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im really at the point where i will literally do ANYTHING to get rid of ocd. i need to do erp so badly. i contacted dr. steven phillipson and im hoping to do teletherapy with him. im really excited to finally get my life back. i won’t let ocd run me anymore

just sharing a success story. I did some scripting and other ERP and feel cured of my obsession and compulsive behavior. I sat through those exposures and resisted my compulsion (checking) and it worked! I am so relieved and have had thoughts but they just seem to pass by now. There is hope!

Ugh so I said I wouldn’t use this app ever again because I was getting unnecessary horrid responses from certain individuals but I need help I’m not sure if Im putting up with too much from my boyfriend or not. He knows I have anxiety/ocd and knows about my relationship and attachment insecurities. I’ve been with him for just over a year and planned to move in officially with him. I’ve basically been living at his house for 6 months so he asked me to move in. I’m worried about moving. He’s implied we aren’t right for each other regularly ever since I’ve known him which makes me spiral internally and shut down from fear of abandonment. I even got obsessed with “what if I have an undetected std and he thinks I cheated and leaves me” He says he’s only ever implied that once or twice, which is not true. and is still too much anyway regardless. One minute he wants me to move in, the next he wants space. He drinks too much too. I know he’s secret drinking but he doesn’t know that I know. He started talking to me badly about a past sexual experience I had before him the other night, and then I found an empty bottle of vodka. He seems to talk shit when he’s had vodka. I’ve also seen him hide empty cans and he’s avoided kissing me when I’ve caught him drinking straight spirit (I wanted to see his reaction) I wonder if he’s depressed. I read it can manifest in anger in men. He’s not sleeping properly, waking up anxious and having nightmares. He felt so low last week he said I didn’t deserve to be around him, and said “I’m sorry I’m not the same person you met. You need to think about what you want”. I asked him to think about seeing a doctor and he dismissed it immediately. He’s going through loads. Ever since I met him he’s had loads to worry about. His father died when I was casually seeing him, his ex was causing him trouble and now with this coronavirus his business is in trouble, and his mother has just been diagnosed with cancer too. He’s being irrationally angry, and irritable.He told me to “fuck off back home then” last week when his regularly problem neighbors were being noisy again and I asked him to not retaliate, and tonight he said I was “annoying him by talking and saying the same thing repeatedly “when he was trying to read something. He doesn’t seem to be affectionate unless I go for hugs or kisses first. When I bring it up he says I’m not being fair. He’s thoughtful in other ways, he buys gifts, or plans nice things etc and has taken me on holiday a few times already, but I feel like I have to *ask* for hugs. He’s more affectionate for a day or two after having sex though. Any time he’s quiet I think he’s planning on leaving me. My last relationship ended that way. And now when he gets in a mood he tells me to go back to my place. So I think it’s reasonable to always be on guard, and feel at fault for every low mood he has. When I said I was worried he would have me move in, then decide he doesn’t want me after all and then I’ve given up my place, his solution was “go back there then” instead of reassuring me it’s a good thing and he really wants me there TLDR: am I overthinking my boyfriends moods and actions, is he depressed? or am I justified in feeling confused and fucking nervous?

TERRIFIED of trying meds. But I also wonder if I’m missing out on a chance at a better life.

So I'm kind of confused about something. Am I supposed to let my brain go off on its horrifying tangents and loops or am I supposed to find something to do and go on about my day? I stopped a few days ago and sat and thought and thought and thought until I had a panic attack that led me into an episode where I lost touch with reality and I'm not exaggerating. This was the worst I've experienced yet and didnt know it could get that bad. I feel like it's dangerous to let that happen again. This episode drained me so much that I wasn't able to function at work the next day and got sent home early against my own wishes. It almost happened again today, but I changed what I was doing and I was able to prevent it from turning into an avalanche.

Very annoying and distressing when I’m enjoying dinner with my family and I get an intrusive thought that says my mom looked at me in a weird sexual way, which then snowballs into thoughts saying how I must be a huge pervert thinking that and I should be so shamed and commit suicide over it. Nice try suicidal OCD! You’re stupid!!

How were you diagnosed with OCD? In my country it's being very hard to find a specialist in OCD. I talked with a GP and a psychologist about my situation and they both assumed I am a bissexual in denial. I told about having OBSESSIVE THOUGHTS ALL THE TIME for over 3 years and the psychologist said that he was totally used to people being in the stage of changing their sexuality and being in doubts and obsessed over it. He also said he would not diagnose me with any pathology, but rather try to understand what I am feeling and thinking and find the links with past and current events, etc. Any tips?

I dont want reassurance. Please don't reassure me but I want to know if others experience this. Especially people with Harm ocd/pocd or any other darker OCD themes that worry you. How do you get on with daily life with all this going on in your head? How do you strive and achieve for your goals? I'm 22, I've been out of employment and education for a few years. I'm currently studying from home trying to get my qualifications so that I can study apply to study a law degree. I mainly have moral/responsibility and I had Pocd. Everytime I try to study, I have intrusive thoughts about how if someone knew about my OCD thoughts or read them it may ruin my future career and life, I feel like a bad person for even having distressing intrusive thoughts . Even though obviously they're just thoughts, horrible ones but just thoughts. But OCD convinces me that I will never achieve anything because even if I try, intrusive thoughts will come true and ruin my future anyway so I should not even try. Anyone else?

