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the NOCD Community

At what age did your OCD begin to develop? I've had mine pretty much ever since I can remember.

I have my first appointment next Monday and I’m basically just trying to bide my time til then. I’ve struggled with OCD for my whole life, but I’m 42 and am in a deep valley at the moment. I’m headstand to share my struggles on places like this because I’m afraid I’ll pass my fears on to others. (Which has happened to me before). Any comments about how quickly ERP will start to show results?

My ocd feels like my brain is convinced I am something that I don’t want to be, or never wanted to be. Even to the point it’s convincing that I like it, or want it, and I’m in denial for not accepting it. Since my first big theme (10 years ago) it feels like I’ve never been myself since. It feels like I’m unable to feel pleasure, excitement, drive for life. Either I’ve lost the ability or my brain says you have to figure this out before you can. It feels like a constant anxiety feeling in my stomach or back of my mind. It goes from mildly noticeable to full blown panic, but never fully leaves. It feels inevitable that it comes in the morning. Anyone else?

I'm the middle child of 3 siblings. My older sibling is getting married this year, and my younger sibling is working to get into nursing school. And then there's me. The one with the Problems. I feel like my parents deserve a better middle daughter than me. I feel like such a disappointment that they have to put up with me and my constant crying. I hate feeling like I kill the good mood/transfer my bad feelings to them. No matter how many times they comfort me, no matter how much they support me and accept me, I still feel like an annoyance and a burden on them. I feel like a f^cking baby because of my mental health problems. I'm normally unstoppable, and have my own unique strengths and abilities, but THIS is what stops me. Anyone else feel like you're just a dumb, dependent child because of your OCD?

im just questioning my ocd and myself as per usual. i just wish i could taste life again. i think i forgot who i am and how to live. every time i have a moment of peace, it's destroyed by remembering my ocd. "this is not normal, why am i feeling okay? what if it's bad? what if-?" or some shit like that. i dont like this and i dunno what to do about it anymore. oh well.

Hii! I hesitated before posting this but here I am.. Ocd are a living hell rn to me. I barely eat or sleep anymore because of it, I’m just scared of everything, ruminations are here every night leading to panic attacks, sh, psychosis,.. it’s like « what if I’m/or do something bad, what if I did something wrong and I don’t remember,.. I store my studies because of all of this..I can’t do this anymore I’m so tired of compulsions and everything I have more ocd but rn it’s the most debilitating for me, if someone have experienced the same things or just have tips I take it!

I feel like I’m at a point that I’ve had the thoughts so long that now this just can’t be OCD. It feels like I’m losing touch with reality. And I’ll get one thought and then another one comes and it gets so confusing. I will feel better for a split second but then I will feel like I’m just getting worse in the next second. I don’t even know how to explain it. I am terrified and I want this to go away. The feeling of just being out of it or not all here is killing me. Even writing this feels odd. I’m so scared I’m losing touch with reality. I don’t know what to do.

How do you battle your reassurance seeking? I think I’m driving people crazy with all my questions, constant bothering, and phone calls. I just can’t stop asking “how do you know?”, “are you sure?”, and “what if”. It’s like it just comes out without thinking about it because I HAVE to ask the question. It’s constantly burning on the tip of my tongue waiting to be asked.

Is anyone going through something like me ? I have false memory intrusive thoughts , thinking of the possibility of having committed a crime and no remember about it And also have religious ocd thinking that God is angry at me for some reason , and that's why I'm not able to pray, like i used to... I'm so sad because he is so important to me and I would feel such big connection to the Lord when I would pray, and right now I'm afraid ...

I'm terrified that my biggest fear happened on a night I drank too much and blacked out. I now keep finding/looking for evidence to try and prove/disprove and it's terrifyingwhen I find something that supports the belief. Does anyone else experience this. So angry with myself for letting myself drink to this point. Have been so depressed

I am in my third year of university for my law degree, and I finished and submitted my essays without a proper proof read. I read over one of my essays and realised I made a mistake using the wrong word, it auto generated the wrong word and I must have clicked on it. Anyway then a whole obsession stated about me worrying that the university are going to think that I have used Ai. The thing is, I used wordtune to enhance my writing (reword my own words) but I didn’t use it to reword other people work and pass it off as my own. Anyway I’ve just terrified myself that I’ll get accused of using Ai to cheat and basically it’ll ruin my life. I can’t stop obsessing over it. I obviously haven’t cheated and it is my own work, I just used wordtune to improve my sentence structure where if needed more clarity. I don’t know if that is considered cheating or not. I’ve read up on if and it seems to be cheating if it’s used to paraphrase someone else’s work (which isn’t the case). I had to rush my assignments so that’s why I’m worried. My brother says I’m being ridiculous. I honestly can’t stop worrying.

