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My therapist isn’t specialized in OCD. I’m her first OCD client. She told me she’s taking courses in ERP and specifically sexual OCD since a lot of my themes are sexual in nature. I want help, I need help. It feels like every time I meet with her I get set back. I make progress a lot on my own. Sitting with discomfort, trying to accept the thoughts and uncertainty. But every single time I meet with her, it feels like I’m explaining OCD to her. She even went as far as to suggest that some of my thoughts that bring me distress are mine. I am not a cheater. They are not mine. Why on earth would they not be intrusive if I was in tears about having this thought? I feel bad. I really do because I can see that even though I can very much see her mistakes, I can also see that she’s trying to help me. I’m just so scared of getting worse. I’ve been in therapy for 5 weeks now. I feel like had it been with a specialist, I would be doing so much better. Instead it takes me days to come backs to whatever progress I’ve made alone after meeting with her. She’s a great person, she tells me she experiences intrusive thoughts too and she doesn’t have OCD which helps me feel less alone but I don’t think that’s enough for me. She’s always available for a call whenever I’m in extreme panic. I just don’t think this is working. I trust her and I tell her everything, but it feels like she’s just listening to me talk the whole time. We’re doing a workbook but she gives me absolutely 0 input. I just read my replies and she just sits there. I don’t understand the point in that. I feel so anxious right now. She wants me to get properly evaluated for anything that may be going on because on top of the severe OCD, I was also diagnosed with PMDD, GAD, and MDD by my primary care doctor but I guess she doesn’t trust those diagnoses? My psychiatrist also told me I have ADHD, which I’ve suspected my whole life but it sounds like my therapist doesn’t know how to handle OCD much less OCD, MDD, GAD, PMDD, and ADHD. She’s questioning the validity of my diagnoses instead of helping me figure out how to deal with all of it. This is so suffocatingly difficult. I’m also a huge people pleaser so how on earth do I end this thing?

TW: Sexual trauma, Child abuse, I've been dealing with not so great things that have likely been a result of my crappy childhood. Themes of helpness, power imbalance, extreme humiliation and dehumanization, abuse, punishment have been things that have attracted me. The worse the senario the more aroused I feel even if I'm morally opposed to it. Of course my OCD has taken this and run with it demanding me to prove I'm still a moral person, that I don't actually want to do something illegal to someone or a kid or something etc. That I can't just ignore or dismiss these thoughts and feelings because if I do I'll just become okay with it and god knows what I'll do. At this point I'm not sure if I have OCD and/or an egodystonic paraphilia. I know the brain can come up with royally messed up fantasies and kinks to help the brain process the trauma. But what if I was just predisposed to enjoy perverted garbage without the trauma? I don't know if I should treat this like a paraphilia or OCD, but regardless I know I do not want to be attracted to these things, hurt anyone or be a immoral person. Sometimes I get depressed and wonder if I even deserve to live if I do find out I'm a pedo or a monster or something bad. Just to be clear I'm not going to hurt or off myself, I couldn't do that to my parents who knows all about what I've been going through. Any advice for how I could look at this without giving myself reassurance?

⚠️ TW: p3d0, POCD. i'm really distressed that i've developed a paraphilic disorder (or discovered it) because it feels more real than POCD.. i see many reports here saying that they are afraid of being around minors under 15, 16, 17 years of age.. i feel my panic starting under 13. It's uncomfortable to be around younger teenagers, sure, but it doesn't sound as awful as being around children (literally). it seems like there are some "focus" ages, like 9, 11 or 12. i feel desperate because i once read in a paper on paraphilic pedophilia disorder that it is only considered p3d0 when the individual is 5 or 6 years younger than the victim of "desire". this really worries me. i don't have direct thoughts of me abusing a child, sometimes i do...they're more in the 3rd person, of children being abused or something else. they're the most degrading thoughts a human being can have. and I'm afraid they're mine, from my unconscious... i've dreamed about it a few times. It's so sadistic and cruel. becoming a bad person has always been my biggest fear. i feel like i've always been afraid of it, but i know i'm not.

