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In a week I have a doctors appointment for my anxiety / panic attacks & lately I’ve been having intrusive random thoughts. I was sitting changing my sister and I randomly thought “ what if I make her uncomfortable “ then later that day I was feeding my kitten when I grabbed him and feared I would hurt him when I knew I didn’t want to. I’m so confused & I hate having to wait another week because although it’s only been 2 days it feels like a endless loop. I hate feeling like I’m a bad person. Should I bring this up to my doctors and does anyone have any tips ?

I’m 99% sure I have some form of undiagnosed adhd and 100% sure I have undiagnosed ocd I have been suffering with my mental health since March 2020 i have really important exams coming up but I can’t sit still focus or concentrate properly idk what to do

I’m just so sick of all of this. It’s a struggle just to stay alive each day and I have no idea when the next disaster will strike. I’m so behind in school because I’m so disturbed that I can’t concentrate on anything but my thoughts. And when I have a rare good day, I don’t waste it on schoolwork because I haven’t felt like that in ages and want to make the most out of it, and I don’t know when I’ll be able to feel like that again. (And it never lasts long) Nothing is going my way anymore and I don’t know why I’m even still here sometimes.

I am really scared I am 15 and I just feel horrible am scared I really am

has anyone else experienced loss or less attraction towards people that they’re usually attracted to depending on their theme? This is something I’ve been dealing with, feeling like I don’t care to be sexual with people my age anymore and it makes it seem all more real.. I’m guessing I doubt my attraction so much and that’s what causes it? Idk anyone have advice that knows more?

there’s a severe lack of characters with ocd, and the ones that have it always have the very stereotypical ocd and it’s frustrating. are there ANY characters with actual ocd representation?

Hi! Tmr me and my mom are supposed to meet with a therapist to talk about how I think I have ocd.The thing is I’m scared they won’t know much about ocd and will think I’m weird. I wanted to meet with a NOCD therapist instead but my mom is pretty dismissive( although she tries her best) and thinks I just have anxiety and shouldn’t worry about ocd. She gets a bit upset when I bring it up and says we’ll see what this therapist says but I’m really scared to talk about everything and also don’t know if they even understand ocd, Any advice??

“You have power over your mind—not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” [granted, we don’t have absolute power over our minds, but we can still do ERP lol]

I dont want to believe in god or any spiritual being, but my ocd makes me believe in it, i always think that god is going to punish me for doing my rituals and if i dont do it i think im going to manifest it. so tired of that lmao, if any of you guys have any ways to become an atheist please tell me i feel that it would help me so much specially with my ocd.

I spent a long time completely lost in my OCD. I’ve had a few themes, and all of them completely distorted reality for me. However, when I reflect on my time spent with HOCD, it’s truly baffling to me just how much having HOCD completely distorts reality. I’m sure that anyone with HOCD automatically recognises what it means to have the theme. Fundamentally, it’s no different then any other theme, be it perfectionism, germ OCD, the list goes on; but there are superficial differences that make the theme seem much different than others. I’ve always considered myself straight; I never really contemplated the idea. It was just a quality I had, just as trivial as having blue eyes - people don’t truly meditate on the fact that they have blue eyes, generally. Of course, that was until the advent of this theme. It was like the ground beneath me fell apart, and all of a sudden, every single aspect of my once clear sexuality became imperceptible. I began, for about a year and a half, constantly questioning and attempting to reassure myself of who I was attracted to. At times, I’d be completely convinced that I wasn’t straight, and that I was at the very least bisexual. Even in those moments, a voice in the back of my mind disagreed, but I always doubted it to be valid, and my HOCD regarded it as a desire to be heterosexual, rather than actually being heterosexual. As the months passed and I grew more acquainted with obsessive compulsive disorder, I began to figure out ways that I could get over it. I learnt to stop avoiding my triggers, and to stop using reassurance to settle my triggers. This was enormous for me, and I no longer struggle with HOCD, basically at all. OCD is a chronic condition, so I’m not free of obsessions, I have the occasional doubt, and admittedly engage in reassurance behaviour every so often. But, if I was to be assessed, I would not be anywhere near the threshold for diagnosis - which is huge. I know I’m straight now, and the idea of my sexuality wavering in the future doesn’t bother me. Everything that used to trigger me barely effects me anymore. It’s true that HOCD stifles your attraction to your preferred gender, which is just the result of OCD being so good at completely distorting reality. Everything you feel with OCD, and everything you start to believe, is just OCD. I’m aware that may be reassurance, but I know that so many people NEED to hear that. I was in the gutter, and I did not ever see myself climbing out - but I did, and if I could, then there’s no doubt in my mind that everyone who was in my position CAN TOO.

