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I'm having a dilemma right now where I have trouble distinguishing between ocd symptoms and general life problems. I would love to get some insight. So, my husband and I recently moved into an apartment in an old building. The walls are quite thin and we can sometimes hear the neighbours going about their day — talking, cooking etc. I quickly got used to it and didn't think much of it. However, a few weeks ago the neighbours downstairs put a note in our mailbox. It basically said that we had been disturbing them constantly for months. It wasn't signed, but it was worded in such a way that I concluded it must be from the person in the apartment right under ours. I panicked, but decided the best thing to do was make amends right away so I went down to apologize. It was a very confusing conversation, because the person answering the door wouldn't tell me if she had written the note or not. But she said she appreciated the sentiment and we ended up on reasonably good terms. Of course, I then spent days ruminating about the whole thing. I am now terrified of disturbing her or the other neighbours again. I try to avoid anything that could potentially make too much noise (playing loud music, clattering with dishes etc). The trouble is, I feel like I also have to monitor my husband in case he does something that could disturb someone. I asked him to stop working on some of his hobby projects late at night because they involve tools that would clatter loudly if dropped on the floor. He agreed to that, but I am still really anxious he might do something loud.. I don't want to ruin our relationship by being a control freak, but I also don't want to be an awful neighbour. I realize I am having excess anxiety over this, but I don't know where it crosses over into ocd territory. Could I work with this using ERP? What would the exposures look like?

I find it so hard to accept I have OCD. My OCD tells me this isn’t even OCD, that I’m just in denial. It’s hard because my OCD fails to separate the difference between being in denial and being gay. I can’t do it and my OCD needs certainty - I’m not content with not knowing. I feel so scared that I’ll get over this and then when I’m happy boyfriends and kids and whatever that this will come up again and I’ll realise all along I was gay and in denial and I’ll have to divorce my husband and my kids will hate me. My OCD is never satisfied either. Like I’ve always been content with boys, sexually and romantically but it keeps bring up the need to experiment and try it out to be sure you’re not or whatever and it’s stressing me the fuck out. My OCD pretty much sexualises everything so it’s no wonder I find women sexually arousing because when my OCD is bad I have images of me being with a women, I don’t hate it but I know I don’t want that in real life or as a relationship but also the fact I’m having these thoughts - my OCD is like are you sure though, because you might like it? Maybe OCD will go away if i am gay yanno. Fucking hell - I wish OCD would just be quite for a hot minute so I can enjoy being intimate and having a laugh with my boyfriend. I’ve named my OCD Regina George because she’s is fugly slut and is ruining my life ? Anyone relate?

Has anyone increased from 150mg to 200mg of sertraline and noticed an improvement in their symptoms? I am also undertaking therapy alongside medication.

To all my female HOCD sufferers, please do yourself a favor and never look at Comphet. One of them was like getting crushes on boys all the time because you confuse crushes for friendship and I would do that, but I was also really lonely and desperate for male attention. But bc I found comphet now I’m like great I’m gay. WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT LOOK

does anyone else start feeling really uncomfortable and uneasy sometimes? there’s no thoughts or anything attached but just an uncomfortable feeling like something is wrong. does anyone else experience this?

Hey. I’m not a therapist or anything, but I love helping people. I was diagnosed with OCD about 10 years ago and I have been through many therapists and exposures since. I’d like to think that I know a lot about treating OCD and that my knowledge or experiences could help other people. Please comment below if you need any advice. I have lots of experience with HOCD and compulsions in general. I know that OCD can be hard because I have it, but it’s made me a stronger person and it’s taught me a lot that I’d love to share.

It bothers me how my mom, who is a doctor, will spend time researching illnesses and other issues our other family members deal with (she told me today how one of my aunts is now depressed and dealing with panic attacks due to hard situations she’s been in recently), but as far as I’ve know hasn’t bothered educating herself on OCD or talks to me at all about it. I guess she doesn’t need to really since I’m working on it but I’d like for her to care more in that regard. It’s like if I don’t talk about it she thinks nothing is up