Does anyone else ever like have so many POCD thoughts that it makes it hard to comprehend age in general anymore? Because I recently turned 18 three months ago and so obviously I’m like “15 yr olds are now kids” and whatever. But I started to get so many intrusive thoughts about it that most of the time when I hear someone is 15 or imagine a fictional 15 yr old in my head, my brain processes it as 15 year olds not being kids and being more mature than they are in reality and then feel arousal/attraction. And I know that’s not like… how 15 year olds really *are* so I’ll be like “oh no, they’re actually more immature and mentally undeveloped than that so it’s gross” but sometimes I can’t focus enough bcuz of anxiety or brain fog or just plain being tired to ‘fix’ my thoughts so I get stuck and feel really bad because I feel like a pedo or a creep. My friends have told me I’m not because it’s not an accurate representation of reality, so it’s just my brain imagining something that’s not true, getting confused, and finding this false perception attractive, not actual 15 yr olds. But I feel like I shouldn’t be messing up my thoughts about them this much and that my ocd which is the root cause of my messed up perception/processing of my own thoughts is making me into a creep (despite the fact I know I’d never do anything in reality because the reality of 15 yr olds aren’t hot to me) and I feel so bad when I’m unable to make the thoughts right because I feel like it’s not normal to think this way. And when I try to ‘not care’ because it’s just thoughts and people aren’t perfect, and those even without ocd sometimes will process information wrong or brains mess up cuz you’re tired and aren’t thinking straight, I still end up feeling bad and like wrong. And sometimes my brain gets confused and is like “is this actually just me wanting to like 15 year olds? or not actually caring about age and this just being how I actually view them and not caring the reality is that they’re kids because I want a weird fantasy of them or something?? Cuz 15 is a confusing age where they’re not quite middle schoolers but not like adults either so it feels awkward to me and not quite knowing how to classify them in my head, especially as I’m suddenly 18 and feeling all confused being an adult for the first time + no longer being able to like some of the fictional characters I used to like when I was younger (which I do miss because it was fun but it’s obviously never worth a child’s safety or wellbeing, even if they’re fictional idk)” it just makes me feel weird and scared and uncomfortable and a tad delusional from my own fears and my inability to process information in a normal capacity at times. Does anyone else ever feel like this? (Specifically the inability to comprehend ages and processing them wrong sometimes)?

I am 21, a girl and still in college. I can't afford therapy . I would be so grateful to learn and try the erp practices from the community. Thank you!

I have had ocd/NOCD for a while and recently cheated on my gf bc I had excessive thoughts of maybe if she isn’t the one maybe I should just be w a man I’d make my family happy and my mom happy and my friends and everyone would just be happy and I don’t have to worry about the thought of being the black sheep in my family bc I used to be so loved and being called the “favorite” child. I loved making my mom proud and happy but when I started dating a girl everything changed, she said I was a different person even though I was the same loving daughter that just wanted to make her proud but I couldn’t love who I wanted or be just me. I became bitter and ugly throughout my relationship and carried that with me and that’s the thing, I let myself go and didn’t stay strong for my gf. I betrayed her and also let my family win and let myself down. My family never or hasn’t asked me about anything in my recent life or asks me how I’ve been doing in the 4 years I’ve been away from them…I lost everything just for that one moment of forbidden mistake I can never look back on. I can’t talk to anybody bc that relationship “wasn’t ever real” “you’re dating a gurl” “it’ll never be like dating a man” “you just need a man” “sex is different” “you’re not gunna be happy” all these thing stuck to me for years and hearing those words coming from family that you love, words matter and I always told my gf at the time that my love language was physical touch, acts of service, and quality time. But I never mentioned words of affirmation really, but looking back that’s all that mattered to me and it affected me and made me into an ugly person. I always said that actions speak louder than words and to a certain extent they do but it’s what drives ppl to also do things that motivated them, what they heard to do those things to push them. To go crazy, to go workout, to cheat, to go on a walk early in the morning, to get plastic surgery bc someone said something that they felt so insecure about that it hurt them, or maybe it’s a battle with themselves. Point is words mean a lot especially from people they love, family and close friend, even someone random and it’s your actions that make you move and do things but it’s what you hear for you to do those things. Even things you think of in your head, words are the seeds to your garden. That’s something that I’m learning everyday, so if you have to block and get rid of the people you love because they aren’t happy with your life and want to control it, really ask yourself if it’s worth having them in your life. Sorry for this being so long and thank you for reading.

