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How does one get over a breakup? I have very little experience will take any ideas

Hi all 👋 I’m posting out of curiosity—would anyone like to share their experience with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) therapy? I’ve heard very good things (low side effects, high chance of positive results, once a year treatment cycle) but would love to hear personal stories about your experiences too (both good and bad welcome!).

my friend has girlfriend who met on tinder abroad and they started seeing each other as she came to our country. The issue is that she lied to my friend on being 19 the whole time she was with him, and she actually was 3 years younger than him. He didn't know that and still had s&x with her many times. During her stay in my country she was still 16 and my friend had just become like 720 a week ago, she would have become 17 a month later. My friend discovered it during her stay, and i'm afraid he kept having s&x after discovering the age gap during that time frame where on paper they would have been 4 years apart . My friend is a good guy, I do not know how to ask this without sounding weird

I had a very bad dentist experience in 2020 and have not been able to go to a dentist since. Its not a phobia, I dont think. It really feels like my OCD. I ruminate, then avoid. Something bad will happen if I go to a dentist again. Im not sure what, but of course Ive imagined every possible thing over and over and some of the scenarios are so outlandish I know its my OCD. I also stopped flossing after that and have to distract myself with something in order to be able to brush my teeth, so sometimes a few days go by before I can get myself in a frame of mind to be able to brush my teeth again. Just related subject matter sets me off: I run through what happened again and again and run through all the bad scenerios that could happen -when I brush my teeth or something related comes up,etc. Like I had to leave when a kid showed me where her tooth fell out and I realized over an hour later that Id just gone out to my car and sat in the parking lot ruminating over it all. So all that was a perfect storm for a dental emergency, which is why Im going to dentist on monday to avoid sepsis. I can't be the only one who's had a situation like this: maybe not specifically the dentist, although I feel like that might be kind of common, but something where you HAD to go somewhere to do something that youve been avoiding HARD -there is no way to continue avoiding this. But I had to take the day off from work to even get myself to a place where I could call and make an appointment. What are some things that have helped you get into the headspace to go do something like that -and to keep from freaking out while waiting? And I feel like just laying eyes on the stuff in the office is going to trigger me big time. Im worried I'll get there and won't be able to go through with the appointment and I really, really need to. I mean, I was trying not to say it because it bothers me so bad i feel like saying it might be bad for someone else with OCD reading this: but how the heck am I ever going to be able to let a stranger touch my mouth?

I just had an unexpected trigger I can’t even put into words how hard the OCD is….I wish I had someone here with me right now that has the exact same cross contamination OCD as me…so that person could tell me step by step what they would do …I can no longer function without OCD. It’s so hard for me to explain. The sad part is …the last couple days I was hopefully …trying to do ERP one tiny step at a time. And then this trigger happened tonight. How am I supposed to get better when there are constant triggers ??? It’s like trying to swim and giant waves keep pushing you back so you can’t swim past the waves that keep rolling in!!! I can’t find a therapist thats takes insurance. I feel so alone in this battle and I have to be my own therapist. It is going to take hours to decontaminate from this trigger. And I’m exhausted. The only thing left to say is Jesus please help me. If anyone has cross contamination that interferes with daily functioning, do you have any advice…I don’t know anyone that has this type of OCD. I really could use some words of wisdom and encouragement from anyone who understands cross contamination OCD.

Adults only Had some kind of dream where POCD was extremely high and I felt disgusting and terrible because when it comes to porn I've seen a lot of terrible, messed up things that people have made about fictional minors. Everytime I've looked for things to watch with legal characters, I find them and I've made a playlist to only have that content I'm comfortable with multiple times but I always end up running into this messed up stuff people upload and don't monitor. I don't understand why there's so much of this shit and it triggers my POCD very very badly and I feel like no one else has gone through this and it's only me, which is why my pocd spikes. Sometimes I even get sexual intrusive thoughts about fictional minors and real minors and it's messing with my mind so much. I don't side with pedophilia on ANY LEVEL. I'm trying to accept that I'm a human being and I have human desires that are sexual and there isn't anything wrong with that. I'm trying to accept that this isn't a bad thing but whenever I come across awful stuff like this so many times by accident it makes me feel so guilty and so ashamed. It feels like I'm going to be put on a list because people are making this stuff with literal child characters and not just adults. They know it and don't care and it's breaking my mind.

