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Hello everybody, I was wondering does anybody else get migraines from their intrusive thoughts. Let alone even just thinking? Id literally just think any thought and my head is full of anxiety and migraines . If anybody knows a good remedy or a technique please let me know. Love to hear your thoughts/experiences.

I find myself questioning things I’d never question about my life. I’m thinking I’ve actually been driven to contemplate these dark things because my ocd has pushed me over the edge. So it’s kinda that my intrusive thoughts have come true. It’s not fair! I feel super hopeless, then I get scared that I felt that way then the ocd kicks in and I start contemplating things like “it’s all hopeless I feel I am going to carry out (insert violent thought here).”. I don’t get it guys… I don’t have the money for therapy right now so crisis chats and this is my best option. I’ll definitely say ocd and my poor sleep bug habit are what has pushed me to these depths. What I don’t get though is I’m not inherently violent, I thought I was always a hopeful person on the inside, I don’t have depression. That and I love my family, I don’t want harm to come to them but the moment I get the hopelessness it makes me question wether or not it’s worth it. I’m living my worst nightmare. By the way I’m not dangerous, I don’t have any deficits in empathy what’s wrong with me. I’m in denial, I can’t believe I’m capable of genuinely thinking these things. Oh and then I have this suicidal spiral. I’ve had suicidal ocd but now I think it’s also partially true since I’ve been in such a dark spot. I know they say that if you’re not comforted by the idea of sleeping forever it prolly means it’s just ocd and well let me say it’s not comforting. Back to back I’m like “do I want to kill myself? Am I feeling that? Will I do it?” And I feel so hopeless that the thought comes in but no I DONT WANT IT. So it’s like half ocd and half my mental distress. But lord no I don’t want it and I don’t want to live in a reality where I contemplate it. Someone just help me… Why are my emotions so intense I question these things? Ocd is involved I know but I’m telling you this hopelessness had made me contemplate things that ocd wouldn’t typically do. I don’t have personality disorders or any other mental illness. HELP ME!

⚠️FLASHY GIF: Louise from Bob's Burgers laughing in front of raging fire⚠️ I'd say ~90% of my OCD is obsessive thoughts and it flipping sucks because for the most part it goes like this OCD: *insert disgusting and extremely upsetting thought here* Me: Ok PLEASE I will do ANYTHING just give me an out! OCD:

for me, i ruminate like crazy. all day, every day. 24/7 my mind is reflecting, worrying, criticizing. it’s to the point where when i meet someone new and introduce myself, i am immediately in my head thinking of all the reasons they hate me and why. i’ll literally convince myself i’m a loser or a horrible person and no one likes me. it’ll send myself into anxiety or depression spirals sometimes. but it’s literally. all. in. my. head. im recently diagnosed, and i feel like my lifelong anxiety makes so much sense now. but now i’m sooooo aware of intrusive thoughts or when my ocd is spiking. it’s exhausting.

i'm so scared to start erp as someone with contamination ocd and i honestly get so scared that it's not going to work (for me) because i genuinely can't imagine my brain not feeling like germs are scary and are gonna hurt me. like tonight i freaked out because i felt like my clean clothes touched my "dirty" shirt as i was switching over the laundry and it literally sent me into a panic attack about how hard it is to struggle with this. like how will i never find that as a threat? how will erp help that like will i have to intentionally wear dirty clothes? i'm just scared.

im having a big big panic attack right now and i cant even calm down. i get extreme anxiety when i know that someone is irritated at me . my ocd thoughts are going crazy. im not peaceful to be around . all i cause is irritation. please someone help . i cant stop crying

Hi there! I really wonder.. is anyone out there that ever worked on ERP dealing with existential OCD and managed to get through this situation? If so, any ideas? Any tips?

