I am losing it

@Kylah with an h These thoughts don’t go away, they keep dragging me in. I cant focus in the present, do you work or have relationships? I think i might have reached being disabled

@The Monk I am currently working and married but OCD definitely makes it hard. I have a patten of losing jobs because I call out frequently and my partner often communicates they can't fully connect with me. I was only recently diagnosed with OCD so hopeful proper treatment will help. I was misdiagnosed with GAD for years, tried so many meds and even TMS treatment. I tried applying for short term disability/FMLA years ago to approve additional time off but that only made it worse. You're certainly not alone. I'm hopeful now that I have a diagnosis I can move in the right direction. Hoping the same for you.

@Kylah with an h Same, was diagnosed with psychosis and took pills. Thankfully, it’s been 2,5 years working with ocd

@The Monk Me to

@Tea and Honey Yeah, tough one

@The Monk Hopefully, you had a good therapist when you tried it. ERP is less effective if the therapist is not good. Have you been taught to just let the thoughts run freely through your head--without trying to stop them or fight them off? This can be REALLY useful. Can I ask hope you handle the thoughts when they come?

@Tea and Honey That is very helpful, thank you!

@The Monk I'm going to copy something I wrote earlier. I think it's really important to allow the thoughts to run freely through your head! It was a total game changer when I started doing that. It was a big step that led to good things. Here's what I wrote below: ------------- Okay, let's start with #1. You have to treat the thoughts as though they don't mean anything. In order to recover from OCD, everyone has to change their relationship with their thoughts. Everyone starts out afraid of their thoughts. They believe that their thoughts are DANGEROUS and that there is some connection with their thoughts to the outside world. This is the big trap of OCD. We have to stop fighting off the thoughts. We have to learn to ALLOW the thoughts while at the same time doing nothing about them. If you try to fight them off, they’re just going to get worse. My NOCD therapist explained it like this: Imagine a tree planted by river. The leaves from the tree fall off and float down the river. You watch the leaves fall, but you don’t try to stop them. You just let them float down the river. This is the same with ALL intrusive thoughts. It doesn’t matter if these are bad thoughts about God, violence, sex, attractions, etc. All intrusive thoughts are the SAME. You just let them fall off the tree and float down the river. The truth is the thoughts don’t mean anything, so you can ignore them. You can’t make them go away (like the leaves), but you can give them no power by acknowledging that they are meaningless.

@Tea and Honey Wow!! Thank you!! Life saviour!! Saved the previous ones too

@The Monk I'm here to talk. I know what it feels like to struggle and be in pain with OCD. I want to help you. I'm here if you have any struggles you want to talk about. What is bothering you right now? We can work through it.

@Tea and Honey Last night, i was fed up. Yet today, after all the support i am able to implement the advice given. You are golden, I appreciate it a lot!!

@The Monk I'm here for you!! You will never bother me if you text. Please write anytime. You are not alone!!!! We know what this feels like!

@Tea and Honey

@IWantYouToBeHappy I miss the old days, how does this leave

@The Monk Yeah I get that dude. most people on here will miss the old days, I sure do. But we have to remember that the past is the past and all we can do is change our future bit by bit. All you have to do right now is just exist and push through day by day. These thoughts don't have any right at all to make you feel like this and I want you to try delaying giving into them, every time they appear and you want to think about it try waiting ten seconds and then 15 etc

@IWantYouToBeHappy Thank you bro 🙏🏻

@The Monk Hey no problem man. I might not know you but you have value to me and I want you to be happy. I hope that you have luck with ERP and if not we will always be here for you.

@Kim27 Was misdiagnosed with psychosis and took pills (3,5 years), been 2,5 years since I found out about ocd.. So numb after that experience, thoughts been staying ever since

@The Monk I had a similar experience. In the 90s I was hospitalized. Misdiagnosed as being psychotic. Was on Thiorizine and having a reaction to meditation. I was told you are just not used to being in a place like this. Since then I have had my ups and downs thinking I had an anxiety disorder and have taken lots of different medicines. Prozac worked for awhile until it didn't. For a year was afraid all the time about dying. That fear has gone away. I still have my struggles. I fired my psychiatrist after 15 years and found a new one that is compassionate and really listens. My old psychiatrist said this just may b e as good as it gets. I still haven't arrived. It's a journey for sure

@Kim27 12 pills, 4 different psychiatrists so far.. Do you work or have relationships? I fear that i can’t reach my potential, every time a good opportunity comes i just have to blow it up by making scenarios about the future how it’s gonna go in my mind and just leave

@The Monk I've been a Speech Pathologist for 30 years in elementary schools and I'm married. I don't have any children and I have very few friends. Ocd does affect me at work. I get thoughts that I'm terrible at my job. I'm afraid people are talking about me and have to close my office door and play music or put my fingers in my ears. I can be afraid to walk down the hall. I had a coworker who was a pretty good friend at work but now barely speaks to me. I had a friend of 20 years stop speaking to me 6 months after I got married. She was my maid of honor. I have social anxiety and have a hard time making friends. Also, I'm afraid of being rejected. My stepson and his wife said their 4 children are our grandchildren. We haven't seen them in over a year and haven't even met the new baby. They have cut us off. I take 100 mg Sertraline and 100 mg of desvenlafaxine. A couple of days ago was my stepsons birthday. He won't even give his dad and me his address. I was able to let it go and not get into ocd loop this time

@Kim27 Me too, everybody left me since i try to take care of myself and find answers

@The Monk I understand. Do you have a therapist on this app? Have you attended a support group on this app? Before nocd therapy didn't help me because wr were just talking about my problems not doing erp

@Kim27 Finally found someone that i focus on erp and cbt, try to avoid talking about the past because of the previous experiences

@The Monk That's good I spend a lot of time in my head on the future and some time in the past. It steals the present

@Kim27 Ignore thoughts about past and future.. Wasting time in both cases, embrace uncertainty about the future. Focusing on the present is what I’m working on. Wrote down about this on my notes yesterday actually, let go of the past.