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plz help me i’ve continued thoughts of self harming and have panic attacks also i can’t get rid of it my mind can’t stop thinking

Hi, does anyone have any tips or advice over how to not allow the intrusive images or themes consume to the point of freezing up in petrified fear. I feel that I ruminate over my OCD theme to the point where I’m super anxious or I’m depressed and find no point in my day to day activities because I feel that I need to think over my theme. But I go no where with it than into a freak out mode. Any help or advice is welcomed. Thank you.

Your obsessions can tell you something about yourself - but it's not what you think! Because our obsessions often attach to our values, they tend to indicate things that are very important to us. It's important to note that while the content of your thoughts does not dictate your treatment or recovery, it may often follow the things you love the most. This makes the thoughts even more emotionally charged, making them easier to get stuck on. Remembering the things that actually bring you closer to your values is key.

Hi everyone, this is my first post here. I have OCD for as long as I can remember. But the last year it has become unbearable... I don't know how to move on... My brain began to generate terrible, and scary thoughts about the people who are the most important and dearest to me. It's tough even to write about this... My fear is based on "magical thinking" and the belief that if I think something bad about someone I love, bad things will happen. And the more I worry about it, the more terrifying scripts my brain creates. Here is my OCD story in a brief summary. I started to have intrusive thoughts as a kid. Even in my childhood, my rituals were mostly mental. During my college years the obsessions almost disappeared. Then a few years later they came back (probably because of stress at my work), but I still could live with intrusive thoughts because they didn't take up most of my time. Everything has changed recently, after a chain of traumatic stressful events occurred in my life in a very short period of time. My anxiety has increased significantly, OCD has gotten worse. When I was looking for some useful information about struggling with intrusive thoughts, I read a post by a woman in which she wrote that she was afraid of accidentally cursing her child. I understand that it sounds crazy and there's no logic at all, but after a while I realised that this thought popped into my head and I can't get rid of it. This really scared me. I know that OCD quite often attacks the things we love and care about. For me, it's my family. I'm afraid that I'll wish my loved ones something bad and it will hurt them... These thoughts come up against my will. I realize that this is illogical, and probably the only person I can harm with my thoughts is myself. But the "what if..." thought destroys me. Unfortunately, I can't afford the ERP therapy because I live in Eastern Europe. At this moment, I'm researching sources and specialized literature on my own. As I understand one of the main factors in the success of therapy, and one of the first steps is the acceptance of the thoughts. But in my case, the problem is that there remain a couple thoughts that are still in my mind unacceptable (like wishing bad things on my family). I don't know what to do about it... I'm so desperate... Maybe someone has experienced something similar? I really want to believe that there is a way out of this trap because OCD is taking everything I care about... I'm really scared, and it's occupying all my mind.

Hi! I am expecting and while I'm super excited, I'm also worried about having OCD and experiencing the post partum period that everyone makes sound like the lowest point of one's life. I'd love to hear from other mom's with OCD. Could really use some positive stories or tips! I'm pretty scared.

I feel like OCD is just my entire personality at this point. It’s been going more haywire than usual lately. Just fell into a vicious cycle of over analyzing nearly every thought I’ve had and trying to piece together everything. Just realizing that nearly everything I think just follows the exact same pattern. I felt like I had a good handle on my OCD for a good while, and now it seems to have spiked again. I just feel so low. I hate when you feel like you’re doing good and then it just goes all the way back to the bottom again. Makes me feel like I didn’t have any type of progression. My issue lately is I’m constantly obsessing… and if a close friend that I feel comfort towards talk to me, I’m always telling them my thoughts. It gets tiring. I’m sure they’re tired of hearing about my OCD. I am, too. But it’s hard not to talk about it when it’s pretty much all I’m thinking about. I know my friends aren’t my therapist… I’m not asking them for advice, I’m simply venting because I’m struggling — but I just hate it. My thoughts are all over the place, just feeling really alone and sad. I know realistically I’m not alone. Not the only one going through this. I hope someone can relate to this. I need that reassurance right now. Not an OCD reassurance. I just don’t want to feel alone. I need a hug. I feel so mentally sick. I hate that my brain is like this. I wish it wasn’t.

please can someone explain to me how medication helps ocd? is it that the anxiety that comes with the thoughts reduce so it’s easier to dismiss them or the thoughts as a whole become much less? like what differences do you notice from medication? hopefully will be beginning on thursday

my puppy licked in my nose and i’m scared about that disease that you can get that can cause you to lose your limbs!! omg i’ve been on google for hours!!! i know it’s rare!! but i don’t want to be the one to get it!

