I have MAJOR problem going to sleep because of ruminating and fear. My OCD's gotten worse lately and I've been living in constant fear for maybe four days now. I constantly feel like I'm on the verge of panic attack. How to calm down at least for a night time 😢
I usually am good at following the “rules” of my intrusive thoughts, but I’ve messed up three times today and I’m freaking out. Nothing’s wrong, but I’m anxious as to why I messed up. It’s making me sick and frustrated.
so yesterday i was having a good day. i was hanging out with my friend so i was tending to ignore my intrusive thoughts when they showed up. i was doing compulsions but they weren't as elaborate as usual. i thought that would be enough but last night i kept waking up from my dreams convinced i had done something bad or it was about my intrusive thoughts. however i was also too tired to worry about it so i would try to reassure myself and fall back asleep. it's early in the morning now and i'm having a panic attack because i'm scared i've become a p. this morning my sister was watching tiktok and their was a video about a pedophile and i remember waking up right when the word was said in the video so know i feel more grossed out and scared. my intrusive thoughts are always bad on the weekends. i'm scared i'm slowly becoming one and idk what to do to calm myself.
It's been so debilitating, I've had an extreme fear of saying slurs, muttering, mouthing or humming them. It's been making me feel extremely guilty and like a bad person. I feel like it's not going to get better and I feel like I'm secretly a horrible person because I'll mutter and mouth things and CONVINCE myself I've said a slur. Does anyone else have this fear?
I've struggled with ocd for some years and had all different obsessions, but recently my fears have been wether or not I'm real, or people around me are real. It sounds weird and feels even weirder. I only started having these thoughts when watching a vid where someone else had this though. It causes loads of guilt, anxiety and it makes me feel sick sometimes. Being around someone I love and then questioning if they're real it's awful. I start wondering if I'm crazy or if I actually believe their not real? I keep reminding myself ocd goes after whats important to you (and clearly feeling 'real' is important to me) Just wanted to know if anyone else has had this and if anything helps?
I’m not sure if this is a product of previous trauma or my ocd (possibly both). But I’ve been having obsessions of my partner cheating on me. So bad I’m convinced it’s happening because I can sense the smallest detail “off” about him? I can acknowledge it’s irrational when I’m a calm state of mind but whenever the obsessions come back it feels so real and my anxious brain is convinced
My brother and I are very into philosophy, and he is an incredibly intelligent individual. He's always been a big influence on me, but I have a more positive outlook on life while he has a more negative one. Sometimes when he's depressed, he'll send me very dark bits of philosophy. My OCD loves to run wild with it and say that because he thinks what he does and because he is smart, he's right. It makes me feel like I can't trust my own beliefs. I don't know what to do.
Have you ever had an intrusive thought telling you along with an intrusive urge to do something u don’t want to and disturbing? I ignored and had a worst intrusive urge but obviously calmed self but during me ignoring the thought and urge my mind was like just pure fighting and now am stressed if I did something horrible but I don’t want to victimize myself? I was watching the little mermaid when I got it and I was very interested in it and my memory i promise I swear that die I denied doing it, I don’t wanna die but I know did not do it. Beacuse I said no, is my mind playing tricks on me? It’s stressing Beacuse I would never want to do that and I am scared if ever do it Beacuse what if do ? I will never do it but what if I do? This isn’t me and am scared of what kind of the person am turning. I just wish I wasn’t mentally I’ll like this. Like what if I did, what if I did
The OCD thoughts feel real even when everyone tells you that is how the brain works. Why is it that the thoughts are stuck to you like a piece of gum at the bottom of your shoe?
i am constantly counting and clenching my jaw/hand twitches, every single second of the day. My head tells me if I don’t count things in a specific way, something bad will happen (partner will cheat, someone will die) I know it isn’t true but I can’t stop feeding into it. I feel so incredibly alone.
Does anyone kind of feel like they hear voices? Like internally in your head. Like when I was doing an exposure this morning it’s like a voice told me this bad thing will happen if I do it. I still did the exposure but it’s freaky when this happens.
