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I am new to all this, and am wondering why seeking reassurance is a bad thing? I have seen it on this app a lot, and I want to understand as much as possible.

With the current violence and destruction against American civilians, I’ve been scared shitless to leave my home. I don’t live in a major city. But now I’m just scared of getting encountered by an 🧊 agent and getting murdered on the spot. Especially as a person of color I’d just be wiped off and disregarded if anything were to happen to me. And only my family and friends would remember me and it’d devastate them. It’s hard to know whether I’ll be safe or not whenever I go out anywhere. Current world events and politics is just freaking me out and it’s been devastating to me. I guess at least my OCD is latched onto that and not my other themes. I don’t know what to do. Since the fear feels much more probable.

18+ Ive never been a good person as it turns out... because my real POCD events were disgusting and horrible... I will never love myself... and I dont think I ever will... I failed... sorry guys... (And no. Im not gonna hurt myself, but Im genuinely done thinking I'm good, and will never think of myself as good...) Right now, it's giving me intrusive thoughts of me closely inspecting a baby's bare crotch and touching it... it's making me think I did this as a child... A year ago, this intrusive thought and image suddenly popped up while I was having an OCD attack... and now over a year and a half later, its happened again... and it immediately started making me think that this was a real event that actually happened!!! and if this actually happened, Im absolutely mortified and horrified and disgusted... i don't know if this actually happened or not but its genuinely triggering me... I'm scared because I don't ever want to do that! Im scared of being reported to the police or something because of my venting... i hope this is a false memory...

He knows I have OCD, and I have tried my absolute hardest to explain how my brain behaves sometimes. But I am not sure he is understanding, fully, the stuff I go through daily. How have you brought your OCD to your loved ones? What is the best way to explain my struggles to my partner? I know he will probably never fully understand what I am going through, because he can’t relate, I just don’t think I’m communicating my OCD triggers to their fullest potential- I guess the severity of it. Sometimes I don’t even understand it. I mainly struggle with contamination and health OCD.

Does anyone here who works from home or who is self-employed deal with loneliness and/or isolation? Any tips on how to manage it? I currently go to coffee shops, take classes, take walks (anything to feel I exist in the real world lol) — and it helps, but I find it really hard when classes aren’t available or I don’t make it out to a coffee shop. I’m wondering if there are other ideas out there for ways to manage loneliness / isolation.

Have you noticed that the more you try to not have a certain thought, the more it will pop up (pink elephant theory)? Or that the more you try to fight or resist or replace a thought, the harder it gets? This is a really hard thing to get past. But the answer (at least what’s helped me) is to sit with the thought and let it come and go. If I try to fight it, it gets worse. If I give it attention, it gets worse. Starve OCD- don’t give it attention, it’s not worth it! Have a great day! ☀️

I am in a very healthy Christ oriented relationship. However, I very rarely partake in self pleasure, of course I do not watch any adult content EVER, but it has sent me into a spiral. I never watch anything, I would only pull up pictures of my girl (she told me that she is comfortable with it and she likes it), but this last time, I put a music playlist on youtube to listen to, and in meanwhile, I glanced some inapropriate thumbnails while in grid view. Not inaproppriate in a sexual way, but I saw them at the very wrong time. I glanced each of the pictures for miliseconds, it made me sick so I closed my computer after about 20 seconds. Of course then I looked at my girl’s picture. And then it hit me. I feel like throwing up. I can not stop ruminating. I glanced three different thumbnails, which are the three worst extremes that I could see in that moment. In that moment, I quickly looked away and did not give it very much thought, but after an hour or so, it sent me into a spiral.

