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My son has been diagnosed with OCD, but the therapist that we are seeing doesn’t specialize in OCD. They put him on medication that caused severe side effects. After we stopped the medication, they just seem to almost wash their hands of the situation. This is a center with therapists, psychiatrists, an inpatient unit, a detox, a built-in pharmacy, etc. Yet, they can’t help my child unles it’s through medication. I’m fine with meds if they improve quality of life, but they harmed my child when he tried their first line of defense med for OCD in children. The other meds are in the same class, and we just can’t risk what happened to happen again. Just a little while ago my son and his dad were playing a video game. I guess my son hit a wrong button by mistake. This sent him on a loop of having to reset the game a handful of times. He needed my husband to reset his end of the game too. My husband didn’t understand what was happening, and this led to more emotion and frustration from my son. At this point my husband is upset, so I come in to defuse the situation. I’ve learned that the calmer I am, the better. My husband is trying, but he gets overwhelmed with the behavior. This is our life on repeat. I am so afraid for my child. We need help. Does anyone have any advice in dealing with OCD in children. I just want my son comfortable and happy again. Thank you, Christine

tried eating some chips after more than a year of avoiding them (fearing something bad will happen if i do) and got extremely anxious so i left gc with my friends for 5 days and forbade myself from texting my wife until tomorrow to “balance” it. this is actually so fucked up but i can’t stop these thoughts, i don’t feel like i’m in control at all

After many years of thinking I might have ocd, it’s official. It is nice to feel seen and to have an answer finally but it’s also really scary, mostly because I’m about to start Prozac and I’ve never taken any mental health medications. Anyone have experiences to share? I’m so scared of the side effects but I know I need to start something. My provider suggested finding a support group as I have no family and friends to support me during this time, right now I’m feeling very scared and alone 😔

Have you guys ever been on a couple dates and out of nowhere they say they are not feeling it. Like basically ghost you. My OCD want me to get and answer on what I did wrong or etc. I sent out one message but I am restraining myself to give in my compulsions to find an answer. It’s hurts so much 😢

im scared again that it’s not ocd and i actually think like this. i can’t get out of bed

When I was 16, I slept with a guy right after I got out of a two-year-long abusive relationship. We acted like we were dating but I told him I didn’t want to commit to a relationship, because it would make me feel trapped. My first relationship really messed me up and I thought all relationships meant I was “owned” or something. The guy I’m seeing said that’s okay. I was on different social medias and sometimes guys would message me flirty things and stuff and I’d kinda reciprocate. I had this constant need for validation because I didn’t like myself at all after how my first boyfriend treated me. I was on my phone a ton, sometimes responding to those texts from random people, and I think the guy I was seeing kinda suspected something was up. But we weren’t officially dating, and I didn’t think I was cheating, because we weren’t committed. Even though what I was doing was generally shitty behavior, I didn’t consider the messages themselves cheating. The guy I was seeing at 16 left after a couple months, both of us were immature but he said he left because of how I wouldn’t let him be my boyfriend. I really liked the guy, actually, I loved him, but he wasn’t coming back, I thought. In December that guy messaged me and now we’re dating, officially. I’m 18 and he’s 19 now. I told him recently, before we officially called each other boyfriend and girlfriend, that I was “sorry I didn’t want someone to have me all to themselves,” and that “I was immature and wanted to be a hoe.” He told me that he knew full well what he was getting into when he decided to start talking with me right after I got out of that terrible relationship I had beforehand. He also said he had a lot of changes to make, too. I mean, he’s right, he did have changes to make. He drank a lot, was pretty obsessed with porn, and screwed me over a lot and hurt me (emotionally) many times. But he’s very different now and I love him lots. Today I woke up and just had this terrible feeling. I started thinking and thinking and thinking and realized that I feel guilty. I feel like I cheated on him, and that I shouldn’t be with him now because of how shitty I was when we were younger. I feel like I have to “confess” to him or something, even though he says both of us changed and we love each other lots. I’m not saying that me being abused is an excuse for my behavior before but as an explanation, I was really messed up in the head after leaving my first boyfriend. I viewed relationships as some kind of weird power game like “get them before they get me” because I didn’t want to be the one getting hurt. And I’ve been in therapy for years since then, I’ve learned how to get over my obsessive need for validation, and I know how to have a truly healthy relationship now, and realize I had it all wrong. I don’t talk to hardly any guys except for me and my boyfriend’s mutual friends and I’m always checking myself to make sure I’m not “accidentally cheating” because I obsess over it. But I can’t shake this feeling that my boyfriend should leave me, because of how I was before. I love him so much and would never want to hurt him, so I can’t stand knowing that I hurt him in the past. What’s worse is the notion that maybe he has no idea about me flirting with people over text before, doesn’t really understand what I meant when I apologized for being how I was, and he thinks I’m amazing when really I was terrible when I was younger. I know I’ve told him I’m sorry for how I was, and I’m sorry that I wouldn’t let us be committed before, and he forgives me, but I still feel like I’m hiding something, like he just needs to know how awful I am. Even though that’s not me anymore! All I want is to make up for any pain I caused him and give him the world, because he deserves it. This whole thing feels catastrophic and it feels like my world is ending. I can’t stop crying and am so upset at myself. For the past couple weeks each day there’s been a new thing that I’m convinced I need to tell him about or I’m a liar and a bad person. Last week, I was completely sure I had HIV and was giving it to him despite me having no real reason to think I had HIV; I just remembered my doctor forgot to test me for it on my STD panel. My boyfriend asked in December if I was clean and I said yes, so when I saw I wasn’t tested for HIV I panicked, because what if I had it and gave it to him and he thinks I’m a liar because I told him I was clean and now both of our lives are ruined? So I went to Target, paid FOURTY dollars, and bought an HIV swab test. It came out negative. Then a few days later, I’m panicking about if I have syphilis, despite never sleeping with anyone who’s had it or having symptoms myself, because I found out that test wasn’t on my STD panel either. So I panicked over that for a good while, too. It’s like every day there’s something new I’m freaking out about and this latest thing about my past behavior is the worst, and I can’t tell if this amount of guilt is reasonable or if I’m just having an OCD spiral because I haven’t been in a relationship in forever and now it’s become my new focus. Do I seem like I should feel this guilty? Or do I sound like I’m overthinking? Maybe if I have to ask myself, it’s OCD but I genuinely can’t tell this time. I’ve been in therapy for my OCD too and this is the first spiral-ish type incident I’ve had in a very long time, although maybe it’s not OCD and I’m just guilty and trying to use OCD as an excuse. Sorry for the rant. I haven’t had a spiral like this in ages and I don’t see my therapist particularly soon so I’m just dumping stuff.