I have an issue with associating clothing with bad things. I'll be getting dressed and I'll just go into a freeze because I can't find any safe shirts. For example: me getting ready to take my cat to the vet - I can't find a shirt that is safe. I get the feeling that my cat will die if I wear this shirt. Or that one. Maybe bad things have happened in that one too. I have to keep changing until it feels just right, or that I have the best chance for his survival in what I'm wearing. Does anyone else experience this? I'm having a really hard time with it lately.
Hey everyone, I just wanted to say that reading all of the posts about OCD has made mine a little bit better. It made me feel that OCD is more common than I thought, and that my thoughts are just thoughts and have no relevance in my life. I had OCD before and it went away, but I think I relapsed and I find myself to a similar situation in terms of having itrusive thoughts that won't go away and feeling anxious. I just want to say that it does get better, you just have to deal with the negativity, although it may take some time.
I feel like I don’t deserve anything good
Does anyone else ever think or feel like they are touching something but they aren't even close to it? I get this with everything and constantly asking people to check im not touching it. I can see it with my own eyes but yet my mind still believes I'm touching it. It drives me up the wall
why do I constantly feel guilty about my thoughts? I know that they aren’t true but I just can’t stop feeling guilty about them :\
For YEARS I have had so many intrusive thoughts about being fat and thinking I am fat and therefore unworthy. Feeling like IF ONLY I didn't have a pooch, I would have a boyfriend, and I would be considered one of the "pretty" girls. It's a SUPER STRONG core belief that I've held for such a long time. I've worked on it so much in therapy in the past but it WON'T LET GO!!!!!! And it's embarrassing and I JUST WISH I could stop having all these obsessions about my stomach!!! I COMPULSIVELY look at my stomach and wonder if people notice it. It's holding me back. I hate hate hate it. It's so so bad. I am EMBARASSED to be around my family members, kind, loving, and understanding as they are, because I'm chubbier than all my siblings. I can't explain these thoughts to my mom AGAIN for the MILLIONTH time, because she is always there for me, but there's only SO MUCH that she can do to reassure me. It's OCD. Reassurance DOESN'T HELP. And that's why I feel stuck, and lost. It sucks soooo much. I feel like less of a person because of my stupid stomach. I have obsessions of carving it off with a knife sometimes. They are super minor obsessions and I have NO fear that I will act on them. My brain is just so obsessed with having a FLAT STOMACH and DOING AWAY with the excess. I just wish the thoughts would stop!!!! :(
I feel like I have done the most terrible things when I haven’t. I’m going insane
I wonder Does anyone have transformation obsessions around here? Like something unknown wants to give you someone else's characteristics or turn you into someone (usually a person you don't like). Please text me, I would love to share experience, I've never met someone with the same problem as mine.
I wanted to no if there’s anyone that has rituals that they’ve been doing for years and does anyone have dressing rituals and hygiene rituals like obviously ppl get up everyday and put on clean clothes and get ready for work so everyday most ppl change there clothes but for me i dress ritualisticly I can’t just put on a shirt do my makeup and throw some pants on and leave the house I have to get the clothes I’m wearing out lay them out on my bed in the order they get put on my body then I can do hygiene the hair and makeup it’s all gotta be done like that and it’s been different variations of that threwout the years it was hard to do when I was younger cause I was still getting used to haveing ocd but once I got it down and got better it was easier to deal wit but I still had to do that and the same wit showering I go from left to rite too to bottom kind of thing I’ve been doing it for 15 years but you gotta do these things to be clean so things that have to be done everyday have become ritualized and they just kind of staid all these years cause that’s the way I’ve always done them and they have to be done everyday I’ve got to dress I’ve got to shower I got ocd in school so everyday I’d dress then when I got out of high school I was a stay at home mom I didn’t have to go anywere but I still did the dressing ritual it wasn’t as big of a deal back then but I still had to do it I couldn’t just throw on a clean shirt for the day cause I was a tired mom I’d have to do the entire ritual and put on clean underwear pants bra undershirt and shirt apply deodorant clean ears and face that was my dressing ritual cause obviously you need to put on clean clothes I just always done it this way since I got ocd and now that my ocd has been worse the past few years and my life has also been rough this ritual wit other rituals have been hard the repetiveness of all of them are aggravating I’m on ssi I stay home alot my kids live wit my mom cause I couldn’t take care of them alone so it’s just been me and now me and my bf whose struggled wit life but we’ve been homeless a few times which had made dressing and showering hard cause of my ocd I need to dress once a day I need to be able to lay my clothes out and have a clean area to set hygiene stuff I do alot more than that and it was very hard but there’s be days I couldn’t change my clothes so I’d be stuck in the same clothes for a few days then when I’d be able to change them I’d have to do the ritual the amount of days I’d missed so dressing and undressing in different outfits applying deodorant the amount of days missed it’s been really stressful but my entire life it was normal to change your clothes everyday so I did I have ocd and obviously do things different and didn’t think of this as being this difficult but On days were I mite be sick I’d like to just enjoy those days and not change my clothes but we’re do you draw the line wit it cause I stay home 24 7 I don’t need to dress everyday I could stay in the same clothes for months you no like tshirt and sweatpants kind of thing I couldn’t just put on a clean pair of underwear and maybe wash my sweats every few days I’d have to do the entire dressing ritual and I’m not sure wat to do to change this to wear I don’t need to do it everyday but also not staying in the same clothes 24 7 since I don’t work.