I cant stop sobbing. I’m fully convinced i’m a narcissist. I saw this tik tok and it said “when you’re having a blast with your family and look over and see the narc getting upset because you’re finding happiness in something other than them.” and with my gf (now ex gf sorta) whenever i would see her show care for her family or have a really good time with friends and family without me, sometimes i would get sad or anxious or even jealousy or annoyed :/ once i noticed i really tried to suppress it but i couldn’t stop. i definitely have ROCD and codependency but i feel like there’s no explanation for this behavior with those things. i’m destroyed. even at her father’s funeral there were times when my mind latched on to some of her actions and i started to get anxious/annoyed. it was just completely illogical. but once she did something to show care for me again i’d calm down. I just want to be able to have a loving relationship with someone.

I accidentally said something thinking it was the correct thing to say. But I realized that it’s not. And then I tried to correct it. Idk what to do!

Anyone else finds it difficult to live and stay present while exposing yourself to these irrationals fears,and then outta nowhere your mind throws you these flashbacks that if you just do these rituals you could continue with your life,career,goals etc

Look into Thich Nhat Hanh’s steps and definition and practices of mindfulness because it’s a lot more than just this thread. But, as an introduction... To put it really simply, mindfulness is being present for EVRRYTHING you do. Eating, drinking, breathing, watching a movie, playing video games, listening to your friend while they’re having an issue, and on and on. The moment you catch yourself drifting away, you compassionately bring yourself back to the present moment. This is teaching your brain to stay present and not drift while also detaching from your intense feelings and thoughts. That’s why it’s so important for everyone’s mental health.

The sooner we allow ourselves to feel the temporary discomfort of ERP, the sooner we will start to feel better. Yes, ERP can feel really uncomfortable and scary and/or "reckless", but feelings aren't always facts, and not only are those feelings of discomfort *temporary*, but THE HEALING IS IN THEM! That freedom you want from your OCD, is in doing the hard work of temporarily feeling icky.

I can feel myself becoming my thoughts!!!!! What do I do each day it’s more real and today and yesterday evening it feels like it’s 100% reality. Idk what to do?!?!? It’s like it doesn’t even bother me any more and then every now and then I have a moment of clarity where I feel and think the way I want to and then the OCD comes back even more real and strong!!!

I realized I have OCD a couple of weeks ago, andy current fixation is about my sexuality. I’ve known I was bi for many years, and came out to myself in 2018, but there’s been this nagging thought in the back of my head that I’m actually just gay, and any feeling I had towards the opposite sex was fake or just “aesthetic attraction”. I tried looking up coming out stories of people who realized they were gay after being “straight”, and I got freaked out. I know OCD makes you doubt everything, but I don’t remember doubting myself this much when I came out as bi in 2018. Accepting uncertainty is tough, and I know the feelings I had in the past for everyone were genuine, but this OCD never stops. First it hopped from me worrying about getting some rare disease, then it made me worry if I hit someone on the road, and now it’s latched onto my sexual identity.

I'm crying so fucking hard. I'm 14 and like last year when i was 13 almost 14 i had an online friend who was 12 almost 13 and anyways we were very good pals but one day they just blocked me, and i reached out to one of their friends who was actually an irl friend of theirs and asked them why and they said it was an accident so then they unblocked me. like a week passed and they blocked me again. they kept doing this until they told me they actually didn't want to be friends with me anymore, i was so upset and i asked why and they kept saying they had a valid reason but didn't want to tell me, then they just told me it was because i was "annoying" and anyways we stopped being friends. later on i had a group chat with someone who knew that one friend i had so we talked about them a LOT and we started saying bad stuff abt them (not too bad i think you know kinda like bullying but they weren't in the group) and then someone added them and we started messing around with them and they didn't seem to care until they just left the group. so anyways i had added their other account to the group chat, but it was an account that they didn't use in a lot of time so i don't think they have it anymore. this happened some months ago and i genuinely feel so fucking bad even tho they probably didn't care much. but im crying so much im legit in tears. and now I'm dying with anxiety because since I'm not the owner of the group i can't remove their other account so what if one day they just log in and see everything? I'm legit so scared I'm such a horrible person i was influenced by the other people in the group chat to bully them but i know it's not an excuse I'm such a horrible person i want to disappear

i know that my intrusive thoughts most likely worsened because i’ve been a bit stagnant and depressed. i’ve been disconnected from the real word honestly. i don’t go to school or work, i rarely leave the house. these are things i desperately want to change to better myself. i’ve been job hunting and whatnot, but being active in general is so hard. constantly carrying around the shame of OCD is tiring even in my own home. it weighs me down until i want to do absolutely nothing.

