- Date posted
- 1y
Is this common?
I’ve had the same themes of ocd on and off for years. I have a new theme i’ve never had before now. Has that happened to anyone else?
I’ve had the same themes of ocd on and off for years. I have a new theme i’ve never had before now. Has that happened to anyone else?
One thing I’ve learned is OCD isn’t truly about the theme. It’s about uncertainty and can attach to anything that is important to us or that we feel responsibility towards.
As the person above said, OCD is not defined by the theme. It can be ANYTHING. And I mean that. In your ocd journey, you'll find yourself fearing things you've not even necessarily read other having before. OCD is not defined by the theme, it is defined by the behavior that the theme causes. For me, I've had so many different themes/worries pop up I can't even keep track. Sometimes multiple in a day. Right now I have about 5 or more "themes" that keep weaving in and out or even happening simultaneously. It's a very ruthless disorder. But I think the more you and all of us embrace ERP and what we need to do, we will manage! In fact I know that! ERP has helped me many times and in general is why I'm able to still function despite being a wreck on the inside sometimes. And I'm far from perfect...I still give into compulsions despite me knowing better. But as you probably already know, compulsions do nothing to help in the long run. Often times it makes it worse...not only by reinforcing the fear, but also sometimes broadening them or creating new ones. Example being reading someone else's story, either out of a need to compulse or just curiosity, and then snowballing. You may take on their fear despite it not being yours, or it may add gas to the fire if you are experiencing a similar theme. Just stay strong and do the work! I'm sure you're no stranger to it. I believe in you and all of us!
this has completely happened to me trust me. when my ocd first started at 13 it was more aimed towards fear of loosing things so i was a hoarder to an extreme ocd level. today my ocd centers around losing people. basically i’m scared of never seeing people again which makes relationships really hard in the breakup. a lot of times you might think your ocd has switched themes but really you still have the same core beliefs and like i do in losing people or things and it takes a second to realize how it’s all connected.
Anyone else develop it in their 30s? I’m 33 and just started showing symptoms in October 2024. So far have only been diagnosed with GAD , PD and depression.I started having intrusive thoughts after a series of panic attacks . My compulsions would be googling. I have made an effort to stop though because it only makes me feel worse. My intrusive thoughts have been around fear of going crazy
My last and almost life long theme/sub-theme largely subsided recently and my ocd felt like it wasn’t even an issue. Then I went on winter break from uni and being alone made my mind come up with a whole new topic to obsess over. TLDR on my fears, my advisor wouldn’t email me back for a while about signing up for classes so my mind started to worry “what if he doesn’t in time and you can’t enroll this semester and you lose this whole life you just built and all these new friends” So when that issue was resolved my mind found other scarier ways I could be uprooted from my current life and friends that I’ve grown so attached to. Then my mind remembered back when I was struggling with false memories and scrupulosity and I essentially made a post on a forum 2 and a half years ago saying I did something or was convinced I did something that I never actually did. Now I’ve been spiraling about someone finding it reporting me and I either get seen as a horrible person or arrested or something over something I never actually did but “admitted” to out of fear of going to hell. My mind won’t let it go and keeps finding new reasons for it to be “valid” “logical” or even inevitable. I feel like it’s just hanging over my head and I can never rest easy. Especially when I try to focus on my daily tasks or plan for the future I get this horrible flair up of “why plan for the future when this could come back in that future and you get uprooted from all of it” my mind won’t rest without certainty being uprooted won’t happen but certainty doesn’t exist, at least not with ocd. This sucks and I miss being care free.
So basically I didn’t know till my hocd started. But looking back at my life I had ocd since I was a kid. Like 6-7 years old. First time happening I remember that when I was doing stuff many times I had to say something like a little poem in my head to stop it. Then I had this thing were if I felt my left foot touch the floor 5 times I had to do the touch the floor with my right foot too. Then I had something I guess contamination??? Basically after washing my hands I had a sensation on my hand like I could still “feel” the germs and I had to wash them again. Then I started having thoughts of my family members getting hurt. I had intrusive thoughts about me hurting my dog. Then I had this obsession that a guy who used to be in my school is looking for me to beat me up. And how it’s this obsession about my sexuality even tho I never doubted or questioned it before. Is that possible??? Like can you be born with it? I’m pretty sure both my parents have it too. At least at some level. Take my father for example he had an obsession that he was going to die the moment he turned 30.
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond