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I have no will or desire to do things that need to get done. This resulting in my room constantly being a mess.

My religion ocd is so terrifying. I’m Catholic, and I get thoughts that I’m going to hell constantly It’s so exhausting and it scares me so much when my brain tells me I’m going straight to hell and that I’m a horrible person, and it makes me believe it

So I have OCD about OCD itself. Like I will be talking about harm OCD or POCD that I struggle/struggled with as a kid and it come up sometimes now but it was rlly bad as a kid (I’m 16 now) and then I’ll worry “what if you don’t have harm ocd or pocd, and when you have pocd you can’t get the images and thoughts out of your head but because it doesn’t make you feel as physically sick as sexuality OCD what if I’m making my POCD and harm OCD up for attention?! Can anyone relate...

Has anyone else on here been prescribed Fluvoxamine for OCD? Have you had a good experience with it? A bad experience? Any feedback will help me. Thanks!! Thanks!!

if anyone on here is dealing with dermatillomania and has any advice please send it my way! my fingers are constantly raw and it obviously hurts a lot but it’s so embarrassing when people ask me what happened or tell me to just stop. i feel so dumb having to explain that i did it and that i can’t just stop, it’s not just a “bad habit”

This is more of a personal problem I’m having, but you guys are all so helpful, so I hope you don’t mind if I take everyone’s attention away from OCD for a sec. As I’ve said before I’m really sick at the moment. All I’m really doing is laying around, doing ERP, sleeping and playing video games. (Plague.inc is the bomb by the way. 10/10 would recommend) Anyway, this guy I just graduated high school with has started texting me. We were in the same circle but I avoided him because he’s often rude/makes inappropriate jokes/ has no verbal filter). Now that we’ve graduated he’s texting me all the time, and at first I was polite because, well. Because you should always be polite. But he keeps messaging me 5 times a day asking to hang out. I’ve tried to put him off because I’m a cautious person and hanging out with a guy I barely know alone doesn’t sound like the best idea. But also, as I said, I’m SUPER SICK! My cold went to my chest and I can barely breathe, I’m coughing all the time, I’m not in a position to go and hang out with someone. But every day without fail he messages me asking if I feel better. He says things that are kind of weird like “I really do hope you feel better soon you know. I really do.” And “Its really good that you trust me. Trust is important.” Gonna be honest, its making me sorta anxious! Plus we’re both going to a big end of year 12 party at the end of this month, so I know he’ll talk to me and be annoyed if we haven’t hung out by then. What the hell do I do? Sorry to bother everyone I know this isn’t OCD related...but it sure as hell isn’t helping! (Although it is nice to worry about a normal problem for once!)

To my Christian friends, Im having a really hard time forgetting what happened last night because it's making me feel really embarassed and weak. As some of you may know I been feeling very differently about my church and yesterday just topped it all off. I really don't feel like being part of that congregation no more. I feel like there is no Holy Spirit there and maybe God's really been telling me that in my dreams. I always dream my church in the dark with no light. Yesterday, I had a argument with the pianist in the worship team at my church during rehearsal because the lead singer (pastor's wife) was having throat problems so she encouraged me to sing by myself. As always I was extremely nervous but even then I was doing my thing getting compliments by her until the pianist kept making subliminal jokes about my voice literally mocking it and laughing as well as stopping the music on me multiple times to say something negative saying I was singing the words too fast, that I wasn't breathing correctly with my diaphragm, or that I was changing tones. I got so irked that he kept criticizing without actually helping not understanding the anxiety I was feeling and being unappreciative of my effort so I snapped. I told HIM to sing the song then if I was singing it so bad. Have in mind that I'm a very quiet and respectful person with ppl i don't know very well especially church so I saw the annoyance and shock in his face that I was finally speaking up but that also increased his insults. He told me he can't tell me I sing nice otherwise he'd be lying to me. He told me I'm not ready to become a worship leader because its impossible to learn about vocalization in a day or 2. He told me I need to humble myself down and stop being arrogant just because I said I believed I was doing a good job singing even though I was under so much pressure. He also told me I'm immature for taking criticism so sensitively. My anxiety took it's toll on me and I cried in front him and the pastor's wife saying it's not fair that theyre quick to criticize me or my bf (he's the drummer) whenever we make mistakes but whenever they make them nobody gets criticized just because they're the originals that have been there for a long time. I told him that the fact that I have been part of the choir for months now and what I mean by this is months of going to rehearsal even before I made into the group! Not the even the very same official group members showed up at times how they should've! In 2 ocassions I even had my feet injured and I STILL went to rehearsal as well as service the next day on stage. That's my proof that I had the strong desire to serve to God through music. But they couldn't tell me since day 1 that i "can't sing?". That's unprofessional of them to have someone who can't sing on their worship team. That proves that they like to point fingers and don't mind ppl ridiculing themselves as long as its not any of them. I'm arrogant just because I gave myself a pat on the back for my effort? It's impossible for me to enhance MY voice faster than he thinks? NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE for God. I'm grateful towards God for allowing to be in the choir and eventually become the leader in HIS timing I never said I wanted to become one right now so the dudes point was invalid. The pastor's wife was defending me telling him I was right but at the end of the day they're gonna do more for each other than they'll ever do for me. Where's the unity? Where's the support in helping you correct your mistakes. There's a very big difference between constructive criticism and destructive criticism. Put the favoritism y'all have for each other ASIDE and treat everyone the same. As of now, I have regrets because I didn't go to church today. Right when I felt stronger to go and forget all about that this morning I had a fight with my bf that drained me down all over again and we both ended up absent to service. No one from church has even called me or texted me to check on me. I think this is a clear indicator that maybe it's time to change churches and start from scratch. Please pray for me. I'm confused. I'm hurt. I'm even more insecure now. And i feel weak...