Don’t alter your behavior for OCD—or any mental illness. When you do, you’re signaling to your OCD/brain that what it’s doing is good and to keep doing it. Example: You have an intrusive thought about germs, so you wash your hands 5 times, then 10 times, and now it’s up to 20 times. And your OCD is pushing you to wash your hands 30 times now. The more you give in and alter your behavior, the worst it’s going to get. Don’t give into your OCD. Do the opposite it wants you to do, in fact. Does your OCD want you to wash your hands 10 times? Wash your hands once, and better yet? Lay on the carpet and do a carpet angel. Roll around in the floor! Does your OCD not want you to go outside and instead stay in bed all day? Go outside and enjoy the day. Run errands, go see a movie, go eat out. Be rebellious against your OCD.

I'm so annoyed at my OCD because whenever I have something I'm excited about, or when life is going good, it rears its head and convinces me I don't deserve nice things. This time I'm suffering from false memories, literally spending every hour of the day thinking about something that happened months ago but over the course of the last two weeks my OCD has spun it completely out of control, adding in events that I know in my heart didn't happen, and making me feel guilty for absolutely no reason. I'm now convinced I'm an awful horrible person for something that never even happened lol Not sure what this post is I'm just really annoyed, I want to be able to enjoy myself and get excited over things without that tiny voice in the back of my head telling me I don't deserve it because I'm a bad person :( Just really struggling atm. Any advice or kind words would be appreciated 💕💙

How to stop real event?

I constantly feel the alarm at the back of my mind, this tainted, guilty feeling, fear my ocd or distress and disgust will come back . I don’t want to feel like this for the rest of my life

So I am a female, and I tend to have intrusive thoughts, like sexual ones, and sometimes I have this weird turn on feeling down there, and feels like a throbbing feeling down there, and I get anxious afterwards, Also had this event where i thought seeing a kid touch the outside of his diaper and had a turn on feeling and didn’t touch myself but did this squeezing thing down there, that i feel awful about, and i’m really scared, i’m not looking for reassurance or anything like that, more so someone to relate too, I am truly struggling and feel like a terrible person, too the point to where I have self harmed over this situation and these feelings I have..

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.

#1 Feelings are not facts. Sometimes they are helpful and at other times they are not. You don't have to ignore them and you don't have to follow them either. Learn to separate your behaviour from your feelings. #2 As scary as the contents of your thoughts are, it's not the content itself that drives your OCD but rather the process of choosing to give your thoughts meaning and importance. #3 Doubt is a symptom of OCD. Similarly, questioning whether you really have OCD and looking for the reasons why it may not be OCD after all is also an OCD symptom. Keep this in mind and don't let it stand in the way of your recovery.

Can your OCD thoughts become habit? I’ve noticed with a couple of big, long lasting themes that I’ll have a period of really high anxiety and constant rumination when a theme is really new. Then, after 6+ months the anxiety dies down but I’m still thinking about the thought, ruminating on it and believing it. Like now, I’m still ruminating and thinking about not loving my boyfriend. It doesn’t cause me to panic much, it’s just something I think about a lot. But I also have those “omg I love him so much” moments with him. I’m wondering if the brain thinks a thought for so long it just gets used to thinking it and once it doesn’t cause much anxiety anymore it’ll slowly just forget about it? This happened with Health OCD but ROCD has been a little more stubborn

I am very unhappy with my life… I don’t know if it’s my depression making me believe I don’t love him anymore but I am very unhappy. I’m depressed and unhappy about everything in my life.. Three days ago I was so happy. I knew I loved my partner. No obsessing nothing… right now it’s like I don’t care anymore… I don’t care how I feel… it’s like my brain is not allowing me to be happy…. I don’t know if I can say if this is ROCD anymore… it’s like I have no more symptoms and it’s like I know my truth…

can anxiety also make you believe things you didn’t do? my doctor tried to tell me that majority of it is anxiety but i am going to cbt therapy soon so idk. i’m back on my meds so hopefully it helps again.

