- User type
- Therapist
- Date posted
- 46w
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working to conquer OCD
If you have been thinking about looking into therapy but you haven't yet, what's holding you back? Maybe the support of the community can help you take that step to feeling better!
Is this pocd? OCD?? Please no judgement!! This has been on going for years and I want the thoughts to stop and enjoy anime again :( not the other way around I used to love pride from an anime fmab (full metal alchemist brotherhood) when I was 14-15. And I feel so guilty because he took the form of a kid cause heās a villain who can disguise himself and possess. I never liked the kid but more personality. I donāt think I NEVER EVER had romantic attraction to the body. I feel so gross talking about this as Iām older now and know what this is. The thing is Pride the homunculus character is ancient years old but his disguise is 10 years old and they have the same height but Pride is literally just a shadow with eyes and mouths in in the general lore of the anime. I do not like him now. As I got older I stopped liking him. Not in a sxual way even at all but just in general but my brain is making me think I like him or I used to in just a sxual way or ftish type of way but I DO NOT!! Idc I just feel disgusting. And I donāt want to have him as a favorite character anymore. How can I explain this to a therapist?! Any advice? No judgement please.
I talked to my therapist about the emotional disconnection I feel in my relationship ā how I often feel nothing when Iām with my boyfriend, how I feel irritated or even disgusted during intimate moments, and how all of this creates constant fear and sadness in me. I told her that I want to love him, that I used to feel more, and that I believe my thoughts and reactions are part of something deeper ā like ROCD ā not necessarily the truth. But she said something like, āIt doesnāt make sense that you want to love him but donāt feel love,ā and suggested that I might just be lying to myself and need to āaccept the truth.ā That crushed me. I kept explaining that these thoughts feel obsessive, that they donāt align with my values or how I see myself ā that theyāve taken away my ability to feel joy or peace. And yet, I left with this terrible fear that maybe sheās right, that maybe Iām just in denial. She even told me that I have two choices: accept that I donāt love him and stay while lying to myself, or leave. And that⦠that made me feel like she was confirming my worst fear ā not helping me explore it safely. I donāt want to hurt him. I donāt want to lie to myself. I just want clarity, and peace, and the ability to feel again. I also didnāt tell my boyfriend about the session, because heās skeptical of therapy ā he thinks therapists just want money, and that I have to āhelp myselfā if I want to feel better. I kind of get where heās coming from, but it still makes me feel a little alone in this. I guess Iām posting here just to say⦠I feel really lost right now. I donāt know if what Iām experiencing is ROCD or just the truth Iām too scared to accept
I'm at my college and don't feel like being here. I didn't even want to come here. I woke up with anxiety bc i feel like i need to solve this. I had a bad stomach ache when i arrived to school and still havent even eaten breakfast yet bc i feel like i have to solve this. Im just so worried bc i have harm thoughts daily. If i could i would remove this! I dont want to think anymore. Its just, how do I know i dont have real urges when I'm feeling a negative emotion like anger or disappointment or annoyance? Im worried EVERY time i feel a negative emotion. Yesterday I was playing video games with my neice (we are close in age range) and she made us lose. She started blaming me and I guess i felt a little annoyed, it really wasnt my fault (dumb mini argument it was more playful since we started laughing but it was a bit annoying). Anyway i got a harm thought while feeling annoyed of me getting off the couch and lunging at her to attack. I immediately look at my bodily reaction and I tense up to stay as still as possible. My stomach was hurting and i wanted to leave as fast as possible. I stood up and turned off the game and said i was tired while making sure to stay back from her (and i had my hands away and stiff) but i felt so uneasy. I laid I bed and felt sad and heavy. And i kept getting thoughts that said "Ćts only a matter of time before you can't take it anymore". I started to reassurance seek using ai to ask if i was about to or if they are real urges or thoughts i mean until i eventually fell asleep in the middle of the compulsion. Im just so worried, what if I act out impulsevly one day? I dont want to! But what if when feeling a negative emotion, i suddenly dont care and do something? I really dont want to! I dont even want to feel negative emotions anymore since they trigger the thoughts and I dont want to think about any of that. As a result i tend to avoid my family as much as possible bc they are annoying sometimes. I just wish i was all alone sometimes so i wont get any more thoughts and so everyone can be safe. I usually just stay in bed under my blankets all day long to avoid my family and pets. I am constantly uncomfortable. I miss when i would never think any of this. Living life has become very scary for me now. š
thought i was sort of improving but nope. I feel so useless. also a lot of the thoughts are "I wish/I want" now and those are the worst because they're so visceral. its so bad I have to go to a college close to ny house bc i'll freak out if I'm far away. maybe I should just give up
i went to therapy today and i told her about the lack of feeling i gave with my boyfriend, when we do anything, and all the anger i feel for no reason and she somehow told me im not sure i didnt understand it that , it dosent make sense that i want to love him but i dont feel love and i feel disgust when we kiss and thinngs and that i cant accept the truth????? like she is telling me i have lots of fear in me and im telling her im scared that i dont love him but this relationship is making me feel sad and uneassy when i want to be happy and calm bur i kept telling her all of this is bc of the thoughts and she told me that the thoughts are suppose to ease ar least when i am with him⦠i didnt tell my bf i wrnt to therapy bc he thinks they only want money, and that they can help me but i hav to help myself, and last time i went to therapy i wasnt feeling better and he is wondering how i wasnt feeling any better and that its strange to him to do āsteps ā like this bc they only want money. And i left more confused and sad because she confirmed my fears somehow? i dont understand. im just scared i dont actually love him and that i only put high expectations on this relationship and i cant accept the truth. She told me , after i told her i always told people that these thoughts are not true bc they felt out of place, that we can say one thing and feel one thing and i felt like she was telling me again that these thoughts are real. I know im sad and miserable but i dont want to be like this, im scared that i iust matured and i simply dont love him
My OCD is awful when it comes to intrusive thoughts, and I also have BPD. Iāve never acted on the intrusions in harmful ways beforeāIāve always found ways to manage them that are healthy and safe. But I got quite drunk during a psychiatric episode (I wasnāt fully aware I was in one at the time), and I acted on an intrusive thought in a way that wasnāt healthy or very safe. Thatās the best way I can put it. Iām so ashamed and overwhelmed with guilt. I didnāt physically harm anyone or anything, but what I did was enough that itās been eating me alive and has severely heightened my mental state. Iāve tried using my usual coping skills, I reached out to 988 and other crisis lines, I even texted AI chats. But Iām too scared to tell my regular therapist or psychiatrist. Iām currently on a leave of absence from work because I was already in a crisis state, and now I just donāt know what to do. I tried looking for articles or videos from people whoāve acted on intrusive thoughts, but everything says things like āpeople with OCD never act on themā or āintrusive thoughts are harmless,ā and while those can be reassuring in general, I did act on one. Not being able to find any resources or support for this makes me feel even worse. Thatās a big reason why I downloaded this app.
So i am dealing with my third relapse of ocd and this time the theme is paranormal. So you can imagine how distressing it is. My ocd creates image intrusive thoughts and even gets scared and doubts normal eye vision things. But i am learning through it. But here are some things i have learned and learning : 1. Don't try to runaway from triggers : one thing i have learnt is that we may think that if we runaway from triggers our ocd thoughts will stop, its a big no, it will never because in ocd anything and everything can be a trigger. So even if you think that sitting in your room and not going out will help you, i will say for sometime but then again ocd will come up with new fear. Now i know it will create anxiety but don't runaway from your triggers it is indirectly feeding your loop. 2. Also i would say that try to ignore these thoughts and image intrusive thoughts. No matter how much they come try to shift your focus on something else. Something that gives you happiness like try to think about your dream job and what will happen if you get it, daydreaming a bit is necessary to ignore these negative thoughts, think of your family and friends, your crush, your love maybe. And after few minutes when you shift your focus towards other thoughts and things you will eventually realise that these negative thoughts lose their importance. I know it is extremely tough to shift your focus but you need to do it. Think about your hopeful future, imagine yourself being happy. 3. Ocd brings in a lot of anxiety which leads to brain fog and anxiety and anxiety can create fake sensations, visions and beliefs. It can even cause fake smell also, so whenever ocd brings in the thought that what if i saw something, or what if i listened to something, what if i smelled something just say that anxiety creates fake sensations and it is scientifically proven. Also due to anxiety we become hypersensitive so our senses become more active they tend to notice things more easily. Like being hypersensitive means you will notice normal sounds more, peripheral vision illusions more certain smells more. And it is fine, our body is in hyper alert mode so it will. 4. Even when you start feeling a bit fine and bit okay don't expect that ocd will fade away immediately. It won't fade away immediately, it will take time, your hyper sensitive and anxious brain will take time to normalise things. It may take month or something. And in this moment you will get intrusive thoughts, maybe more weird or bizzarre images or thoughts. Because the brain had gotten into the habit of negative thinking, worrying and anxiety so yeah there will be moments when it will doubt many things, when it will bring extreme intrusive thoughts, try your best to not ruminate over it. 5. I have realised that we ocd sufferers have one thing in common we are very creative people, we love art and expression. And our minds have the habit of constantly think something. I have noticed that my ocd relapses only when my mind is empty, like when it has nothing else to think about, when i am idle and and my life is lonely with no external stimulation. So try to find a purpose and give direction to yourself that's it. Ocd increases when serotonin and dopamine decrease so try to maintain your serotonin and dopamine levels by having healthy diet, investing it into something you like maybe writing, art, music, acting anything you like. You can start a blog or a page or write a book about your ocd journey. 6. Lastly i would say that accept it that yes my brain is a bit more anxious, and it is fine. Also everyone is fighting a battle inside them, we are suffering from our thoughts, some are dealing with something else, and don't try to seek much reassurance or give attention to ocd thoughts, just let it be there and shift your focus. Think about how there are much important things in your life. And ocd happens when we are very scaredy like the ones who get scared easily, so try to win over your fears, win over it. It picks up our greatest fears and feeds on it. Win over these fears that's it. At the end i would say yes the fight is very tough, even though i have understood so many things about it, yet many days i go through the depression, i go through the anxiety, i go through the sadness, and there are days when i just sleep a lot to escape these thoughts and this fear because paranormal ocd is very draining. But i am learning through it and yes one day we all will defeat it. Keep learning, keep fighting, keep growing, stay strong. Ocd is just our mind trying to pull itself inwards away from the external world. Get into the external world, face the real life and real issues, ocd thoughts are imaginary and not real issues.
For some reason, my brain gets upset when my boyfriend hangs out with other people. I know I shouldnāt feel this way, but sometimes I canāt help it. I understand that he has a life outside of our relationship, and thatās great. He reassures me all the time, in fact, he often tells me he would rather spend time with me than with his friends. Heās a perfect partner, and I love him more than anything. However, I donāt want this to become an issue in our relationship. I know why my mind thinks this way, even though I donāt believe it to be true. My brain keeps telling me that he would rather be somewhere else than with me. Those words repeat in my head every time heās out with friends, and I donāt know why. I want to find a solution to this obsessive and jealous thought so that I donāt ruin his time with friends. I really need help with this issue.ā¤ļø
It hurts so much to write that. Lately, every time I talk to my boyfriend ā whether itās through text or in person ā I feel this deep irritation, like everything he says or does annoys me. Sometimes, it even feels like disgust, and itās terrifying. I donāt feel love. I donāt feel excitement. I donāt even feel sadness about not feeling anything⦠just numb. I look at him and I donāt feel like I used to. I donāt know what happened to me. I used to be so sure I loved him, and now I feel like a completely different person ā cold, distant, empty. My brain keeps telling me: āYou donāt love him anymore. You never did. Youāre only staying out of habit.ā My mom told me that if I donāt like him anymore, then Iām hurting both him and myself by staying in this. And hearing that broke me. Because thatās exactly what I fear ā that Iām faking everything, and I just donāt want to admit the truth. I feel so lost. And I donāt know how to separate my thoughts from reality anymore. All I know is that I want to feel something again ā anything. Because right now, all I feel is guilt, fear, and confusion. i used to know these thoughts are just thoughts and that if i didnāt have them i would be so happy but now, i cant think aboyr that bc the thoughts feel too real.
