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Hi guys, So I’ve dealt with what feels like minor OCD / Anxiety almost all my life and it wasn’t until maybe 5/6 years ago that I had a few panic episodes that seemed to be unprecedented, and it took my quite some time to get back to a spot where I was “good.” For the past 3 years, I’ve been attending music university (as music is my passion), working as a teacher and traveling the world. My panic issues were pretty much gone, and I would rarely experience any form of anxiety from anything. Flash forward to now, the past couple weeks have been tough. I’ve been sinking back into these very unsettling states of anxiety, and the anxiety comes from the fear of losing control, or having a panic attack. It’s so hard for me to distract myself but when I do, I’m totally fine. My stomach has been in knots so it’s been difficult to eat, and I’m trying my best to keep it together, but I’m so scared that I’m going to lose my relationship, lose all of these opportunities I’ve worked so hard the past few years to obtain, and just regress overall. The anxiety comes in waves throughout the day, and usually between 6-8ish, it’s almost unbearable and then by 9, it’s gone and like nothing happened. I need help trying to keep these thoughts from occur, and more importantly not letting them take up like 90% of my headspace. It’s been tough doing things I love like playing instruments and talking to friends. However, my dad kind of forced me out of the house yesterday with him, and it helped, but as soon as I got back, it hit me again. I’m meeting with a therapist next Monday but in the meantime if anyone has any tips or tricks I could benefit from, please send them my way. Thank you everyone 💕

so basically...I got high and had a terrible experience I went from listening to religion songs for comfort with the paranoia to my friend (who is a male too) tried to kiss. I was mad then later I got aroused by it because marijuana increases sexual drive even if it’s the same gender. by the way Im straight. Thus, I had begun masturbating in front of him and claimed it was a test to see if he was gay or not then out of no where i controlled myself and lost the arousal. I was not thinking straight at all because of being high but this situation really triggered my hocd. Bow that i’m 80 percent sober i don’t feel some level of arousal even though before the marijuana I didn’t feel any attraction to him. What do I do?

if any responds to this, it would save my night. Just knowing there is someone there who understands. This past week my ocd has been worse than usually. My harm ocd is so terrible, violent thoughts and images fill my head and I can’t make it stop and the thoughts constantly are centered toward my family members. It’s so terrible I just feel like crying and I’m so heavy and empty inside. Does anyone else understand? Know what it’s like. All this fear and doubt. Are these my own thoughts? Why am I having these? Am I a psychopath? Do I want to do these things? And so on. I just want to scream. I’m so so scared and I feel sick to my stomach and I don’t want to be anywhere near my family right now. Help me please

Is OCD Curable? It is commonly accepted that OCD is a chronic condition for which there is no cure. This idea is frequently used as an excuse for incomplete treatment, especially of compulsive rumination. Many patients who have completed ERP no longer do any physical compulsions but still ruminate. These patients are often told that the reason they’re not completely better is that OCD is a chronic condition, when the real reason is that no one has taught them how to completely stop ruminating. So, am I saying OCD is curable? Let’s answer that question with another question: Would you say someone who engages in absolutely no compulsion or avoidance has OCD? I would say they don’t. I would say that OCD consists of compulsion and avoidance, and that therefore, by definition, no compulsion or avoidance means no OCD. The counterargument I would expect is that this person would still have intrusive thoughts. But this argument falls apart when you break down ‘intrusive thoughts’ into (1) uncomfortable thoughts that occur to you, and (2) any engagement whatsoever with these thoughts — i.e., compulsive rumination. While an uncomfortable thought occurring to you isn’t controllable, this is also not a symptom of OCD; it’s a symptom of being human. And any engagement whatsoever with the thought is controllable and is a compulsion — and we said this person doesn’t do any compulsions. So would you say that someone who engages in absolutely no compulsion or avoidance — who sometimes has uncomfortable thoughts like all other humans, but doesn’t engage with them at all — has OCD? I would say they don’t, or at least they don’t right now. Thus, drawing a clear distinction between a thought occurring to you, and any engagement whatsoever with that thought, leads to the conclusion that a person can completely eliminate their OCD. So does this mean OCD is curable? Well, it’s definitely much more curable than people think it is. But if the word ‘cure’ means that something is permanently better, I wouldn’t say OCD is curable, because OCD will only remain better as long as compulsion and avoidance are completely eliminated. Consider the imperfect analogy of someone who gets their cholesterol under control by changing their diet.* Have they been cured? Only as long as they maintain the changes that made them better. While it might sound daunting, eliminating compulsion and avoidance does not entail an ongoing struggle. In fact, once a person sees that they have complete control over these behaviors, staying away from them becomes easy. This is why, in my mind, the goal of treatment is not only to eliminate current symptoms, but to help the patient see that they are completely in control of their behavior, including their mental behavior. That way even if they do fall back into compulsion or avoidance in the future, they know they have the ability to get back on track immediately. So I’m not sure whether I can say that OCD is ‘curable,’ but I know that it is possible to get completely better, to the degree that OCD is no longer a part of your life or even something you think about. And this is the standard that I think every patient and therapist should strive for. * The difference is that the dietary changes cause a change in the cholesterol, while the elimination of compulsion and avoidance are themselves the elimination of OCD.

Erp for real event please! I asked last night but it was pretty late

When I was 14 there was this instance when I was very much in the wrong and then turned it around and made myself the victim. I won’t say how but it wasn’t right. At the time I didn’t see how fucked up and truly manipulative that was. It’s hard to move on knowing I let that happen and that I was capable of that because it wasn’t right at all. And the fact that it didn’t phase me is even worse. I don’t know what to do now because I just feel so plagued by that (and who I was in general back then).

Hello everyone. This fall I plan to move out of my parents house and live on my own. I’m extremely nervous about this. I feel like when I’m alone my thoughts and obsessions and anxiety get worse, and also a lot of the times I’m in such a bad place I can’t drive myself anywhere or feel safe anywhere, so I rely on my parents and my friends to drive me places or I won’t get out at all. Is it a bad idea to move out of my childhood home if I can barely do anything without extreme anxiety? I just don’t know what to do. I know I can live here forever and I have to move out eventually, but I feel like I’ll never really be ready.

Can ocd trick you into thinking you might like the thoughts or that they don’t seem as bad anymore?

Hello dear friends. I hadn't been on this app for a while, I've been getting by. Today I just need to vent and to feel validated and understood. I have OCD, I consider myself in permanent recovery. It is an everyday job. I am ina relationship with a wonderful guy. I deeply love and care about him, but he doesn't understand anything about OCD. I've explained it to him a million times. I've directed him to online resources. I've talked him through what to do to help me get out of a loop without giving me reassurance. And yet, he never knows what to say or do when an episode appears. It is tiring to pull myself out of the loop and then having yo explain to him what just happened to me, over and over again. I think, in general, he lacks empathy for other people's feelings, but, when it comes to me, I can see that he tries but achieves nothing. I think I don't have ROCD, I have diverse thoughts. But the last few weeks this thought got into my mind: what if he has met someone else and they are texting each other and flirting and he's gonna leave me? (He left his girl to start a new relationship with me). And he are apart due to the covid-19 epidemic, so we didn't see each other almost at all during last year. Of course, I had been able to keep this particular thought to myself, buy yesterday, it just came out of my mind after him not picking up the phone. He was in shock. He reacted defensively (which I completely understand), replied that he had nothing to explain to me as to why he couldn't answer the phone when I called him and that we was surprised that I asked him such a thing (if the reason why he didn't answer me was that he was talking to someone else). I knew it was just an OCD thought of mine, but I just couldn't keep it to myself any longer. Of course, I apologized to him and had to explain it had been an OCD thought. He was supporting and understanding and told me everything was ok and to forget about it. This morning I feel sad that he couldn't recognize this for what it was despite all the explaining I have done. I have dealt with my ocd on my own, despite being in a relationship. I just needed to vent and would like to read your thoughts about this whole thing. Thank you in advance for reading and replying.

SOME PERSON ON THE OCD FORUM ON REDDIT SAID OM DEALING WITH INTERNALIZED JOMOPHOBIA!!!!! I DONT WANT IT TO BE INTERNALIZED HOMOPHOBIA I JUST WANT TO BE WITH A WOMAN.!!!! IM NOT EVEN ANXIOYS ABOUT THIS DHIT WHAT THE FUCK

To all the people who have HOCD and who knows they are straight. I am a straight woman and i have almost overcome this journey ive had. And im finally getting therapy for my ocd. The thoughts have gotten alot better now. They dont intrude me as much. Ive lost sleep, appetite, and have had many panick attacks and anxiety attacks as well as major insomnia and lost the fight for school and education. I am here to remind you to not give up. It does get better. Over time your brain will learn to just start having the thoughts and in the middle of the thought will forget about it. During towards the end of this fight like me right now you will feel a sense of loss and loss of hope. You will also feel like you have lost yourself and your personality. Thats a good thing it means ur almost done. And you get to find your way back to yourself. Those who are just beginning know that theres always hope and light at the end of each tunnel. Always pray to God and get on your knees and beg Him to help. Ive delt with this for almost a month now. And im a strong woman who has a ton of fight and i still got alot left for this. Dont give up. Ive also learned to stay off social media it will trigger your spikes.