I don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel for me. How will I ever get over these fears if I’m terrified to do ERP because the fears are so real!? I want my life back and I’m tired of avoiding things and people.

I’ve been struggling with my ROCD again lately and it’s making me panic that I don’t wanna be with my fiancé. Of course the stress of that makes me snappy with him so it only makes things worse. idk what to do about it I try my erp it just seems like it keeps budding back up. Sometimes I wish I had a normal brain. Just having such a hard time lately. I’ll be happy one minute then I get triggered and when it’s about him it sticks..

Yep it’s definitely my ROCD. Once I started to cool down on the thought another one came in. Now I feel like I have to confess a thousand things at once. I lied one time a year ago. And now I feel like I have to tell him every fucking detail. I’m trying so hard to resist. It’s very hard. Any tips?

our OCD fears are ways for our brains to destroy what is familiar, under control, and important in our lives because it cannot handle the general uncertainty of living. its self sabotage as a reaction to this quality of instability in reality

Hi I used to feel good after compliments or if someone thought I was attractive. But now when someone compliments me I fear I said something bad back. And cheated. And I feel very guilty .

Im trying to force myself to do selfcare. Especially with being on my medication and trying to manage my ocd more i actually want to enjoy my life. It's not going to be easy

Has anyone else ever thought they did something bad but they couldn't remember? Even if it was recent? And you feel really guilty because you just assumed you did? If so, how do you cope?

The thing that’s scared me the most is that people finding out what piece of shit i am. Im extremely ashamed that I’ve been having intrusive thoughts about my mom and im so afraid that she’ll dream a dream and find out what i think sometimes it’s not in my hands istg 90 % of my thoughts are intrusive im so fucking tired why can’t people just realize that it’s hard. Anyway since they day started i felt that her energy was off and turns out i was right she’s like staring at me in disgust and i felt like she was like scared istg i don’t deserve this it’s not in my hands i hate me why do i have to go through this it’s too much when is it gonna get better when am i gonna be normal im so beyond fed up.

I feel like I’ve exaggerated my symptoms and Im just pretending to have OCD, like I’m putting on a show and proving to myself I have it. Because if I don’t have it, then I’m a horrible person for pretending to have such a debilitating disease. I’m not so debilitated…so I can’t possibly have it. Right? Im just so confused and everyone just says that’s me asking for reassurance but that’s a normal thing to do when your unsure. how are you supposed to know when it’s normal or not? Couldn’t this all just be fake? Are my feelings just me manifesting them to confirm it’s OCD?

It's so weird how my brain will convince me that I'm a pedo when I'm obsessed with making sure people are 18+ and I have no desire to seek children out but somehow that's not good enough for my brain. Somehow I'm lying to myself and it's all going to come crashing down one day? Its so weird the more I think about it, the less it makes sense but somehow I convince myself this is all a elaborate trick on myself? Like the logic of my paranoia is so weird but I can't shake it. I hate this. I was doing so well for months, then bam get triggered and I feel like I've regressed months.

having ocd makes me tired physically. it’s so draining. need sleep

does anyone else have like audible intrusive thoughts? like currently there’s a storm and i’m alone and i had an intrusive thought where the sirens were like blaring in my ears. it’s not like you can actually hear them but like you can imagine it? if that makes sense? anybody else?

Yes I will still do some checks here and there but my anxiety is nothing like it was before. If anyone needs help let me know :)

How do you cope with guilt when your mind tricks you into thinking you did something wrong/did when you didn't but your mind makes you believe you did? And how do you cope with any kind of OCD guilt? How do I stop hyperfocusing on it?

I’m just so tired. I’m scared… and I never get relief. I recently started to remember things that didn’t upset me/bother me at the time… but now it brings fear and anxiety to my core. Mainly regarding my job. Because these memories are from a few months ago, I can’t recall everything exactly to a T. So my mind is trying to fill in the gap with all these possibilities that terrify me and go against who I am. Has this ever happened to anybody? I’m starting ERP soon and I recently was put on medicine to hopefully try and help me.. but I was wondering if anybody else has had this happen?

Do you also avoid things that have your theme ? For instance mines me cheating so I try to avoid cheater stories. But I sometimes compare me to the cheater to see if I am one. Sorry for a lot of post lol

Y’all, I was just bored & was looking up things about OCD, & found out that Leonardo DiCaprio has struggled with OCD. 🤯 & he let it run rampant for one of the movies he’s in (Aviator, because the character had it). It comforted me knowing that he - eventually - was able to not let OCD control him by saying he got his compulsions under control & stopped doing them. I just liked him even more.