Does anyone avoid their favorite music to listen to because of OCD? I've been dealing with strong intrusive thoughts from trauma and I tried listening to one of my favorite songs just to clear my mind only for it to remind me of the situation..now I've been avoiding not just music, but anything nostalgic that puts me at ease because I don't want it to be associated with the new memories. It's been eating me for months to be quite honest. I don't know if it's just me.
Does anyone struggle with thoughts of a uncomfortable or kinda disturbing memory image that just repeat over and over in your head even though you try not to think about it? And just in general does anyone have any tips on dealing with intrusive thoughts?
Hi I would like to get help for my daughter, her OCD and intrusive thoughts don’t let her have a social life. She is very reluctant to search for help, and as she is a young adult many therapists want her to come on her own but the thing is she can’t do it on her own! I read somewhere in the website or IG page that you support families too.
Anyone has confession OCD? Like you feel you have to confess to someone you had bad thoughts about or accidentally did bad things that’s related to that person. I think I got this because my ex bf used to be abusive and interrogated me about every detail of my previous relationship which really scared the shit out of me and since then I kinda got addicted to the feeling of relief after confessing and the target person moved from my boyfriend to friends and even family members. It really depressed me because I have intrusive bad thoughts that I don’t want to share with them but then this compulsion will appear. I read it’s a loop if I do confess because then I’ll find something else to confess, which I think is true. Just wanted to know I’m not alone with this.
I need encouragement- I had this intrusive thought on Saturday that if I eat, my 5-month old niece would choke. I have really eaten much since then, and I purged what I did eat. I’m scared. I’m so hungry. Can I have some words of encouragement (not reassurance) so I can eat and keep the food down? Thank you so much!
Any thoughts on magical thinking and law of attraction? Can the later influence the first?
I’m afraid about starting ERP. Having anxiety is very distressing to me (I can’t imagine anyone enjoys it) and the idea of saying my anxious thoughts out loud makes me afraid that they will happen. It’s hard for me to voice my fears out loud because then they feel so real, like I can’t hide from them. Has anyone felt like this before ERP?
Have anybody read book called Brain lock by Jeffrey Schwartz? When I was younger maybe 10 years ago I read it when I realized I had OCD. And it helped me and my OCD was almost cured I only had it in some stressful situations but even than it felt healthier. The book has 4 steps explained. I think it's written when ERP was not widely used so it's more like focusing on RP part. Then some bad things happened to my family and my OCD came back 100 times stronger. How to motivate myself to do ERP or anything similar when this happened? The sentence that was in the book if I didn't cinfuse it with some else was something that stuck with me and helped me a lot back then: I would rather have all the things I'm afraid of happen to my loved ones than live this kind of miserable life.
i have ocd related to eye contact. when i make eye contact with people i will feel anxious and my eyes will be very unnatural which causes others unnatural. this makes me and other people awkward. it really ruins my life.