I’ve been dealing with OCD for quite some time, and have had plenty of themes come and go. Some lasting years and some months. I have three major themes that still haunt me. They’re this constant dread of death, my moral dilemma of if I’m a good person, and recently my gender identity as a man. They all tie into each other and I more or less look at them as evolved forms of “conquered” themes. Like my self harm, Sexual Orientation, and pedophilic/assault themes. Death is a hard thing to accept though and I no longer have too many intrusive about harming myself or others for that matter because I’m constantly afraid of death. I don’t feel like a good person for my constant compulsions and compulsive behavior. I feel weak to them. I give in to my constant googling and forum browsing. I know for a fact I ask for reassurance constantly. I question my own sexuality and gender identity quite often because I’m not sure if I’m a good man and how could I prove that I am? I have a lot of compulsive regrettable and more importantly unproductive sexual encounters to make me feel like 1. I’m not gonna die 2. I can do something with my life that isn’t destructive 3. I’m a man doing my duty. Now for the gender identity portion of this I wanna make it clean that I love people from the LGBTQ+ community and support them 1000% but I feel like I’m a horrible person for being anxious and uncomfortable with these thoughts because nothing’s wrong with being gay or trans y’know?It’s either what if I’m in denial or what if I’m being too feminine y’know the whole “what ifs” thing? I don’t wanna die, I wanna be a good person. I am genuinely just scared, I just wanna live and not have the noise so loud. I mean I have panic attacks constantly. I try not to ruminate but it’s an ugly battle. It seems to me that my OCD flares up moth to month like I’ll have a good month of manageable intrusive thoughts but then the next moth I just decay. You know how many times I’ve scanned my mind just to find proof for and against all these themes? I’m sure some people can relate. OCD has made my life so isolated and I hate myself for that. I’m sorry for all the words, I’m just a mess right now. If you read this far I appreciate you so much.

I don’t know what to do anymore. Anytime I feel the highs OCD ruins it and I feel like I can’t be happy. Im 20 and I can’t imagine living the rest of my life like this. I have no idea what to do, im so hyper aware of my actions (blinking, etc) a complete hypochondriac and I cannot enjoy life anymore. There is no quality of life with horrible OCD.

So with my ocd I have realized that over the years my obsessions switch out like one week I’ll obsess over this and the next week I’ll obsess over that. I have one obsession that really scares me and it’s zombies because I’m severely terrified of them. I know it sounds childish but it’s making it hard for me. I feel embarrassed being scared of them. I’m currently obsessing about them now. I’m so scared of them and the walking dead show. A couple years ago I watched it till season 4 and I was fine the entire time. Then I realized how terrified I was getting so I stopped. Now it’s just a cycle that I can’t get to go away. And I have this cycle with many other obsessions too. I just wanted to talk about it to let it off my chest. I think it scares me because I also obsess over death and sounds like alarms. Alarms scare me as well. It’s just really taking a tool on me so I wanted to share. :)

So I’ve had this recent obsession that has made me upset. It’s basically an obsessing about blushing… when you’re young and see your crush people tend to blush for example, but people can also blush in situations of feeling embarrassed, anxious, joyful, excited, happy, nervous, feeling flattered etc… I am in a committed relationship and love my man immensely, ocd has been putting these thoughts/ideas of what if I blushed at someone and trying to make it seem like it’s a romantic/sexual/crush type thing… which I feel is making me very hyper focused on blushing… like it’s just making me uncomfortable because though I know we have no control over blushing, ocd saying to me I’m going to or have blushed over people because they’re attractive while I’ve been with my partner - makes me extremely uncomfortable!!! As I said blushing comes from lots of different emotions, it does not always mean you’re romantically/sexually interested in someone? I know this is kind of reassurance but can someone explain to me it is possible to experience blushing from multiple emotions and just because I see an attractive person doesn’t mean I’m going to blush over seeing someone attractive?? Like I blush when I smile (I have naturally very pale skin and redness in my cheeks a bit, and I find even smiling can trigger blushing)… I also go quite red from being anxious or embarrassed. I’m not in highschool and don’t have “crushes” on anyone, I am in a committed relationship and don’t want to feel I would be “blushing” over someone that’s not my bf in the way I would blush over my bf??? If that makes sense? Sorry I know this is so far fetched but I’ve been obsessing for days and trying to work on not confessing to my partner. Wanted to come on here to ppl who know what I’m going through and maybe see if anyone has any advice for me in this situation? I have started therapy but only see him once a fortnight and he isn’t an ocd specialist…

I don’t really know what to do anymore I feel bad all the time and when I take my medicine I feel bad for not feeling bad all these memories are on repeat in my head and it doesn’t stop. I’m convinced i’m the worst person ever and I deserve everything bad that happens to me and I think I do. I did things that are actually bad and I don’t know how to fix them and the guilt eats away at me i feel like i’m living a lie and hiding my dirty secrets from everyone. It’s like how could I have not realized these things were wrong. I feel disgusted with myself and I don’t know what to do

i was extremely scared today, a bunch of little kids were around me and i was scared to be near anyone because i would do something horrible. i feel like a terrible person that no one would want to be around. i don’t deserve this support, i just want to be rid of these terrible disgusting thoughts.