Something non OCD related! So a few weeks ago i cut off all ties with an online friend group i’ve know for 4 years and i’ve been sad about it. Everytime id be bored i’d go talk to them and play games with them. I’m at home alone with nothing to do and i’m getting kinda upset cause i’m bored and not doing anything. Like i feel like i don’t have friends irl when i do. I guess you can say i just hate being alone and bored and by myself. Anyone else feel this way? if so i do i get over this weird sadness of being alone when in reality i have plenty of friends.

Has OCD ever made you feel like when you’re saying your truth like “no I don’t want to do that” it feels like a lie and when you say a lie like “I guess id do that (what your thoughts are saying” it feels like the truth? (It feels so real like I want to do it) But you know you don’t actually want to do said thing but now you feel very convinced that you want to act on your thoughts? But you don’t want to want to do that? If that makes sense? I feel like my mind is starting to get very distorted I can’t tell what’s true or not? Like what do I actually want now?

Has anyone suffered from engagement anxiety??? I am struggling with intense doubts and fears - I am trying to work through it but it’s really hard. I really love my partner, my family loves him, and there are no red flags but I don’t want to get engaged when I’m spiraling so bad so I’ll probably wait. The thing is every time the engagement seems real and that it’s happening soon, I freak out and get so anxious. Any tips????

It’s been awhile, but I’m hosting a webinar on April 18th! Just checking in as I know some people have enquired on where I’m at or what I’ve been up to. The good news is, I’ve been great! Still in recovery, and coming up on nearly 2 years of having minimal OCD symptoms. Look forward to talking to you guys!

I’m new here and I was wondering how to know what the “wrong number” of times is to do a compulsion. Mine changes depending and I’ve been doing these compulsions so long that it’s second nature at this point. Any suggestions?

Happy Thursday. Don't forget to give OCD the middle finger today. Resist compulsions and sit with our anxiety and we'll improve over time. We can do this! There are proven courses of action. Our outlook and resolve is incredibly important. I love two quotes in this area. Voltaire - "The most important decision you make is to be in a good mood" and C.S. Lewis - "All mortals tend to turn into the thing they are pretending to be." Decide to be in a good mood today, decide that when things don't go your way you'll take a moment, some deep breaths, and get back to it. Pretend that OCD doesn't bother you. Not by trying to suppress/ignore thoughts, but by acknowledging them head on. Say the fears out loud, ask the worst "what if" questions, write them down and look at them and pretend they don't bother you (resist compulsions) and over time they won't! You all rock.

i just can’t handle the doubt anymore. why does it have to ruin everything i love

False Evidence Appearing Real I forgot how this opened my eyes to things. Hope this helps

i really want to delete tik tok so bad because there are times when i get 3 posts in a row about toxic relationships. these send me into a spiral especially when i’m afraid these posts in a row are a “sign”. i have a friend that has been in a terrible relationship before and she even tells me my relationship isn’t bad. but tik tok always sends me spiraling afraid that my relationship is secretly awful and toxic or ab*sive in any way

Has anyone ever agreed with their thoughts but also know they don’t want to do what their thoughts are saying? I was like yea whatever I guess if I had to do this it wouldn’t be the end of the world. But I don’t want to actually do what my thoughts are saying but now I’m freaking out that because I said that I actually want to do that even tho I know I don’t want to? Now it’s making me feel like I actually do want to do what my thoughts are saying? Like as if I really want this now. I’m like you wouldn’t have actually said that unless you wanted to do that? *im still waiting to be matched with my therapist rn I’m just having trouble handling spikes or thoughts when they start to feel really real*