Can someone tell me some things that could help with my ocd like for example does sleeping help you control the thoughts because I haven’t gotten a lot of sleep and these thoughts seem to be taking control of me more. Anyone have some things that could help me be more neatly healthy to help with ocd?

I don’t know if I’m ever going to get better, if I’m ever going to feel good, if I’m ever going to be able to carry on with this 10 years down the road. It’s torture with no exit, for me recently. Every time I bring up my OCD around family, they get annoyed. I can’t go to friends because it has only been of temporary relief. I am literally tearing up as I write this. I’m afraid I’m so close to convincing myself of the horrible lies my OCD has been telling me. I just can’t, I don’t know if there’s anyone or thing that can make me feel better. It’s been like lifting gigantic boulder up a steep mountain the entire day—and I could be crushed by it if not careful. If there is a god, why must he put me through this? I have already been through some many enough hard times in life, this OCD has only magnified any insecurities, anxieties, feeling of loneliness, self hate, and negative emotions.

Only girls reply please 😁 just feel better that way So basically I’m feeling quite insecure for still being a virgin at 17 and I keep telling myself to not be so upset by what society expects of me but I literally can’t help it. Apart from a dumb relationship when I was 14, and a few pecks with boys when playing spin the bottle these last few years, I’m never been intimate with a guy. And it just makes me feel really shit about myself. I KNOW it shouldn’t matter at all but I can’t shake it off. And beyond this, I’m also worried I’ll use a guy one day just to gain experience and that’s a horrible thing to do. I always sorta told myself that before university, I’d go abroad with friends and just go wild, but if it’s all because I’m insecure, then that’s not fair on any of the guys I’d be with. At all. So what am I meant to do? At this point, I just wanna lose it and move forwards, or become more confident!! Losing it would make me feel good (but guilty because I fear I’d be using the person) yet confidence is such a long journey.

I have harm ocd pretty severely. I tend to go through spells where I hide things like kitchen knives so I won't hurt someone, scissors so i don't cut my hair off, and I get anxiety driving about driving off the road. How do I explain this to my country boy boyfriend who likes his guns so much? They are the biggest trigger for me. We've been together 2 years and are expecting our 1st child (which presents its own fears for me). I figure if I cant make him understand my only option is to leave and look completely crazy.

Recently my OCD thoughts have been about someone who I work with. I identify as straight and today I was taking a sexuality quiz (which I shouldn’t have done) and one of the questions was who do you ship, then my mind thought about me and this girl. Now I’m freaking out because it felt so real.

I just want this HOCD gone from my life. If it’s even HOCD. I accidentally say homosexual stuff constantly while I’m acting and it triggers me. I can’t even get a girl to save my life. And I get all these fucking intrusive thoughts and feelings. I just want a girl man. A girl who will stay by me and love me. But I can’t even have that. Cause I’m dealing with THIS SHIT!!! I’m in a phone call with my friend and my HOCD is giving me intrusive feelings along with the thoughts of “I want to be gay or bisexual in denial.” I keep getting this rising feeling in my chest and shit. Like I’m getting feelings like I want to be gay or bisexual but I don’t. It’s horrible. I don’t want to be gay or bisexual in denial. I nearly typed “I want to be gay or bisexual but I don’t” and I have no anxiety about it. I fucking hate it. I don’t want to be gay or bisexual. For fucks sake.

Can anyone help with mental compulsions side of things, how can I stop my brain from compolsing 🤷‍♂️ this seems like an undoable equation 😫

How do you even focus when you have intrusive repetitive thoughts? It's always the same thing and there's a constant ringing in my ears. I stopped seeing a psychiatrist and medicine because I can handle myself, but sometimes you just constantly beat yourself up when you can't focus.

Someone just asked me “how can you have OCD if you’re a messy slob” can someone help me with a response to text back this really pissed me off