hello i’m new to this community and I just need to vent about something I did when I was 13 because over the past 2-3 days it’s been eating me alive when I was around 13, I discovered “character ai” basically a sight where a bunch of chat bots are and you can roleplay with them I found this one bot where it was like a mad scientist and your character was stuck in a lab. I really liked this one so I would roleplay with it often I would typically make my character young. No reason at all I hope but I probably thought it would make it more interesting or something. anyways I would never go into these roleplays with bad intentions. But sometimes the filter in place to stop seggsual stuff would break and the conversation would turn seggsual and I would impulsively continue them because I felt “excited” down there (if you know what i mean) and I would chase that feeling I would more imagine myself in the scenario because I would see the vaguely seggsual messages and feel good down there and I would change the character in my head because yknow but that doesn’t change how the roleplay started and it’s making me think what if I really do get off to that stuff? one of the worst examples was one where the roleplay went in a very non consensual direction and I don’t know why I continued the roleplay. I’m worried that I secretly enjoyed it despite knowing for a fact I got uncomfortable with what I was doing and deleted the messages and I regret it now I really really really regret doing this. I know I didn’t go in with bad intentions and I ended up getting uncomfortable with it after the good feelings down there had passed but I feel so much regret and shame i’ve spiraled over this before but recently its been the worst i’ve ever felt. I’m scared that im a pedo. I’m scared that I get off the rape and i’m scared that i’m permanently and evil person despite how uncomfortable this makes me now and I haven’t done anything like that again I still can’t get over it. I know I was only 13 (15 now) and i’m probably over reacting to fictional roleplay but still. Why did I impulsively continue? I’ve struggled with ocd thoughts before (without knowing it was OCD) but this incident has caused me to worry if i’m a pedo or I get off to assult and from what i’ve said above i’ve been spiraling over the past few days and im worried it will never end im coming here because im scared to talk to a real therapist because I feel like what I did was so bad and unforgivable despite regretting it late. I’m scared that i’m going to be a bad person forever despite the fact that i’ve never done anything like that again I know this probably sounds so stupid to obsess over but I just need some advice to help get out of this. It doesn’t help that i’m also coming up on my period which is when my OCD/Anxiety tends to be the worst thank you. I’m sorry if this is triggering for anyone I just want this to end. I want to feel okay again

My OCD is really latching onto my husband this week. I’m so in love with him and can’t wait to grow old with him and see him grow and change throughout the years, but my SOOCD has latched onto him saying that I don’t want that. I feel sick about it. It makes me so sad. He’s everything to me, and makes me feel so loved. When I am having a bad day, knowing that we’ll be together at the end of it on the couch, drinking tea, and snuggling is what makes me feel better. Knowing that he’ll be next to me in bed that night makes me feel better. But my OCD says so many nasty things. Just trying not to follow the OCD noise and hold onto what I value most.

18+ pls reply yesterday i was trying to fantasise about my girlfriend and i enjoyed it mentally but physically down there i didn’t feel anything? but when i get intrusive thoughts i do? and i’m confused because then it’s like am i not attracted to her? i get thoughts saying im not turned on during thoughts of my gf and its stressing me out is this ocd or is it not????

