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the NOCD Community

I’m 17F and have always had a huge problem biting my nails, ever since I was young from my anxiety and OCD. Ive been becoming very insecure of how my nails look and It’s extremely difficult not to chew my nails though I know it’s unhygienic and in healthy. Is there any advice on how to stop this?

hello, my ocd turns me into an extreme perfectionist. i can’t take criticism well and noticed it gives me so much anxiety when anticipating it. i’m trying to learn a new language (swedish) and i even have a pen pal who’s willing to help me. i could tell in his text to me in swedish that he is providing some sort of criticism tho i’ve been so afraid to translate it cuz i get so scared that i’m being judged or thought of as stupid when really i know he’s just trying to help me. tips for dealing with this? i hate feeling like people think i’m ‘stupid’ i know it’s rooted in past experiences of bullying and social rejection etc etc

Anyone else experience this? I recently got a pair of really nice and really expensive headphones, I’m a major audiophile and passionate about music. The headphones are well built but I find that I keep inspecting them to see if there are any minor imperfections, I keep putting light pressure on different parts of the headphone to see what they can withstand, then when I do this I start to worry that I damaged them, despite no evidence of damage. Even when I’m away from them I fear that they’re just sitting there broken. It’s mildly annoying because something like that shouldn’t occupy my mind so much. I don’t want them to be broken and I like using them. Then I worry about using them because I fear even if I just touch them I’ll do something to break them. There’s nothing to indicate that something is wrong but I’m constantly worried that every time I use them the more I’m damaging them.

In India we have a stigma surrounding mental health that if I told them that I am suffering from something mentally then they firstly be bothered and secondly very less chances of finding a good therapist and thirdly money but that is not a major problem as they can go for it but I don't want their money to get wasted and fourthly what if they shout on me or say you are the only one who never became a topper of your school and always worry about stupid things and now this problem I can't tell them what I am going through so I need a therapist but getting a therapist is also not easy and I completed my high school with psychology and now entering in college to study it from next to next month and when I took this subject I never knew I am myself suffering from such a disorder but now I need help Can anyone suggest me a way to convince my parents to take me to a therapist. Sometimes I get anxiety over that I can't believe I am suffering from something mentally, like literally me as I lack acceptance and I want my therapist to make me stronger.

how do you accept uncertainty I find it impossible and so distressing? It’s ruining my life😔

so i used to not give into the compulsions because my therapist told me it would relieve me more then being subject to doing it. I started having these meltdowns and get angry and have an episode, eventually i just gave into my compulsions and tweaking every little thing. I find its so comforting and helps me forget about what im stressing about. Since ive gave in i havent had any episodes, my anger seems to have resided. I’ve also had less intrusive/impulsive thoughts. I dont know really what to do because i find myself giving into them more and more everyday but at the same time im not really upset about it. ??

If I think all things done wrong are personal failures for erp are they going to make me do personal failures?

Hey everyone. Does anyone else struggle with wanting to do things “perfectly”? I always want things to be done a certain way, and if I feel as though I’ve made a mistake, or “messed up” I have the urge to start over. How can I overcome this feeling? Thanks for reading.

Ive spent my entire high school time avoiding EVERYTHING. At the school i was in, i could get out of things pretty easily jsut by not going or crying in front of teachers. (No i didnt make myself cry i genuinely did that a lot) anyway on purpose or not, i got out of stuff. Now im doing online school and none of the teachers know me or anything about me so im failing two classes and barely passing the rest. Now that i cant avoid it im so stressed. i have NEVER been stressed about grades. HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH IT?? I try to relax, i fall asleep or forget and then the next day I have an F and am getting lectured. I dont take time to relax and i cant sleep which means i cant focus. According to my step mom i have to spend 15 hours a day working on school. Is that normal?? I have never seen this side of myself before the side that had to have his computer pried out of his hands so he will sleep instead of work or who has to be reminded to take a break instead of reminded to get out of bed. I went from 0-100 and its driving me CRAZY. HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THIS?

Everyday I wake up and I work hard to figure out how I can become a better version of myself, as if myself at this point in time and anything before this was a “worse” version of myself. I didn’t realize this was ocd until I was diagnosed but ever since I was young, I have never felt ok with who I am and it’s the reason why I even persue my dream so ruthlessly, Making music is my passion but ocd completely ruins it for me. Does anyone else feel like their ego is shattered or that they are stuck in their own head and can’t see through their own eyes?