I'm 20, but I feel so behind my peers. My mental health has caused many roadblocks, and sometimes, I'm afraid of never getting to a point where I actually feel content with where I am. For the past couple of years, life has been stagnant. I don't have a job (due to high anxiety and possibly procrastination), I haven't pursued higher education, even though I do want to, and I don't have a single friend I'm in active communication with. My best friend and I grew apart in high school (I switched to online), and although we keep in touch, we're not as close as we once were. She's across the country in another state attending college, so I only see her in-person once in a blue moon when she returns during breaks. Besides that, we respond to each other's stories, send happy birthdays and such, etc... Realistically, I know I haven't "failed" in life. I try to remind myself that there isn't just one path in life to take and that things are going to be okay, but... I don't think I fully believe it. I want to, but I often feel hopeless. OCD is one of the worst things that has ever happened to me. I'm constantly stuck in the past while trying to live in the present. I feel like I'll never be able to TRULY move on from anything. It will always find some way to reel me back into obsessing. I miss the peace and quiet when my brain wasn't constantly harassing me with horrible intrusive thoughts. I miss it so much. There's so much I want to do in life, but I feel like I'm nerfed or something lmao 💔 I genuinely experience a lot of embarrassment due to everything I talked about above... Any advice or just support would be very much appreciated. I'm just having a rough day.

i am just so frustrated. i keep doing research on the difference between pocd and an actual P, and it just seems the exact same. and everyone keeps telling me “no there’s actually a big difference” but in research there’s literally not. i’ve tried so hard to find more but the only difference i can find is the actual attraction part, but when u dont know what real attraction is because you generally have no experience in it and have natural low attraction it’s like how can you even figure it out for yourself and see if you’re attracted or not??? im just so stuck. its making me angry because i want to figure it out so badly but i just can’t because all the research to me just seems like “yeah real P’s can actually experience and feel the exact same as someone with pocd” and the only difference seems to be real attraction, but when POCD makes you believe you are attracted and have thoughts that people who are attracted can also experience, and even with pocd you feel all negative emotions about the thoughts that also real P’s can feel its like OH MY GOSH HOW DO I FIGURE THIS OUT!!!!!!!! then people are like “if you were a real P you would just know” BUT WHAT IF I DONT???? its possible for a real P to be confused and not really know for sure so like!!?!?!?. i just wish i had a machine where you could type in a question about yourself and it would give you a real definite answer cause then i would know the real cause to all these things im going through.

I had a thought while at work abt my brother and I got really strong groinal respones and I kept replaying it until it stopped. It felt like real arousal. I feel like idk how to fantasize anymore or what the difference is between fantasies and intrusive thoughts. Everyone says intrusive thoughts are thoughts u dont agree with and I feel like ive lost touch and dont even know whats me anymore. Which is disgusting

In January this year i found myself quite attracted to a colleague would go as far to say it was a crush, i never flirted or was inappropriate with them but i did have thoughts about whether being in a relationship with them would maybe be better or if we felt strongly towards each-other i would potentially leave my boyfriend (at the time) But i soon got over this crush and my relationship with my partner got stronger and stronger Now were engaged i feel as though i betrayed him by having that thought and i don’t deserve love and happiness Im not sure if those were the exact thoughts but i definitely did have a bit of a crush What do i do, am i a cheater? Or basically as bad as one😭

I’m making some gains battling my ocd and I really feel supported by my therapist Shawn Welty.

This is my first ever post on here, because honestly my anxiety over my health has gotten really bad. Ive had really irregular bowl movements as of thanksgiving and that’s about it no pain , no weight loss, no change in appetite, no blood , etc. My Brain is still trying to convince me that I have some horrible disease that’s going to kill me. I have an appointment with my doctor today at 9 but I’m do scared and anxious. I can’t fall asleep because I’m actually stressing out and my brain is telling me if I fall asleep I won’t wake back up. Honestly I’m struggling really bad and if anyone relates I’d love to hear how you calm yourself down or what makes you feel a little bit better because I haven’t been able to leave my house or panic attack free in about 4 days. Anything helps 💕

I don’t know if anyone will see this, but I just wanted to encourage you as things can absolutely get better. I was a total wreck before I started ERP. i had no idea how much it would help me or re-wire my brain. I used to be so depressed, so anxious, my life was completely different. OCD ran my everyday, dominated my thoughts and actions. I now see pretty much everything a whole lot clearer. If you are just starting ERP or are having doubts along the way, please stick with it. it will get better