So I have pretty intense contamination OCD tied to Moral/Real event OCD, and I'm having a hard time with it because part of me does genuinely believe my logic checks out, and I was hoping to get some insight as to how to change the way I see it from other people who sort of get the mindset involved :). To sum it up as well as I can, I basically have a very souped-up version of the same item-event association most people have. For example, let's say you have a HORRIBLE, GOD AWFUL relationship with a person you can't even begin to think of favorably even years after the event. They had gotten you a stuffed animal for your anniversary at some point. You finally "escape" the relationship, and you throw away the stuffed animal. This is seen as a very normal and sound-of-mind action. Here's where things get tricky: For me, throwing out that stuffed animal wouldn't be enough. After all, it touched my table didn't it? And my table touched the floor right? And these things now carry that person's germs. And if I don't get rid of them, then they'll infect my future belongings. This logic isn't entirely flawed either, as even my OCD specialist said he believes in a "weaker version of what I do". How am I supposed to convince myself that what I'm believing is false when the literal psychologist confirmed that what I'm doing is just a more in-depth version of a normal experience? Ex: I have a new outfit, fresh and clean. I'm unbothered and happy, but I knick the side of a table. The table holds awful associations. I get this awful sense of dread. The clothes are now somewhat sullied, and I'll eventually have to give them away. I don't think I'm explaining this as well as I could, but I feel like those notions are there. Anyways, does anyone have any insight as to how to get my mind to genuinely believe that interacting with these things is "safe"?
Longer post, but please, I need some guidance. I thought that my thoughts relating to relationship OCD were taking over. But, my bf started treating me differently. I tried to have a conversation and communicate this worry. He then texted me that he had actually been feeling distant for a month and has been meaning to tell me. But āweāre fine now.ā I spiraled. Later in the week, he went quiet after a disagreement. After he promised we were okay and he was okay, I found later he was texting a mutual friend (female) that I was crying again. She said that it was fucking insane and other hurtful things about me. He said he lost his trust with me because I looked through his phone and saw that message even though during the whole relationship we had a mutual understanding that we had nothing to hide from each other and he always assured me that I could look through his phone at anytime. Itās ok for boundaries to change in a relationship, but it wasnāt communicated and I was harshly reprimanded. During the texting chain with the mutual friend he also said that āshe just has no idea.ā When I addressed this, he then said that for the past month, he actually felt he didnāt want to be in a relationship, but still loved me. Iām ruined. I had the same thoughts in January and knew I loved him. I found out it was ROCD (through this app) and told him the day after the realization because it was eating at me. So him saying I wouldnāt understand and telling other seems unjustified. I wouldāve been the most understanding. Any help would be appreciated greatly.
i feel like i have been posting a lot about this and i will try to stop since now but i just don't know where to start or what to do, and i can't take therapy right now either. my event is about something that did actually happen; i had a boyfriend and we had a 1.5 age difference (i know this sounds stupid) but the thing is that we both started to sext a lot since he was 14 and i was 15. we shared audios videos pictures ect and i don't know how to just let this go, even when i know that i never really forced him into anything and i was always constantly worried about him being comfortable, when to stop and ect. the memories keep coming back to my mind and the guilt is eating me up slowly because i keep thinking that i'm a predator or a groomer or something like that. i don't know how to deal with the what ifs either, lately i haven't stopped thinking what if i sexually harassed or sexually exploited him or something like that. how do i deal with the cycle of guilt and constant what ifs if i also feel like my event is worse than others i've seen? please help me with this. it's getting a lil tiring and even if somedays i know how to deal with this, i still get really triggered sometimes. this wouldn't even bother me before, i wish i could just get back in time before this theme popped into my mind. my life has been a hell since then and i live constantly scared and suicidal.