OK, so I’m a Christian and I decided to start an art account just because I have wanted people to really interact with my artwork and follow, like, and support my art. My goals is to at least hit like 5000 followers or 10,000 followers. It would be really fun to have that experience. but my mind is going wild cause I can’t tell whether or not this is considered idolizing. I know that people say not to search up certain things when you’re dealing with OCD but I still did it anyways. I searched up if wanting followers is idolizing and the first thing that popped up was yes this could be a form of idolization and I’m just sitting here thinking about the ways I could be idolizing social media, cause I’m not putting it before God. I also searched up if hoping you get likes idolizing social media and it said yes it is. like I still make time for God so read my Bible and pray every day. I just have that goal of hitting a certain amount of followers and having my art being liked. the one thing I just wanna do right by God and I don’t want to do wrong that’s why I’m looking into idolizing. I’m a little bit confused I can’t tell whether or not it is or isn’t. I don’t tie my worth to the likes that I get I’m just happy when I do get them. I guess I’m also a little bit worried about this because when I was a bit younger, I made like a little TikTok account and posted. When I didn’t get a lot of likes. I would be disappointed and would kind of tie it to my worth because I started to feel like oh what I’m putting out isn’t good enough. So now I’m afraid of going down that mindset again and my mind is like OK so like maybe I should delete all of my social media art accounts and to stay off of them because you’re idolizing it like. I also have thoughts like what if God wants me to delete all of my social media accounts because I’m idolizing it. I don’t think I’m gonna do that because I’m pretty sure this is an obsession. I low-key been fixated on idolization for like quite some time and that’s why I feel like it’s an obsession because I’m always so worried about idolizing things that even when I get achievements like on this account I ended up getting like close to 600 followers in my art blew up and instead of being happy and grateful I cried because I started to think about if I’m idolizing this if I should delete my account if God wants me to delete my account if I’m doing wrong by God because I wanted legs and followers and I finally got those legs and follow like this whole obsession cycle and I wasn’t even able to be happy about it because instead I tried to figure out God really wanted me to just delete what I had worked hard for. I guess I’m just coming here for advice and just to feel a little less alone.

Is anyone on Zoloft does it work I been on it for about a month and still don't feel a diff

I feel like I have such passionate interests and a personality that my close family, especially my older sis can see clearly- they say I'm very loud and bright and expressive. (Although sometimes serious and very moody, but that's thanks to mental health.) But I feel as if I can't show myself to anyone else whether it's my favorite cartoons, music, hobbies, or anything like that or who I really am because OCD twists things and tells me that later on people who don't like me or others will expose my favorite things, or make fun of me and ruin the things that I love for myself and in general I just feel super exposed + along with other fears. Also it messes with some of my specific OCD subtypes. Does anyone else feel that way ? But at the same time I feel as if I don't show myself, I get scared people will see me as this instead or that (Which people has done before. They'd say I'm the opposite of this, or my personality is this or I seem like that which isn't true and I get stressed.) And I feel as if it's now MANDATORY for me to show who I really am so I do so forcefully but then later on I may feel a bit exposed and it just doesn't feel good. Also feels forced and unnatural whenever I try to be me. Like I'm in class right now and it does not feel good whatsoever like usual I just feel so awkward and miserable. (Well I was when typing this, now I've been out.) I have shared my interests to my friends in the past and occasionally still do, and at school I'm supposed to do presentations about me (which I HATE !) And especially since my classmates see what I like, most of the time I try my best not to say too much, and I just feel like I'm stripping myself in a way or showing off the most personal info ever even though it's nothing. I only feel comfortable with showing my true self to my family or oddly strangers ? Like YOU GUYS in this app, it's so comforting sharing myself since you guys don't know me and everyone here has OCD so in a way we all are already supportive towards one another. And the same goes to other kind strangers. (Unless if my bad socially anxiety hits me but that's a completely different thing..) I guess I only feel this awful fear with people that are from my school or friends (which is odd, but also for some reasons as well) and on social media definitely unless if it's maybe Tumblr or Pinterest. (For when it comes to posting my drawings or favorite things and what not.) I do feel like this is the case STRONGLY due to Real event OCD. I used to overshare so much about me to the point it got quite dangerous or concerning, whether it was compulsive confessing or rambling about my past interest which was my ex since I only really hung out with him and couldn't do anything else, spoiler alert WAS AN AWFUL IDEA, and now I'm WAY too paranoid and horrified to even say something as simple as what's my favorite animal. (Guinea pigs by the way, :^) but it's you guys so it's not scary.) And I keep ruminating about the past oversharing and now think too much about my interactions or how much I show my true self nowadays. You know?