First of all I apologize for my grammar english isnt my first language Im 19 and I am from germany, ive been suffering with severe ROCD since ive been 14 :(.. I have a big fear of cheating on my boyfriend thats why I keep analysing ALL my intrusive thoughts and actions ive done, for example if another guy from my class texts me and asks me for homework I keep thinking: Oh this is cheating.. or I asks myself: have I ever done this? Example: I handshake a guy from class my false memory ocd tells me: oh but youve also kissed or hugged him, you just dont remember Then i am not sure anymore if thats false memory ocd or reality I must admit my boyfriend has been toxic for a long time and it started at a young age, he often thought I was cheating or didnt believe me when we were around 14/15, I was very insecure and full of axinety at that age thats why I can tell myself this was strongly traumatic for me. it gets worse, I once convinced myself im cheating on him because im lesbian or p... (POCD) and also sexual orientation ocd. I keep asking others: Have I done something wrong? Do you remember when you were there when I was doing ... did something bad happen? Did I cheat? What If I cant remember or what if thats considered cheating? I once deleted my textmessages from my male classmates because I had a fear my boyfriend would think: why is she so nice to them or why is she laughing that much? I also chat with chatgpt all day to make sure none of my actions are cheating or none of my thoughts. I always get triggered when people talk about relationship rules because I compare myself with it, for example a girl tells me its considered chating if her boyfriend talks to his girl classmates. I tell myself: oh I have done that too I am a terrible person, girlfriend, daughter etc.. If he treats me good, it gets worse because I feel like I dont deserve it. Sometimes I wish I was single and alone so I wouldnt have ROCD but id probaly have other forms of ocd. Im tired from this, I cant focus on school because of these thoughts, I skipped so many days because it became worse, currently Im in 12th grade and its my last school year so the most important one. Im trying to fight myself against this but I cant, there were also times where I didnt have ROCD 24/7 and if I remember these times I feel like ive lost control over these times.. I analyse every joke ive made, every step, every thought, every breath, every intention, every conversation, everything. Im tired. :/ I go to sleep with ocd and wake up with it continiuing. My class friends dont understand me, "You wont pass this year" or "Just dont think about it" they dont understand how it feels thinking about this sh.. everyday all the time Im just tired of everything. Im dizzy and tired all the time, Im zoning out in classes and always talking to my amazing parents who are helping me 24/7. Theyve always been perfect, helpful and kind and Ive made a huge mistake not telling them earlier, Ive been suffering alone with these thoughts. I love my parents I just hope somebody can relate to all of this, I feel like Im alone deeply I know that I love my boyfriend more than anything but I cant handle it anymore Im tired.

I don’t know when or how I developed OCD but I remember it coming out of nowhere. I think I was 14 years old and I kept obsessing over silly things. I would do things because I thought that if I didn’t do those things, then bad things would happen. for example, if I was making something in my microwave and I didn’t stop it once second exactly my family was going to die that sounds very silly and I know probably some of you relate to this I’m sorry if you do, I noticed other things like I have to count something couple times or make sure that the oven turned off even though I didn’t use it but somehow maybe there’s a chance that I did and if I didn’t turn off then I would probably die. I would constantly constantly wash my hands and if I had a cut I had to wash it and keep an eye, even though if it was a very, very small cut, I would think I would eventually get an infection and die!! Sometimes if I don’t have things in a right way, I feel like unsettled and there’s like this weird bad feeling and if I don’t fix that thing, then I just feel uneasy until I fix it. I’ve gotten better with my OCD but they are definitely sometimes I struggle more. Recently I have been having lots of health OCD or whatever you call it thinking I’m going to get sick, I feel like I feel like this every single time there’s an important event coming up. This Friday is my birthday and I’m terrified of getting sick and ruining plans so I’ve been very cautious about getting sick washing my hands constantly, taking all the precautions etc. I think I just have this feeling that like if I have an important event coming up then I will get sick and then it will just ruin the plans I have because it has happened to me. I know that there’s an OCD where you have intrusive thoughts or compulsive thoughts and it is where you have weird thoughts that make you think something I really don’t want to say it out loud I’m using text speech, but I’ve had that too. For example, this is a less serious one, but when I was dating someone I had to thought that I would accidentally cheat on them, even though I would never do that and that’s not possible because I control my actions I’m not gonna cheat on someone. It was so weird. i’m in a new relationship that’s healthier. I’ve never had that thought so I’m glad I got over that. OCD is just so… I’m trying to think of the right word. It’s so restricting I feel like I can’t live a normal life like everyone else. I think I’m weird for the thought to have for the compulsion or whatever, my brain is different from normal person. I think the worst part about OCD is when you’re trying to explain it to “normal “person. I’m explaining these feelings and thoughts and they’re like what the heck I’m like yeah lol that’s so weird who would even say that, I think the worst flair up of my OCD was when I had fiberglass in my bed and the fiberglass was getting everywhere. I had to clean my whole room put a thing on my bed to stop it from spreading more fiberglass. In my head, I thought every single thing in my room was contaminated and I wanted to throw everything away but I couldn’t. Do not have money to go buy a whole new wardrobe or new bed or new shoes was probably the worst ever experience I’ve ever had. To this day I still feel uncomfortable in my room. Sometimes I feel like all my clothes still have fiberglass on them and I’m cautious, I feel like I won’t feel normal in my room until I move out and get a different room but I wont for a long time. It’s something I’ve accepted. I guess I just want to share my experience with OCD. If anybody has experienced these let me know show your story I know this is a lot to read, but I’m using text to speech ha ha thank you for reading if you came this far, take care.