hi everyone, welcome to my first post. i’m not exactly sure where to start so i’ll just share a little bit of my story. i always considered myself “normal” growing up, no issues mentally. then after covid hit, i was 17 when it started, i was severely depressed, and anxious; but it was manageable because it was situational, the world had been put on pause so it was easy for me to understand why i was feeling those ways. then it became general. the depression and anxiety weren’t geared towards covid or the loss of a normal life anymore, now it felt permanent. then, the OCD behaviors slowly started showing up. the urges and thoughts grew more and more intense and now it’s a couple years later and i’m 21 now and i learned to to pull myself out of my dark places but the one thing i can’t shake is the OCD. it paralyzes me, i live my life in fear and anger because i can’t go more than an hour without doing something because i feel like i HAVE to or else something bad will happen, or i’ll just simply feel so uncomfortable if i don’t complete the urge that it will consume my mind if i don’t give in. i have reoccurring urges that i know will come up when i do certain things (like i have to click my phone on and off and set and then unset my alarms 3 times before i go to bed and if i don’t do it perfectly or it doesn’t feel right then i have to do it again, BUT i don’t like the number 6 so if i do my alarms 3 more times then 3 + 3 = 6 and that feels uncomfortable. therefore i have to do it 3 additional times so that it lands on 9) OR i’ll get 1 time urges that just happen out of nowhere in the moment and i don’t do them religiously. if i were to make a list of every urge that i do everyday, it would take me years to write all of that. it is absolutely exhausting. i’m so tired of living this way and feeling like a prisoner in my own body. i feel like i’m a puppet and something is controlling me 24/7. i want control of my life again. i don’t want to be constantly consumed by these thoughts and urges. i don’t want to feel like my family is going to die just because i thought that in my head (it makes me scared even just typing that right now because i feel like it’s going to happen because of me). i live all day every day like this and i’m just drained. i really could use some help, i haven’t been able to see anyone about this and i don’t know where to start. please leave any advice on how you guys deal with your OCD and soothe your mind. i just want to be at peace in my own head. thank you guys so much for reading, it feels good to get this off my chest.