I have been at college for a semester, and most of it hasn’t been a shock: the academic side of it has been pretty easy, my social life is going genuinely well and there’s not much I can complain about. But, I was one of the highest people in my class during Highschool, and there’s been a large change in a few things since I’ve come to college. My academic performance is the same if not better in college than it was in high school, but I go to a very, very large college with more than 30k students. So, there’s a lot more people around my level. So, when u apply for on campus jobs, or really anything regarding the school, it’s a lot harder to get: my competition was a lot less in high school. Now I‘ve applied to around 9 on campus jobs, and all of them have rejected me. Even when some of them had a 50% acceptance rate. I’m now getting in my head, worrying that if I don’t get a prestigious on-campus job relating to tutoring or something similarly difficult, I’ll be an Academic failure, and no one will want to hire me after college. Even though I’m only in my freshman year, these applications feel like they have a lot of weight and are a lot more difficult than those in high school. Has anyone else had a similar experience? If so, what have you done to comfort yourself when one rejection comes after another?

Hello everyone! I haven't been on here for a while, but I've been doing better. While I'm far from being healed, I've come a very long way and I feel like my OCD is almost dormant now (thankfully). Holidays, which I used to dread ( because lots of free time + staying at home = recipe for disaster when it comes to OCD ) went just fine, I even had a good time. I'll share down below the tips that have helped me the most during my journey and that I hope will be of some help to you if you're struggling: 1. Understand that the goal isn't to not listen to OCD because it's "wrong", but because going about things in an OCD way is unfruitful: This sounds terrifying, but is ultimately what's going to free you. If you go on with the belief that you shouldn't listen to OCD because it lies, you will always, in your moments of weakness, seek reassurance, analyze, try to disprove the thought because you assign meaning to the content. If you refuse to engage in OCD because you recognize that OCD-style solving is unfruitful, endless and will NEVER make you reach an answer, you will resist OCD no matter the content, because you're not trying to beat the theme, you're trying to beat the process. Once you short circuit that process, the OCD subsides. 2. Avoid ChatGPT/any equivalent COMPLETELY: as a general rule of thumb, avoid talking to conversational AI about your personal feelings completely. You just get sucked into this weird dependency and not to mention, AI was what fed my OCD in the first place. AI can't be your therapist, it is not trained to diagnose/help you navigate OCD even if it might seem like it, and even if it claims not to "give you reassurance", in reality it will most of the time. As I said ChatGPT is not a trained therapist. 3. Avoid OCD communities: I know this might sound counter intuitive and ironic since I'm posting on NOCD but I think this was what helped me the most. You're already suffering and you're not equipped to deal with people's heavy stories, everyone needs support but you need to recognize that most of the time we're not equipped to handle that additional load, and it's okay. Not to mention scrolling through OCD subs and communities can be compulsive, and I found that for me it put OCD at the fore front of my life. Once I stopped logging in, life went back to "normal", OCD no longer felt like a defining part of my character. I think it's reassuring to know that you're not alone out there, but I don't feel like logging on here daily/often is very helpful to us. 4. (If possible) Avoid staying at home/being sedentary: of course, ideally we'd want to be able to just stay at home and relax without having the OCD threat loom over us but when you're in the early stages of OCD, being sedentary will not help you at all. Of course I recognize that not everyone has the luxury to go out for various reasons, but if you can, take your daily activities outside: instead of studying at home go to your local library/cafe (this is what helps me the most). Also, avoid doomscrolling and bedrotting as much as you can. They're not good habits in general but it's even more important to kill those habits when you're an OCD sufferer. 5. Living by these: Even if accepting them feels hard at first: thoughts are just thoughts, the content doesn't matter when it comes to OCD and your values manifest through your actions. Of course, I don't live by them in a compulsive way meaning, I don't need to repeat them to myself when I get anxious, but they're beliefs I just live by. They're on the back of my mind. I know them to be truths and I hold on to them but I try my best not to turn them into compulsions. Also, as someone who only got OCD recently, pre-OCD "me" serves as a benchmark whenever I feel like my thoughts mean significant things about me. I recall having weird thoughts and not assigning any meaning to them back then and I strive to go back to that state of mind, or at least get as close as I can to it. 6. Sleep and diet: I cannot STRESS this enough. I had a couple of days post-op where I couldn't get much sleep because of the pain (wisdom teeth) and where I couldn't eat much, and I noticed my OCD flaring up especially bad during that time. As soon as I went back to my normal sleeping/eating habits, my anxiety levels went down significantly and I was back to normal, my pre-op self. So make sure to not neglect these two please. 7. Not neglecting yourself: I know this isn't easy for a lot of us, especially those with comorbid illnesses like depression, and I don't want this to sound tone-deaf, but if possible, don't neglect yourself. Don't give up on the things you love to do, keep your little routine, dress up, take care of yourself, even if you feel undeserving, even if it feels hard. Don't let OCD take that away from you. 8. Don't run away from discomfort, trust yourself to handle it: I know this also sounds obvious of course, but even if you do understand that, it's not always easy to put it in practice. Even if I knew that my goal wasn't to kill the anxiety, I still did it because I felt terrified. But I think ultimately, what OCD takes away from you and that you need to reestablish, is self trust. Trust yourself to ride that anxiety wave. Trust yourself to know you don't need to answer the OCD question. Even if it's hard, try to trust yourself as much as you can. That's all I have in mind for now, these are the tips that really helped me fight OCD with all of my might. And I wish you the best of luck too, OCD is tough but you're tougher, and it can get better. If you have questions don't hesitate to ask. Cheers everyone!

