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I really do understand how confused and frustrated you are. To be honest I find it frustrating too. These other practices are saying something about HOCD that is misleading and confusing. Let me try to put things a different way. It's the same thing as I've said before, but maybe I can say it a different way that will make more sense to you. I'll go in the direction of the cancer analogy you used... Imagine if someone came into an anxiety clinic because they were having chest pains. A lot of times, those chest pains would just be anxiety. But not all the time. Sometimes, they would indicate a real medical issue. By the same token, a lot of the times when someone comes in with HOCD, it's just anxiety, but other times there is a real feeling of attraction there. Just like with chest pain, you would have to help the person stop ruminating and feel less anxious, so they can see if they still have chest pain even when they aren't anxious. When other practices say that HOCD means someone isn't gay, it's like saying that anyone with chest pain is just anxious. A lot of the time it's true, but it's incorrect and misleading to say that it is always just anxiety. Someone with HOCD is constantly trying to figure out if the feelings they have are attraction or anxiety, like someone with chest pain trying to figure out if their chest pains are caused by their anxiety. They feel the desperate need to figure it out, but ruminating about it just makes them more confused. Does that analogy help you to understand? In terms of your asking for a link to a case of HOCD that was real, I don't have a specific link to send you unfortunately. I just know from my own and others' clinical experience, not from published articles. If I had something to send you I would. I'm sure if you google hard enough you'll find something, but it seems to be buried underneath all the articles from these other practices telling people they aren't gay. And by the way, it's important that here are articles telling people with HOCD that they might not be gay. Just like it's important that someone can google chest pain and find out it night be anxiety. It's just not okay to say that chest pain is always anxiety, and it's not okay to say that HOCD is always straight. I am so confused just found this article online from an OCD therapist responding to someone. I thought OCD therapist believe this means it’s not true from everything I have read

Man, this is so weird. I usually feel so free here. There’s such help and comfort in this community of those who understand and the extra level of protection from anonymity. But right now, those invasive thoughts have latched on to the idea that those in my life about whom I might want to vent are here to take it incorrectly. Damn it, OCD, this is my safe space, so of course you attack me here. 🤦🏼‍♀️ No wonder I’ve been so moody, a difficult situation in my family right now, AND, thoughts on top of it that it’s not safe to vent. What talking does take place feels stunted. No closure. And boom, intrusive thoughts walk that line of rumination. I’ve tried talking with my partner. Tried talking with a safe third party. Tried going about my day despite the chatter. I just feel like the situation keeps unfolding and bringing me right back to getting stuck in my head. OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS. Kinda wish we could just turn off the caring about certain things sometimes, or that it was more ok to go scream somewhere for emotional release. 😮

Today at 25, 2 months after my diagnosis of ocd, adhd, anxiety, and depression. I've realized how much ocd controls me and how much worse it makes all of the other things. I've been having such a hard time with the intrusive thoughts its been destroying me. I thought it was the adhd or the anxiety and found an ocd podcast today that showed me this app. In the last few hours I've discovered how much my ocd has control over my life and I dont know where to start to get help. I cant afford to much for therapy but I definitely need help

How can I deal with this? So I think my pocd is starting to come at me from a new angle. A really scary one. I can’t be around my sister. Every time I’m around her I get uncomfortable and can’t look at her because my brain tells me to look at her butt and stuff like that. Well tonight I was letting the dog out and I put my phone on my couch to let the dogs out. Afterwards I picked my phone back up but I realized my sister was sitting there watching tv. Now I’m thinking what if I tried to do something to her and she just didn’t notice. I thought this as soon as I was walking away, and I repeatedly said to myself I picked up my phone I picked up my phone that’s it. How can I do ERP to fight this? Should I turn myself in?

Cheating OCD Anybody deal with cheating OCD where they all of a sudden got a panic attack that they may have cheated on their partner when you KNOW they didn’t ??? Like now I’m playing scenarios in my head that feel real???