ever since this morning I’ve literally been going insane. I’m black and I’m worried that if my mom gets pulled over at anytime she’ll get killed or we both get killed or I’d get killed. I’ve talked to people about this and I’ve been told “the police wouldn’t get me and my mom because we look mixed” or “we don’t look that black and we look hispanic so they won’t get us” or “you’re not black men so you won’t get shot.” Those things I’ve been told aren’t necessarily the best things to say to any black person. maybe it is true, maybe it isn’t, I don’t know, but I’ve been worried about it all day and idk how I’m gonna go to sleep tonight or even let this go. My mom has never had any problems with white cops, they’ve been relatively good to me and my mom and my brother so I’m not that worried. But what if we meet the wrong cop one day, idk.... I keep having thoughts telling me “we’re gonna die” and “I’m gonna get shot” it’s bugging me out. Ocd won’t let me get any sleep tonight, I know that. It’s all I can think about, and tik tok is no help whatsoever. All I see on my fyp is stuff about Minneapolis and burning buildings and people just talking about this whole situation. I’m very upset about it too, but judging from the anxiety I’m feeling, that’s the last thing I really need to hear about now. I could just get off tiktok but I’m gonna get anxious cause I’m not on it so I really don’t have a way out either way so...?✌?

Hi Everyone. I am a 27 years old married straight man. Month and a half ago I had an intrusive thought that I am gay. I started having intrusive thoughts. I started reading the book “Overcoming unwanted intrusive thoughts”. It was very good for a while I started practicing. I started exposing myself. It got very confusing , it would say you have to accept , let the thoughts come. I would do it, but then again it will say Ignore them and dont do any entanglement. Right now I am in the worst state of my mind, I can not think clearly, Like I dont know how to think , or cant keep calm in my mind, my mind is always asking questions etc. Cant even focus always scared of that there might be a thought. I started ignoring thoughts and suppressing them. It started physical pain in my head. I dont know how can I feel better, I am literally in a very poor state and cannot take it anymore.

Anyone who suffers from intrusive sex thoughts available to talk? I was getting better, but I’m really struggling right now. :(

Hi , I am so afraid of everything. Last night I had a panic attack and a feeling of derealisation. I was so scared of death and couldn't sleep. I also have OCD symptoms every single day for 5 years now. I think I might have to visit a psychologist.

Yesterday my brother opened the garbage door on me after I just got out of the shower and out clean clothes on. I mentioned it before. I reminded him that it is something that bothers me even before o had ocd, of people opening doors and drawers on me without saying excuse me so I can get out of the way. He also wiped his hands in my towels and said oops like he didn’t care. He knows i want the hand towels being used and not my personal towels. He said I demand when I get triggered rather than requesting. However I have a feeling he’s trying to okay doctor and do things that bother me. I’m triggered to wash the towel out of retaliation.

I’m really freaking out right now. I read in an article that a lot of p*dos have low IQ and I just did an IQ test online and got an extremely low score. I don’t care if i’m not intelligent I just don’t want to be a bad person. I remember in school I liked more creative subjects like English but did really bad with logic-based subjects like Math and Science. I never did well in exams but just thought that since I didn’t apply myself that that’s what it was. I’m really really scared and anxious right now. I really regret taking the test and now I’m scared that it’s proven that my fears are real.

Suicidal. Please help. Was just making progress and then my mind was like, what if you can send people your intrusive thoughts by having one and thinking about them at the same time. So now I have an intrusive thought and my mind is like “you just sent that to X person” saying your a predator or murderer and now they know! What the fuck. Also I can almost “feel” the thoughts leaving my head area and travelling to that person and i am tapping my head to stop it, checking with people to see if their mad, or not my friend anymore and screaming over the thoughts in my head so none of them “get sent”! Is this OCD? I can’t find anybody who has the same experience is this magical thinking mixed with harm I don’t know anymore I’m spiritual too so it feels like that’s playing into this! Just wanna die

