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No matter what I do I can’t stop ruminating thoughts. I feel so frustrated. My mind is so loud and the thoughts are just on a loop. I feel paranoid and can’t stop obsessing. Anyone have any helpful suggestions? 😣

Hi there my fellow OCDers, This question has been on my mind for some time. I read a good few posts on this forum and often wonder why quite s few of us haven't tried therapy specifically using ERP yet . I know there must be many reasons, financial, too many commitments, previous bad experience with therapy, etc. I may be wrong and would love to hear other views on this, but in my case and I suspect quite a few others.....the reason was fear, that the therapy would prove my fears to be true. In our minds we debate what we fear in the hope of proving those fears to be untrue.....which as we all know, never works. But the anxiety of starting therapy, for me at least, was that the therapy would somehow prove my fears to be true. So staying away from therapy, at least keeps us hoping we're somehow safe , even if we're totally unhappy. The truth is, therapy doesn't do this.... that's not it's role......it won't prove we are bad or evil people, it's purpose is to help us out of the dead end that OCD has brought us to, and to help us find peace in our minds and some happiness in our lives again. So I would say to anyone out there, who believes they are guilty of something they really fear...... therapy won't expose you as a bad person....it will truly help you, once you commit to it..... Again would love to hear other views on this, love to you all 🙂

I feel like over a week ago I had about 4 really GOOD days in a row which I’ve never had before! I was able to concentrate a lot more I still had the thoughts but it was usually just the same one that popped up every now and again, no new ones and I really felt like this was the start of getting better. Well fast forward to now im on day 3 of really bad days!!! My awful intrusive thoughts are on loop again I can’t seem to concentrate, im constantly ruminating!!! I feel like I’m constantly creating new thoughts in my head that are awful!! I’ve started mindfulness again which I feel just have been what helped me have the good days because that’s the only thing I’ve stopped really. Anyone who else gone through this??????

I've been doing really well. But today my OCD has brought up a portion of my past where I had a sexual dream of me and my friend (my friend is a girl). Now my head is telling well you had that dream and thought maybe you liked her. I didn't like her and I knew that. But now all my head is telling me well you must like girls because this happened and I know my sexual orientation. Any advice would be great.

My parents think I’m a burden they I’m over reacting I have nothing I don’t want t to live anymore do u think suiside is the best option I don’t know why god is punishing me I can’t take it I don’t want to live anymore in this tourtire life

It'll be several months before I see a psychiatrist but lately i've been having what feels like mood swings that involve a lot of intense crying and dark, racing thoughts/disconnection from myself, but I keep snapping out of it for moments and suddenly everything feels okay. I was having this problem a couple weeks ago and it stopped after about a week and now it's starting to happen again. I'm just curious as to how you bipolar + OCD folks tend to feel or react to both disorders or how they might impact each other. I promise I won't read into it that much lol. I've been suspicious about being bipolar for over a year now. I've just never had these swings this consistently. (And no, I don't think it has to do with my period just yet. Last time this happened it didn't have anything to do with that either.)

This seems to be quite a prominent theme for me. I have this one Italian friend and he very strongly oreferes white women in what he's attracted to. Then I had this Filipino friend who said he finds all races attractive, but white women more so on average. I had this other Filipino friend joke that his type was "basic white women", when I talked about how hot I thought Filipino girls were. However ive had other friends mention how they like girls of all races, and my Arab ex bf mentioned how he usually finds indian and Arab girls to be pretty. I'm just kind of uncomfortable with racial preferences and it makes me wonder whether people find me hot

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hey guys. me & my gf recently found out that she might have bipolar disorder. we can to this conclusion bc she does have on & off states of happy & sad , i know thats very difficult for her. but honestly i am fearful that with my ocd, can we even handle eachother? a while ago, my anxiety used to flare up during her episodes (they don’t anymore, now that ik that she doesn’t mean to be upset with me most of the time) All im saying is that this is a tricky situation.. what if my ocd is flaring while shes in the middle of an episode? how can we comfort eachother? what if she doesn’t know she to comfort me anymore? idk.. i have this gut feeling that im hopeful for the future, but i just cant shake this doubt. & now im scared to have kids omg

Can intrusive thoughts be so intense? It seriously feels like someone else is in my brain. My thoughts consist of “What if I just..” “It would be so easy…” and they are horrible so so so horrible. I hate these thoughts so much but why do they feel this way. I would never ever do any of these things but sometimes I can’t help but think what if I do? What if I give in. It’s so terrifying. Does anyone else experience intrusive thoughts that genuinely feel like it’s you for a second and then you feel immense regret?