Is it normal for even straight people to question their sexuality at times? Before HOCD I was like I’m probably bi or whatever based on NOO CONCRETE EVIDENCE bc in real life I was only attracted to men and am in a stable relationship with a boy...but I got these random thoughts and they didn’t bother me as much that’s until HOCD hit :( and now I’m like NO IM STRAIGHT STOP ?

Am on antidepressants and the dose was still to high. Now the doctor dropped another dose. The higher the dose the worse my thoughts became. 1 year of lowering. 37.5 was not high enough 75 was only 1 month and increased to 112.5 for a 6 months and then 150 for 2 months. 150 made me suicidal. 112.5 made me angry and paranoid and the thought were that I always wanted to hurt someone. So now I’m on 75 for 10 days and my thoughts run wild that I feel crazy:(

Things that seem to make my OCD worse: Have a look at this list and see if these affect you. If they do, you can start to make positive changes! ~ Sitting around ruminating. I have the worst cold at the moment and all I’m doing is sitting around pondering my existence. Not helpful! ~ Spending a lot of time on technology. Makes me feel foggy. ~ Not drinking enough water. ~ Skipping ERP. If I don’t keep up my ERP every day or am lazy with it, I start to relapse. ~ Being insular. Sitting around, inside my own head, not focusing on the world around me makes things a million times worse. ~ Being inside all the time. I have vitamin D deficiency anyway, so this is definitely not helping. ~ Going a few days without vitamin B-12. Makes my brain sticky, I get fixated on things easier. ~ Researching OCD/Anxiety/DP/mental health. This is the big one. No matter how positive your research seems, at some point you’re going to find something that sets you off. It only takes one misinformed person on a sketchy forum telling you there’s no hope, and then all of a sudden you’re in a spiral of anxiety. ~ Talking about my OCD all the damn time. No matter how much everyone in your life loves you, they will grow tired if you only talk about your mental health. ? But more importantly, what are you doing when you talk about it? Generating fear, and making it a central focus of your life. We need to be lowering the importance of our OCD and becoming less afraid of our obsessions, not fixating on it and making it a focal point of our lives. ~ Not doing anything productive. Again, focus on things other than you and your obsessions. When you’re not actively doing ERP/CBT, you should be doing other things and taking your anxiety with you. Acceptance means learning to live with the uncertainty of these obsessions, and LEAVING THEM ALONE. This is where I messed up for so long. I read up tirelessly on acceptance, trying to understand what it meant. To me, it means learning to leave these big questions unanswered, and moving on to other things, and that didn’t come from research. That came from me. ~ Fixating on recovery. Yes, be determined to recover. Absolutely. But don’t be going “no no. I can’t do this until I recover. I can’t go here till I feel better.” Recovery comes when you start focusing on the rest of your life and stop attaching importance to your thoughts, as well as through habituation/medication/CBT. Ultimately, recovery comes when you accept the uncertainty and move on. It doesn’t come from staying still.

When you’re diagnosed with more than OCD and everything affects your road to recovery.