Feel like I may have done something that has harmed someone. I’ve been doing all the research on the legality today and even talked to the person about it and they said they don’t really care. It was 4 years ago and I can’t find anything about the statute of limitations on the crime so I feel like I should just tell the police now :(

I have a problem with saying affirmations in my head. Like for example I’ve had bad intrusive thoughts calling children hot, which is disgusting and I feel gross typing that. But I guess because I’m afraid of it happening again that sometimes if I have a bad thought I’ll affirm “I don’t find children ___” or “I don’t want to hurt them, I don’t want to harm them” to make myself feel better. But sometimes, like I just came across a tiktok about Coraline and I without thinking affirmed in my head that I don’t find her attractive. So then I was uncomfortable because I realized wait a minute, I didn’t even have a thought saying that she was, I literally don’t think she is at all she’s a child character. But it bothers me because I’ve done this without thinking several times now. So then I guess because I said that in my head, I feel like I brought on bad thoughts because I had the thought that she was attractive, which is a lie but I feel like I forced the thought on accident because I affirmed to myself that I don’t see her that way. And to make it worse then I had a thought saying “see, I can have intrusive thoughts saying that she is” and that really freaks me out because NO. If I want to have an intrusive thought saying that, then it’s not intrusive it’s wanted. And it’s completely unwanted. I feel so defeated this is so hard to deal with, it feel so real and that I’m just looking for excuses. I DONT like these thoughts and I don’t want them. It’s so frustrating I literally have no attraction to children and I have no desire to be this person my brain is trying to convince me I am. I don’t have an OCD diagnosis and it just makes me feel like I’m saying oh I probably have pocd as a coverup. I apologize I keep writing so much on here lately I need to take a break after this.

What to do? So now my mother is refusing my OCD therapy, despite it's chronic from where it has been untreated so long. Not to mention its causes heart attacks and panic attacks and mental breakdowns. She's puts pressure on me. No Idea why I'm here? And why she even adopted me at all? For this? This is bs. The treatment I am getting. Not to mention when I admitted needing help, seeing doctors and getting treatment. Dakira then desides she does as well, I'm like okay, take me Seriously, this isn't fun, or, funny at all, I am on the edge of going so insane. My therapist thank goodness changed my appointment from 29th to the 16th and she acts as if this isn't something to care about...I'm done she can neglect me like she has been most all my life. But, to avoid my appointment schedule and important mental assessment artenuary is another. This is important to me, my health and my mental state of being, of that doesn't matter to her, I will call 911 and we can settle this in a court room. They will see my missed appointment and if I go off well, easy, she should have took me to my appointment,bout to ask to see if a friend can. This whole thing, her lack of support isn't safe on my end, I don't feel safe. Normally I don't talk at all, that's me .but, this is to much pressure. I'm about to go nuts Not only this, but I need meds and a better lifestyle than my living style now. I don't feel safe at all, she doesn't even know what OCD is and why people have it, say I don't clean? Yeah, because she doesn't give me my money enough to clean and doesn't understand noone can offord this mental illness. She doesn't get it's a struggle, doesn't try to help. She just sits on her ass watching TV and doing other things, not even asking, "Do you jeed anything?" I never cross her mind, she doesn't even get it, I fear my son's safety as he may have this as well, as for him I know he's safe since he is small it's easier to catch it and treat it. But, to do this, to love this way chronic with no medication is doing me in mentally and physically. It's too much to handle. So if I go nuts, it's not My fault.

Idk why OCD has latched onto my sister but she’s my other half & I started comparing us out the blue one day.. and the dogs go to her more so i’ve been feeling so rejected and low.. and my mind said well what if she wasn’t here anymore? i would never harm my sister or ever want to.. i really want to be okay again.. i was just okay a couple weeks ago and now im so sad & scared!

The last couple of days i’ve been able to keep my ocd at bay and have been ocd free but now i’m having ocd in my dreams. This is so upsetting. 😪 Does this happen to anyone else?

Is this OCD? My brain will always say “if you don’t do this certain thing then this will happen” none of the stuff ever happens if I don’t do it but I always end up with this terrible feeling for days from resisting the compulsion. I’m still ruminating on the same thing. Anyone else feel this too?