my brain is trying to convince me i liked someone else while dating my boyfriend. i’m not diagnosed with ocd, but what i’ve been experiencing the last couple of months has lead me to believe it could be, so i’m trying out this app. but i’ve had this issue for a couple days now, i’ve been in my relationship with my amazing bf for a little over 8 months and i love him very much. in no way do i want to leave him or be with someone else. but a few months back i met a new hire at work who i thought was a really cool person, she’s pretty and kinda similar to me so i wanted to be friends. we became friendly for the two-ish months she worked there and she had friended me on some social media. she no longer works there but i ran into her the other day which has triggered me to have these thoughts of “what if i had feelings for her while dating my boyfriend?” and i have felt so guilty even though i’m pretty sure i didn’t, i just liked her as a friend. i’d occasionally have unwanted thoughts about her but nothing i was wanting to think of or even do. i’ve tried to talk to my dad about it, i talked to my boyfriend about it. i removed her off of snap because it made me feel a little better but those unwanted thoughts and guilt won’t go away. it’s like my brain is trying to convince me i liked this person when i really don’t think i did, but it’s creating these false like memories or ideas in my head. i just feel sooo guilty and confused. i really don’t know what to do, it’s eating me up. i love my boyfriend, i don’t want to be with that friend, or anyone else for that matter. but idk how to make any of the thoughts and guilt go.

This morning my boyfriend and I were waiting for public transport. A bus was standing slightly to the left of us. A group of women got off the bus and walked behind it, passing along the side. My boyfriend turned his head and looked in that direction. To me, it looked very clearly like he was looking at the women the 2 woman look too at him. After that, he looked back at me in a way that felt strange to me, which increased my anxiety. When I asked him about it, he said he was not looking at the women but at the bus, and that he looked confused because no other bus was coming (my bus was to late) and the other bus that stand there on this bus had “empty trip” written on it. That was his explanation for why he looked at me in a strange way. For me, it looked like he was looking strangely because the women were looking at or smiling at him – I’m not sure. but he said he don’t look at them but his had was exactly hin the direction of the woman If he had been looking at the bus with that head movement, he would have had to turn his eyes very far to the left. Even though his explanation can be plausible, I have a hard time believing it because my perception of the situation felt very different and very clear to me. I want to bring this up with my boyfriend again, but I’m not sure whether this is normal insecurity or if it might be more like Relationship OCD I generally have problems trusting – can this be caused by ROCD? idk what do to .. i don’t feel well my boyfriend ist My boyfriend is generally a very good and loyal partner.