Please donāt judge until you read this I have religious beliefs and I want to understand the lgbt community but my beliefs is that being lgbt is a lustful sin and I donāt like it. I have been trying to tell people Iām not trying be mean itās just what I read in the Bible and what I believe. But Iām not gonna kick my friends out if they were to come out at any point. And Iām not trying to spread my beliefs but it is also my calling as a Christian to spread the gospel as well but I do believe that you can still be saved even if youāre lgbt if you believe in god but I worry about that because my god doesnāt want people to keep sining over and over again and I love people but I hate how they donāt understand me. So I just try and pray for them and hope they understand. I feel horrible so I never know if I want to go back to god or not.
I cannot tell if this is OCD assigning meaning where there is none, or if it is something else entirely. I have ADHD, and I tend to hyperfixate on people, specifically men I find interesting. It feels like a crush. Maybe it is a crush. I do not know. It does not matter. I daydream a lot. I have posted about this before, and the responses were helpful, but right now I am spiraling again. Lately, what I think is a dopamine-driven hyperfixation has latched onto my supervisor at work. I actively stop myself from ruminating too much about what it could mean. I remind myself they are just thoughts. I love my boyfriend and I am committed to him. But I have noticed that I sometimes *hope* something goes wrong with an order, just so I have a reason to talk to my supervisor, even if the interaction is only a few sentences. I do not even smile at him because I am so afraid of being disloyal or disrespectful to my boyfriend. The other day, my voice sounded nice, and I got scared that I did that on *purpose* because I was talking to my supervisor. I know how to make my voice sound smoother, and I worried that I subconsciously did it for him. I know people do that kind of thing to seem pleasant in general, but it feels wrong when it is tied to one specific person. There was another moment where I had to bend slightly, and I knew he was behind me, though I didnāt know he would walk in my direction. It turned into a kind of awkward traffic situation, and I started wondering if I *hoped* for that. I even caught myself thinking about whether he finds me attractive. I know that these thoughts might be in the normal range, but the fact that I think about him so much, daydreaming, hoping for interactions, mentally replaying things, feeling excitement, makes me feel incredibly guilty. Is that disrespectful to my boyfriend? I donāt think Iām flirting. But I feel like even hoping/looking for interactions or tweaking my voice counts as some kind of betrayal. I just donāt know. To me, it sounds like a mix of ADHD and OCD, It really does feel like chaos inside my head. I want to be honest with my boyfriend, but I know talking about this stuff makes his jealousy flare up, and understandably so Iām a jealous person myself. But if I donāt confess, it feels like I am hiding something and it feels *extra* disloyal. I know that daydreaming and a bit of excitement are normal, especially with ADHD and dopamine-seeking, but when I go out of my way for a few-sentence interaction, or crave eye contact, is that disloyal? I am not asking for reassurance. I genuinely want to understand if this is normal or if it crosses a line. I am scared that I am just making excuses for bad behavior. I am scared that this is not okay and I am doing it anyway. I wish I could ask my therapist about this, but I had to stop going recently. She always understood how my brain works, especially the difference between reassurance-seeking and genuinely wanting clarity. She was really good at helping me figure out whether something was common or explainable. It helped so much to just know if something was normal, even if knowing did not stop the rumination. Thatās kind of what I am looking for now, just someone to tell me if this pattern makes sense or if it crosses a line. Please help :(
17f I have a lot of events, but my main and my worst one which is absolutely fucking diabolical was done when I was 14 and repeated when I was 16. Everytime I post something about real event ocd here people are like you are probably didn't do anything that bad, and when they hear what I did they are like yeah that's bad. Someone even asked me if I'm autistic cause "it's crazy how you didn't realize that the thing ypu were doing was wrong at this age." And I kinda agree, like it's fucked up It's just that my event is bad. Doesn't mean I don't have real event ocd. You can have a reocd over the event that was bad, it doesn't mean the event wasn't that bad or you don't have recod. It's just people always expect it to be something innocent and it's not Even a healthy person would feel guilty over it, it's just that I had ocd my whole life and it's making the guilt absolutely destructive, like to the point when I sometimes have a hard time breathing when I think about it, I lost more than a year of life to it, almost checked myself out couple of times if I wasn't so scared of pain/failure, the event haunts me in my dreams, it's in my head 24/7 and I will never able to forgive myself. That ocd. But the event itself was bad. So maybe i deserve it.