Here are some things that help me when my OCD is at its worst. OCD and medication are only part of the story - there’s lots you can do to help feel better! ~ Cutting down on sugar. I am a TOTAL sugar maniac. I eat so much chocolate it’s ridiculous! But sugar can also be a natural stimulant (increases anxiety) so you might find that after a few days after cutting down (don’t go crazy, just limit junk food, soft drink etc.) you feel a little more clear headed. ~ Stay hydrated. Yeah, I know, we’re ALL sick of hearing it. But when we’re anxious we can be too busy panicking to really take care of ourselves. Not drinking water is likely to make you feel a lot worse, last thing you need when you’re overthinking and stressing. ~ Meditation ??‍♀️ A lot of mindfulness meditations focus on observing your thoughts and not reacting to them, which can build a strong foundation for your ERP (and is a little less stressful) ~ Do something productive. When you’re obsessing, this is literally the last thing you want to do. But you can’t spend all your time dwelling on your thoughts. Pick something small you’ve been meaning to do (make the bed, put clothes away) or something you love doing (writing, art, gardening) sometimes if I’m in a bad place I realise I’ve just been sitting around not doing anything productive for days. ~ Rest. Yes, I know. Anxiety makes it impossible to sleep. But don’t lay there stressing about how much sleep you’re getting. At least by lying down, you’re getting SOME rest. And your brain will get some sleep, whether you notice it or not. Worst case scenario is that you’re wiped the next day (which is probably nothing new ?) I like to put in my headphones and listen to things that make me laugh on youtube, so that I’m at least giving my brain a break from the stress I put it under. ~ Don’t beat yourself up about being tired/stressed/anxious. We really put our minds through a lot. Why wouldn’t we be tired? We worry 24/7. Cut yourself some slack. ~ Shower. No matter how crappy I feel, I always feel at least 50% better after a hot shower. Walking around feeling grimy all day sucks, and won’t help you. ~ Get a good self care routine going. Get a nice face wash, face cream, and scrub. Pamper yourself, you need to be looked after. ~ Spend time outside. Im inside like all the time staring at a screen. (And yet, Im shocked whenever I disassociate ?) Go outside, get some sun and some fresh air. Start a garden, or maybe meditate, or just enjoy nature. No technology allowed. ~ Exercise. I know, I know. Exercise won’t stop you obsessing and all that. But when we barely exercise, we end up feeling tired. The less we do, the less we want to do. If you can exercise, it gives you a focus beyond the mess inside your head, and it makes you feel stronger and less fatigued. ~ Vitamin B-12 and fish oil. I find that taking a vitamin B-12 every day helps my brain feel less “sticky.” I still have to work with my big obsessions, but I don’t often pick up new ones or get “stuck” on certain issues for a while. In fact, when I started feeling crappy again, I realised I hadn’t been taking my B-12 because my cold made it too difficult to swallow. I’ve also heard that fish oil can do good things for brain health, but let me know. Recovery is a learning curve. What works will be different for everyone, but all we can do is try. These aren’t substitutes for good therapy or medication, but when used in conjunction with them, they can improve your quality of life and help you get a handle on things ❤️

I need advice. Warning: this will be long. This isn't totally OCD related and I hope that's ok, but I got in a pretty heavy discussion / argument with my boyfriend of 4 years last night. For some backstory, when we met, we just knew we were meant to be together. Probably talked marriage 3 months in, moved in together 10 months in, talked about getting married in a year from then, and then I developed some health issues. I was eventually diagnosed with a chronic illness after many months of pain, tests, fear. This is right around when my anxiety got bad. I think I had health OCD at the time but didn't know it. All I could think about was the fact that I was going to die and never live out this beautiful life I had imagined with my partner. I did eventually get my health under control, but ever since my OCD has really taken hold. I developed ROCD, HOCD, and came to realization that I've had OCD since I was a young child. I feel like the lights are now on and I can finally see how messy the room is but I actually have the chance to clean it now. So, fast forward to today. I'm working on my mental health and health. I've left jobs, taken pay cuts, and now work from home for less than I should be making. Last night, I became overwhelmed with the desire to want to be a mom and a wife and opened up to my boyfriend about my frustrations that we haven't moved our relationship forward (engagement). We had a big misunderstanding, and I already knew his stance, which is that it's been a very hard few years and he doesn't want to get engaged until we are financially stable with debt paid off etc. etc. While I understand this, hence why I haven't brought it up in 2 years save some jabs and jokes, I am feeling incredibly lost and sad today. The conversation basically ended with him feeling like he "needs" to propose soon and abandon his financial plan and me feeling heartbroken that he feels pressure to make it official after living together for 3 years. For context, I'm almost 30 and he's 34. We want three kids. Time is dwindling. I've had health issues. My biggest dream is to be a mother and I feel like he doesn't understand that my health issues put me at risk to not conceive easily. I don't need a big fancy ring or wedding. Our parents will contribute anyway. But I know he feels like he needs to have his ducks lined up and, to him, to propose means he needs to already have money for a wedding, raising children, and beyond. I genuinely understand both sides but I'm so sad today because I don't think this should be a financial decision and I don't want to pressure him, even though I just did. Does anyone have any advice for me in general or for feeling kind of stalled in your otherwise happy relationship? Am I being unreasonable? We love each other so much and have been through so much but I feel like the one thing we can control right now is our commitment to each other and I'd give anything for and feel inspired by my life finally moving forward in this way. I know he's working his ass off for our future but our joy always seems to be 2.5 years away from wherever we are... in this far off land where we don't have to worry about money. I worry we'll never get to the point where the ducks are aligned and all of this has my ROCD and HOCD a flare. ?