today i engaged in not one, but TWO tough exposures. it was so so hard in the midst of it, but i’m so proud of myself. i deal with SO-OCD and have been its punching bag for well over 2 years now. i’m tired of it running my life- dictating who i can see, what i can watch, what i can do. it’s become exhausting. my workbook- kimberly quinlan’s self compassion workbook for ocd- does some self-guided exposure and response therapy. you identify your intrusive thoughts, images, urges, and feelings as well as allll the different ways compulsions manifest for you. then, you create a list of things that will directly trigger those intrusive things and when you’d normally turn to compulsions to “help”. one of the exposure scenarios i decided would be a good place to start would be to watch 2 coming out as lesbian youtube videos. one of which was titled something like “coming out as lesbian after only dating men and being in a 6 year long relationship with one” and the other “i didn’t know i was gay until i was 25”. YEP! even the titles and thumbnails made me jump out of my skin. but i DID IT. i felt horrible before, during, and immediately after watching it. i felt like i was a bad person for having this fear and i felt like in some instances of the video i wasn’t “anxious enough” (yeah ok, ocd). but i pushed through and delayed my compulsions (even tho during the video i did find myself mentally checking if i related or if this could be me too). i’m so proud of myself for doing this. i feel stronger and even tho anxiety today was bad, i still am seeing the silver lining. i was brave. i was tough. so are all of you. you can do this. discomfort, panic, anxiety from ERP SUCKS but it’s one of those things where you reap the rewards later. and we have to be willing to embrace that! you are all so capable. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

i know i shouldn’t and isn’t doing me any good but i feel so helpless. when i think of him, i feel anxious, when i think of a future where is, i get anxious, when i think that maybe this is all not real and i’m making it up, i get anxious. i have genuinely felt so alone and scared and angry before. i feel so upset that i let this happen and so scared that this is it. i can’t even think of the good time because all they do is make me more upset. i have intrusive thoughts all the time like “you could just break up with him right now and it would all be over” or like “you’re going home this weekend you can finally do it in person.” please someone give me advice. i don’t want reassurance, just a friend please

Can your OCD make you feel like you did the thing you were fearing when you do something that feels close to your obsession?

Just because you have thoughts, feelings, and images doesn’t mean you have to interact to them. The problem is reacting to them all. You know how exhausting that is— refuse to give in. Let the thoughts, images, and feelings be there without reacting to them. They won’t hurt you; you’re hurting yourself in the long run by obsessing, ruminating, giving into compulsions, and seeking reassurance. Let me say it again: your thoughts, feelings, and images will NOT hurt you. Am I hurt by my mental illnesses? No, because I know what they are. They are insignificant to me. They pop up in my head and I let them pass by like a floating cloud in the sky.

One of the steps I would say for everyone in OCD recovery is to take responsibility. OCD is just symptoms but there is usually a underlying motive behind them, or a theme, but once you start to take responsibility for your OCD and your actions that trigger or bother OCD, it will be easier to help recover. This is a very common theme throughout literature and I’m sure you can read more online!

You all can do it. I'm 17 and I'm doin' it. I've suffered and I'm doin' it. Doesn't matter what ocd you have. You can do it. Even hurricanes run out of rain.

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?

is it a common symptom of ocd to analyze the intentions of everything you do or have done? for example, if i do something nice for someone, i always somehow turn it into a selfish act by analyzing why i did it. or if i do something “bad” to someone, i go back and try to really think about why i did it. and if i have any bad intentions i start thinking wow i’m awful. (ex. being hurt by my gf so doing something that might annoy her and make her slightly upset). i experience very black and white thinking. i’m not sure if this is a common symptom or not. anyways i always feel the urge to confess after or i start ruminating.

i’m so depressed. so my girlfriends dad died about a month ago. because of it she’s been acting more so cold than usual and we’ve been fighting a lot. i also have a problem where i over analyze my gfs actions and words and like i’m very sensitive to even small things so when these fights would happen i would go so upset. i started depending a lot of my best friend because she’s really trustworthy and i feel like i over shared with personal stuff related to me and her bc i was feeling so frustrated/lonely/sad. and i was talking to my NON ocd therapist and i was outlining the events that i was judging myself for and she started to like criticize my actions but that was before i got into feeling guilty about them. it just triggered my ocd bad. like she doesn’t understand what that sometimes when my gf does something that hurts me, bc of my ocd and the way my brain works i can’t hold it in and i feel the need to tell my gf to work it out right away. like it’s not like i want to fight or make her life harder. i’m so depressed please help me.

I have therapy tomorrow but I need some serious comfort or advice. Saw a video in the morning where someone casually mentioned having been in a relationship that they didn’t want to be in for a year because they didn’t have the guts to break up. Have been anxious ever since. I feel like I am loosing touch with my girlfriend more and more by the day and I am just in denial of having fallen out of love. This is hell. I don’t want this to be true.

Does anybody have any tips on how to manage hit and run ocd? I have stopped driving for about 3 years now and I really want to start driving again.

im safe, even if i am diseased with ocd. it’s all a lie

Does anyone else ever fear that their “false memories” arent ocd related and you’re just using your disorder as an excuse?