Lately, Iāve been feeling extremely confused and guilty. My boyfriend has been really busy with exams, and we havenāt talked much this past week. I donāt really feel like I miss him, and that scares me. It makes me think maybe I donāt love him anymore, maybe Iāve changed, and maybe this relationship doesnāt feel right for me anymore. A few days ago, a friend invited me to go to a club with her and another girl. I know that if I went without my boyfriend, he would feel bad ā not because heās controlling, but because in our relationship, weāve always had mutual boundaries and respect. I decided not to go, but ever since, Iāve been spiraling. My thoughts keep going: āWhat if I didnāt go just because of him?ā, āWhat if I actually wanted to go, but I stopped myself because I donāt really love him?ā, āWhat if Iām holding myself back and this relationship is limiting me?ā All of this makes me think Iām bored, that I donāt like him anymore, or that Iām staying out of habit. Itās hard to tell what I really want or whether these thoughts are part of ROCD or some deeper truth. I keep wondering if Iām just attached to him because heās my first boyfriend and weāve been together for so long. Sometimes I even think I wouldnāt care if we broke up, and that I donāt feel anything for him anymore ā and that absolutely destroys me, because heās such a good person who truly loves me. He doesnāt deserve to be treated with so much doubt and coldness. I feel miserable. I donāt know whatās real and whatās just obsession. It hurts that I canāt feel any clarity or peace. I just want to know if this is ROCD or if Iām in denial and refusing to accept the truth
so i start therapy tomorrow. but bro itās just getting worse and im so scared. like the thoughts are getting more frequent and i genuinely feel evil and i hate it. i keep thinking what if i do it and im scared im eventually gonna. iām scared i give off a creepy vibe or im lying to myself or others. please tell me is this ocd? do i need to be actually worried? iām really freaking out
Recently ive been getting very scared to even be angry bc of the horrible thoughts I have and it feels even more real when I'm angry or even annoyed. Rn I was not even super annoyed at my neice but I felt a twinge of annoyance since she went up to my face and was yelling at me while I was resting on the bed and I got this image of doing something bad to her and I felt my hand twitch very little. I got nervous and felt relieved when her dad told her to stop screaming for no reason. I've been hyperfocusing on my bodily reactions (mainly my hands or how I'm feeling like did I just enjoy that? Was I considering???) And I've noticed the small twitches whenever I'm mad or annoyed and it's scaring me so bad! Like do I want to act out? Am I holding back??? I used to not even twitch at all when mad and I felt 100% sure I'll never act out but now it feels like I don't know bc what do these twitches mean?, I do know I don't want to ever act out but it's so scary. Recently whenever I feel angry once the argument is over I cry really bad after I'm alone and I pray so i never want or act out. And when the annoyance passes I also feel so guilty and want to stay away. Im scared these are real urges and i research for many many hours to make sure they arent urges or impulses and i also tend to ask chatgpt or here if the anxiety gets so bad š
My boyfriend has a mommy kink, something I think I have genuinely come to enjoy after being with him for years. But lately, Iāve been scared that maybe I misunderstood it. I worry that I was unknowingly making myself okay with the idea of seeing him as a child during intimacy. Iām not sure if this is part of the kink or if age play is involved. I donāt know. The fear I keep coming back to is that maybe, I misunderstood the dynamic entirely and was participating in something harmful. I worry that I was participating with a pedophilic mindset and that I was/am fully okay with that. Iām scared that Iāve made myself into a pedophile on accident. Can anyone help? Please
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