I keep having the same intrusive thought or image and it won’t give me a break, trying to convince me that I like the thought and I want it and I’ve never felt this with any of my other intrusive thoughts so what makes this so different? Why is this happening? I can’t even tell if it’s ocd or not but I’m praying to God that’s all it is. I wish I had answers or clarity but I can’t seem to figure it out. I know I’m not supposed to try and figure it out I get that but I have to make sure it’s not true. What if it is true and I’m in denial? What if I do actually like it? I just want it to go away…I’ve been so depressed for the past week (since I’ve gotten the thought and this all started) and it just won’t let up. I can’t take it anymore. I want to break free from all this. I’m sick of it. I feel like I deserve my misery 😭💔 I really am sorry I keep posting about all this. I just want someone to understand

For women with soocd who read coming out stories online and go on latebloomer forums and read masterdocs, etc. Firstly, nothing good or productive will come from that. No one else's story can determine yours, so there's literally no point looking at that stuff, but especially not if you have ocd, which is a real disorder that distorts the way you think and analyze your identity. Second, maybe this perspective will help you: people of all sexualities experience soocd obsessions accompanied with the fear of being in denial. Even women in same sex relationships who have soocd endlessly ruminate and doubt their attraction to women because of the way ocd works. They also wonder am I no longer attracted to the sex I always thought I was They? Or was I ever attracted to the sex I thought I was They? They also compare themselves to coming out stories to see if they relate or not and try to use that as evidence with their ocd. My point is, the next time you think that it will truly be helpful or a relief to read or visit a site or video, etc. To compare your sexuality with someone else's, at least pause for 5 minutes, and see if you can delay it. Oftentimes, when you delay a compulsion, the 5 minutes come around and you may have even forgotten about it. If not, delay it for 5 more minutes, etc. Watch a funny YouTube video for 5 minutes and you'll like forget about the urge. Gay people with soocd doubt their attraction to the same sex because of black and white info about sexuality that is spread online. Straight people with soocd do the same thing. Bi people with soocd and pan people with soocd and ace people with soocd also do the same thing. But regardless, none of us need to read other people's sexuality stories and compare to them, because it gets us nowhere except deeper into the blurry cycle of ocd where nothing makes sense. Trust me, I've been dealing with this obsession for multiple years now and have had lots of episodes where I dug myself so deep in these compulsions that I felt utterly hopeless and like life was pointless bc of the pain and torment I put myself in. When I started resisting the compulsions again, though, the heavy fog began to lift and your perspective changes a lot. Remember that: ocd doesn't change you, just like depression doesn't change you. It changes your perspective, but not you. It lies to you, but it isn't you. And it doesn't have power without you (your participation in it).

I just want to share this because I’ve kept it a secret for so long. Only my therapist knows & I want to be able to share. I’ve struggled with sexually intrusive thoughts since I was in second grade. They were basically cannabalistic thoughts, about ppl preparing to cook me and eat me in sexual ways. I only recently was diagnosed with OCD and it was the biggest relief of my life. I’m starting to understand my mind and why it works the way it does. It’s amazing to find that other ppl struggle in similar ways too. I remember chatting with ppl online about these thoughts which I thought was a disgusting fetish of mine, that shared the same fetish, asking them how they dealt with the shame of the thoughts. No one ever felt shame. They all told me “it’s just a fetish”. I never understood how they couldn’t be disgusted. But now I do. I have OCD.

Advice from some experienced people. So I now no longer ruminate over OCD, I also accepted the uncertainty and I feel great now. But I have a doubt I want to keep my OCD as a secret forever and I don't want others to know about it. Is it ok to keep it a secret from everyone? Should I tell my significant other in the future about this or should I keep it as a secret? Am I a bad person if I want to keep it as a secret. I feel guilty for keeping it as a secret. What should I do?

Has anyone unistalled tiktok and was it better for your mental health in general? Idk if this is considered reassurance but I'm actually just curious.

Does OCD affect holding down jobs? Does anyone know. Lost my job today trying to see if there's any correlation

is it normal for someone with non-sexual related trauma to be afraid of sex and relationships? i am almost 22 and have never had sex or been in a serious relationship. the vulnerability of it all is so overwhelming for me. so much that i almost feel detached from it. it’s hard hearing about my friends losing their virginity when i am one that is so afraid of that. it makes me feel like something is wrong with me. that of course triggers my ocd..really bad. like i said, i have a lot of trauma but none of it is sex related. i just feel like there’s something wrong with me..