I’m 23 years old almost 24 and when I was 20 I was so obsessed with the idea of being an mma fighter so I trained for a bit and then almost had a fight and in the midst of training for it I started to get really really anxious and wasn’t really sure if I wanted to do it (not so sure I like actually fighting as much as the idea) I ended up not going through with the fight and after that everything went bad for a while with severe panic attacks and constantly searching google for answers and my girlfriend was studying a book about a psychopath and from that point on I was in distress that I was going to turn out like a pedo or killer constantly searching for answers trying to figure out what was going on cause the thought of harming someone made me ill and panic and cry for days on end. I finally got over it by working and I ended up starting training again and I fought once and lost and I had some anxiety towards it like normal but here I am in the midst of training again and now I am stuck on do I wanna do this do I like this or do I just like the idea of it and I’ve been having off an on serious anxiety about it and I’m not really sure I’m so confused and scared because I don’t want to regret not doing it but I can’t seem to figure out whether I enjoy doing it or if I just like the thought of it. I’m not sure if I actually have ocd never been diagnosed I have an appointment soon with someone who hopefully will help. Sorry for the long post but Idl what else to do

I believe I was in elementary school, maybe 5th grade? I already long had ocd at this point, especially the 'I have to do this specific thing or else this bad thing will happen'. I didn't know why this was or why I thought like this at the time. All I knew was I didn't want to be like this. I was already the werid loser who got severely bullied in school and my mom was really harsh on me talking about my feelings or any problems I had. No where in my life did I feel safe to tell anyone what I was thinking or how I was suffering. So, back to my experience. I was in 5th ish grade and my mom was taking us to Walmart. It was the middle of winter and I had an electric oil heater in my room. It was on 24/7 as we didn't have heating in the home (we grew up extremely poor). So I put on my boots and as I was putting them on I thought, "If I don't change into my other boots my oil heater will catch on fire." I decided finally to lwt this thought pass, acknowledge it but not do it and keep the boot I was place on, on. This was the first time I let the thought pass and not do what it wanted me to. We started to leave and I remembered to grab something from my room and much to my horror, the plug in to my oil heater was on fire. It was an electrical fire, I took off my hoodie and beat the fire out. I was able to unplug it and never told my parents what happened. This had made it extremely hard to ignore these thoughts even much much later on in life.

I see people living their lives and just enjoying themselves. Not taking things too seriously and not overly stressing. And then there’s me. Who stresses at the slightest thing. Whose OCD has taken massive chunks of my life that I’ll never get back. It feels like I’m going through life just terrified of my own f*cking shadow… Any small thing I have to deal with that to anyone else might just cause slight inconvenience or nervousness, causes me to have an almost complete and utter breakdown. WHY CANT I HANDLE LIFE. I am so ashamed of who I am. I want to be someone who is brave and courageous and who does things and lives life anyway, regardless of fear. But no. I avoid living because of it. Why am I even here if this is how my life is? What is the point? I’m going through it today, friends 😭

So it started i think a month ago when i saw a video about a psyhopath and it said that they start by killing animals when they are young and when i was younger i was killing grasshoppers and from that day i had a fear in my head what if im a psyhopath and don’t know it. i couldn’t get the fear out of my head its like alaways on my mind and i got so scared that something is wrong with me so i started googling stuff because i was so scared that i have a mental illnes so i started reading about stuff one google and i saw a illnes called Schizophrenia and i read about it and when i saw the symptoms i got scared that i have them because i have felt kinda stuck in my mind because of the fear and now im scared that im in the early stage of schizophrenia. Please i just want the fears to stop someone give me advice i just want to live a happy life and focus on my school but its hard because of my fears please how do i know that i dont have schizophrenia because i have read about it i feel like i actually have the symptoms im so tired i would love some i advice please

Hi I can’t afford therapy but feel I have ocd but don’t have a diagnosis I’m constantly changing my mind about whether I’ve got ocd or not so I’m stop stating erp therapy that I do alone. What can I do?

I’m getting thoughts that I’m following women. I did see a nice looking woman on my way to the river and I did go a bit like a meerkat but we went in separate directions. Now I’m sitting by the river being paranoid that I’m staring at white women… I’m white. I’m thinking the women are too young too when they are well past it being an issue even if I was interested. In other news the flower children at the river were eating thali and I said hello so I got POCD exposure. I’ve promised then chalk whenI get paid and every day they are asking for chalk lol. The chalk will cost £1 for forty coloured sticks. They can make extra money drawing for tourists and it is a bargain for me. I’ve told the tea stand nearby that he should sell chalk as I’m sure the children would continue to get chalk long after I move on that way. I honestly feel like I’ll be in the news rn and they will use my messages and social media as evidence. I know I have had a lot of caffeine and I said this would happen.

on the daily i shower for 2-3 hours. i dont understand why but i spend so much time being paranoid of being dirty or touching something dirty in the shower that i constantly keep washing nonstop. i spend like 20 minutes washing my hands in the shower before i even touch my shampoo, then after i finish my shower i spend 20 more minutes washing my hands. i also developed a bad habit of cleaning the knob that controls the water because i believe it is very dirty. this is very exhausting and hard to live with, so can anyone share some advice?