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I'm so freaked out rn. I had a stressful and exhausting day and the only thing I wanted to do is to relax in my bed. I sleep in the same room with my brother and this room is the only place in the world where I feel at least a bit of SAFETY. My brother keeps talking out from the locker things that trigger my ocd. (over the years he has been noticing that I avoid "random" objects and now he wants to make fun of me I think). I have been already anxious these days bcs of the epidemic and now I'm scared af. I also feel that my head is gonna explode and oh, yeah I haven't slept well for days and I'm pretty sure this is also going to be a long night fighting my own thoughts... What should I do? : (

"Is it possible for OCD to ______________?" Is a really common question here. Usually it's a question the person writing the post can answer for themselves. Imagine the person in the photo noticed that they were wearing a silver spiked hologram romper and thought "wow, this is strange, I've never worn this before". If they turned around and asked you "is it possible for me to wear a silver spiked hologram romper?" , You'd probably be confused. Because the answer is "yes, obviously it is because you are wearing it. You don't need me to tell you what you already know". It's the exact same thing with the "can OCD _______?" questions. OCD creates so much doubt that we don't trust our own experiences. But asking someone else to confirm our experiences teaches our brains to trust ourselves even less. If we want to teach our brains to trust ourselves more, we need to tolerate, even welcome, the doubt while still answering our own question.

I’m having a lot of trouble with something and idk what to do or who to trust or where to go to. I just don’t know what to do I feel I can’t talk about it with anyone but it’s bothering me so bad and I need to talk to someone about it.

Okay so update for everyone, I u understand why I am having these thoughts and I'm convinced I'm hot a P*** but I still have the damn thoughts they keep coming in and whenever I'm near children I stress out, how is one supposed to ignore thoughts that are so dark and sickening and carry on with there daily lives, I've tried my best to cancell them out when I can but whenever iam horny or see or hear anything to do with children i will be triggered and there is nothing i can do, please give your advice it would be much appreciated, I used to love kids and playing with them seeing them smile, and now I cant go near them, how are you supposed to stay with them when your getting constant horrifying thoughts about them.

Has anyone else experienced sudden adult onset OCD without showing any signs of having the disorder in childhood? Also, where there was external stressor or trigger that caused it?

What’s up everyone, I just downloaded the app and have enjoyed reading different topics on here so far. I have suffered from HOCD for seven years now. It started my second year of college out of the blue. I was scrolling through Instagram and saw a picture of my friends and thought they looked good. I immediately asked myself why am I thinking that? What does this mean? Why have I never thought before? Am I gay? The doubt regarding my sexual orientation was in full force. This sent me into a deep depression for several months. I skipped class, didn’t attend fraternity events, and missed football games. Pretty much every activity I enjoyed didn’t matter to me anymore. One day I googled “can you just turn gay all of a sudden” and “how do you know if you are gay” With those searches I found articles about HOCD. I checked every box regarding symptoms and mental compulsions. I compared my reactions tIt was a relief to finally figure out what I was going through. Before that search I was hopeless and didn’t want to live anymore. I found a therapist in my area who specializes in ocd so I thought I’d give him a try. I didn’t care for him but he referred me to a psychiatrist who prescribed me 20mg lexapro, which helped me get out of bed in the mornings and diminished the intensity of my intrusive thoughts. The therapist I went to was the only one in my area at the time who specialized in ocd treatment, but I never went back. I got the vibe that he didn’t care about what I was dealing with. I’m 26 now and still experience the intrusive thoughts. My twin brother suffers from BDD and just came out to my family that he is gay. This sent my doubt into overdrive. Endless google searching about genetics and homosexuality and if your twin is gay does that mean you are? It sent me back to depression like my college days. Most of the time when I see a guy my mind automatically thinks he is attractive. They could be 18 or 65. It could be my best friend or it could be my dad. I have times where I experience the “groinal”. That is when I feel like Something is going on “down there”. It could be that I saw someone on tv or just shaking a guys hand. I’ll drive past a truck and think there must be good looking guy in there. Or I’ll hear a song on the radio about falling in love and my mind replaces the girl in the song with a guy. Occasionally when I’m next to a guy my ocd is telling me to kiss him. I feel like I have gotten pretty good at avoiding compulsions but feel like I need help from an expert with erp. I have read a few ocd books and have tried to practice their tips on my own, but it has never worked. Sorry for the long post. I just wanted to share my story so people know they aren’t alone.