Anyone know if shadow work is useful for OCD? Any advide?

Before me and my wife got together 7 years ago I was hooking up with other women and I feel so guilty. My wife and I had already started flirting and we had cuddled while watching a movie at a friends house and I think I was still hooking up with someone else. After we had our first kiss I never hooked up with anyone again but I still feel so guilty. I feel like a horrible human being and a cheater.

Hey everyone, I am starting therapy soon, but I have decided I want to pair it with medication, I was wondering (and I know this isn’t official doctor’s recommendations etc) but if anyone could shed some light on the best medications to try/ their experiences? What should I be telling the doctor in order to secure the most effective medication (or is it different for everyone) thanks for any help you can offer!

I reallllly need a new therapist. I’m in transition of getting another one and it’s taking forever. I’m worried I won’t get another one. I’m also worried about starting over with someone new and then not understanding pocd also. I just really need to talk to a professional about what I’m experiencing because I’m so scared but I also don’t want to be misunderstood 😑😭

I wanted to share this in case anyone needed to hear it. I sure do! I have been having quite a few bad days lately. 😂😬

This is a new one for me so please bear with me I went on a hen do on the weekend with work friends and got super drunk. I remember most of the night but I remember getting panicky and crying at some point and can’t remember quite why. I called my mother sobbing that I thought everyone hates me etc too, so that was weird. Anyway. I am a straight (maybe like 3% bi?) woman. I don’t desire a relationship with a woman at all, but I can appreciate attractive women when I see them, and I’m comfortable in my sexuality. I’ve had awful luck with men and recently left an extremely damaging/emotionally/verbally abusive relationship with an alcoholic older man. So anyway. when I was really drunk on Saturday, I saw a pretty woman on the dance floor. I remember thinking like “f*ck it I would try sex with a woman one day, never say never” and I sort of remember checking her out (cuz I give up entirely on men at the moment). I can’t remember even talking to her but I’m convinced I somehow sexually assaulted a woman and just….can’t remember it now? I’m worried when I went to use the toilets, I might have hurt someone and it’s simply left my mind? I remember most of the night so surely I wouldn’t forget something that disgusting and serious? I’ve been trying to not ruminate, but it’s feel so guilty and don’t know what to do. Does this seem like an OCD thought? I’m wondering if I put two and two together because in my city, the same night our hen party was, a man sexually assaulted a woman, and it’s been in the news. so now I’m perhaps connecting the thought of “she’s pretty” to “what if I sexually assaulted her and didn’t know cuz I was drunk”? HELP I can’t understand this I have never experienced this kind of thought before so don’t know how to practice ERP if it’s and OCD thought. I haven’t uploaded any photos to social media I feel sick anxious and I hate myself and I feel like an awful person and I’m waiting to hear a knock at the door and be arrested or hated by everyone 😞 ive been crying for the last few days too it’s breaking me

The only way to recover from OCD/SOOCD is to do ERP hardcore and stay OFF this app.

Hi, I’m new to NOCD. I am a mom of 3 and currently pregnant with my fourth child, due in June. I’ve had OCD has long as I can remember. I was not formally diagnosed until I was in my 20s. I’ve taken Zoloft on and off for decades. I normally quit the meds because I go a period of time feeling “normal” and “human” and feel like I’m fully recovered until it strikes again unexpectedly. Most recently, it’s hit hard with my current pregnancy. I fear “contamination” even though I know no one will be harmed. Touching dirty things, inadvertently smelling things in the air (ie. Gasoline at a station), tracking things inside on shoes (although we take our shoes off at the door), seeing pesticides being applied etc all cause me to get anxious and feel contaminated. I get trapped in my own mind and feel like I miss many times with my children for lack of being present. I have a difficult time believing this is OCD and not a rational thought. I would love to meet others who have similar stories and/or suffered during pregnancy as well. Thank you for letting me share my story. I don’t normally open up for fear of judgement.