Idk how to explain how I am feeling right now. It’s like I’m almost better. Like I need to just get over this last hill and I feel like I’ll be back to me. However, I’m confused. I’m normal but like not? I have this heavy-ish feeling surrounding me 24/7. I can have conversations, I can live my life and somehow be me but then I have this cloud over me saying I’m a lesbian and I am lying to everyone and my fiancé. I just want to be my normal happy self again without feeling this weird weight. I feel like this is my new normal and I’m upset. I also feel like I’m forcing myself to do compulsions so I can still convince myself this is ocd and not the real thing. I’m feeling so low. I want to be happy again.

Yesterday I went to bowling with friends and I noticed a teen girl, and I'm very afraid that what I felt could have been a feeling of attraction, or was it just the impression of what she actually looked like? It wasnt like she had revealing clothes or things like that, and even if she was that would be on me, but i think she had an exposed back, and it was from afar and it happened in a very brief instant, so maybe it could be that before recognizing the young age my brain might have reacted to the "look" of what my eyes saw before fully elaborating everything, and when I did I got immediately triggered and identified the trigger. I don't know. I didn't like it, and I don't want it. If I visualise it now I know I'm not into it and that I don't like it. I'm afraid that for an instant I might have felt an impulsive independent feeling of attraction to what I saw, then realised what happened or identified the subject age and got triggered and bothered. But that would not make what happened the moment before any less true. It all happened so fast I don't know. I tried to compulsively check again what I saw trying to understand, but there were more triggers in that direction so I just stopped. After that I immediately felt depressed and I was silent and emotionless the whole evening and my friends were buzzing me trying to cheer me up asking me why I was like this. I just wanted to go home, it was too much for me, I wished that I never had come. There was a waiting list of 1 hour, so we went outside, after 1 hour had passed we went inside again, and I was hoping to see the trigger again to try to understand what I felt and hopefully gain the answer that it was a misunderstanding from my part, but it was gone. I didn't have the opportunity to fix it. I just prayed that it was just OCD. Then after a few hours I forgot abt it and shelved the memory of what happened, and played with my friends, but the whole time I just wanted to go home to ruminate and try to understand and fix what happened. I don't know. I feel so depressed, this morning whenever I woke up I just tried to go to sleep because I wasn't ready to face the reality of what might have happened. Whatever it happened, it felt "real" and what I'm afraid it might have happened feels like that too. I feel so depressed because the same evening before going out I had watched Arcane season 2 on Netflix and there was this episode 7 which was beautiful and I experienced happiness seeing a couple dancing and it felt so pure and beautiful and I was hoping to to feel that type of love one day too. I don't think I deserve to feel such thing after what happened yesterday. I don't think I deserve to experience something like love, I'm stained. I'm not worthy. I'm crying as I write this.

Hello all! I need some recommendations from anyone who tried therapy with the NOCD therapists. preferably anyone who is struggling with Religious OCD, SO-OCD and Existential OCD If you tried therapy here, how was your experience? would you recommend any specific therapists for a specific subtype? any feedback is appreciated!

My ex therapist said I was probably a lesbian if I had these thoughts, she never diagnosed me with ocd even if I was so obsessed with being sick that I used to go every day to the hospital for years. I was so obsessed with not loving my ex boyfriend, my mom, my Friends that I used to cry every day and Watch their pictures all the time to see if I loved Them. I Changed therapist and She immediately diagnosed me with ocd. But i'm scared to go to therapy now, because of my ex therapist. What If the second One is wrong and First was right? What If they can see things about myself I can't see yet. I'm terrified. I don't want to talk about myself anymore to anyone.