I've been constantly exposing myself to triggers for months now and I just get overwhelmed and worse. I'm so tired and my nerves just feel shot, even though I'm tired my head keeps going... What am I missing?

I gotta share this because I think we can all get through this OCD! But you gotta put the work in! The homework therapist gives is to help us, and for me, i think i had a breakthrough. So I am a month into my ERP therapy through here and let me tell you… it sucks most days. What i like about my therapist I got on here is she told me she’s been working in hospital and prison wards, so she’s probably heard and seen some stuff and what I got probably ain’t that bad. I started with CBT but my OCD was getting rough after about a year so now I’m giving ERP a try. I was asked to write a letter to someone that I believed was triggering my OCD and so I did. I went through a whole spiral with my POCD, honestly I feel like a monster. But! I’m also recalling some stuff I have kept suppressed and never wanted to mention in therapy, and I think it’s probably time I process that stuff, no matter how ashamed or guilty I feel. Ultimately, it’s probably what is causing the doubt disorder to overtake me. So for those of you struggling, keep going! And be completely open! I promise you your therapist has heard some stuff and you are probably far from what they have heard.

I want to beat OCD/GAD? because I'm tired of being this shell of my former self. My brain has been hollowed out by the chainsaw of fears while my body remains fixed in place, unable to run. I once loved to sing and write. I once remembered conversations with others. I once was actually able to hold them myself. Now, I can barely complete coherent sentences without my thoughts veering off. My OCD leaves me exhausted. It's so hard to feel rested when you think something awful is going to happen all the time. I have started to affectionately call it Chicken Little Syndrome. However, it doesn't deserve any affection. I am supposed to be savoring the little songs my toddler sings or the jokes my husband cracks, but I am worrying about making ends meet or about inadvertently not being able to help my patients. Why did I have such issues with time management last shift? Why couldn't I focus on other simple tasks? People have shown me so much love and I can't even think of the proper way to respond, nevermind coming up with something clever, eloquent, or creative. I am a shell. A chainsaw of fear. My family is so good. They deserve to have me back.

My my name Brendan Simons. I first learned about my OCD when I was around 6 years old. It all started when I was in my daycare, and one of the kids was talking about the scary ghost of bloody Mary, and spinning three times in the mirror while saying her name will make her appear and harm you. As a kid, this horrified me as someone that was very afraid of ghost this led to my first experience with OCD. My OCD took this to a new extreme touching doing or saying anything threes times would cause harm to me or somebody that I love and care about this lasted around five years it seems to be a theme in my OCD that keeps coming back, but not always in the way of numbers are doing things multiple times. Later, on in life in my teenage years, it seemed to change from Numbers to that just right feeling. As I’m sure some of you as experienced as I’ve looked online and many people have had that just right feeling, it’s very hard to explain what we’re talking about but I would repeatedly do my actions over and over many times of whether that’s turning on and off water touching closing a door multiple times until I felt just right and if it didn’t feel right, I thought something bad again what happened to me or somebody I care about. More recently, my OCD has come along with intrusive thoughts, and it kind of like what was going on as a teenager with the just right feeling but now my mind tells me to think of harm to somebody that I do not care about so that way it will not affect somebody that I do care about. As family ages my worries continue to grow and I have just recently moved out and live on my own now and I’m very very stressed about my family back home. Now recently, my OCD has started to take over my life. I was prescribed Zoloft for anxiety and OCD and have noticed small changes in my personality. I feel like I have been able to resist the compulsions, but it hasn’t fully taken this anxiety feeling fully out of the picture. It really takes over my day-to-day activities and I still find myself doing multiple compulsions and rituals to try and prevent these things from happening. I understand and I’m self aware that me doing something or a ritual multiple times will have no effect on anybody at all in the world, but for some reason my brain overpowers that and gives you that what a feeling what if this were to happen. Join this app to find people who have possibly has similar experiences just like mine or any advice to help me get through this. As I live in a town that I’m unfamiliar with I know nobody here and I’m just trying to make friends. Please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Hi everyone, i’ve never done this before and I have a lot of trouble accepting help thinking I can do everything on my own. Due to some stressful life circumstances lately I have had a flare up after almost 5 years without any major flare ups. It has been extremely difficult to cope with the deep panic and physical symptoms that come along with it lately and I have taken the first step to getting help from a professional on here. I know I am not alone and I already have a lot of tools and tips that have worked for me in the past but sometimes you just need an extra hand to guide you. Trying to be hopeful and am proud of myself and grateful those around me support me getting extra help during a trying time such as this. 🤍

Does OCD ever make it seem that if you follow your dreams, preferences and goals you will punished by God. I get that feeling a lot that God will punish me if I do and that I’m getting thoughts of God telling me to give up my desires and goals. It’s really stressing me out and getting me sad, anxious, disappointed and angry

