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Does anyone find (believe) their OCD is as bad as it is because of the situation they’re in? There is a lot of talk on here that OCD is a chemical imbalance and that exposure therapy works. I’ve had this over ten years and can say with absolute certainty that exposure therapy has NEVER worked for me. It makes it worse. This whole idea of “exposure therapy lets you reach a level of anxiety and realize you’ll be fine” is very toxic. I have done this. Had a massive panic attack. Collapsed. And ambulance had to be called. My living situation is horrible and makes my OCD spiral. And because of the way the world is right now moving isn’t an option. Which has made my depression spiral. I honestly don’t know what to do anymore. All I do every day, every moment, I’m not at work, is lay in bed and cry.

hi everyone..I recently self diagnosed w ROCD (doing a professional assessment this week). I’ve been reading a TON about it and using this app which is so helpful, and I’m starting to understand like, the importance of not trying to seek reassurance or whatever etc etc. the thing is, in a way, I feel like my partner simultaneously is a trigger for me (in that I am so fearful that when I see them, I might have acknowledge a “flaw” of theirs and then I spiral into guilt/anxiety/etc) but at the same time; I feel like they’re also..reassurance for me? like we’re taking space this week because of my ROCD (this is the first time we’ve experienced this from me, and it’s really hard for her) but I’ve been pretty much having intense waves of anxiety on my own too, like every day. Throughout the day, and when I wake up. I am doing my best to now just sit w the anxiety — it’s incredible physically painful and overwhelming, but I’m trying. But the thing is, I’m scared that if I feel this anxiety while next to my partner, I will act weird or overshare (a compulsion)?** But at the same time..I also feel like I miss her SO much and WANT to see her so badly, and it’s hard to tell if it’s because I simply want to see her / want to experience good moments w her (which we had so many of before ROCD onset) or if it’s bc I want to see her to like reassure myself that I DONT care about her “flaws”. But since I read we shouldn’t ever seek “reassurance”..does this mean I’m not allowed to want to be with her? Or want to see her? I genuinely love this girl so much and before ROCD onset I wanted to see her a lot anyway, but now I’m like, oh..is this bad? But then AVOIDING seeing her seems like “avoidance” which is bad too. So I’m not really sure. I just want to get back to before all this…I want to give myself permission to love her the way I do, without feeling like I’m doing something wrong in terms of “treating” my ocd. Any thoughts welcome, thank you so much for reading — ** (On a side note: for people who get waves of anxiety or spikes of ocd when they’re physically w their partner, how do you handle it? Do you just try to breathe through it but act “normal”? Or do you over share? Or take space?) Thank you all, so grateful for this community. <3

I’m having a horrible night, I’ve gone a while without using this app now, but I’m feeling super anxious, my ocd revolves around my POCD and real event, so basically last year when was 18 (I’m 19 now about to be 20), I used a bunch of dating apps for several months, I’m ashamed of a lot of things I did like sending nudes and just being an idiot, but I’m terrified of the possibility of someone having lied to me about their age, I would always ask beforehand at the time to be safe because I would never want that to happen, but what if someone lied, I’m horrified by that thought, I saw comments under videos of dating app videos where there were people laughing about how they used dating apps as minors and just shrugging it off, I don’t know how they could possibly find that funny, I started panicking and had to call the suicide prevention hotline, I’m spiraling and have no one to talk to, I’m horrified, I wish I could die

Hi all So i recently went to see a new GP to discuss my medication and after filling her in on my condition and discussing my intrusion, she decided to flag me and trigger a safeguarding warning. Without any attempt of getting to know me or speak one of a number of therapists i had worked with, both OCD related and not. Now because i work in education, im fully preparing for my career to be over and life to be upturned. Does anyone have any words of advice on this subject?

I'm not involved in ERP. How I manage OCD is allowing the thought appear naturally but avoiding compulsions too. [I dont run from/to triggers] [I go abt my day as if I have no OCD] Will I still regain my life this way?

Does anyone else freak out over dreams and what they may mean?? I had a horrible horrible dream last night that my boyfriend was doing something so horrible to someone…I don’t even know where my brain got that image. I woke up feeling so sick and so freaked out. My boyfriend is the sweetest person in the world. He feels bad when he THINKS he’s done something wrong, he would never do something like what I saw in my dream…how do I get rid of these obsessive worries that something is wrong with our relationship because my dream *might* be a sign of insecurity in our relationship??? How can I get rid of the image in my mind??? good to know: my boyfriend is currently a missionary for our Church, so I have very very limited communication with him. I’m not able to tell him about my dream for another two days.

