once you're anxious abt it. i dont enjoy it. i just saw a trigger and had a graphic disturbing se&ual image in my head.

Hi everyone I could really use some help on this topic. It’s hard to admit and talk about but after being on here I see that I’m not the only one! Still I would love some support and advice with how to deal with those unwanted sexual thoughts. For me it’s so uncomfortable and honestly gross when sexual thoughts get out of hand with normal people and also do extremely out of hand that even loved ones get involved. Like when I watch tv and all of a sudden I have these gross thoughts that I know if I accept they will go away but how can you accept something so gross? Would love some help!

So I’ve been off sertraline 50 mg for a couple months now after being on it for 3 years. I got off cuz I was getting bad side effects from it like gaining hella weight and low libido. My anxiety has been so bad so I’m considering trying Prozac since apparently the side effects are less. What’s your experience with it/does it help your anxiety from your intrusive thoughts? I mainly have just somatic ocd

Anyone who's been under general anesthetic or put under for surgery did the anesthesia cause nausea or getting sick to your stomach? I am having wisdom tooth extractions soon and I want to know if any part of the surgery I can avoid to avoid nausea

I have recently been having new feelings of anxiety and obsessive thoughts about how time fast is moving. I saw an old picture and was like “wow that felt like yesturday” and then began to think about how it was actually 2 years ago. Now I’m in this loop of thinking about and being anxious about how fast it is moving. Anyone have any ERP suggestions for this or how to deal with it? I’m trying to crush this thought with ERP as fast I can, as it is a new theme for me. Is this considered existential ocd? I know themes can switch, but just am kind of shocked at this as I used to be able to not care about this topic and right now it seems like such a big deal.

I have something that’s been on my mind but my post isn’t getting any interaction. Only offer advice if you’re willing to respond please!!! People have asked me in the comments to share something and I do and they never answer which makes my mental even worse

And that’s why your fear isn’t truth. It’s a glitch in the system — not your soul.

I was super recently diagnosed with OCD and nervous to share my diagnosis with my family. I’m a somewhat messy person and don’t have germophobic tendencies, so since I don’t have the stereotypical OCD presentation I was terrified that nobody would believe me. I ended up talking to my mom and making a silly TikTok post about it, which my grandma saw. Not only did they believe and support me–I learned that my grandma has it too! Funny to look back on, but really cool to see that the worst outcome doesn’t always happen. (:

I feel like I'm lying to myself, like I just don't accept that I'm gay, I don't want to be gay, I don't want to feel any kind of attraction anymore, I want to go to a psychologist to find out if I really have hocd or if it's just an excuse, because it feels like I really am gay, but nothing was authentic, it all started with thoughts that made me panic extremely hard and I felt like crying and I had delusions, I don't understand why this is happening to me, I didn't like any boys before the thoughts appeared, but exactly one day after they appeared, all the boys were attractive, of all ages, I want to recover :( I'm only 17 years old, for about 2 months I've been having thoughts, I don't know what to do, I can't go to a psychologist, I need help :(

Does anyone get “what if I don’t wanna be with my partner and I wanna be with someone else but I don’t wanna get hurt so I won’t break up? “ wouldn’t I know? I’ would’ve done it by now

Potential TW: So I know this post is not technically FULLY about ocd but I was hoping maybe some people knew something about it or what to tell me. So I know my boyfriend has ocd and anxiety but it’s nothing he is in treatment for and he’s not on medication even though he probably should be. Anyway, I know he has IBD so he already has stomach issues. However, ever since we started dating he has been throwing up in the bathroom a lot. At first I didn’t think anything of it but then I noticed not only did he do this but he eats large amounts of food at a time like a lot of food and then whether it was directly after or a little hour later he would always throw it up and he would turn on the shower making it look like he was taking a shower but I always hear. He keeps saying it’s just that he sometimes feels sick from eating too much but I really think it is bulimia and now it seems like he throws up about 3-4 times a day. I know he has a lot of stress in his life cause so he’ll be applying to law school and his parents also pick on him when he does something wrong though they love him very much and he has this cousin that like is always trying to pressure him to do more social things and he clearly wants to impress his cousin but he’s trying to be something he isn’t. I also know he tends to bottle things up instead of talk about them but recently he has been communicating a bit more just not about this. I know there’s a lot of factors here but does this sound like bulimia? I kind of want to say something but I also know he will probably get very mad. But his parents clearly don’t realize this is happening as he just goes to his own bathroom and pretends to shower. Also, weirdly he has been gaining more weight even though he seems to throw up so much? Also can bulimia cause people to be like quickly defensive or frustrated easily? Because I’ve been seeing that too and I’d like to think that’s not really him cause I have seen he has a caring heart it just seems like he’s struggling a lot. Can anyone tell me some helpful things? Does this sound like bulimia? Does anyone have similar stories or advice they can share? Please help thanks!

Hey y’all. I have suicidal OCD and I feel that it manifests in a strange way. I feel like my brain often encourages me to kill myself. Like my most dominant thought isn’t ’what if you kill yourself’, it’s ’you should kill yourself.’ It tends to amp up every time I make some mistake, even if it’s small. And it definitely gets worse during times of stress. I don’t want to kill myself and I wouldn’t consider myself depressed. But if these thoughts are OCD, and are my brain trying to keep me safe from killing myself, why would it tell me to? I’d appreciate any insight.

Why does ocd make you feel uncertain about everything. Even the things you knew were 100% certain before. Its so bizarre. All the subtypes like Rocd, Pocd, Hocd you should be 100% certain about these things but ocd makes you feel like you dont know. I sit here know saying in my head I DONT KNOW. its so hard and confusing. I just want to know who I am. Am I a good person like I thought I was and have been my whole life or am I someone else. I just dont know. Its awful

31 year old female. I have IBS and POTS for some background. Since Sunday however I am scared I could have stomach cancer. Back in March I had to start taking propranolol for my POTS which caused horrific acid reflux and the feeling of a lump in my throat. I am waiting for new medication but my cardiologist is so bad at getting back to me. Anyway, last week I didn’t take much propranolol (I try to only take them when my POTS is bad) and I had three good days anxiety wise. On Sunday however I woke up at 4am needing to rush to the loo, I felt a bit nauseous which panicked me because I have a big fear of throwing up. Anyway since then I have had stomach discomfort, no appetite, feeling nauseous and some indigestion. It is really scaring me because I came across a TikTok that said symptoms of stomach cancer can be an increased heart rate, acid reflux, stomach discomfort, change in bowel habits etc. I have convinced myself that I don’t have POTS and that my increased heart rate is due to stomach cancer (sometimes I get night time adrenaline dumps which makes my heart rate shoot up). I’m scared that the feeling of a lump in my throat is also connected to stomach cancer, as is the stomach discomfort and bowel changes. I have had a clear bowel cancer screening, and mild inflammation and a faecal calprotectin test that was mildly elevated at 53 (normal levels are below 50). GP said she wasn’t concerned but referred me for further test anyway but that’s not for a few months. Also it’s mostly my stomach I’m concerned about. I can’t stop thinking I am missing something. I have a GP appointment booked but I’m scared I’ve left it too late and whatever is going on with me is growing and spreading and it will be too late. I’m really, really scared. I feel like for the last three months most days I have completely lost myself. But the last five days have been so so bad, I have googled constantly and just feel like I’m never going to feel better because of my stomach. I just really needed to vent. I have been referred for therapy but I can’t help thinking this is not anxiety and is just something I’m brushing off as anxiety. I’m really scared and just don’t know what to do :(