its so weird, i will go sometime without the thoughts bothering me or really thinking about my obsessions but then all of a sudden they will come back and start to annoy me. then i get scared that i’m making these thoughts up and that my thoughts are real. it makes me upset but that’s what ocd does to ya
can someone please explain why giving/getting reassurance is a bad thing like.. it helps doenst it? /gen /not sarcastic/not mad
How intrusive thoughts really work? When you get a "bad thought" you usually try to cancel it with a positive word, sentence, because you feel anxious about it and try to make the anxiety go away, but that is just temporary and bad in the long run. They will return stronger and stronger everytime they rise back up, don't let your guard down! The most effective way to deal with is to acknowledge that they are here and ignore them, embrace the feeling of anxiety. It will go away and won't get any worse than this, it gets lowered by the process called habituation. Don't let it scare you! It might be frightening but it is for your own good and you can do this, you will be better. While ignoring the bad thoughts that arise, you can practice mindfulness or do what you enjoy the most!
Something I’ve noticed recently is how primitive OCD can be. It’s basically a survival technique that our brains came up with after trauma, at least for me. Like for me it works out every single possible threat I could have. It’s helpful for me to think of it like this.
I can’t stop counting and feeling out of control and scared of everything and I don’t know what to do. I feel like I can’t cope recently and I’m so embarrassed and I feel so alone because no one seems to understand ocd or know how to help.
I feel like I have no support system I feel like everyone’s problems are always more important than mine or I’m an annoyance to them I feel unwanted and alone and I just want someone to put me first for once. I’m so frustrated and this app brings me more comfort than the people around me rn.
Hey guys. I had a really good day today. Had my first therapy appointment this morning and I’m in one of those moods where I’m feeling like my OCD doesn’t even exist. I was about to say I didn’t ruminate once today but I definitely did 😂. The techniques are so so helpful though. I hope this reminds some of you that good days are absolutely possible❤️.
Just had a big fight with our daughter tonight who has severe ocd. She spent the day home from school but spent most of it sleeping /ruminating with blinds down in her room. She hates herself and can’t focus on homework. She won’t go to therapy. It got so bad tonight that we gave her an ultimatum- hospital or a therapy session. Not sure if this is the right thing to do but it is affecting our whole family and we just want to see her better and I can’t understand why she won’t seek help!
reminder!! i know mental illness can tie you down but remember to go outside, go hangout with friends, go do fun stuff, and live your life! keep yourself busy (not saying ignore your ocd) do the things you love even if it might be hard! do your erp/go to therapy. i regret not enjoying my summer so far i’ve done nothing but sit in my room and be upset, but i’m changing that now i want to have fun and so should you guys! enjoy yourselves and have a great time:) wishing you all the best and to have a good summer!
Are there any effects on studies from OCD?
I keep having these thoughts about worrying if I’m not experiencing reality and my real reality is actually something terrible happening and other people around me can only see this terrible alternative reality that’s happening to me while the real me is somehow stuck in some sort of other world. Does anyone else have thoughts like these and what should I do about them?
i don’t get any anxiety with my thoughts anymore and they don’t bother me as much. they make me very angry but i learned how to manage it and learned that not everything needs an answer!
when i first got triggered by my ocd theme i had no clue i had ocd or knew what ocd really was. which part of me wishes i never found out that i had ocd is because not knowing was easier for me to “overcome” my theme like it was so confusing to me i didn’t know why i was obsessing and freaking out but then it would suddenly go away but then fast forward to a few months ago i got triggered again and was so upset that it was back again and i was having panic attacks and crying for days then finally went to a therapist and found out it was ocd. now knowing i have ocd is so upsetting because i know i will never be the same me ever again
I literally can't get anything done because of my compulsions. I've convinced myself that if I dont do them before starting my work and my projects that I need to get done, I'll get bad karma and everything will turn out really bad. this is causing me to put everything off because I'll have to spend hours doing my compulsions until it feels right
Any advice on stopping/reducing the severity of compulsions? Getting to a point where my nightly routines are almost impossible as they are so particular
The majority of my compulsions take place as night as a part of my routine. They’ve recently gotten overwhelmingly intricate and take me at times a few hours. I’m going away on holiday with my family, and am on the edge of a breakdown as I have no idea what I’m going to do. I won’t be in my environment where the compulsions take place, nor will I be alone in order to perform them (my family don’t know the extend of my ocd… tbh I don’t even think they ever bothered to Google what it is when I was diagnosed.) I don’t know what to do. Any advice or anymore who went through a similar situation?