Just want to rant: I read an article that my boyfriend had written about his ex girlfriend. It details his sexual encounters with her, very graphically. I want to vomit. I feel so sick it’s not even funny. I feel so guilty and horrible and disgusted about it. I want to tell him, but I don’t know how. He writes a lot and I was scrolling through one of his blog posts. I am crying and I feel like my world is ending, because he was my world. How do I get over this?

It’s unfortunate but I can’t enjoy one of my main passions anymore, music. I just feel like I focus more on the outcomes than the process and love of it and wanting to share that with other people. I have this idea of success and I’m obsessed with it, almost like it’s a sense of approval. I wish I could push it out of my mind because I just want to enjoy what I love. At this point, I don’t even know if I really do love it or not. I don’t like who I become when I play music, at least alone, I just overthink until it’s not enjoyable anymore. I play guitar, bass, drums, and I write my own music often. I did however just join a band as a drummer and think maybe being in a band with multiple people, especially not my own material, will be helpful to just be in the moment. It’s just really unfortunate that I’m obsessed with this idea of success and that being the only thing I want. It wouldn’t make me happy. I can’t tell if this is an obsessive, intrusive thought getting in the way or not, or if this is how I truly feel ?

I had a good day today but as soon as I was alone in bed I kept going over and over my main moral obsession at the moment and got to the point where I was ready to admit it was all true. Does this mean it is? Also if you obsess over one main intrusive thought for a long time, does that still make it OCD? Then I spiralled into a hole of “my family will disown me, I have to break up with my boyfriend, I’ll have nothing” Writing this I SHOULD KNOW it’s OCD but part of me can’t stop thinking it’s all true and I’m a sick person... (Btw my ocd thought follows a sexual dream I had about my half brother a while back - which disgusted me - and now I have convinced myself he is attracted to me and I desire him even though I’m 99% sure this isn’t real... looking back we have always been close and I’ve always looked up to him so WHAT IF IT’S TRUE?!)

I woke up to a dream about people calling me crazy and that I needed to be locked up because they were scared of me for being dangerous. It really hurts even though it was just a dream. Unfortunately a lot of people associate sufferers of mental illnesses as crazy, dangerous people.

Plz zoloft experience for pure o

I think I’ve washed my hands around 13 times today, and it’s not even that many compared to what I usually end up doing :(

I’m not sure if I’m coming to the right place, but I need some advice. Basically, I’m 16 and I started college (U.K.) in September. I’m taking psychology, English language and sociology. My psychology teacher is the head of my college, and she’s lovely. I have ocd and I’m not sure if she knows or not, and I don’t know if I should tell her. I won’t go into great detail, but something that I have to do is when my work isn’t neat enough, I re write it over and over again until it’s “just right / perfect”. I’ve also started washing my hands A LOT, like I put 5 pumps of soap on, and then wash them & repeat that 5 times (the germ side of ocd never affected me until I started college). This isn’t everything, something’s related to my ocd I can’t ever speak aloud, but I don’t know if I should tell her and speak to her about it? I’m not sure if she’ll be able to do anything and I’m sure she’s really busy. Plus, because she teaches me I don’t want her to judge me or think of me any differently. Any advice is welcome, Thank you!