I have germ OCD/Emetophobia, and death OCD. I just started Luvox, but my OCD and anxiety has me scared something bad will happen if I take it so I haven’t been consistent. It’s ruining my marriage..I feel guilt 24/7. Can anyone relate…

Please , please… someone give me some advice who is or has been in similar situation?? I need to stop confessing to my partner. I know it hurts him, he said he knows I cannot control that I have a mental illness, or that I have these thoughts in my head but not to put them in his head, he doesn’t want to think about them which is understandable it’s not just random thoughts it’s intrusive thoughts revolved around ROCD, SOCD mostly are my ocd themes that I confess to him… we have spilt up over this before and he gave me another chance and just continues to do that, because I just keep doing it, I know what I’m doing, I know it’s wrong, but the anxiety ocd gives me nothing else will calm me until I confess either to him or if it’s not him it’s my mum, either way I’m still confessing the difference is it doesn’t hurt my mum when I confess, she can handle it, my partner cannot. I hate myself for doing this, I don’t know how to get out of the OCD haze… best way I can describe when I feel anxious over ocd is a feeling of DOOM. 😔😭 please pray for me… please pray for my partner, my daughter, mother, everyone who is affected because of my mental illness… 🤎

I was on an anonymous erotic site and this woman wanted to do stuff with me. She was in a relationship with another woman on the website. She said that she wanted it and that she hadnt done it with her wife in a long time. Long story short we explicitly chatted online but i feel guilty because of the experience. She said i didnt ruin her relationship but i feel like an evil person for doing it. Am i a bad person for this? Someone told me that because its an online chat site, that i have nothing to be sorry about but... i still feel like a horrible bad person who doesnt deserve love...

does anyone remember what their first experience with OCD felt like? im pretty sure i know the exact minute it happened. I was nine and my cousin was over for a sleep over, i remember she was on my bed watching a youtube video, and i was on the floor watching a youtube video. Then all of a sudden i got this horrible feeling it felt almost like deja vu? but i was terrified and i was so anxious i went and threw up. After that my mind was never the same, at the time i was so scared that i had been possessed because thats what i imagined it would feel/ look like, i became obsessed with the thought that i had become possessed. i kept asking my mom for reassurance that I hadn’t gotten possessed or had “made god angry.” im just wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience or if maybe that wasn’t OCD? Part of me still wonders if maybe i actually am possessed and i don’t have OCD even after 10 years. I obviously know thats not true but it’s always the “what if” ya know?

And if so what does that look like to you. I think i may have and I can't figure out if I have or not.

Idk what is wrong with me. For so long I was so strong in my sexual preference for women as a straight man but after I was 17 I had a really bad experience where a girl told people around my school I sexually assaulted her and it fucking killed me. For years, massive depression couldn’t touch a women for years afterwards until after I graduated when in 2021. 2 months in my first trust gf when we had sex my anxiety went so far up that it put me in a panic attack or “fight or flight” reaction and my erection went soft immediately and couldn’t be put back up. I think also I was scared of sex itself and being good at it, I suck at calming my mind down in those situations and just being on the moment. Now since a young teenager I’ve always found women attractive and had crushes on them. Always fantasized about having sex with them and got aroused by it, just the act of making out with women gets me going or sometimes just being close to one. Mental attraction also goes a lot into my attraction to a women. But after that one altercation with my first gf out of fear I was gay i dumped her and left. Been struggling with it for years now. Never knew that I have HOCD till a couple years ago when I reading up on it. Then my past little fling past “situationship” ended horribly but I did have brief sex with her in my car but it ended fast because it was just too uncomfortable in the back of a Mustang😂but yeah then the next time after we had broke things off multiple times I just had no attraction to her anymore as a person although at one point I was almost in love with the girl and wanted to make her my gf. When I was younger I started a horrible addiction to porn that has horribly affected me. It’s comes to the point where straight porn doesn’t get me going anymore so I started resorting to stuff like trans porn. I always look for the most female looking one because the “manly” ones always just turn me off. So now I have stopped watching porn because I realized it was just turning was I truly liked and making it something it isn’t. My brain was just looking do true quick fix of a ejaculation. When I was younger I always watched straight porn and it always turned me on but as I got older watching it 3 to 4 times a day it started to attracted me less and less. Where now some days I struggle finding women attractive when before hand I adored and always found women attractive as long in my type range you know. Hope that all makes sense but yeah it’s brutal as man dealing with this problems because it just make you feel less than and like you are gay when as a young man this problem was not a problem. I was never attracted to men as a young teenager or even older teenager.