I’ve been working really hard at ERP/Mindfulness/ACT and wanted to share notes I’ve been taking for what’s helped me. Sorry for the overwhelming length! 1. You can’t lose to OCD if you know what it’s doing ahead of time or during. (Ex: reading a triggering article for exposure and saying “okay OCD I know you’re going to twist and manipulate this to make it seem real but I’m not reacting”) 2. You can’t control what goes on in your brain, but you can control how to react 3. The importance of response prevention: once you practice it starts to become second nature instead of the compulsions. Even noticing you’re doing a compulsion (hmm, I think I’m analyzing right now, I’m going to shift my focus here) is progress. 4. A big part of overcoming TERRIBLY intrusive thoughts and makes them less powerful or less frequent is when I hold it in my head and let pass without caring if they’re there or not or never knowing forsure if they mean or don’t mean something (hardest thing to do ever!) this comes from Graysons book on Accepting Uncertainty 5. Its my choice to not monitor and do a compulsion. At first it annoyingly seems like you always have to be on guard and in the zone ready for OCD to strike, but I’d rather that than be down compulsion lane. 6. I can live with discomfort and still do another task. 7. Do not be disappointed w the ups and down. Bounce back. Plan for triggers. (I notice an increase in thoughts at night and started telling myself “I can’t wait for OCD to come back tonight!”) 6. Most of the time, fighting a compulsion feels anxiety ridden or a spike or hard. Do it anyway. 7. Going in with a strong mentality (no matter how crappy or believable my thoughts feel I’ll wake up every morning saying I’m choosing not to believe you today!) even if I felt a spike of anxiety I’d try my best. Even if you disregard 10% of thoughts that day and 20% the next it’s progress. (Ali Greymond podcasts) 8. Predict !!!!! Where will I be triggered? And when it happens you won’t be so shocked 9. Intrusive thoughts related to my theme are just a good practice now for disregarding/response prevention. “thanks brain for sending me these thoughts” *moving on* it’s a choice to believe or not. 10. Actually believing I CAN recover- you don’t HAVE to overthink these. The doubt of having OCD or OCD about OCD is REAL and something I still struggle with. But it doesn’t have to be that way, you can still show your brain you’re in control. 11. 99% of the time your anxiety dies down later in the day and you’re able to think rationally (not to be used as reassurance but rather motivation to delay compulsions) 12. For me, exposures or triggers that happen randomly or in real life instead of me planning them are HARD. It was just this week that I started to address these the same way as other planned exposures: response prevention always wins! 13. Choose to not believe/Choose uncertainty(“okay maybe I’m my worst fear OCD and you can keep screaming at me, but I’m going to do what’s best for me and make my best choice right now even if im wrong in the future”)- even if you have no confidence and are filled with doubt it will come back eventually with practice.

"False memories in pOCD" I don't know what to do anymore... How to shut up my mind... I feel like I am trapped. I've gained a false memory that I masturb- thinking of a child, the same child that caused my pocd to appear for the first time. I'm almost certain that I never did it but at the same time I can't let go! I am considering taking my life because this is too painful to endure

I’ve been having intrusive thoughts of becoming paranoid schizophrenic ever since my cousin committed suicide in March and it’s been destroying me mentally beacause I’ve heard of all the symptoms and I’m scared to have them and have been having thoughts of paranoia ever since I’m currently only diagnosed with OCD intrusive thoughts anxiety and depression I get thoughts that people with that illness might get ever since I was researching it and it’s been hell

Hey, just wanted to share an accomplishment with you guys. i’ve finished 100 exposures. it took me 7-8 months. 3637 minutes total, so a little over 60 hours. my life has changed so much. feel free to ask me anything too ? thanks guys and keep it up

So I did my second therapy appointment and I'm just so hopeless. These "intrusive" feelings if that is what they are I just can't handle it. I can't handle the possibility of being bi. I can't. I'm trying but I cant. The fact that it could change at any time too and that I'll never known for certain is the worse. I just don't know what to do anymore. She had me write a narrative to read every time the thoughts come up and that I'll have some form of clarity after I recover. I dont want to know if I'm bi because I know that is what is going to happen. There is no way I can come out of here straight. No way. That thought alone is enough to keep me stuck. She also said if I'm really distressed and want to compulse to go brush my teeth or to sing the Happy Birthday song to cheer myself up. Don't even know if that will work.

I mope around for days and barely do anything besides sleep, eat and shower. That is the bare minimum. Not working. I’ve been on this app a lot today. I can’t stop ruminating over bad things I have done and just lay in bed thinking about all of them. I am so depressed, literally everything is a trigger. I can barely go about my day without thinking of a bad thought. Some days I try to push through them. I just feel like the absolute worse person. I’ve lost desire for everything. I probably need to stay busy and stay on a schedule. But OCD has ruined everything!