Hi everyone, I just wanted to share something really quick that I believe relates to Relationship ocd. For a while now, I’ve liked this guy and at some point, I felt that he probably feels the same way or had at some point. Not sure how he truly feels because he has never admitted how he feels and I haven’t either, but just from picking up the signs he’s giving me and how he acts around me, that’s how I’ve been able to determine how he feels, which has been a bit confusing, but recently, he has been trying to get closer to me by opening up to me about some personal experiences from his past and trying to develop a closer connection. Noticing this, it has made me only want to shut myself away from him bc I’m afraid to get closer for many reasons and a part of it involves ROCD I believe. I’m afraid to get close to people in general whether it’s in romantic or platonic relationships bc I feel as though I always have negative energy from my ocd that I don’t want others to be affected by or even know about. I’m afraid to open up to people about my personal experiences with ocd, especially a guy that I like that I can see myself having a relationship with. I’m afraid I’ll only scare him off or bring him down with me and he won’t be able to understand me or accept this aspect of myself and view me in the worst ways and at some point leave me if we were to ever become something. I fear this with any potential partner I may encounter in my future. I feel as though I may never find love bc who would want to be with someone that has ocd? So this causes me to not reciprocate the same energy back to him. I close myself off from him or barely say anything bc I don’t want to reveal too much about myself that involves my ocd or anything I’m ashamed of from my past. Then this thought will start to go to other thought process and insecurities I have that make me feel like I could never be loved by someone or specifically he would never like me bc I don’t feel like I am a good person or will be good enough for him and that he could find better bc of my struggles with ocd and i just feel there’s other women that are above me in many ways that he would rather be interested in and give him the happiness he’s seeking. I feel as though I lack so much as a human being and that I’m not interesting enough or beautiful in any way. Because I struggle with self love and have a fear of getting close to people bc of my ocd, I prevent anything good that could possibly happen, such as becoming vulnerable with this guy and possibly getting closer to him. All I ever feel is not like myself and I feel crippled, disabled, and lost everyday from my ocd. I don’t feel I deserve love or happiness bc of how negatively I view myself and how unforgiving I am for my past experiences where I’ve screwed up or could’ve done better with something. I’m so hard on myself and the ocd experiences I have with my thoughts only make me feel I am a bad person in many different ways based on any ocd subtype I’m experiencing with my thoughts that are scary to think about or that make you hate yourself and feel shame and distress towards. I also even doubt how he feels about me even when he’s giving me clear signs that he most likely feels the same way bc I doubt that I’m that great of a person for someone to like or even love. I don’t feel I have the potential for people to love, whether that’s in a romantic way or platonically. Maybe it’s best if I continue to close myself off from him so I won’t bring any negativity into his life bc of me. All I ever feel is that I’ll only bring negativity into peoples lives. I just don’t want to feel like this anymore and ruin opportunities for myself that could become something worthwhile. If you guys could give me your honest opinion about this, I would really appreciate it. Btw, I’ve noticed myself become like this in the past too when I’ve liked someone or been in a relationship with someone, but back then, I didn’t know I was dealing with ocd or I wasn’t experiencing so many different subtypes of ocd.

Does anyone else become nervous and upset the moment they wake up in the morning? It’s like part of me wishes I didn’t wake up or could just stay asleep. It’s scary and I’m not sure what to do in the morning when I feel like I’m trapped in bed.

I don’t really know what to do anymore. I was feeling better but started ruminating again. I have imagined acting on that horrible thing so many times to ‘test myself’ to see if I hate it and now it’s become a habit to test myself all the time and I can deliberately imagine that horrible thought and don’t feel bad about imagining it and all I’m focused on is checking how ‘I feel’ to see if I would like the feeling of doing that or not because now I’m paranoid that I like the feeling of ‘acting on the thought’ because when I imaginings it, that’s what if felt like. Even when I get a ‘shock’ or ‘goosebumps’ or pull a ‘ew’ kind of face when having the thought I still don’t believe I’m good, no matter how much I prove myself to be a good person I still don’t believe it and it feels so scarily real and I don’t know if I’m actually bad and like the feeling of doing that (which is a really scary thing to feel/think about, it’s so dark and horrible) or whether I’m just confused and would never actually do that, I’m really worried tbag I like the feeling of imagining doing that because I can’t explain it but that’s what it feels like and now it’s just awful situation, now I’m worried I like some sick feeling (it’s about smothering) and it’s so scary to be worrying that it feels like you like the feeling of doing that from imagining it and it’s really scary. I test myself all the time and it’s just not good, because it’s like if I’m a good person how can I so easily imagine these things and not feel bad anymore? All I’m focused on is testing how I feel and I don’t get anxious about having the thoughts or anything, I should be repulsed at the idea of the thoughts and know for definite I would never want to do that but now it’s just all confusing and it feels like I don’t even know what the truth is anymore, I’m really confused and don’t know what to do, I keep having angry emotional outbursts of arguing and crying and I’m super sensitive and get irritated all the time and in a way I feel angry that I have to go through this, why me?? Why do I have to go through this? It’s so unfair