Ocd is RUINING my relationship. It’s like every bad thing I’ve ever done in the first few months of our relationship is suddenly coming up in memories. even though my boyfriend said it doesn’t matter and that I need to forgive myself. these things are haunting me and idk why:/ we’ve been together almost 2 years now! This is so fucking irritating

Hey, everybody. My name is Evan, and as you can imagine, I'm here because I'm honestly struggling. I've never received diagnosis, but for most of my life, I've dealt with exactly: a new issue relevant to new periods in my life, be it sexual orientation (currently identity as bisexual), mental disorders, and most recently, pedophilia. Two weeks ago, I've had a great, irreplaceable relationship with all my nephews (four, all under five-years-old), always happy to see them, play, connect with them. Since last week, I've had episodes where I'm checking myself, testing and evaluating myself for signs of pedophilia, but of course, as discussed on the website, groinal activity occurs in response to sexual OCD regardless of true values or sexual preference. Despite knowing this, it always feels as though I'm afraid I'm as actual a pedophile in denial because each time my obsessions kick in, it feels more intense. I'm scared, and frankly so full of sorrow since I'm purposefully isolating myself from my kids, and even though I've always loved kids and taking care of them, I don't know if I can ever be around them again. What can I do?

I’m so worn out physically, mentally, emotionally, every way. I’ve been fighting this my whole life and I just don’t think I’m strong enough anymore as of recently. I’m just really sad. I don’t want ocd to win but I’m so tired

Last night I was talking with a friend who is normally someone who I consider to be very understanding and sensitive but it didn't go well. I was explaining to him my worries about the OCD intake session I scheduled for (with a therapist not on here). It's in a couple weeks and I'm worried about making the right choice for a OCD therapist because of the high costs. All the factors that come into play like experience, speacilty in ERP, availability, etc. Also I told him my OCD has been really bad lately and its out of hand. He kept saying to not think too much about it. And he kept saying it like I was worrying too much. Like what? It's a big deal. I'm having serious issues that are affecting my health and driving me crazy. I don't even want to have to seek an expensive specialist therapist but at this point it feels like I may need to. Things have been bad lately. I'm very particular about things right now and my intrusive thoughts are at a high. I don't know exactly why. My OCD seems to flare up more when I'm stressed. Also my period is coming up so maybe that's a factor too, like hormonal effect. I tried explaining to my friend that I don't have the luxury of not worrying about things. I can't go with the flow. There's things I have to think about or they will go badly. I also was trying to explain to him what my current therapist mainly does and what I'm seeking from an OCD specialist. He said something about that that I didn't like. Then he was going on about have I actually been diagnosed with OCD? I was trying to explain that I'm not sure. My current therapist believes I do have OCD. He goes on to say that since my current therapist isn't a psychologist that she can't diagnose me. He goes on further to say that I can find a psychologist to diagnose me and see if I actually have OCD or if something else is actually causing what I'm been dealing with. I was fking baffled. I told him, why do I need a diagnosis? I've been dealing with this for a very long time. I know I have OCD. And then this dude says "You think you have OCD." I say to him "Are you really invalidating what I have?" Then he wants to say he wasn't. LOL you weren't? Then what the fk was that! I tell him I'm going to go to bed and I guess we will talk another time and I leave the call. He texts me "Um... I'm sorry. Goodnight." I respond by telling him how that conversation made me feel. I don't need anyone putting more doubts into my head. I don't need someone else to not understand me. It did not feel like he was listening to me and I'm tired of people being bad to me. I have no one to talk about this stuff with. These things are a big deal and I have to think about them. Him implying that I'm thinking too much about it makes me feel like he's trying to say I'm doing something wrong. Like it's not a big deal. But it is. He goes on to say he's sorry and etc. I don't know how to respond. I feel like no one understands. I feel like I have to deal with all these things by myself. Like I have to handle it all. I'm not looking for advice, just wanted to post and see if anyone has experienced something similar.

I wish ocd was just about being clean

I have harm OCD towards my cat and now she’s lying in bed next to me while I draw and my OCD is wild, screaming at me to remove myself from the situation as I might snap and kill her… this is the absolute worst feeling in the world.

