Finally went to see a Psychiatrist

I finally found the courage to seek a psychiatrist last week, when I got there I was nervous for obvious reasons and felt a bit guilty. I met the doctor and don’t get me wrong he was very nice and knowledgeable in the bigger scope of mental health. Asked me questions of depression, anxiety, if I see things others don’t etc.. However, while we went through the assessment I did not receive a formal “diagnosis” and seemed as though he came to the determination what I have is general anxiety disorder. I don’t disagree, I know I have anxiety! However, when it came to the point where we were wrapping it up I had a “BUT WAIT” moment. I explained I was a part of an OCD community where I had previously been doing therapy to manage OCD. He asked “well why OCD?” I replied, “I have constant thoughts very repetitive thoughts that follow a theme and they are extremely persistent.” It was then I knew I couldn’t let down the walls and go into depth, as I knew he wouldn’t understand. To validate what I already knew, I said “I have constant fears and worries about my children, myself, and religion. I think about these things all day long. In order to free myself from the feeling I have to say a specific phrase or word in my head.” He said “well yea that’s normal to have worries and fears about your family, your religion” and so forth. The feeling of disappointment is an under statement, this is more than just “anxiety” this is something that I struggle with daily and to have a professional discredit my daily fight was off putting. Not his fault, it demonstrates the lack of knowledge for OCD and treatment many of us have to face. Sorry for the rant, sometimes we just have to advocate for ourselves.. 🌸

Gmoki

Date posted: 14d

So proud of you💕💕this is an amazing first step

OutstandingC...

Date posted: 14d

NOCD occasionally has diagnostic clinics, you could try going to one of those. In my understanding, one of the main things that distinguishes OCD from anxiety is the compulsions.

Maeday

Date posted: 14d

I had a similar experience with my ROCD and a psychiatrist. He said, "when you're having problems in your marriage, you're going to think about it a lot". Completely didn't get it. How can you help them see that your thoughts are a constant loop that prevents you from being functional?

Ocd&me09

Date posted: 14d

@Maeday I agree! There could be times I am completely fine, no triggers ,nothing actually happening and my thoughts are still going in loops all day long. I don’t think we can make people, including doctors understand what they don’t want to understand. It takes someone going through it to want to learn it all.

Holl1

Date posted: 14d

Not a lot of people understand OCD. I spoke to a doctor and told her that I think I have OCD and she said “the cleaning type?” It’s at that point I couldn’t be bothered explaining the symptoms to her. Also 5 years ago I went to see a therapist and told him that I have a fear over germs which I would perform compulsions several times a day and he said “yes you have anxiety” it’s soo annoying and now I have harm OCD so I wouldn’t feel comfortable talking to a professional about it.

Ocd&me09

Date posted: 14d

Agree, so annoying. I suffer with Harm ocd mainly also so I could not get myself to open up when I knew he would just not get it.

Hope1

Date posted: 14d

@Ocd&me09 Hi as a mom, I also suffer in the same way too, and I was misdiagnosed for so many years till I only had generalized anxiety disorder. I had to see someone specialized OCD. Even though for the longest time I knew I had this. It’s still a struggle every day and I’m still in the thick of it

JediMJ

Date posted: 14d

I’m sorry that experience was so disappointing. And proud of you for going and trying to get him to understand. We’re here for you.

Ifiknewthen

Date posted: 14d

I would give the psychiatrist time to get to know you and you time to trust him or her. You may have ocd, you may not. You may have another diagnosis that ls causing the ocd symptoms. They went to psychiatry school. They know about a lot of things. I wish i gave people i sat down with more time when i was younger.

Spencer Z

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 14d

It is a struggle. I had my first OCD episode when I was 14 which was around the time I started seeing my first psychiatrist and therapist. Yet within the span of the 4 years I saw them there was no diagnosis even when the OCD came back by the end of it and I kept referring to it as "intrusive thoughts". Then, when I saw a new psychiatrist for my first session he saw and diagnosed me with OCD just by how I described my symptoms (he didn't look at my medical records either). I switched to a new doctor soon after because I turned out to not get along with the psychiatrist, but since then the only professionals who both know and can understand my OCD fully are OCD therapists, so that psychiatrist was correct despite having not looked at my records. The system is weird like that.

Dennasw

Date posted: 22w

My first day

Hi I kept seeing this app on repeat on TikTok over and over and I thought I give it a shot. I have never been diagnosed with OCD but I know that I have it. I’m a young adult and I found out the first time I had OCD was watching lelelons truth video? I was 14 at the time She had to resist sitting back down in a chair after her having sat down she started having a mental break down when she was told to resist. That’s when I knew. It started with myself going up and down a staircase twice buckling unbuckling my seat belt everytime I’m in the car ect I have always been super anti social but trying my best I can socialize but my mind wants to make it sexual with family and friends ughhhh I hate it because that’s not me when I graduated thoughts of hurting my loved ones corrupted my mind I broke down outside of church one time asking if this was really me or not i question if I’m a good enough friend or person in this world to begin with thinking everyone is judging me so so close how can I make this situation better did I do something wrong I struggle with depression as well not to bad but it’s there I come from a loving family but broken as well i believe in god and my OCD makes me go often he’s not real that stuff isn’t real no one is there to save you the list goes on. Anyway I struggle a lot and I really hope that this will help me because I feel extremely hopeless. Lucky for me I do have the ability to seek therapy and I am excited. The only person I ever tell my thoughts to is God no other human has heard so I’m really really hoping this helps me out if your reading this thank you it means a lot because this is my first time ever admitting all this it’s a lot to take in I know and I hope you are ok and that you have a great night and know that we got this

Anonymous

Date posted: 21w

Newbie

I've never been diagnosed with OCD, but have thought for a long time that I do have it. I've tried to bring it up in therapy but have been shot down as "OCD tendencies". Luckily I'm with a new therapist and am planning to bring it up again. Especially after reading a lot of your posts, I'm really resonating with them. Especially my anxieties and obsessions with my health. God forbid I feel any weird pain or ache, I instantly think I'm dying. Sometimes I get a weird pain in my head and think it's a stroke or aneurysm. Ill go as far as the perform the stroke FAST test. This happens multiple times a day. I also have HUGE anxieties about death and my mortality. If I think about it too much, I get this deep cold pit in my stomach and spiral. Even talking about it causes me sooo much distress. I'm just worried I'll be dismissed or told I'm just self diagnosing because I related to a post online. But if any of this sounds accurate, please let me know. I'd love to be reassured of my obsessions rather than just dismissed as being anxious.

ATT2001

Date posted: 16w

I believe I was misdiagnosed

Hello there. I’m new here and think I may have OCD I’ve struggled with anxiety my whole life. However, in my early teens, I started experiencing obsessive fears and engaging in compulsions because my brain convinced me that if I didn’t perform a certain action a specific number of times, it would “prove” that I wanted something terrible to happen. When I was 17, I began seeing a therapist and opened up to her about this. She diagnosed me with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), and I accepted the diagnosis But last night, I became curious about whether people with GAD engage in compulsions and have specific fears, so I looked it up. I was shocked to learn that these are not typical characteristics of GAD Now, I would love to find a therapist who specializes in OCD so I can get a formal diagnosis and the appropriate treatment

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Finally went to see a Psychiatrist

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