Hey everyone, I'm facing a challenging situation where my dreams of studying medicine abroad are unraveling due to the relentless grip of 3 years of suffering with OCD, specifically centered around philosophical and existential questions. I've always wanted to practice medicine and I've gone through absolute hell to get there and now that I'm here due to the nature of these repetitive intrusive thoughts that take up most of my day I end up failing classes and retaking semesters and the idea of dropping out because of this is like spitting in the face of my parents as they have worked so hard to get me to where I am as they are immigrants to the country there is an extra expectation for me to excel. To complicate matters, my deeply religious parents are unaware that I no longer believe in a deity. When I shared my doubts with them, they reacted strongly, intensifying the pressure I feel. In an attempt to quell intrusive thoughts, I've developed compulsive habits that may be making things worse. I find myself extensively writing about arguments against theism, engaging in live debates, debating people in comment sections, and mentally rehearsing arguments whenever religious topics arise. I even contemplate sharing a massive journal explaining why I no longer believe with my religious parents. These habits, while momentarily comforting, contribute to a strong sense of depersonalization and paralysing dread everyday especially when I wake up. These intrusive thoughts and constant replaying of arguments in my head are affecting every aspect of my life, from my academic pursuits to my relationships and mental well-being. I'm currently studying medicine abroad, and the pressure to excel is immense, but the OCD is taking a toll on my academic performance. Financial constraints make it difficult to seek therapy, and I feel trapped between the fear of being true to myself and the potential fallout from coming out to my parents due to the confessional nature of my OCD. I'm seeking advice on whether unfollowing said debate pages and stopping completely in these compulsive behaviors are engaging in avoiding the problem or if there are healthier ways to cope. Has anyone faced similar challenges and found effective strategies to break free from these cycles? Here are some of the things I worry about / do. - Persistent worry about OCD negatively impacting life - Concerns about ongoing depersonalization - Urgency to confess for reassurance - Fear of disownment over personal beliefs - Constant review of arguments due to anxiety - Maintaining a facade to keep peace - Lifelong pretense, walking on eggshells with parents - Anxiety about financial support for studies - Struggling with imposter syndrome - Difficulty maintaining stable relationships - Compulsively watching debates on religion - Desire to confess non-belief despite consequences - Anxiety over academic performance decline - Overwhelming family expectations - Doubts about enjoying my degree . - Fears of not surviving mental anguish - Ruminating on irrelevant thoughts, lacking presence - Morning anxiety like PTSD flashbacks due to OCD - Constantly jotting down thoughts for certainty - Feeling trapped in a repetitive daily loop - Perceived threat from people, feeling internally flawed - Yearning for life before current struggles - Increased argumentativeness to fuel compulsive behaviors. Any insights or recommendations would be immensely valuable. Thank you for taking the time to read my story.

Hi, I'm writing this just to see if someone else can relate. I've always been very confused by the difference between regular therapy and ocd therapy. What I mean is that, at least in my limited experience, regular therapy involved examining your feelings and thoughts (why you had them) and I was told that you can only process something by getting to the root of it. However, since I developed ocd and was diagnosed with it, therapy has been about tolerating anxiety, guilt, fear, sadness, etc., while forcing myself to not analyse the thoughts and feelings that I have. I feel very weird about this. It's like I went from "everything you think and feel has a reason (i am not talking here about fleeting thoughts and emotions, I am talking about recurrent and persistent ones) to "whatever feeling or thought you are having is not who you are and you should just observe it and not get involved with it". Am I the only one who is so confused by this? Also, if I am not my thoughts, and I am not my feelings, and I am not my sensations, who am I then? I mean, what is supposed to define me? I know some people say "your values" in response to this, but values are thoughts as well, and they can change over time, so, I don't think that this makes anything any clearer. Others say that it is our actions that define us. I can agree with that, but aren't our actions based on our thoughts and feelings? Anyway, I am not saying that therapy for ocd is ineffective, I am actually finding it very helpful, however I am still very confused about many aspects of it. I hoped that some of you could help me understand it better. Thanks. I wish you all a good day.

I have been having memory obsessions a ton lately and like I once had an image of hurting somebody but I know that this would’ve been somewhere in 2023. But ever since I got over the fear to have hurt them there, I then keep getting fears related to his image and thinking „but what if I had hurt them way earlier?“. Like just now I was recalling the vacation I was on in 2022. I already had ocd there. And like suddenly I got scared „what if I had hurt the person while I was on vacation there?“ bc I was in the same room as them there. Not the exact same one, there was a door in between bc the room had a a room with a big bed too but I was sleeping on the couch. But now I keep thinking „but what if I was alone with them and then hurt them in this way and just forgot doing that?“, but no matter how much I think, I can remember almost everything from the vacation and being in that room. I also know I once was in the room with the bigger bed. But I can’t recall being alone there. I was always there with my sister. She was often around the other person, I was barely around them and especially not alone. And like the person was always with my parents so there basically are no occasions that I could’ve been the only one around them. But I keep thinking „but what if I just forgot this?“, but the image that I had a while ago doesn’t even match the hotel room. And like this has happened multiple times already. Just constantly me thinking „but what if I did this here or way longer ago?“, but there are simply no occasions this could’ve happened. And wouldn’t I at least have some memory to doing this since I seem to have a ton of other memories? And now I’m scared that the images are suddenly memories but I never remembered this and I also don’t have any actual clear picture of that just the old image that I always have.