I went like 7 or 8 years in my current relationship very happily until someone I had a crush on in school (about 9 years ago since I've last even seen) started getting stuck in my mind. It's not the ex crush. I'm not attracted to them or anything like that (I'm a bit like what did you see in him) but it's more of the attention I got when people were bullying me or I was waiting for class alone kind of thing. He was a "popular" kid and we used to hang out in the early years of school until the popular crowd made him only see me occasionally. As I started hanging out with my current partner, I noticed how the ex crush was patronising at times and would never see my worth. When my partner and I started dating, this ex crush come up to me and tried to hug me and patronise me (and come across in a way that could be considered flirty when he had a gf that he was disrespectful about) so I politely got out of the conversation which was him proceeding to tell me about this girl and how she was in bed (he was making a "joke") and because I didn't find it funny and hugged my partner who was such a gentleman to me, through ex crush said "you've changed, you're not like how you used to be" and that did sting me at the time. Then we leave school, I forget him, go about 5 years happy and go through this thing that I now know was ocd where I felt guilty for liking ANYONE before I met my partner, grew out of that, was fine for a few more years adjusting to adult life with my partner and then boom find out I had SOOCD and then remember I used to like boys so there's no way and then this one ex crush wouldn't leave my head in terms of his name and remembering the attention he used to give me, so whenever I get into an argument or get stressed and it's to do with my partner the obsession of trying to not think about this person is worse. I tell myself "thank you for the thought" and "that's fine if you think that" or "you're allowed a past". What makes this harder is that my partner really hated this guy, like just the mention of his name and my partners face shuts down so I feel like when I explain what's going on, yes he listens and is fine with me explaining, but I feel like it's going to push him away. Then I dreamt I was at a school prom and the ex crush kept watching me and I felt like "this is what you missed out on" sort of thing and cos my partner in the dream wasn't showing up I was getting sad like I had been stood up and no one wanted to talk to me so I wanted the ex crush to come over cos that's what used to happen when people would shunn me, he'd talk to me. Then when my partner showed up in the dream and hugged me, everyone disappeared and it was just me and my partner. Sorry for the long message, just needed to get it out in a safe space. I can handle the anxiety a bit better though some days are insanely hard, especially as I've recently lost a loved one as well. But I am getting to the point where I want this whole ex crush thing to disappear desperately. I'm trying to live in the present and my brain won't get out the past.

I blurted out to my partner he was a p word and I have pocd. He said he knows I didn’t mean it but I’m still worried and even if I overcome that worry, I’m worried I’m gonna feel worse about it again one day to the point where I have really dark thoughts and act on them and it will happen fast

Recently, I had a really bad bout of ROCD, but when my boyfriend came to visit for the first time in a while it settled down a bit because I was happy to see him, and things have been pretty good since then. But this morning I saw a tiktok about a girl complaining about how her boyfriend doesn’t do that many little things, which is a very minor problem I have in my relationship, and everybody in the comments was telling her to leave him. It was extremely triggering, even thought I’m very happy with my boyfriend and he treats me well. I wish I had never watched that tiktok.

no one ever responds when I post stuff and it sucks but I am not feeling good at all. I’m feeling so connected to my younger self and I can’t tell if it’s cause I might be living in the past too much but I had gotten to a point in my life where I didn’t feel too connected to my younger self but I didn’t really think anything of it but I’m starting to feel like my whole sense of perception has changed I can’t tell if I’m like dealing with depersonalization and I feel like my ocd sun types have become me or that they are the true me that I tried hiding or something which I’ve been dealing with TOCD right now and I have fealty with harm OCD in the past and I felt like I had gotten past my ocd but I feel like it’s been taking over everything and I can’t feel like how I used to without thinking I somehow assumed I was transgender or something so I don’t want to go back to that or to think that I am transgender because I do love being a girl but I don’t feel like a girl anymore or I think that the way I’m feeling now is the way girls actually feel or something. I feel like I’m kind of on autopilot but I’m not at the same time, I feel very just disorganized and messy I can’t keep track of things I can’t recall things I remember or know like my head is just blank I can’t keep on top of things I need to do like I used to, I can’t tell if I’m like getting severely depressed or something, i sometimes feel very weightless like not in my body or not connected to my body or something and when I do try to start feeling better I start getting so light headed and feel like I’ll pass out and my head starts to hurt and I just feel like my ocd doesn’t want me to be happy and it doesn’t want me to feel connected to other people or something like I feel like isolating myself so much or something and I just don’t feel good at all and I can’t tell if this is ocd anymore