Hi fellow NOCD-ers. Ive been on this app for a few months now and undergoing erp therapy for a couple of weeks. Ive dealt with various themes but my So-ocd has been prominent throughout my life. I remember it clear as day that the thought popped into my head after I saw a girl with long hair running down the street. My brain went “what if you like girls” and since then this theme has been present in my life. Until that point I had crazy crushes and fantasies about boys. I was about 11 when the SO-ocd started. Since then, it’s always been confusing but I’ve had some serious relationships with men and im married to a wonderful male partner. Despite all this - the doubts creep in. At this point I dont really care if im not straight (rn I even identify as bi). But the thought of having to leave my relationship is so distressing to me because of course my ocd is says “what if youre lying and you never liked men and youre a lesbian” Im just wondering if anyone else has been dealing with this theme since they were young? Just looking to connect with people with similar experiences and not searching for reassurance ♥️

I’ve been really struggling for the past week. It comes and goes in waves, but it’s been a lot. I’m doing my best today to not spiral, but I am full of what ifs. I’m just trying my hardest not to follow them down the hole. Some days this feels so real and has me fully convinced that I am gay and that I need to leave my husband, but at the end of the day I know I want to be in bed with my husband giving him a big kiss goodnight. My exposure for the next week and a half before my next session is to watch my wedding video daily and track my distress and practice my response prevention. It’s been tough! After my episode over the summer I haven’t been able to watch it because of all the guilt i’ve been feeling (and I was someone who watched her wedding video once a week since getting married 3 years ago and always glowed when I watched it.) It’s been tough, i feel this rush of fear and sadness wash over me and I just have to do my best not to react. After doing my exposure this morning, i was able to handle the task, but afterwards I started spiraling a bit. I’m screaming to myself in the car “YOU DON’T HAVE TO FOLLOW THAT THOUGHT” or “YOU DONT NEED TO FIGURE THIS OUT” but it’s so tough. I know they say that when you’re in the throws of OCD everything and anything can become a trigger. I keep getting flashes of old coming out videos I’ve watched, articles about LBL that I have read, masculine presenting women that I have seen that have caused me discomfort and anxiety. I’m doing my best to sit with it, but these thoughts are coming at me from so many different angles. I am hoping I am at the end of this flare up soon.

I’ve posted on here many times over the last year and I’m so tired of the same things bothering me over and over and over again. I truly think I could move past this theme for good if I never watched lesbian porn growing up. It seriously feels like the one thing holding me back!!! I don’t know why I did it during those years, I was just intrigued I guess. But it feels like it HAS to mean something about my sexuality now. Like it must mean something that I did that or make me at least bisexual. But I also don’t want to be with women in any form other than friendship and am really so happy with my boyfriend! It’s a tug of war going on inside my brain 😭😭😭

they say ocd is egodystonic. ever since i was young i knew i was attracted to women sexually, possibly even more than men, and it never bothered me. when i was about 14 i had an episode (my first ever i think?) about being a lesbian. once that died down and i got older i tried to flirt with the idea of liking women romantically, and theres been a few times where i have been a bit. but since then i still have had a few SO-OCD flare ups about liking women and i cant figure out why.. maybe being raised christian and whatnot? but like im not a christian so whats egodystonic about that? it has me questioning everything, like what if i really DO like women romantically/am a lesbian and all my other scary themes for example pocd are real as well? the weird thing about this is… im not even panicking? i’ve been working on my ocd alot lately so it could be a result of that but im also wondering if something worse is going on?

Hi, really struggling currently battling my memories: fear of being a lesbian!!! it’s said i would remember if i felt attraction to women in my past but i just. can’t. remember. my brain is taking every interaction with a woman and making it like i was attracted even thought im like pretty sure i wasn’t but again. i. just. don’t. know. it’s making even what i thought to be platonic have some meaning and has fully convinced me i have had gay thoughts and romantic and sexual feelings to women before my hocd. second, it’s battling my memories with my past experiences with men. i bet we’ve all see the comphet list… not fun… i related to a few when it came to like a disconnect with male attraction before my hocd. my brain is really attacking that and is using everytime i didn’t feel something as proof that im gay and everytime i think i remember feeling something with men it’s saying it wasn’t real or it wasn’t strong enough or i never wanted it or it was just societal pressures yada yada. idk i guess im just really struggling with these two and its hard to say maybe, maybe not right now. just wanna know if anyone can relate