i feel like i’ve been losing feelings for my girlfriend even though i love her very much deep down the only sign that this might be ocd is that i gain feelings in the morning, lose them during the day and gain them back in the evening what does this mean

ROCD is such a curse. I just want to be able to be held by him and feel love again without doubt. I want to be able to look at him and not be overcome with anxiety. I want to be able to be kind to him, to not constantly focus on his flaws and be distant and critical. I love him and it hurts that I feel this way. it's just been so hard today. Hopefully tomorrow is better.

I'm having issues with hit and run ocd recently. It's very hard for me to even drive anywhere anymore. Everywhere I go I feel like ive hit someone's vehicle without me noticing, even though there isn't any damage to my car I can't stop thinking that I've side swiped someone or hit someone's car while backing out or something and didn't feel it. Has anyone else dealt with this? If so, was there a way you could make the thoughts go away? It's all I can focus on and it's giving me a sort of task paralysis where I'm so focused on the thoughts I can't get anything I need to do in my daily life done.

I've lately been having anxiety flare ups, where I feel my temperature raise followed by extreme all or nothing thinking where I dwell on the thoughts of dying or getting sick. In these moments it feels like a haze is cast over me and everything feels like doom. I have no desire to harm myself and when I get this anxious I have thoughts themed around me no longer being here as well as my family or friends never expecting me to do that. It hurts me because I spend a lot of time stewing over the thoughts only for the anxiety to eventually come down and I have some clarity. But these thoughts can be very convincing that something is wrong because of my strong reaction to them.

Do you ever get hung up on the fact that at one point in time, you did not have detectable symptoms of ocd? I literally did not have contamination ocd until Covid. I used to lay on the ground with the dog, go out and come back home and lay on the couch in the same clothes, put my phone and keys on ground etc. Now I can’t even walk in my socks in house because it’s going to contaminate the couch when I put my feet up. Now I can’t sit on my couch unless I change my clothes, and now if I even have to touch my phone when my hand is “dirty,” I have to wash my hands, wipe my phone, and wash my hands again. This really sucks. I wish I can go back to a time where I wasn’t like this.

Ughhhh I have a new theme today that I’m a psychopath and I can’t shake it. I’ve taken some quizzes and I have a low chance. But I just fear I’m actually a terrible person and can’t heal from my past mistakes. Can anyone relate?

I’m a college student and I’m experiencing extreme burnout. I have so many assignments and exams piling up, but I just can’t get myself to start any of them. I am an extreme perfectionist and I have very high anxiety and this makes starting tasks related to school very difficult. I ended up wasting my entire spring break thinking about all the assignments I have to do. It is the last day of break and I have done nothing yet!!!! I’m so stressed out, I don’t know what to do. Why can I never start things when I want to. I always have to think about a task for an excessive amount of time before actually starting it.

Anyone have any intake or advice on what to do with regards to trying to sleep but your OCD won’t stop having you think that emptying your bladder before bed even though you know it’s empty but your mind doesn’t think or feel right about it so you go repeatedly and develop a cycle?

I am thinking about going on Prozac, my mom is against it and I am not really sure how to tell her I need it. My OCD has been affecting my daily life, it ruined me and my ability to stay positive and enjoy life, I don’t have motivation in life anymore and I don’t see a point in living, I would not harm myself because obviously I don’t want my loved ones to be sad, but I want to be able to enjoy life again, I want to not burden my family and my boyfriend anymore. All I talk about is my OCD, what are the pros of Prozac? Is it addictive? My mom is against it because she wants me to face OCD instead of running away from it by taking medication and depending on them, which I get. But I would only want to take them while I am in Therapy, I dont want to deal with OCD on a 24/7 basis until I am done with ERP, I just had my second ever therapy session yesterday.

Trigger warning for anyone who is in the depths of their obsessions and compulsions. I’ve struggled with SOOCD on and off for years. As I’ve stated before the thoughts don’t necessarily disappear but they no longer bother me the way they used to. Part of my personal ERP is to accept that maybe I’m just bi and fall somewhere on the spectrum. I know I like men and like being relationships with men (I’m a woman) but I do think women are pretty and hot but don’t ever want to act on that or date one…so my question is, are there different levels of being bi? Like attraction but not romantic?