I feel so guilty just talking to my friends and not telling them about any of my ocd themes. I haven't, but I feel extremely guilty for not. I guess that might have something to do with confession compulsion. Not asking for advice, just want to vent a little.

Does anyone else have ROCD and have difficulty being attracted to your partner or turned off by little things? I am supposed to be practice "is it possible" statements and this one is hard for me.

How does OCD make this worse and how can ERP help?

i definitely struggle with it but sometimes i end comparing myself to others and feel like my diagnosis isnt real because my ocd isnt overwhelming debilitating. does anyone else feel this way sometimes? or am i just overthinking it?

Read something that said basically your fear of change is leading to your identity crisis and that changing a part of your identity that you no longer identify with makes you feel like you aren’t being true to yourself. This was super triggering to me because it made me feel like I’m scared of being a lesbian/bi just because I’m having to let go of a past identity and that’s really terrifying. I really don’t want to date women but like why do little things like this make me spiral and convince myself that I’m just scared of my identity changing. God it feels so real. I can recognize what I’m doing and how this isn’t reality but man this is just too much.

Unlike other themes, Real Event OCD stems up from an actual event that makes you feel ashamed about. With mistakes, it warrants accountability and remorse. So while dealing with that, it often feels like a grey area between owing to feel the way that you do because you have an actual reason to feel horrible about and knowing the difference that it’s your OCD making you feel that way. And it often feels like a getaway of sorts to just say it’s all because of OCD. How do you differentiate between them?

Why don’t my harm ocd thoughts cause me anxiety anymore (for the most part) but I still have them? Once they stop giving anxiety don’t they go away?😞

Scares me..it makes me focus on the only thing that could make my fears come true, cause when you focus on a fear for too long, you make it happen. You make the chances higher just by fixating on it, how am I supposed to pull away from this constant torture and pain, when all I can think about is my worries and fears, I mean honestly how hard is it to find someone who specializes in OCD? Help?!

Hi everyone I’ve dealt with ocd for about 10 years now it’s typically contamination but sometimes especially recently my mi d ventures to false memories that cause me a great deal of distress and it’s usually the same “memories” that pop up when this symptom acts up. I hate how it makes me feel and idk how to make them stop. I won’t go into great detail but the most recent one is of me hurting my niece when she was a small kid except she is 20 years old now and we have a great relationship. Why would I hurt her so long ago? I know it’s not true but the memory feels so strong and real that it’s easy for me to get wrapped back up into it.

anyone obsessed over if they believe an irrational thought? im not scared of the thought, im scared that i believe it’s true. like i have the thought ‘your boyfriend is related to you’ and i know he’s not, but i feel like i believe it. i don’t want to believe it because i know it’s not true. i don’t want to start seeing him as family because i know he’s not. but i feel like i am and it scares me

Hello! This is not to try to slap another label on to the growing list of diagnoses but anyone here struggle with derma or trichotillomania? I think I might have the former: I have been picking at my face for weeks now out of anxiety (this has always been a problem for me but it has gotten worse). At some points my whole face will be in pain, and burning, and I have also picked some parts of my arms and back to the point that they are bleeding and very raw. How do you stop doing this? Thanks

I am currently plagued by snobbish intrusive thoughts that are sometimes also racist. I find myself avoiding certain types of people in case it triggers these thoughts, but then I ruminate about this and wonder whether I’m just avoiding these people because I’m actually a snob. Has anyone else ever had these sorts of obsessions? Is it OCD?

Hi, im kinda new here and i want it to know if something like "being scared that somebody would or did rape you" it's a thing in ocd. I sometimes find myself overthinking a situation about somebody touching my arm for example, and then as i star thinking about it, it becomes these really mixed up memory, where i don't know if they actually touch inappropriately and i just stand there or what happened

For fellow OCD people who like the novel “Dune”—is it just me or is the “Litany Against Fear” a pretty decent description of what you try to do in ERP?

Now it's "girlfriend". I hate it. I like my friend BUT NOT IN THIS WAY (I used to think I am but No, it was something else, not "romantic love"). I'm so uncomfortable!