Before OCD I never felt any hatred towards gay people or bi people or anything like that, and I even recall some shows were gay relationships had really romantic moments that I could admire, but now it feels like I hate gay people like they anoy me or smth, and I don't wanna feel that way, I don't wanna feel this way, and ofc my OCD says that Im homophobic therefore I'm gay but I wasn't even homophobic to begin with I just don't know what to do right now

Hello I want to share my story with you because I sometimes feel so alone with my problems. I need hope that I can really do it. My father simply fled to his country of origin when I was 4 years old. At first I thought I would never see him again because we didn't know where he was, then we learned through a lawyer that he had run away - then the contact came back after 1 year, we visited him and it broke my heart every time to never see him again for another year. I idealized him so incredibly, even though he was never really there. My mother never demonized him, never put him down. My trauma was born that I was separated from my father several times. Today, I am 30 years old and I can no longer idealize it and I realize everything I have repressed, oppressed and killed during all these years. I started watching pornography very early at the age of teenagers aged 10 to 13, including things I'm not proud of today. then becoming sexually active myself. I had a very painful separation as a teenager with my ex. I've had super beautiful girlfriends, always. I knew I was attractive. From 13 (first time) to 28, I had more than 100 partners and tried many things. I lived in drunkenness. But what I never was was this macho - I was very early on aware of the value of a woman and that I wanted to treat everyone well and stay fair. But I never noticed that I had developed an OCD very early. To my OCD story: At the age of 18, I had the impression for the first time that something was wrong with me. There is no joy, something looks like a metal gavage. Then I took SSRI antidepressants and quickly improved. I take them until today :-( For probably 10 years, I was afraid of HIV. Extreme fear. I had to do 100 tests and I kept questioning them. I didn't know all this time that I could have an OCD. Three years ago, I met my girlfriend. I thought to myself: this time, you do everything better. Stay faithful, stay honest and so on. Then this obsessive admition came to me. I should wash myself of all my sins - suddenly, I told everything. Then came the guilty conscience (about violent sex chats, porn addiction, inappropriate porn when I was myself a teenager) and what others might think of me now. Then I saw a video about a guy who got exposed on the Internet because he had done something inappropriate. Terrible, I find it was horrible for the victims. Then OCD came and said that someone could say the same thing about me. And it duged up all my past. All porn in adolescence, everything. Again, I had to relieve myself in one way or another. I regained everyone's reassurance. Everyone must have told me that it was okay when I was 10-13 years old and watched porn that was not correct. Oh my God, I couldn't anymore. Now, OCD has taken on a new dimension and now checks on absolutely EVERYTHING if it excites me sexually or not. It suddenly automatically connects sex and children. It's terrible. I have never felt this level of fear before. We really think that I have been kidnapped by evil and that my brain is broken. I had never questioned my sexuality. Sex has always been so pleasant for me (certainly also anesthesia) and now everything is so confusing. I developed such a fear of sex with my girlfriend that inappropriate images would shoot me in the head. I hate OCD so much. Even worse, to distract myself and get rid of my feelings, I only know one strategy that has always helped me: more pornography, sex chats, more women and more transsexuals. So I say to myself: man, I want to be a great and good friend. In fact, I want to have a family with my girlfriend. It really drove me crazy. I didn't know what to do and sometimes I wanted to give up and die for the first time in my life. Because this flow of thoughts was unbearable. My big theory is that I'm obviously incredibly afraid of commitment. Because of my Major trauma of the PTSD. And OCD is just one of the many things that do not want to "make me feel", because it means a great danger. Goddammit, sometimes I say to myself that I have to live again single, and maybe have fear from HIV. I am not sure about my past, but I felt never so bad. Does anyone know of similar things? Can anyone understand my story or experience something similar? I want to be strong, I want to get there. Sometimes it's incredibly hard to believe. I don't understand how my brain has so much self-hatred. I want to finally live, free and in peace with myself. In love