It feels like I will never ever be good enough for my partner because of their relationship ocd. There is always something triggering about me. Even if I’ve done nothing and we are having a perfectly nice time together. I either find out in the moment or after the fact that they were focusing on something negative about me. If I’m with them they get triggered. If I give them space they get triggered. There is nothing that I can do and I feel so horrible. I feel like I’m hurting them by being with them. I’m going to support groups. I’m trying to minimize reassuring them. I’m putting in so much work to combat their ocd alongside them. It feels like they do nothing to pull themselves away from their thoughts and triggers. Rather everytime they have one they keep going down the rabbit hole, almost immediately. I don’t expect perfection but it would be nice if they tried to not give in. They aren’t doing their erp exercises, they’re blowing off therapy because they don’t want to pay for it but don’t want to accept my money to help. It’s like they don’t love me or themselves enough to try. But I’m supposed to be calm and kind and an angel when they go off on me out of the blue about something irrational, with no consideration for my feelings, or what’s going on in my life, or my mental health. I put everything I am into this relationship and I’m still terrible to them. I would spend every cent I have on this therapy for them. I would do anything to help. Somehow I’m still a terrible person. I’m really starting to believe their ocd too.

Is anyone going through peri menopause and noticed their ocd symptoms got worse like over night! I went from being a mild checker at night and some other ocd compulsions but they weren’t interfering As much. I lived a pretty productive life. But a few months after my 41st birthday I was hit with these scary intrusive thoughts and panic attacks, I didn’t know what it was a first and then realized I have harm ocd 😔 and the intrusive thoughts are harm to my children. I know I would never act on the thoughts but then ocd sent me the thought What is you sleepwalk and hurt someone. Is anyone else going through perimenopause or menopause and notice a there ocd became worse overnight and how do I get over this fear of sleepwalking Be so grateful for any advice thanks!

I (21F) have never dated anyone before, let alone kissed anybody. Part of this reasoning is I’m absolutely terrified of getting oral herpes, and wholeheartedly believe that any carrier will give it to me whether they’re having an outbreak or not. I try to deny it, but I think I’m also afraid of having my first kiss be with the wrong person. I tell myself if I just do it once it’s not a big deal and it’ll be easier to do it again, but I can’t shake those fears. What if my first kiss Isint with the perfect person? What does the perfect person even look like? Does that even matter, I mean, it’s just a first kiss. I’m in my twenties, not my tweens. Why am I over analyzing this? I’ve had “situationships” with people in the past, but there’s something about getting into an actual romantic relationship with someone that makes it impossible for me. If I have a crush on someone and I can’t imagine an entire future with them right then and there, I don’t see the relationship worth continuing. I had a crush on a guy a year ago and we were only talking, but I was terrified of the thought of introducing him to my parents and getting married because I felt like he wasn’t “the one”. I really want a partner, but don’t feel like I’m ready because of all of these insecurities. When am I going to be ready then? These feelings have been seeded in me since I was seven years old (approximately). People tell me I’m “so young” and I’ll find someone soon, but I’m afraid I’ll never outgrow whatever this is. I don’t know if this is trauma related, OCD related, or social anxiety related, but I’d be curious to know if anyone has felt the same or is in the same boat as me.

18+ So I keep relapsing to my addiction that is p*** and recently when I have been doing that in the mixture of things I've come across things that are very horrible and way out of my morals. It happened tonight and I actually ended up being genuinely disgusted by the results. I'm more upset that my search had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to the post of that result and I just got mad, clicked off, and tried to find other things that were "rewarding" for my dopamine. I say rewarding in quotations because it isn't rewarding at all, yet I have trouble stopping this altogether. There are days where I could be doing just fine and there are other days where I spiral just like this and end up in a rabbit hole of.. this. What I'm trying to do now is use self compassion and taking it easy rather than beat myself up over this really shitty coincidence that happened and the fact that I still struggle with this after many years. I have a lot of good things going my way and this isn't one of them, yet it's so hard to remove it from my life. At the end of it all, it was really really really not worth it. I guess much like my thoughts, my dopamine is sending off false signals that aren't satisfying me. They say that these intrusive thoughts and OCD brain-like thinking are danger alarms that are sounding off for no reason. Maybe it's the same thing for my dopamine receptors because at this point, I don't feel any joy from this compulsive behavior. Most of the time it feels like I have to do it rather than wanting to do it. I don't want it at all. I have a lot of mental healing to do here.