Hello, i don't even know if this is ocd related but i feel like i need help either way Me and my boyfriend have been together for three years now and i love him so much like i truly believe i want to be with him the rest of my life, the only thing is he doesn't have a job, not that he doesn't want to, he's an artist and yeah its a really hard area to get into, but i really believe in him and his talent, and he even applies for like regular jobs at stores and restaurants but it just hasn't happened yet, and it's something that really frustrates me A while back i was crying really hard on the phone about it because i felt like he wasn't making as much of an effort as he could to get a job and to create content on his own to get his art out there, and he recognized it and apologized and has gotten a lot of work done actually Getting to me being mean to him, he has an opportunity with someone in the industry, like to pitch his idea, and like 4 days before they were supposed to meet my boyfriend tells me he still needed to get things ready And i flipped, like i started saying all the same things, that he isnt taking it seriously and i spoke in a way that i am not proud of After he explained better to me i understood that he obviously already had like everything done and planned, he just needed to like fix the storyboard or something, and honestly, even if he had procrastinated, it was not okay for me to speak the way that i did, and i fear its something i do a lot, i get angry and lash out and say mean things/am rude and im really scared its going to drive him away eventually, how do i work on myself? Does anyone have any tips?

Ever since 2 days ago I have been so anxious thinking that I’m losing feelings for my boyfriend, I know it can’t be true cause I still feel attracted to him, but it’s just the little things like for example, whenever I say “I love you” it feels like I can’t feel any emotions, or when I look at pictures of him, it feels like I don’t have any emotions, like before we hung out 2 days ago, I would just admire and think about how handsome he looks in the photos and now I just feel nothing, but sometimes I’ll feel emotions. Idk. My mind is so confusing. And it’s been putting so much anxiety on me cause like he is the most sweetest, most caring man I’ve ever been with. I can’t let him go. Can anyone give advice on how I can get rid of this feeling?

18+ please I saw art of Marvel Rivals skins and one of them was Peni Parker, nothing weird official art of a skin they'll be releasing, I didn't realise who it was at first so zoomed in, my OCD convinced me it was with sinister intentions (Even if it was, they've confirmed she's 18 but I still don't like the idea of her being sexualised because she's not in every other continuity). I then kept getting intrusive images of the other version of her from Spider-Verse that were incredibly disgusting and disturbing and I'm struggling with the what if I saw something terrible involving her and didn't do anything or worse, even though it makes no sense as when I saw something like that, I freaked out for an entire day and the other time was just under some random tweet that again, freaked me out for a while. Those were both this year though and I have this nagging in the back of my head of "What if it was earlier than that and you forgot?". I know I have to just sit with the uncertainty and stop ruminating but it's really really hard. Does anyone have any techniques they use to do it that help?

(Sorry this is long wondering if anyone may relate to this!) 🙃 I have this weird really annoying thing where when I try to focus or relax (basically 24/7) my head feels noisy where it will “play” random song lines or sentences that i can’t get out of my head and in a sense I talk to me brain silently with my mouth or whisper the conversation back or for it to shut up. I also read words wrong as what I’m saying mentally and I feel like my thoughts aren’t mine almost. It’s hard to brush my hair, teeth, change, shower, etc because everything around me starts playing through my head and any slight noise wether the house cracking or someone laughing in another room makes me freeze up and my head starts convincing me that it messes up the way I was doing whatever I was doing and I feel extreme anxiety around it where I avoid doing these basic tasks. I also feel the need to repeat words with my mouth after reading or hearing them even saying things I repeat the words silently after or in syllables ex; “the theh thuh” or repeating the word “like” and “yuh” until it feels right in my throat. I also feel the strong need and sometimes uncontrollable eyebrow movements, teeth “clicking” to songs in my brain, and weird jaw movements. I constantly think about my hair, the way it is touching my shirt “knotting” it and how I move to itch my face or head and doing it “wrong” which I obsess over movements for hours if I do. I also get very uncomfortable when I move wrong or touch anything wrong, and can’t shake thoughts about super minor things like someone bumping me or breathing near me and it consumes me and my mood can go from 100 to 0 like a light switch. I hate this and always think “why can’t I just stop” and doubt myself if I’m making this all up, but then again it wouldn’t drain me this much.

We'd put OCD on the naughty list...but if it wasn't, what do you think it would want for Christmas? A mind reader on call 24/7? The power to make you doubt literally everything? Share your OCD's wishlist in the comments—humor welcome.