People don't seem to understand mental health and automatically dismiss it. They call you a leech and lazy person for when you're struggling with something that's not physically noticeable. It's like trying to force disabled person to sprint.

One of my biggest obsessions is potentially getting violated and/or taken advantage of. No matter how close I am with that person. It is a fear I have which makes me very hyper vigilant with potential partners. I think this also stems from my general fear of men. Which was triggered by watching true crime as well as encounters with men that are into a lot of questionable things

I refuse to participate in hookup culture not only because of STDs but also because of my fear of getting assaulted.

I have some pretty unusual things that I am into sexually that I also feel guilty about. It makes me feel morally impure and like I would be more likely to be violated and/or abused by a sexual partner if I were to experiment with these things. Then I will begin a loop of “I don’t know if I like this as much as I thought. This is degrading and abusive” and “you know you like it, stop pretending that you’re not disgusting and morally impure”.

PS: if you have similar obsessions about sex which have lead to sex aversion and sexual shame, I recommend reading the book Sexual Anorexia: Overcoming Sexual Self-Hatred by Dr. Patrick J. Carnes. When I read this book it was the first time my feelings about sex were put into words

I grew up in a religious household, my parents were moderate Christians who became athiests around 7 years after I was born and my grandmother is super religious

The teachings of the bible and religion were drilled into my head as a kid, especially Hell

It scared the shit out of me and 5 year old me would pray everyday just so I wouldn't go. The thought of eternal suffering scared me so much as a child and I wonder if it did for anyone else.

My girlfriend has what we suspect to be some form of hypersexuality. She told me she gets these intrusive thoughts about having sexual intimacy with other people which she finds horrifying and she has reassured me that it’s not because of me and that this has been a thing for her even before we started dating but I am her first partner and now that she still has these thoughts she feels disgusted in herself. Can you guys give me any advice on how I can comfort her about this? It really doesn’t make me love her any less, I know these thoughts are involuntary. I just want her to feel a bit better about this and maybe help us work through this together. I’m really not sure how I’d begin to work through this or what would help but I just need advice in general. I love her more than anything and want to assure that she’s always safe with me

By that, I mean to the point that it lasts all day and all night and you have absolutely no breaks at all, not even a second. I used to be like that until I took sertraline which definitely helped slower the process, but I felt so alone and as though my case was incredibly unusual.

I just found out that my friend committed suicide. They were going through so much and now I can’t even comprehend the fact that we’ll never talk again.

My thoughts are a complete mess. It’s either the refusal to understand how a person can just be gone, the OCD telling me that I should’ve done more, that it’s my fault, that everything we last did is the last thing we ever did together. I want it to go silent so badly, but I don’t want to mourn them because how can they be gone? How can our last time talking be the last time? I’m sorry if this doesn’t make sense

At fucking 35 I have finally worked a full time job for a year for the first time. My boss said I’m doing a great job. Never thought I’d be able to do this.

I have mental problems and it’s hard for me to understand simple stuff because I don’t understand. This is my second try to be able to post on this feed. I am not saying I have any documented illnesses and I will not ask any questions and I am venting and want no reassurance.

I have an obsession with numbers. They control my life. I only drink anything at the hour mark. I also love even numbers so I like all my numbers I see add up to an even number. I feel like when I do or see an odd number bad luck is going to follow or something bad is going to happen. I only take my medication on the hour etc. These numbers are destroying my life. I am constantly looking at a clock, or my watch. If I look at the time and it is an odd number I feel mad at myself. If I look at the clock and it is even I feel good. Like I feel lucky. I don’t want to do this but I do it anyway.

I hope I didn’t break any rules with this post. I tried very hard to write it without breaking them. Thank you for reading!

Do you people get stressed after checking something you know was going to be bad? Idk if I can fully describe it due to sub rules but on the one of the largest sites for "asian comics", on the front page for most popular was a disgusting looking cover, I was grossed out but I wanted to read the comments on it to see the general opinion. After the fact though I stress out doubly, worrying that to any outsider looking at my history somehow, it would simply look like I was looking at weird shit and my actual reasoning would sound like a made up excuse.

Is that a normal ocd thing or is this an oddity and is probably something else?

Just been diagnosed with OCD and prescribed Luvox, but I’m too worried to take it because what if I don’t actually have OCD 🫠

Not really sure what I’m asking. Just sharing my current mental state...

