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This might be super specific, but something I struggle with is feeling the need to consistently look up things for reassurance. I feel the need to look up the same things over and over again just to make sure. Example: googling what to do in serious situations like a car crash, if someone’s having a heart attack, seizure, etc. I’m (soon to be) a healthcare professional and I feel like I know these things like the back of my hand. I feel like if I ever get to these (extremely unlikely) situations, I won’t know what to do. I feel the need to constantly reassure myself the proper protocol for situations that will probably NEVER happen. Anytime I think of this possibility, I can’t help but become trapped in a spiral of googling what to do. It’s come to a point that I’ve started noting down what to do over and over again if these situations happen. I really just want to know if anyone relates.

So I’m severely emetophobic but these past few weeks have gotten SO bad. I had a bad reaction to an SSRI that made me feel like I was gonna throwup, I stopped taking them over two weeks ago but ever since then the fear has got even worse. I haven’t left the house properly in weeks because I’ve convinced myself I’ll be sick. I feel nauseous even indoors a lot of the time (there are hours when I don’t, like for example this afternoon I was fine). But I challenged myself to go for a short walk this evening and omg it was so hard I really thought I might throwup. The thing is I KNOW it’s anxiety and not real nausea because it feels completely different to when I was actually nauseous from the medication. This feeling is more like a tight throat/sensation of a lump in my throat that makes me feel like I’m gonna gag. I also have RCPD (I can’t burp basically lol) so I just feel like I have trapped air in my throat that’s gonna make me puke. The phobia has gotten really really bad. I have started therapy recently but I’ve been scared of throwing up since I was a kid and I’m now 31 lol wtf. I remember last Christmas my mum said someone at her work had been sick and I was so scared my mum had caught it and would pass it on to me that I refused to leave my bedroom without wearing gloves and a mask and wiping everything with anti-germ wipes. But right now it’s so so bad because I have literally gotten to the point where I’ve convinced myself I feel nauseous pretty much 24/7 and I am taking anti-nausea meds almost every day. Has anyone else dealt with/has tips for this??? I’m literally desperate 😭

I can’t stop myself from taking photos of my teeth. I have had numerous fillings and I definitely have staining / some other fillings that need done / one extraction / one root canal. But they don’t look terrible. However I have a lot of decalcification spots by my gums. One dentist told me that if they all broke through I’d need like 20 fillings. I keep checking my mouth of cavities… stains… recession… white spots. Everything. It’s driving me insane. And it got to the point where I was scared to eat… or drink fizzy drinks (I drink carbonated water) in fear of erosion. 🥲 I used to scrub the shit out of my teeth so that’s doesn’t help. I also went through a medical issue and after I was taken off of a medication I was on - my teeth went to shit along with it even worse than before. Genetics at play too. But holy hell. Does anyone have obsessions over oral health / hygiene? I brush and floss daily, too. Other than an occasional depressy day or when my ADHD is ADHDing and executive dysfunction kicks in. Sigh. Almost 28 years old for reference and I feel like I have a monthly subscription to the dentist for how much work I’ve had.

i feel very, very guilty. i'm resisting the urge to confess right now. i don't think it's a good idea, but it's hard. i'm starting college in a bit and going to meet new people, see a new side of life... and it's been 3 years with ocd... i'm feeling very guilty about potentially hijacking my success by doing something that was fun in the moment but kind of dumb in restropect. :( sending hugs to everyone else struggling

So I've had ocd for about 9 or 10 months so I'm wondering will it ever get better without a therapist

I hope everyone’s weeks will improve

My mom is visiting me and we have been sharing my studio apartment for about 10 days. I was already struggling with this because I have a hard time sharing my space with people—I like things to be clean and orderly and I hate not having total control over these things. She got sick with what we thought was a cold and I was getting very stressed/irritated with her coughing and sneezing in the apartment, even though I obviously know that it’s not her fault. Her illness got progressively worse (probably the flu), so she decided to get a hotel for her last night. I am alone in my apartment, which I am grateful for, and I cleaned everything down with Lysol, but I still feel as though my apartment is contaminated and I just feel grossed out and stressed. I felt fine earlier before I realized it is most likely the flu, but now I am starting to feel congested and I can’t tell whether it is real or just my paranoia

This one's a "what if" exposure; a way to trace the anxiety spiral and sit with the discomfort it brings, instead of trying to avoid or fix it. Here’s how it works: Start with your anxious thought: 1. “What if A happens?” Then go deeper: “Okay… if A happens, then what?” → “Then B.” 2. And again: “What if B happens?” → “Then C.” 3. Keep going (following the fear, not avoiding it) until you land on the core fear, the real root of the anxiety. It’s usually something sticky, existential, or deeply uncomfortable. 4. Once you’ve found it, stop. Now sit with it (the feeling). Notice how it shows up in your body. Where is the tension? The tightness? The urge to escape, fix, or seek reassurance? And just let it be there. Without trying to solve it. Just you, your body, and the fear; without resistance. This isn’t about fixing the fear. It’s about making room for it. It’s about learning that you can feel the fear and not let it control you.

Was chilling with my housemate and we was watching family guy the episode was of Peter griffin and the other guy forgot his name dressed up as police beating up a cleveland (black guy) and she was like look look and then laughing saying they’re gonna do a racist joke and I understood the context behind it but me as a black women idk I felt uncomfortable with her saying I do find racist jokes funny no race is safe they even mocked Portuguese people (We both speak Portuguese but she’s white) Like idk am I overthinking it for not wanting to be like hanging with her anymore why do ppl always have to ruin something we had such a good night.