Unrelated to OCD, I just want to go off for a couple of sentences: I have no friends or any memories to look back on. Never been on a date or had someone who cared about me. I’m tired of being alone, it’s one of the reasons that I have so many mental health issues. I have always had no friends. Never been out or anything. I’m tired of this loneliness and I’m almost 20, I can’t make anymore friends because it’s not the same when you’re an adult. That’s all.

It is common that OCD causes people to have thoughts that lead to extreme guilt and anxiety and, no matter how hard the person tries, those thoughts and feelings won’t go away. This guilt may have been initially caused by a traumatic experience, but your OCD will latch on and make the feeling worse. This is known as “Responsibility OCD.” The gold-standard treatment for all subtypes of OCD, including Responsibility OCD, is exposure and response (ERP) therapy. During ERP therapy, the person struggling with OCD is exposed to the stimuli that causes them to feel anxious and guilty, and they are prevented from engaging in their compulsions and rituals. For example, part of ERP can be to purposely think the exact thoughts you would prefer not to have, and then actively resisting any urges to “push out” or “get rid of” those thoughts. Over time, with repeated exposures, your brain learns that experiencing those thoughts doesn’t have to mean anything about you as a person, and there is less of an emotional reaction to them. ERP therapy should be done together with an OCD therapist. With trauma-related OCD or OCD that is co-occurring with PTSD, you may also need a different type of therapy. It’s best to speak with a NOCD therapist or another mental health professional to determine the best treatment plan. There is hope and happiness at the end of this journey.

does anyone else have cheating ocd? this is literally the worst theme i’ve had ever. it feels so true and real even though the evidence to disprove it heavily outweighs the evidence to prove it actually happened. does it feel extremely true for anyone else?

can anybody support a bit? I'm honestly a really sad though I have half recovered from hocd, it is good but bad at the same time. Its good cause now I can think of guys again romantically without it feeling forced and now I don't get anxious looking ALL females. But the bad thing is I am still worried about not having my sexual arousal back for guys and that I still have fear that I'm in denial about liking sex with a female. Though I have accepted the thoughts they feel so real I want to cry my eyes out because I don't want that to be my future reality.

Does anyone else ever feel strong urges that they are sick of their partner or bored in their relationship? I have an amazing boyfriend but these urges have been really sting for the past two days and I was wondering what anyone has done to overcome things like this?

can someone help me and tell me how to fully devote myself to ignoring my intrusive thoughts like they mean something i’m always say to myself ‘tomorrow i will fully 100% devote myself to ERP and ignoring the thoughts’ but the time in my day is always eaten away by me doing mental compulsions and it’s frustrating because i want to get over H-OCD as quickly as possible :(

i need some help, when i do exposures i always have subconscious thoughts like “you see you’re not attracted to any of these girls, you’re obviously straight” and i cant stop doing it, how do i stop that thought from popping up all the time cus it almost acts as a subconscious compulsion…

What has been your experience with Lexapro or Zoloft? My therapist mentioned how potentially taking one of these could be helpful but I’m hesitant on medications.

Hey just seeking some advice about therapy and diagnosis. As a child I had intense obsessional fears about themes like alien invasions, nuclear threat, getting sick etc. It would last between one and six months and then move to another theme. I had no visible compulsions but I used to seek reassurance a lot, ruminate a lot, and imagine worst case scenarios. Now those fears are gone but I've been dealing with obsessions about my sexual orientation and my relationships for eight years. I check a lot of things mentally, still ruminate a lot and constantly try to figure things out. I'm starting to get tired of it. The thing is that I have little hope of being diagnosed and treated. In my country (France), there are still a lot of psychoanalysts (they don't offer CBT, among other issues), and it seems to me that resources about OCD are restrained to more "standard" forms (for instance, mental compulsions and themes like HOCD wouldn't be taken seriously, I think). I believe I'd like to get a diagnosis because it would make me feel less confused (and I don't like the idea of self-diagnosing), and it could allow me to set real and concrete goals to get better. Does anyone have suggestions regarding alternative ways for me to seek concrete help? People/therapists I could talk you, even at a distance? Or is there any French person here with a similar experience or some advice to give?

Those who keep having fears and thoughts that you might be schizophrenic, how do you deal with that? Because my OCD tends to come at me in the form of direct statements or commands, it picks at that specific fear as well. I try to avoid looking up any symptoms of schizophrenia but I keep doing compulsive mental checks of whether I’m hearing things or seeing things or not when I know I’m not, but I keep checking because I’m afraid of what if.

Question, this is how erp feels like? Because before I was taking a bath and I was cleaning my private parts and a thought come along and I say like let it. And I don't feel anxiety but I feel something down there and I didnt enjoy it and o don't know if it was for the thought or because I was you know, so I stop like no I can't and after it was like wait you feel good? And right know I feel something in my chest.

TW// SUICIDE im gonna be really honest. i am not doing good. this is the worst ocd theme i have ever had. it feels SO real to me. i look at my self in the mirror and mourn the happy girl i used to be before december of 2019 when my ocd first hit. the fact that i will never be the same scares me and haunts me more than anyone can understand. everyday gets harder and harder no matter how much progress i make. i cant afford therapy right now but i need it so badly. i am genuinely in so much pain. i feel so guilty, and ashamed, and sad all the time. i cant focus on school work or anything anymore. i have had thoughts about suicide because i just want some relief. it hurts so much. i love my boyfriend beyond belief. it makes me so angry that ocd would attach to and manipulate something so pure and beautiful to me.