- Date posted
- 23w
Lists
Lists lists lists, bane of my life. Since I would say last 4 years any worry that pops in my mind I put down on the notes app on my phone then come back to it sometime. Is this OCD?
Lists lists lists, bane of my life. Since I would say last 4 years any worry that pops in my mind I put down on the notes app on my phone then come back to it sometime. Is this OCD?
I can relate. Lists and notes is a major concern for me. Normally I have to write things down often on several pages of papers I carry around with 2 pens . At some point I shred the notes and start all over again. For me it really is all or nothing, I do better not taking any notes at all because otherwise I end up writing a novel ? LOL ! No middle ground with this subject for me I have been dealing with this for years.
My psychiatrist says my note taking and list making is contributed to/ is a symptom of my ocd
I'm not the only one then, how did I say to stop it ?
Maybe it is? Maybe it isn’t? But I can relate!! This is actually how I figured out I had OCD. I was super embarrassed to tell my talk therapist how many lists and notes I made because I knew it was a little odd and that she would tell me to stop. I didn’t feel like I *could* stop. If I couldn’t write them down it was like they would just bounce around and I would try to hold the thought in my attention so I wouldn’t forget something important. For me, these are mostly about solving my mental health issues. I also used to copy all these lists and pages of thoughts from Google docs to a physical journal. I would reorganize the same thoughts. I just wanted to understand and remember them. When I saw I had >80 typed pages of notes for the past few months, I told my therapist and it seemed like there was like a lightbulb turned on in her head for why I wasn’t getting better. My psych diagnosed me with OCD years ago but I didn’t understand it. And all the meds without the right therapy weren’t working. I started NOCD a few weeks ago. Still making lists, though far less. And I haven’t copied an entry since Dec 31. Do you feel like making the lists reinforce the worries or makes them better? And better for how long? Thank you for posting. It’s amazing to know other people do it.
Thanks for detailed response, I would say putting the subject on the list gets rid of the initial distress so I can get on with my day but then when I come to review the list I sometimes can just delete the subject in the list and not give it a second thought but sometimes a subject can be on my list for weeks
@Chris85Floki Makes sense to me.
@Ginny L So how do I stop ? Do I just stop?
Hi, I’m new here!! I’m praying I don’t get judged for this. But, back in late May of 2022 ( literally right before I graduated high school), I added this one random girl from my school on Snapchat. She posted something about a graduation party , so I swiped up on her story basically saying how I can’t believe we’re almost graduated. She replied and we had a really short and simple conversation. The next day ( i believe) , we started talking a lot , and I just so happened to see her at the highschool when we were grabbing our graduation outfits and doing the rehearsal. When I saw her irl, I kinda got turned off ( I heard she was kinda crazy) , and on top of that , she was a little ugly irl. I remember seeing her Snapchat bio , and she was close friends with my female cousin ( a year younger than me) , who I happened to experiment sexually with when I was 10-11 years old. I remember going to work later that day and having sort of a lightbulb flick thought ( it wasn’t a good thought though) , what if my cousin told her about what happened when we were younger? So I started to kind of panic and immediately distanced myself from that girl. I also experimented sexually with one of my female friends when I was 10-11 , and from that day onwards, I’ve been pretty much living in paranoia and a little bit of guilt about someone finding out and my life being ruined . On top of that, It’s gotten worse to now sometimes I wonder if a girl I added off of quick add ( Snapchat) is underage even if they told me they were 18+ or had 18 and above in their bio, and I get so much guilt and anxiety about that. I even had a quick thought last February on what if I did something inappropriate with my younger cousin when I was 15-16 but I just can’t exactly remember when it happened , and it still eats me alive when I think about it, because I don’t know if it happened or not. I’m sorry for the long vent, I just wish I felt normal again. No matter how much I try to do things that old me used to do, life always feels “ off”. I always kept the top part about when I was younger a secret up until early (ish ) 2024, then I vented to one of my best friends and he told me that that’s a normal thing to do at a young age. Since then, I have told multiple friends and they all say they did similar stuff, but my brain just can’t accept that. Please help me, I quite literally overthink everything nowadays. 2021 was the last full year that I felt normal ( coincidentally, the best year of my life so far) . It’s not just about sexual related things either, sometimes I’ll wonder if I messed up something at work or hit a car while driving/hit someone and drove off. I just wanna live my life how I was supposed to live it after highschool ( carefree and happy) before whatever it is ( I think it’s ocd) hit me unexpectedly. Thanks to anyone who read this , I just needed to pour it out regardless of how negative I felt typing this, I hope someone can relate , because I feel so alone in my head at times.
so i was on instagram and it came up with other signs of ocd then someone commented this doesn’t mean you have ocd now im stressed that its not ocd background - i had so-ocd for a few years then got treatment for it but am now on the waiting list for further treatment for other stuff but i dont have another theme which makes me feel like its not ocd my day to day life consists of touching the door handle every time you go past it or someone will die, and inability to send emails without re reading loads of times and getting other people to check because im scared i wrote something bad but the what if it’s not ocd thought is triggering me now and i don’t know what do
This list by ai gives a good summary of my symptoms. Does it resemble OCD or is it something else? 1. Compulsions (OCD-specific behaviors): • Feeling the need to flex or contract muscles an even number of times, equally on both sides of your body. • Needing to reverse actions (for example, if you roll your eyes or trace a line with your finger, you feel compelled to do it again in the exact opposite way). 2. Intrusive Thoughts (OCD-specific ruminations): • Daydreaming about people you care about getting hurt (e.g., school shooting, injury, or kidnapping). • Sometimes feeling like you might want something bad to happen to someone you find attractive—possibly because of a desire to help or save them, though it’s confusing. • These thoughts can sometimes provide a twisted sense of relief while remaining distressing and confusing. 3. Sexual Orientation OCD: • Experiencing confusion or doubt about your sexual orientation. 4. Contamination Thoughts: • Feeling like things are contaminated, especially after touching something gross. 5. Sensory Compulsions: • Feeling the need to smell your hand after touching areas like your ear or hair. 6. ADHD-like Symptoms / Additional Observations: • Fidgeting or moving your legs when standing or sitting.
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