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Need guidance but only from those who are at least somewhat knowledgeable about the issue. Noise issues are brought up in the field of OCD but not often. I would ask for understanding from dog owners and dog lovers. I'm not writing this message to attack dogs; I'm just asking for help to a very serious problem that's causing sleep deprivation. I live in connected housing and am exposed to noises that drive me crazy. Examples would include dog barking, honking, home theater systems, stereos, and motorcycle startups. While noises are a problem at any time the worst aspect is when I'm trying to get to sleep. If I am disturbed by noises I suffer from anticipatory anxiety where I fear hearing that noise again at any time when I am in bed. The anxiety is so bad I can't get to sleep. My current crisis is dog barking from my neighbor. I am confident that there is no noise ordinance violation because the police will only fine a violator if their dogs are barking for an extended period of time. For me, even one bark is threatening to my sleep. I send lots of friendly letters to my neighbor asking for help. I do think she's trying but there are times the dogs bark when I'm trying to get rest. I'm currently doing research into anti bark collars but it's unclear what to get and the neighbor is not open to communicating with me and probably would not be interested in putting that on her dogs. I assume there are some control issues when it comes to my struggles with noises. I get angry and I have strong opinions that some intrusive noises that I struggle with should be illegal (examples: dogs should not be allowed or there should be more properties that don't allow dogs, cars should not have been made to honk when you lock them). I can't seem to handle not being in control and I'm not in any position to be able to move. I so wish I could have a single-family home with some privacy from noise. My treatment providers have advocated exposure. They would like me to download a dog barking ringtone and to listen to dog barking occasionally throughout the day (using YouTube videos too). And to eventuality use the dog bark ringtone to wake me up at some point during the night to get used to dog barking. Does this sound like the way to go? I always worry about my ability to drift off to sleep if a dog barks and fears of being awoken by a dog bark. My treatment providers would rather have me just focus on the exposure in hopes that I will get used to it and won't get so rattled by the whole issue...and I guess I would get relief from anticipatory anxiety even if there are times when my sleep would get disrupted. I hate the idea of doing exposures on this and I just want a strong feeling that this is the thing to do to get rid of the anticipatory anxiety which is causing a lot of sleep loss.

Anyone have suggestions if I cannot find a therapist trained in ERP?? I have a therapist currently, she is not trained in ERP. We do CBT

Does anyone else get their obsessions every minute of the day? And when you forget for a minute and think of something else the obsession pulls you right back, i don’t ever feel like I do a compulsion but I must because they continue to come back every minute

Just sat and brought on my worst pocd thoughts, just let the thoughts get worse and worse for an hour and my anxiety definetely went up to a 10. Heart was racing and I’m still shaking. Did anyone who exposed themselves to their fear feel like that after their first ‘session’? Hoping to habituate these thoughts until the don’t bother me anymore I know that’s the key to this

I feel like instead of accepting uncertainty, I’ve given up and believe that I am what I fear. I’m so terrified. I don’t know what to do

How come I didn’t do erp but my hocd isn’t affecting me anymore?

How do you counter “the evidence” your brain gives you for why your fears are/might come true?

Those struggling with HOCD, I’m here to tell you that it does get better. 5 months later (I know some of you have been struggling with this longer) and I have been relieved of my obsession. I simply stopped the compulsions and started facing my triggers head on and slowly but surely the obsession began to dissipate. Yes, I fret as to what OCD will disguise itself as next, but I know now that “this too shall pass”. God bless.

Look At the Size Of Your Heart, Not the Size Of the Beast First off I want to start off by thanking each and every single one of you that read my last post “You Are Not the Problem” the response and effect it has had on a lot of you is just so inspiring and encouraging and I am so thankful and blessed to be in a position to help. And now as promised I am going to discuss ERP and I pray this post can inspire some of you to no longer be afraid, and take the steps necessary to recover! I know for a lot of you life is already hard. Even the thought of willingly throwing yourself into an exposure isn’t realistic and in all honesty is probably frightening. But DONT be afraid! You already have been thru so much, you have already proven to have the HEART of a WARRIOR, everyday your battling with these thoughts, so what is one more battle to you? I want to talk about David V Goliath to help put this in perspective for some of you. David’s only job was to tend his fathers sheep, he was a young boy and wasn’t seen as a warrior. His brothers and fellow countrymen were in battle when Goliath came out and disgraced their country and intimidated them. Nobody wanted to challenge Goliath but David who was only a shepherd and young boy had the courage to step up and fight Goliath the reason why is because, WHILE EVERYBODY WAS MEASURING THE SIZE OF THE BEAST, DAVID WAS MEASURING THE SIZE OF HIS HEART ❤️. Yea Goliath was big but David’s faith and his heart were much bigger than the beast, and that’s how YOU ARE. I know this exposure is a beast, it’s intimidating but YOUR HEART AND YOUR STRENGTH IS MUCH BIGGER THAN ANY BEAST, ANY OBSESSION, ANY COMPULSION. You see David had every right to be scared, he was only a child, but when he went to Saul and said put me out there he said “I already had to slay bears and wolves from hurting my fathers sheep, I can handle this”. The same is true for you, you already have had to slay bears and wolves, so what’s one more beast to you, yea this one is a little bit bigger but you’ve already slain everything else in your path! You put your heart, mind, body and soul thru so much so what’s one more battle?! THE SIZE OF YOUR HEART IS MUCH BIGGER THAN THE SIZE OF THE BEAST. GOD IS ON YOUR SIDE. He will not let any disease hurt you, you are his chosen one, he loves you! You don’t have to ask God for strength because he already gave it to you! David was a poor shepherd but after he slayed Goliath he became a rich King, and not only did his life changed but his people, friends and family lives changed as well they didn’t live in fear anymore. Once you beat your Goliath your family and friends won’t be afraid anymore, you will embrace like you never have before! So take the step, start off small. Expose yourself to your obsessions, you don’t need to be afraid! Start with a one minute exposure and work your way up. If it’s a mental obsession write a story, say your fear out loud and see how you feel, they are only thoughts and cannot hurt you! Always remember these thoughts are your beast and yes they are big and scary but your heart and strength is twice and big!! Good luck I’m praying for you all ?? and I hope this message helps whoever is in need of it! If you have any questions or comments please share them. I try my very best to respond to all of them. God bless you all ❤️

Let me start this by saying I have been living and identify as transgender since 2016. Up until the last 2 days or so I've been extremely happy and supported by my friends and family on my choice to transition. More recently I have started having doubts regarding my transition. Not thoughts that I'm actually analyzing. Rather, the thoughts are intrusive and causing doubt about my journey and my decision to transition. What's strange is that I had never had these intrusive thoughts up until these last few days and have been living and loving my life as a trans woman. I could barley find any articles on this matter. Is this a form of TOCD? I understand gender OCD. But most of them seem more or less anxious of the idea of them being trans. Mine comes from being trans and feeling doubtful all of a sudden after years of living as female.

Hello new friends! My name is Graham and I just got diagnosed with OCD in December. I’m 21 years old and a music student at a prestigious conservatory in New York City. This is my OCD story. I have had OCD like symptoms since a very young age, for example, at age 3 I thought I would die if I left the house without a bottle of water, and refused to do so for almost 7 years, and I had countless sensory issues with food and clothing. However, around age 12, the thoughts began to become increasingly horrible. Violent intrusive images, urges to yell obscenities at people, overall intense fear of hurting other people emotionally or physically occupied my brain for hours a day. Additionally, I began to have intense contamination fears - obsessive hand washing, (although not nearly as bad as many people’s) having to carry hand sanitizer everywhere I went, and even worse, as I began to grow body hair, that was as “unclean” as it could get to me. I *had* to rid my body of it. These thoughts then began to plague my performances as well - I would obsessively worry about a certain thing, and it would ruin the whole experience for me, no matter how well I pulled through. As I also was trying to come to terms with my sexuality, (I’m gay) my brain produced tons of sexual intrusive images of both men and women, leaving me lost and confused as to what I actually was. I did not dare search what my thoughts meant. I thought for sure doing so would lead me to be put on a FBI watch list, inform me I was clinically insane, or something along those lines. One day in late October, I was on my commute home from school. This commute is an hour each way on crowded public transportation - between contamination and harm OCD, you can imagine how this experience goes for me every day. For 30 minutes, my brain thought of everything horrible I could do to the person next to me. Strangle them, stab them, rape them, call them racial slurs, rip their hair out. It was so overwhelming that by the time they walked off the train I thought I was going to faint from the panic I felt. I decided enough was enough and googled what I was feeling, which lead me to discover this subset of pure O OCD, which I knew nothing about. A friend of mine was diagnosed when we were 15, and I assumed it just meant obsessive without compulsive, and didn’t look into it whatsoever. I began to see a counselor at my school, and he sent me to the psychiatrist through the school who diagnosed me with OCD. Almost immediately after my diagnosis, my grandfather fell ill. I couldn’t bear to tell my parents while we were dealing with that. He ended up passing away a little less than a month later. This has been so beyond hard on my entire family. It’s been a little over a month now, and as more things have gone wrong for my mom - her company being hacked, getting in a car wreck (she’s totally fine other than whiplash) - I haven’t been able to bring myself to discuss with them. I feel as though I will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. But I know I need to tell them. Hopefully it will happen as soon as possible...but it’s plaguing my mind a lot. If anyone can offer words of advice on what to do, I would appreciate it greatly. Thanks for reading. That’s my story. I hope to meet more wonderful humans who understand what I go through - have a wonderful day all! :)

Just asking for fun: What are your plans for this year? Like what do you really want to do or accomplish? :)

Just when I thought I was doing better, it all just crashed. Last week I was put on meds and things started to look up; I was starting to feel better about everything. Then these past 2 days just hit me like a brick, and I feel worse than I ever did before. I’m starting to feel like I’m going to have this guilt/shame/fear for the rest of my life. Sorry for the rant, I just needed to get it out somewhere.

Break up urges HELP PLEASE Sometimes I look at pictures of my boyfriend and I feel this pit in my stomach and anxiety and I think to myself “just break it off” and I feel relieved and then I freak out cause I must be lying to myself about loving him even though yesterday I as crying and heartbroken about him going abroad next year......if anyone else has experienced this please help!!!!

I need to talk about my mom again please? :(

This coronavirus is scaring me y’all. Not gonna fake. ?

Does anyone struggle with perfectionist OCD such as having a tough time beginning essays/ tasks in general?

Does anyone else have hyper awareness of sounds (background noise, hum/whistle of vents, outside traffic in distance, etc) and if so, how do you get past it and let it be? Looking for advice on what’s worked for you.

Hi! Does anyone ever feel like their OCD manifests when they talk to others? in a way that goes, “scary internal thought” right in the middle of their words and then you don’t know if you spoke the scary thought out loud or not? I’ve been having a CHALLENGING time with this the past year. I’m doing a LOT better with a lot of work. just wanted to see if I can help anyone or if I can see how anybody else handles it. thanks y’all ?. So much love to everybody.

You know what I dislike I dislike that so many people still refuse to speak about pedophilic ocd because of the taboo behind it. It’s like do you think I like waking up to terrible intrusive thoughts of children do you think I like doubting myself on whether or not an intrusive is real or not! No I don’t enjoy it yet nobody talks about it everyone gets so scared to talk about it and it leaves all of us to suffer in silence.