Curious about a persons likes/dislikes. Lately I've been asking the same person random fact questions about themselves. And after I get an answer, my intrusive thoughts find more questions to ask about what they like. And if I don't ask them, I ruminate wondering what it is and that's what causes anxiety until I get an answer. I truly don't care not one bit about this persons likes or dislikes, but my ocd does for some weird reason. It makes me feel crazy. Anyone else deal with something like this? Or know someone who does?

I have been with my SO going in 13 years now. We met in college and have been together ever since. We got married in 2021 and welcomed a baby girl in the world last year. I had a severe mental breakdown in 2013 that landed me in the hospital because I was contemplating suicide. That breakdown nearly destroyed our relationship. I had severe intrusive thoughts and felt the need to tell him all of them. I felt like if I didn’t tell him, I was lying. I destroyed his self esteem, telling him all of the mean thoughts I had about him. I would feel the need to tell him anytime I saw an attractive guy in public, I questioned our relationship and told him I wasn’t sure if I loved him anymore. It was bad and very dark. Fast forward to now and I feel like I’m letting him down in different ways. I don’t feel the need to tell him every thought I have now but since having my daughter my OCD and depression seem to be getting worse. I just feel like I’m no longer happy and my daughter should’ve had a mom that wasn’t damaged like me. Didn’t have the abusive childhood like me. Wasn’t broken like me. I feel so much guilt. It’s putting such a strain on our relationship and I feel like my husband deserves someone better. Someone whose happier.

Hello there! I'm Greg, 23 years old. I come from Greece. The truth is I've been a pretty anxious and sensitive human being all my life. Whatever may have happened, small or big, would always make me feel sad, anxious and desperate. 5 years ago, in 2018, there came a disaster for me. Returning to my homeland due to Christmas holidays, I've found my dad laying on bed with severe leg paralysis. I've also found my grandpa hospitalised in a life or death situation. That's where the panic attacks came. For about 2 weeks straight I couldn't even see what's happening in front of me. And that's where the existential intrusive thoughts came. And the OCD burst out. I lost my grandpa and a month later my grandma, his wife. A year later, in 2019, my other grandpa died also. All this time I couldn't even realise this. "Is this really happening? Am I dead? Someone has to be joking. Am I real? Do I even exist? Do they exist? Can they see me?". Those are some of the questions I've been suffering about 5 years now. The last 2 years I've been working with a psychiatrist/psychotherapist. I'm on medication too. The truth is that 2022 has been better and better for me. Existential intrusive thoughts were silenced. Even if they were back, it seemed like they couldn't even stay. Unfortunately, in December, after reducing my pill dose (Enlift) for a long period (my psychiatrist suggested this) and not being able to see him and work on my problem.. my existential OCD came back hard. 2 months now I've been suffering again. I continue working with him, the medication was again increased. He says that the reason behind this comeback is a stressful period I was into. And that those thoughts and fears will again vanish in a period of time. But I really feel like they don't. It may became a bit easier compared to 2 months earlier but I really keep ruminating and believing my fearfull thoughts. Three weeks now I'm fighting not to believe that I'm alone and nobody is even existing. Like everyone isn't there and I'm the only one see them. There are times where I feel better and even worse. But I have been informed about ERP. I found this app by being really lucky. I'm seeing that many of you have been helped out. And I'm just seeking for ERP cause here in Greece.. ERP isn't even widely known. Is there anyone that can help me in this? Thank you in advance.

i woke up this morning with anxiety and i started spiraling and i had to continuously tell myself that i’m okay and i’m fine which i feel as if i’m doing it over and over again. my ocd is telling me that since it’s been a few good days that i want all of these things to happen and be real. im hoping to be able to move forward after this morning. does anyone else get like this or feel this way or is it just me?

Once again, haven’t been on this app in a while. But lately I’ve been feeling how I was again. Some days I’ll completely forget about my worries and then I’ll suddenly remember again and then everything becomes a trigger AGAIN. I start coming up with these conclusions and what ifs and getting the most anxious feeling. I still try and move on with my day and I have gotten wayyy better at moving on. When it first started happening it’s almost like I accept my fate and decide to do nothing and let myself go completely. And soon would have anxiety attacks to the extreme like every other day. Now I try to move on but my brain is fighting me. It keeps telling me that one day I’m gonna make a horrible mistake and the only way to stop myself is ending my life. Which I do my absolute best to not let that persuade me. But it gets really tough. More than what it looks like on the outside. I feel like giving up so often but I don’t. I look back at my life and think what went wrong. But I guess this is just life. Bad things happen. And we just have to keep going. There’s a few things coming up in my life that I’m feeling anxious about because I’m scared I’ll make a mistake or that I’ll have anxiety and ruin everything. I know that’s just me trying to avoid things. But the fear is absolutely real. There’s been so many days I wanted to look something up to see if I’m right about something and I don’t because whether or not I get a good answer, I won’t get any long term relief. I will always come up with something new. And it’s exhausting. I’m also scared that one day it won’t go away at all and I’ll just completely give up. Who knows though. I just want to say I’m proud of how far I’ve come even if it’s not much.

If you dont want to break up with someone does that mean you shouldnt? Like how do you know if you should or not

Ok so I’ve started ERP about a month ago. It’s been really tough and I think I’m a little resistant to the work BECAUSE it’s so anxiety inducing. Although I don’t want to be. Could someone please clarify for me what the eventual goal with ERP is? I had thought the responses were supposed to help me “accept” the thoughts, aka feel relief. Now I believe I was using them as a compulsion. It can feel so shitty to sit with the intrusive thoughts, I don’t understand how to do that yet. I worry that it will never get better. Also one thing I really struggle with is believing my thoughts are 100% real. Makes it hard to accept. Makes me feel like a shitty person. Does anyone have any advice?

I have contamination issues and I now work at a grocery store. I got fired from my last job, at a hardware store, for being drunk thanks to lack of coping, and now I work here. When I was working there, it wasn't so bad because people mostly bought tools and lumber and hardware stuff. But now, I'm at my 3rd day here, haven't even been properly trained yet and I can tell this is going to be a nightmare. Its harder because people consume it. Not just produce either but boxes and stuff too. And people don't wash that nor do some people even wash the produce. They have hand sanitizer by the registers and I keep some on me at all times but I'm not sure how I am going to be able to work here. Theres also kids who come in with their parents to buy food and i have pocd too and i know thats gonna be a problem. It hasnt bothered me too much yet but i know its gonna make me uncomfortable. Todays my first day on the floor. I can't quit though. Anyone have any suggestions?

I have been struggling with ROCD and recently learned that my girlfriend has had a lot of casual sex and has slept with around 30 people in her past. I never did casual hookups and am now getting intrusive thoughts of her sleeping with all those different people and intense jealousy and disgust. I feel like my attraction to her is gone and I can’t imagine touching her again. I hate that I feel this way and wish it wasn’t the case but I’m not sure if I can get past it. I’m not religious and generally sex positive, it’s just not something I ever found attractive. Just wondering if anyone else has dealt with this and can these feelings go away with time?

Hi there! I’ve just recently received my OCD diagnosis and found out that I’ve just been raw-dogging OCD since I was a young child. Im considering taking medication to help me and my therapist suggested Zoloft. Has anyone taken Zoloft for OCD/anxiety? Any side effects that I would want to be aware of from personal experience? Thanks !!