Brothers and sisters, we have ocd. We must accept this first before any recovery can happen. Accept ocd is the doubting disease and that you cannot trust your thoughts nor emotions unless you've gotten therapy and understand what's happening. We cannot live a life kinda accepting we have ocd and also believing that it's something else and that we are crazy or bad people. We must accept we have ocd, that ocd makes us feel like that but that the reality is that we have a mental illness. Thank God for these good news! Good news? How is an illness good news? Well it means we aren't responsible for our thoughts and obsessions, we aren't responsible for the doubt and guilt that come from having intrusive thoughts, it means we are actually pretty good people that care so much for others, for nature, for our health, for God, you know what you care about the most because your ocd tells you all the time. God has a special place in His heart for the sick, imagine Jesus holding you always in His hands knowing you're sick knowing that you're trying hard to recover knowing that ocd causes you so much suffering, imagine Him holding you always and never letting go because He loves you and cares about you more than we can imagine, so now that we know this, what can we lose by seeking help? By resisting compulsions and ignoring the obsessions? Think about what you can gain, the reasons why you want to recover, tell God about it. You're not an exception, you're not making it up, enough is enough with the overthinking, you're not fighting alone, the Maker of Heaven and Earth is with us always, even if you don't believe He's with you and loves you as you are. Trust Him. Fight with the tools we've been given. God bless you and tell me what compulsions will you be resisting today? I will resist my swallowing compulsion and doors compulsion. We will win!

Some days it feels like I can’t shake this uncomfortable feeling like being in my own body is too much. I wish my brain could just turn off for a little while and I could feel at peace 🙁

My mother is very aware of my severe pure OCD and tries her best to be supportive, even when it gets really bad. I find comfort in sharing with my mother when I’m having an especially bad day, like today, where my OCD just won’t stop. I had a breakdown because I was exhausted of doing all these compulsions to try to relieve it, and I just broke down crying during our video call. I just wasn’t feeling well. My mother STARTED FILMING ME while I was crying instead of listening to a word I was saying. Mind you, I don’t ever share about my OCD with anyone else. She said she was filming me so I could show it to a doctor once I start therapy so they will “understand the severity of my case.” I felt extremely violated. I understand why my breakdown might scare my mom who wants the best for me, but I felt very embarrassed. I feel like she sees me as this sick person, she didn’t even think twice about grabbing a second phone and start recording our private call. Am I being irrational for being upset at this? I don’t feel safe sharing anything with her anymore. And I don’t need to be reminded of the severity of my case, I am well aware.

lately i’ve been noticing that the more i check how i feel about certain things, the more arousing they may feel. these last few days ive tried picturing the things my obsessions are about while masturbating and they have been arousing, something that never happened before, even when i tried. i told my brain that they would be arousing, and they were. i read this, “There's also the fact that some negative emotions can actually increase arousal. Fear especially, as it shares many of the same physiological processes. So if we dislike something to the point that we fear it, we may paradoxically find ourselves becoming more aroused by the thing in question.” i could be wrong, i could be right, who knows at this point

I wonder how severe my ocd is compared to other people, is this how bad it is for most people with ocd? I would estimate i have about 200 compulsions, at least 50 that I must do every day and many repeatedly. Some of the bad days I spend hours doing them, it takes up so much time. I have to do these multiple minute long rituals and recitations before i get out of bed or brush my teeth or go to sleep. I am so tired, i can’t just stop. It feels like life or death and I’m just collecting more and more things I have to do to feel safe every day. I hope it isn’t this bad for everyone.

I just want someone to give me some kind of advice please 😭😭😭 it’s making me feel like I’m not anxious of the thoughts anymore and making me think I’ve turned 😭😭😭

I have AirPod pros and they have these ear tips and there are different sizes for them. I always check them over again to see if there the same size because I always think 1 side is medium and one size is small but I want both sides to be the same and it’s really annoying to check them repeatedly.

OCD and PTSD is not a fun combination

i hate it so much i want to just be the old me again

Some days are better than others .. I fell as if I know that the memory is false / fake but then when it starts to fade I continuously think “well if I can remember everything else, is this just not another memory?”

Anyone else have these thoughts? I’ll think of my real event, and how if things played out slightly different it wouldn’t be a big deal and I could move on. I feel stupid for those very small changes not being reality. I want this feeling to stop, but I feel/know I did something actually really wrong. Even if I’ve been reassured I haven’t, and sometimes when I say my event out loud I can see the flaws in my thinking

Anyone on here recover from suicidal OCD and want to tell me about their journey?

i really don’t understand. i was able to identify my false memories as false but now im fully convinced i have done this.

can a false memory actually make you remember you did whatever u did but you really didn’t do it?