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From the second I wake up to the second I fall asleep, my mind is spinning with the same thoughts over and over and over again without stopping. It feels like my brain is all over the place and I can’t control it anymore!!

when im on no contact w my ex i feel broken apart and miss him so much but i liked the feeling of trying to move on and seeing if i could finally be w someone else but i literally couldnt do it and realized i couldnt move on from him and now i feel guilty for even having the feeling of wanting to be w anyone else so we got back tg but when im w him i have a million intrusive thoughts abt finding other guys attractive and other crushes etc and i cant tell if theyre just thoughts or if theyre genuine feelings because they feel super real and ive always had a problem for months now of finding other guys attractive / wanting attention from other guys even tho i never wanted to feel that way and thats why we had broken up but now im stressed bcs i only want to like and love him and only find him attractive but sometimes ppl say things like hes the most attractive guy which i used to believe and then after all these thoughts i disagree in my head even tho i dont want to cuz i know hes attractive and i want to feel that hes the most attractive in my eyes but its hard with a million things and feelings running around in my head

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??????

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'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.

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?

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.

I've been struggling for years now and beat myself over why do i dont recover, and it makes me kinda angry that just now i realized all i watched is how to set a compos on how you react to your thoughts, to not start panicking and be kind with yourself and i did that and i still got frustrated and now i see cause these still doesnt teach you how to deal with limiting beliefs. I was loving myself and sometimes it felt good but i realized im not doing anything with the beliefs and thoughts i carry with myself. We dont have just ocd thoughts tho... everyone has limiting beliefs that doesnt help. Yet i cant find it how to deal with them. Its not just ignoring or accepting, that doesnt change your belief system. Replacing it is a fighting too which makes it worse so what helps? Many therapist tells you to think about how it makes you feel or to go back time see where it comes from. This is so not helpful for ocders cause i did that, it made me retraumatize myself by the stories my mind made up and then i couldnt tell whats reality and what was what i made up, and then i thought im avoiding reality... Sorry this really isnt about ocd but when realized that all that i did now was just setting the filter on how i react to things i have but i still dont know what to do is made me so angry... cause you can be super kind with yourself in every situation, you can be kind if youre trying to fly with a plane but you cant, kindness will not teach you how to fly, you need that to be able to focus and not rumminate but you still need to learn how to fly...Back to the therapist advice, how should we think about where it comes from, how it made us feel and think about the thoughts if we get spin out and this is what we have to actually stop doing? Its so fckn annoying tho that we learn that rumminating and thinking about why we had this thought is useless, doesnt help so we have to stop it, BUT in other therapy we will teach you to think about why you had that thought and how does it makes you feel...

I’m a 13 year old girl and I think I have ocd. But im not sure. At around maybe 8 or 9, I remember giving signs, like touching things 5 times or 10 times, and other things similar to that. I’m now 13, and I feel like lately it’s gotten worse over the last year or so maybe. Here’s a list of my compulsions. I stay up until 8:00 AM or 9:00 AM counting to 5 because if I don’t God will send me to hell and I need to ask for Gods forgiveness. I love God In The Name Of Jesus Christ Amen At night before going to bed, I need to g and fix my bed at 7:50 AM and only :50 because if I went to bed at 56 it’s the devils number and I love God In The Name Of Jesus Christ Amen When scrolling, I need to scroll 5 or 10 times Before going to bed, I need to shake my sheets 5 times, shake my pillows 5 times and shake my blanket 5 times. And there’s way more regarding around do this or you’ll go to hell, it’s really exhausting. My parents noticed the way I act but they just get mad at me for it, I just really want to get help.

I’m tired. I’m absolutely tired. i cry and cry. i don’t know who to turn to. my ocd/pocd is physically weakening me. Also I’m someone who likes to interpret dreams. so I dreamt of me swimming and when I searched the meaning, some said I’d go to jail. & this sent me spiraling. please help. i really really wanna do therapy but mom says I’m not at that stage where I need therapy yet.

so i haven’t been dealing with false memories or real event odc for a whole now but i literally just woke up from a terrible triggering nightmare at first i was ok and relieved when i woke up but now doubt is setting in and the part is in the dream i think the person is made up. but i have doubts i think i got this dream because i was thinking about kissing my partner right before i fell asleep and yesterday i was looking for a video of my little cousin and i had an intrusive “what if” but i was able to brush it off. so it may be that all i know is that i keep getting flashbacks and i hate it it’s disgusting and i hope its not true. and i don’t think i could accept it if that is the truth its just so wrong

What’s the first intrusive thought you had that took you into an ocd spiral which eventually led to your proper diagnosis? This is a judgment free zone!

I clearly remember the day it started. I was in sixth grade in 1967 and like the flick of a switch I felt off one day. I kept thinking I had died the night before but was still moving around. It was so weird but it continued from then on, the intrusive thoughts, the constant moving around and racing thoughts about what has to be done that day. I’ll walk into a room to do something but end up doing several other things before getting to that. I’m 67 and retired but every day I struggle with unwanted thoughts (never about harming anyone or myself but about bad things that could happen. I think the worst in any situation. I’m so tired but know no other life. Glad to know I’m not alone.

And that everything has become really serious? I used to be such a happy go lucky guy who just took everything in his stride and now my whole life is about this ocd and trying to work out where it come from and what i can do to sort it out

I’m trying to use the phrase anything is possible to get off of ocd. But I strongly believe what ocd is questioning didn’t happen. Do I still just agree that it’s possible but keep my belief that it didn’t happen?

Does anyone else make a list of things that they have been told during arguments, or offhandedly, that upset them or just pops up during rumination? The lists also usually include, for me anyway, things like "don't do x, don't do y, make sure not to say z, you always (something someone said)" and I look at them any time I have confrontation with the person or experience a stressor that includes the person. Sometimes just when I am obsessing about a conversation that I had, or might have. I just can't help it, I want to make sure I don't mess up. I want to do everything I can to not be what my brain decides is Bad.

I am a grad student in an online STEM program, and my career depends on my analytical skills, which mask my OCD. It has become debilitating (7 hours revising an email reply) and negatively impacts my social life (response inhibitions and shame) and my academic performance (excessive amounts of time spent on every task, resulting in easily found errors like unfinished sentences; cognitive impairments). Like, I have 7 planners and can't start a to-do list because it triggers my OC. My university is insufficient in my situation. Figuring out how to accomodate as a virtual student with neurodiversity/debilitating mental illness has been ridiculously exhausting. Despite communicating with every professor, the student accessibility services, and my department director, I feel like I am fighting an uphill battle alone. Everyone places such value in diversity, inclusion, and equity, but fail to actually have resources that support mental health conditions. Almost everyone I have contacted have no experience with OCD or how it works. Yes extended time of my due dates would be great, if it actually alleviated my anxiety and paralysis instead of extending masked compulsions. Asking chatGPT and trying to afford Grammarly premium is so far the only useful shit I've resorted to. I can't even mention AI because of how stigmatized it is from lack of information/tech literacy about it being a tool and not e-Satan.