So been trying to do erp with my therapist for a while now, and tis really hard and feels like it's not working. Il get this weird sensation or feeling that makes me feel"gay" or as if I'm attracted to someone, and I know my therapist keeps telling me" you don't have to put meaning into the thoughts or feelings" but that seems impossible to do because and I'm sorry to say, it makes me feel that specific way. And I'll use the Erp quotes, "maybe maybe not" or"the more I struggle, the worse it gets" or"these feelings and thoughts are here, but I'm choosing to let them be" and I'll do nothing and try to let it be here but it's so distracting and feels very real, and it's like this sensation, small or big and it last all day, and even just sitting with it isn't working. And my therapist will tell me"you don't have to believe in it" and I'm sorry I feel like if it were that easy, OCD would have never been a problem in the first place, or live with uncertainty, however it doesn't feel like uncertainty, but feels very truthful or valid. Idk what I'm doing wrong tho

is it possible to ONLY have rocd and only experience it for the first time in your 20's?? maybe i had ocd growing up and i just didn't know but i still don't really know where i would've had it, but it feels like this came out of no where and my life isn't my own anymore

I have a friend that’s asking me questions about God but I don’t feel like I know enough about the Bible as much as I should. So I don’t really feel worthy enough to preach it bc I should know more but I feel like my Bible time hasn’t been that great

Yesterday night I drank a bit too much and felt like I wasn’t in as much control as I’d like to have been. I took an uber with some friends home and we had a really chill driver, my friend was having a good conversation with him in the front seat and the driver seemed to be chipper and in a good mood the entire ride (which I feel like is good for me in this situation). Anyways, I woke up this morning anxious that I said something or did something bad in the uber because I remembered there was a front facing dash cam and being around video or audio recording spikes my fear of being cancelled (especially things that passively record like ring door bells or dash cams). I asked my friends if I said anything bad, the one in the front seat said not to their knowledge and the one on the back said no but I was speaking in an accent for a little bit to them quietly (which is what im worried about since it could be seen as offensive or insensitive). The front seat friend said they didn’t even hear anything and they both assure me its fine but im terrified of the dash cam having audio and the driver posting me all over social media saying something and cancelling me to people who know me/career.

even a word, or if I read a word that describes an intimate organ is a trigger for my thoughts (images), it even gives me groin..how many more of this😑!?!?

I was normally in the bathroom.when i glanced on the mirror,you know,when ur face looks good on the mirror and u start looking at yourself? Suddenly,like an inner opinion, it said “your face will look hotter as a boy”. Its not he first time i had this voice,everytime i look at myself it come and i will never understand why its here.i ignore it everytime to not make another new theme ocd because im so tired of my hocd,but this time I can’t ignore,its annoying.

Soooo I’m over here just trying to make it to my next NOCD appt before breaking things off with a guy I’m getting to know 😞 it’s hard for me to tell if I’m having genuine concerns about compatibility, or if I’m spiraling into OCD. How the heck do I date someone and not consider compatibility? But I find myself going into fight or flight mode, or feeling like I need to make a decision immediately after a date, or ruminating about it all throughout the day, trying to figure out if the concerns are valid enough, if I’m settling, if I’m about to give up on something that could be beautiful…. Whenever I write out all my concerns, they don’t really seem like that big of a deal, or seem like things we could talk through. The biggest concern for me is whether we are compatible in the sense that talking comes easy or we feel comfortable around each other. But we’ve only been on 3 dates so it’s hard to tell. Things are still awkward sometimes. I am also autistic and this complicated things with how I socialize. So I told myself “just get to your NOCD appt in a few days and don’t make a decision til then. You can talk about it with them then.” It’s only my second appt tho, so I’m not even sure what they discuss at appt#2 and if we’ll have time to talk about it. I guess I’m just getting this off my chest right now and I appreciate this community where I can be honest 😔💛 (Added TW because I’m not sure if it would be for others)

Hello! I don't know if someonecan help me clarify if this is part of OCD. I've suffered from the condition since I was a child and have experienced many subtypes. But right now, I have a thought that bothers me the most. It has to do with my sister. Is it normal for us to have obsessions with scrupulosity and to create dilemmas about actions someone we love would or wouldn't do as a symptom? I feel like this need for moral perfection is in my sister, and I think if she knows I thought badly of her, she'll never forgive me and my world will end.

I feel like OCD has taken up a massive chunk of my life. I don't really have anything else, most of my time has been spent with obsessions for years. I'm 21 so I know I'm young and everything but that is time I won't get back, and it's had aeasurable impact on my future, with stuffike grades, or just missing out on social stuff due to obsessions. I wasn't even aware of what was wrong with me for so long.

I'm 15, from Dhaka, Bangladesh. A religiously judgemental place. I have past history of Cptsd from emotional family abuse. I've been an agnostic. My ocd had taken different forms and shapes since I was 8. But this time, this has made me almost insane over obsessing and getting fears over "what if they are right, what if god is real" (core fears- fear of toxic judgment, extreme fear of being misunderstood and abondonment) thoughts and when I give into the spiral, sometimes I even question that "what if ocds are just cover up for *dark religious truths* and sh" :( I don't have a ocd friendly environment and people around can make me feel even worse. This thought makes me even more scared.

Like being afraid you’re not handling your thoughts right? Being afraid if your counselor knew you were ruminating they’d be disappointed.