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Does anyone ever have really good days where you think all these thoughts were just silly and then suddenly everything hits you and you can't escape? Do you also question whether it's really OCD or not?

How do you know if it’s your ocd blowing something out of proportion or it’s actually as serious as you think. Like I want to believe that I’m just over thinking, over-worrying, and catastrophizing, but the thought that I could just be minimizing something or or just biding my time until something horrible is preventing me from being able to manage my ocd.

I literally get these symptoms right after rumination. Does anyone else? It's gotten worse lately. I think it could / likely be related to anxiety but the concern it's gotten progressively worse, to the point where I can't even concentrate a lot of the time. Alzheimer runs in the my family so now I'm worried about that crap. Like I feel like my brain itself has freakin changed (for the worse). Worse memory (because of constant memory checking), worse imagination, more stress, etc. And now daily brain fog, headaches, dizziness, etc.

I know with OCD the more you interact with your thoughts, the worse it gets. However, it is extremely difficult for me to just ignore the thoughts because if I just ignore them, I feel like a bad person for not making sure they won’t come true. Does that make sense. It’s like if I ruminate, I spiral and if I don’t ruminate, I have this lingering feeling of guilt and dread for having such terrible thoughts until I eventually give in ruminate for however long until I finally feel better which is mentally exhausting. Does anyone have any advice?

There is a lot of confusion with some aspects of recovery for a lot of people. I was there too and it's a struggle to know what's good and bad for ocd and why. It's an additional struggle putting it into practice as your brain doesn't trust the new info or perceptions at first. Can you please list or bullet point stuff that you see or hear about ocd that helps but don't know why or don't think you understand? I'm going to try make a detailed post on each one I can help with and maybe post resources such as YouTube videos. I want the misconceptions to be addressed. Ocd thrives on doubt. We shouldn't be doubting the information that will ultimately get us better. I'll post gradually over the week.

does anyone have this theme of ocd that makes you resent or even hate the thing you deeply love and enjoy? i don’t have an official diagnosis but i believe to be autistic and there are this book series that are my favorite thing in the world and i take a lot of pleasure in re-reading them and other works by the author. i’ve enjoyed her works for couple of years now. but since last week i have this very torturous anxiety that makes me actually believe that i actually hate her works and her writing style which seems so absurdly false. i try to reason with this feeling because it’s foolish and isn’t a matter of life and death but feels like one. if someone had some like things i’d really appreciate advices because this whole situation is upsetting me so much i’m losing any hope of ever going back to how things were before

Explain to me what reassurance is to you. Explain why it's bad for ocd compared to other mental health issues and brain disorders. I keep seeing that reassurance is bad everywhere but feel like the majority don't understand what it is or why it's bad. Don't be scared to put down a wrong answer, give it a go. This to help the nocd community learn as a whole.

Hey everyone, quick question: I’ve noticed a trend that my intrusive thoughts, when I’m not stressed or anxious, don’t really bother me and I barely focus on them. But, when I’m anxious and stressed, the thoughts become sticky and I dwell on them and potentially go down the “OCD hole”. Does anyone else have this process with their OCD? If so, how do you get out of the trap? ERP doesn’t do much as it’s not the OCD that’s causing the anxiety and stress.

My mind is racing all the time and I can’t concentrate on almost anything. Music constantly in my head that I don’t want. Can’t stop it.

I am a 25 year old woman who is currently interning at a high school. I keep finding myself saying in my head, “Oh that guy is cute,” when he is literally a high schooler. I would never date someone younger than 23. It’s more of a thought like oh he’s a cute kid. I just keep obsessing over it. Some of my friends have told me its normal to think someone is attractive as long as your not going to date them, but it just feels yucky since they are literally minors. I feel like a normal person wouldn’t think like this, and im just super struggling.

The compulsions are just terrible. I don’t want to do them but some are so automatic and I need the relief so badly. I try to hold them off, and I stopped ERP but I think I should restart it.

Hey everyone, Ive recently started taking meds for my ocd which has gotten bad over the last year. Ive done some light research on the side effects which has me worried a bit. Havent faced any so far but I am scared of having sexual dysfunction, decreased libido, or massive weight gain. Would love to know your guys thoughts on how you’ve navigated this.

Everyday I wake up and I work hard to figure out how I can become a better version of myself, as if myself at this point in time and anything before this was a “worse” version of myself. I didn’t realize this was ocd until I was diagnosed but ever since I was young, I have never felt ok with who I am and it’s the reason why I even persue my dream so ruthlessly, Making music is my passion but ocd completely ruins it for me. Does anyone else feel like their ego is shattered or that they are stuck in their own head and can’t see through their own eyes?

Am I the only one that, when gets disgusted at horrible intrusive thoughts or images feels like I'm faking it or isn't disgusted enough? When I see those intrusive images in my head I feel shaken and like about to cry, like when you see something from the uncanny valley. But then I feel like I'm faking being disgusted at it, and I'm so afraid that I might be secretely liking it. Something like that just happened now and I was triggered so much by it.

So, this evening I was cutting my kids nails and toenails and when it was my son’s turn, i was cutting his toenails and one started bleeding, well I’m like oh my gosh, did I mean to do that and so on. Well in my mind I was like what is that happens again, it did on the second one, mind you his toenails are weird. But I start stressing and think what if I wanted to and thought what if I meant to do it. I just need to ask has this happened to anyone?? I’ve been going through a lot of stress lately. And when I cut my daughter’s nails it was fine.

When you struggle to stay present, what’s something you can do to help that isn’t compulsive. When I loose my presence I become very vulnerable to sticky thoughts. Or maybe sticky days create a loss of presence. I’m thinking about making a few rules of thumb like: avoid confrontation, stressful media, making big decisions and maybe sticking to a to do list that includes extra self care. I’m on the upward swing but still have these days where I’m lost inside my head. Probably around 4-5 a month. I’m trying to accept that it happens without making OCD worse. Love some feedback.

This is a little new for me. Each time I figure out or find peace with the OCD to the point where it’s practically nonexistent a flare up happens and suddenly I’m back to feeling “off” and not normal and thinking in my head all day all kind of ocd related thoughts. Endless questions and connections of things that are not at all related. Soo darn annoying. You guys, how do you keep pushing past this!? What tips do you have for this dealing with the feelings after the flare up. The worst part is being able to laugh and smile and just live life again and then just boom feeling soo awful again. Anyone experience feeling off after flare ups??

What differences did you notice when you started to actually resist compulsions? Are intrusive thoughts less frequent? Less intense?

Isit me alone or anyone experienced this. My anxiety and worry somehow at the peak every night before i sleep. I have never fall sleep on time because of my intrusive thoughts. All the worry, bad thoughts, anxiety of something bad will happen, guilt, you name it, entire world problems will run in my head. I end up using phone so that i wont think, just scroll social media or read articles to divert my mind until im so exhausted and my mind shut down. This is very exhausting and tiring. Anyway to deal with this?

My husband has been struggling with ocd for honestly I think most of his life. Officially diagnosed in the last two years now with paranoia as well. It’s difficult. I struggle myself with some anxiety and depression and overthinking situations. And we both have struggled self insecurities and insecurities in our relationship. He always tells me I don’t want to loose you after he has been is a dark place and needing reassurance. Right now we just feel very disconnected after a situation. I been trying to be as understanding as I can. And acknowledge that we both need to not seek so much reassurance from each other. Anyone have any tips on ways to feel connected again after an intense ocd episode?