Hello! I recovered from my severe religious themed OCD about 3 years ago. I thought my OCD had went away but I'm starting to think it's still impacting my life. Or maybe I just have high anxiety now. I have been told I'm a perfectionist and I have a huge fear that I'm not always "living correctly" which causes me to intensely compare myself to others and other things. This fear got so bad last august that I got into a relationship with an emotionally abusive person just because I thought I was falling behind. He was my first boyfriend and now I'm dealing with the affects of this. Im a baton twirler and although I'm getting better with exposure therapy.. I have anxiety attacks when I don't perform or practice perfectly. Where I can't even twirl in front of my mom right now without just shutting down and panicking because I somehow think she's judging me harshly when she's not at all. I also avoid doing assignments in school or asking questions because I have a huge fear of being considered slow or getting a bad grade. But this also makes my grades worse so it's a terrible endless cycle. I'm out of the relationship and I'm starting to take care of myself but I'm just kind of rusty on OCD knowledge and I'm trying to figure out if these are just new obsessions or if I'm just a perfectionist. Ever since I was little I've had this cronic fear of missing out or not feeling perfect for myself or others. And failure makes me flip the fuck out.

I cut someone off in the middle of what they were saying because at the last minute I knew what they were talking about. I apologized for this and how I worded what I said, and they didn't really acknowledge it but they don't seem mad at me. I feel like a really shitty person though. This is something I want to stop doing through text

I am having my last exam tomorrow and I fear what if I go blank all of a sudden thus I am controlling my anxiety but you know how will I concentrate on my exam completion if i will not be able to stop thinking about this

Hello all! I'm in the process of learning more about my OCD and I've been growing my relationship with God. Recently, I've experienced a huge roadblock to what I would like to do in future-- and that has led to significant doubt in myself and God. To be honest, I believe this stems from my perfectionism and wanting to be in control. I'm a bit conflicted because I want to believe and trust in God, but I have doubts and I'm scared of making mistakes. Has anyone else experienced this? If so, what did you do to continue grow your trust and faith in God?

I get paranoid a lot because of the feeling of being alone. I’m constantly talking to Jesus and listen to sermons and read Bible verses to help me. Due to health issues and body limitations I’m not able to clean the way I used to. Now that I have a home health aide, I’m having to adapt to someone touching my things and putting them different. I am finding myself getting annoyed with her, but I haven’t said anything. How do I deal with this?

My therapist reminded me to have more compassion with myself. That resonates in my head right now. We acknowledge all the triggers and negative thoughts...I forgot about the positive and beautiful things that's have also happened at places that trigger me. When we set unrealistic goals for ourselves, then we trigger the rush of negative thoughts. Do you give yourself the compassion you should?

I know this sounds really silly, but I cannot decide on what to eat for dinner and I've gone into a full anxiety attack. I don't know why but every time I cannot find what to eat or if I go way past my dinner time like now or my family finish eating before me I have an anxiety attack. I tried to go into the kitchen to cook but then I had just started having a panic attack and had to go back to my room. Why does this keep happening to me??

Does anyone else make a list of things that they have been told during arguments, or offhandedly, that upset them or just pops up during rumination? The lists also usually include, for me anyway, things like "don't do x, don't do y, make sure not to say z, you always (something someone said)" and I look at them any time I have confrontation with the person or experience a stressor that includes the person. Sometimes just when I am obsessing about a conversation that I had, or might have. I just can't help it, I want to make sure I don't mess up. I want to do everything I can to not be what my brain decides is Bad.

Here I am again after almost a year of thinking I was doing better but recently slumping back. Does anyone else constantly think of an event or mistake you made in the past and can’t let it go? I told my husband forever ago and he just wants me to let it go. He doesn’t understand why I’m so upset. But to me it’s like it’s the worst thing imaginable and that I’ve ruined his trust in me and I keep feeling like I should bring it up and there’s things I’m not telling him even though I have literally told him everything. Please help.

I feel like the only 23 year old who’s failing. Like, everyone I know my age is working or going to school, and neither I’ve been able to do for the last 3 years because of my mental health, and a fear of trying and failing. I tried college and it didn’t work out, I tried working and it didn’t work out, so I’ve been trying to focus on my mental health and getting stronger before trying again but now I’m at the point I feel like I’m doomed to never accomplish anything ever again. Every day when I’m doing my household chores or running errands, or doing literally any productive thing, my brain yells the whole time “you’re not doing this task good enough” and “you can’t even do this right, imagine trying to hold a job?” And when I do a task and feel accomplished for a moment, my brain says “your friends are doing way more than this at their jobs, you shouldn’t be proud at all”. I’m so scared my entire life is going to be this hard, even though I’ve made strides in my mental health journey, it still never feels good enough. It’s still so hard and I’m still so scared I’m doomed to never accomplish anything