TW: Highly disturbed/possible abuse. . . . . . . . . . I was looking at someones followers on instagram, I assumed they had fake followers. I clicked on one of the accounts following them and on there someone posted a picture/video (I couldn't really tell because it wasn't clear and I didnt want to enlarge it) of a baby being dropped and I could see some blood. It really disturbed me. I reported the account and instagram blocked it, so I assume it will be looked into now. This is really horrible for my OCD, I always makesure I'm browsing safely and dont come into contact with anything horrible/violent (it's one of my biggest fears). Its the worst thing in the world to see something happen to a vulnerable person. I cant stop ruminating over the whole thing now :(

ive recently started seeing an individual who is a poc and its gotten me really acutely aware of my whiteness. While this is a good thing and encourages unlearning and awareness for me, it also has wreaked havoc on my harm and taboo thinking OCD. I find myself tackling a lot of racist taboo intrusive thinking and it really alarms me. I’m disturbed by these thoughts and disagree with them entirely. but although I know part of it is OCD, i also know that racism is innate in essentially all white folks, and I dont want to use my mental health as an excuse. I’ve mostly been tackling these thoughts on my own because I dont think it should be the persons responsibility, but now I worry that if I dont tell them, I am withholding information and tricking them and that I am bad for it. ive been preoccupied with it and whenever i think about it it makes me feel physically ill. I want to be honest and transparent with them, but I also want them to feel safe, and I can see these thoughts making them feel unsafe. If anyone has any advice it would be appreciated. (Preferably input from people of color willing to discuss this who feel safe/comfy engaging with me on it)

Has anyone done exposure therapy for sexual intrusive thoughts ? And if so, how did you do it ? Was it a success ? Did the thoughts go down

I believe I have undiagnosed OCD but was wondering if anyone else goes through this struggle. I constantly think of ways my loved ones might die. Whether that be from an event happening or a situation I am in with them and I am afraid to leave them in fear that they will die and I will be left alone. For example, I could be indoors with my family and they all go outside without me. I immediately imagine a tornado coming up, knocking over a tree and killing my family with me left to survive. Or I think of certain scenarios where a disease (especially with Covid-19 going around) could infect a loved one and my mind creates vivid images of how they could die of the disease. Does anyone else experience this? How do you cope?

Help please someone help, I’m so scared. I’m having fears of being lithosexuak and I really don’t want it to be true. I’m scared that I feel sexually attracted to guys but lose that attraction when reciprocated or don’t want reciprocating. I’m freaking out. Please help please please please

Does anyone elses OCD involve religion? I'm a Christian, but I feel my OCD is causing me to stay away from my church and religious practice

Does anyone elses OCD focus on ethical issues? And morals?

It struck me today that while I've been getting to know all of you, you haven't had the chance to get to know me as much. It's important to me that relationships go both directions. So here's your opportunity. Any questions about me, my OCD, my recovery, etc. are all welcome.

My brain really said “intrusive thoughts” tonight ??

Can someone please talk with me I'm spiraling

I’m starting to feel this whole ocd thing is made up, it just never seems to go away

Does anyone feel extreme OCD guilt for going out during this virus? I can’t get the guilt out of my head. I have been practicing social distancing and only going out when I need to now for the last week. I just keep thinking when I went to a store that wasn’t necessary what if I passed this virus to someone?

I just had an intrusive thought and it felt real, but I wasn't having anxiety at all. Does that mean that it is actually real? I heard that ocd feels real due to anxiety, but I had no anxiety this time and it still felt real. Is it real then? I'm freaking out

I feel like when I have a break from my obsessions, which is great but too short lately, when something triggers me, I don't freak out, I breath and try to accept (and not ruminate or check out test or reassure), but then it's like I have OCD goggles on after that. Everything seems to remind me of my obsessions, I've seen it called selective abstraction. I'm thinking this is where I need to refocus and allow for the uncertainty. Just wondering if anyone else can relate.