There's this man that I finally gave a chance. Before I was told things about him that he's going around messing with everyone this and that and so I was like nevermind I shouldn't talk to him cause I'll break my own heart. One day 2 or 3 weeks ago I finally give him a chance. It feels like we're dating.first man to take my virginity and I stay over at his house almost everyday and have been more recently due to my job cutting people's hours because of the new year something like that. I've always thought this man was hot and we went out to dollar general together I felt fine and happy. I live in a small town so you know how that goes where everyone knows everyone basically and I absolutely hate it. Well we go to McDonald's and I see the people I use to work with and they're the same people that warned me not to speak with him and now I feel like every time we go out in public I feel embarrassed to be seen with him. When you talk to him alone he's sweet and doesn't seem like what everyone says. I don't want to feel this way. I also,as usual overthink every guy I've talked to if I really like them or not. This has cause me anxiety and has causes me to constantly check on google,reddit,and quora. From what I read online, people say to let the person go or that it's our own insecurity. I would to add that we just went to mcdonald's last night and another worker I know made a comment telling me to be careful and was giving me that look. I don't want to care what anyone thinks of me with him but I do

I hate how real the fear of losing control is for me. The dpdr is so scary and the intrusive thoughts of going crazy just send me into a panic. The rush of adrenaline/ hot flash I get scare me so bad into thinking that I will lose control and just go crazy. I am so defeated and depressed because of the thoughts/ the intensity I feel when I have these thoughts are always the same the anxiety levels are always the same when I have them idk what to do anymore im so scared of myself and im terrified to be alone in my own mind due to the thoughts and how loud they get. How can I get better when your mind is always with you? You can never escape ur own mind which is so scary

Hello, I have been struggling with this disorder for about 5 years, the last few were better albeit my doc increased my medication to 120mg. Anywho, now that I understand the ‘who, what, why, how’ It would benefit me greatly to restart my sessions. I do not have insurance that is eligible so $240 twice a week or even every week is rough. Any suggestions on how to make the price more reasonable? I can maybe afford half that

I have been in a toxic relationship for years. To the point where I moved from my home with my partner. I have OCD and he has anger problems which came out because of my OCD. I guess . Anyways we live separately now. And we are both in therapy and working on stuff. However his anger issues are hard to look past. It's hard to determine if this time will actually change that aspect of him. Question's flood my mind . Will he yell at me again if we live together again in future, will this happen or that. I can work on my OCD but it will never go away fully .. The fear his anger put in me sucked. He never hit me but he's been pretty shitty. And I of course have said some shitty things . I feel guilty that my mind questions things so much now that we are actively trying and don't know if it's my OCD or my actual thoughts.. Age 33(f) him 35(m) Also I think he has undiagnosed ocd

Hey everyone! I’ve struggled with anxiety and fear of things all my life. When i was very little i would always cry at the possibility of my loved ones passing away. I’d cry over the thought of a flood or hurricane or volcano explosion in my state. Ever since i could remember i would think about these things all the time and my family would have to tell me 20 times in a row that these things weren’t likely to happen. The likely hood still drove me crazy. I’m 22 now and it seems to be getting worse by the day. My health anxiety is through the roof. Still triggered by the other things but right now, my loop is my health. I can’t even have a weird breath happen without me freaking out about it for the rest of the week. I bought my oura ring, a pulse monitor and blood pressure cuff due to the fact that i need to know what’s happening in my body at all times. There’s been multiple times this week i almost drove to the hospital cause i just felt like “something was wrong.” I was diagnosed a few months ago with BPD (borderline personality disorder) and slight bipolar disorder as well. I was on Fluoxetine starting when i was probably 10 to when i turned 18. I cold turkey quit and didn’t realize the potential of OCD until 2024. Anyone have any experience with OCD medication that won’t worsen my other diagnosis. Any comments are appreciated. I’m living my life in fear every single day and I’m so tired.

Although this inst related to POCD it may as well use the same advice. Basically in the past when i was younger i have watched porn. Alot of people do. I personally dont agree with it now but thats not the point right now. My OCD has made me stuck on certain stuff ive watched in the past. I fall into the trap of trying to remember why I exactly did and that whole spiral/mess. This affects me to this day because it makes me worry I am into that type of stuff I watched even though I am obviously very disturbed and uncomfortable with it. I watch porn less and less due to me trying to quit for years at this point. I havent touched the stuff I am speaking of sense that point. But id also like to add my emotions and porn "addiction" were at a way worse point at that time. Now it makes me very scared and diffucult to even think about relationships or anything now due to that fear. I know i shouldnt think about porn until im even in a relatiobship first but its not like i can just control what my ocd thinks about. Plus ive already heard it from my therapist. 😅 I have tried ERP so much but this seems to be one of my worst themes of all times. Any advice would be greatly appricated and not reassurance.