When I was a kid I was obsessed with the idea that I might be a psychopath so what i would do is force myself every night to imagine my favourite person (grandfather) dying to see if I could get myself to cry. When it didn’t work I would spiral into thinking I was a psychopath and that because of something I said years ago I was gonna cause his death.

Hi guys

I’m UK based and I’ve been diagnosed with OCD and cPTSD. I’ve been to 40 sessions of talking therapy which hasn’t helped and was also on Sertraline up to 200mg for 3 months. Although the Sertraline helped at first the effects went away and I stopped taking it.

My doctor has prescribed me Fluoxetine but I read about the side effects (ED) and would prefer to go back to medical weed. There was a strain in particular with 10% CBD and 10% THC which improved my symptoms without the mental impairment associated with higher THC content.

Has anyone been in a similar situation before? I’d appreciate any advice :)

The primary distressing thought is relieved—over the course of several days and with varying intensity—either through the exhaustion that follows rumination, or when it is replaced by another intrusive thought.

Even though I’ve managed to overcome my physical compulsions, I’m still struggling with intrusive thoughts and mental obsessions. However, because I mentioned to my psychiatrist that I’m doing much better than I was two years ago, they’ve stopped looking for further solutions. They just keep renewing my prescription and sending me on my way. What steps can I take from here? Unfortunately, I also have a bit of an issue with medication misuse.

It's a time in my life when my head is spinning a thousand miles an hour: I recently graduated from high school and my family is pressuring me to find a job; I myself feel terrible being stuck at home, both because the atmosphere isn't very peaceful and because I live in a rather complex family situation. I have OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) diagnosed by a psychologist, which plagues me in various aspects of my life, especially in relationships. Around April, I met a guy on Reddit asking for help with an issue; after discovering we were from the same city, we ended up building a strong and very intimate friendship. Often, just talking to him made me feel good; unfortunately, though, it only took us not talking for a single day for hundreds of thoughts to start racing in my head. I don't do it on purpose, it's as if everything is automated; I feel angry and I ask myself: 'Why doesn't he text first, if I've always been the one to do it the last few days?'. Because of these behaviors, I'd end up thinking it was over or that he hated me; sometimes, driven by anger, I would delete the chat or unfollow him on social media, only to realize later, talking to it through with him, that I had been foolish and let my head fill up with fixations while he was simply minding his own business.

​Our relationship is very empathetic and we both often talk about our problems; recently, around August, this friend introduced me to his musical tastes, including a genre and a band that I immediately liked, despite never having listened to them before. Around September, I found out what happened—that the singer died by suicide (even though the death didn't happen in September); I won't make a long story out of it, but it hit me really hard. To this day, I feel a mix of anger and sadness that comes and goes, also tied to the thought of suicide itself; I have a strong fear for myself and others, as well as a deep feeling that I can't even put into words.

​I was really counting on starting my civil service on October 16 to maybe feel better and distract myself; unfortunately, due to a data issue, I couldn't start, and now it might be postponed to November 13. The thought of spending another month stuck at home with my thoughts, doing nothing more than afternoon runs, driving school, or the occasional rare outing with friends, weighs heavily on me. I find myself caught in a vortex of anger over this 'weird grief' and frustration toward this friend I recently spoke with. He knows all my anxieties and one evening, when I was feeling really bad (even though I feared he hated me), I texted him again; I understand too that this kind of friendship can become suffering for both of us, but it happens to me with every friend: what should I do, isolate myself just because I have these problems? Psychologically, the idea makes me feel like I'm suffocating. We hadn't even ended the conversation on a bad note, quite the contrary, everything was calm; it's just that now, since I didn't text first, he didn't either. I understand that everyone has their own things to deal with and he even talked to me about how it's a rough period for him too, but my head and my anger take over and I can't control them.

​To deal with all of this, I had my primary care doctor write a prescription for a psychological consultation; however, medical emails go to my aunt, who saw the prescription and wanted to talk to me about it, even though I would have preferred to keep it to myself. In the end, she advised me to wait before having that visit and to see a psychologist she knows who seems good; my aunt even offered to pay for my sessions, even though it makes me very uncomfortable. In the meantime, I live in a small house together with my twin brother, who has just as many issues, and my mother, who is obsessed with cleaning.

​On October 19 I'll turn 19, and on October 24, if everything is confirmed, this friend invited me to a tribute concert for that band. I'm still worried because right now I can't listen to their music without feeling sick and getting anxious, even though I don't know if the concert itself might help me get over it; in the meantime, I'll finally meet this friend in person, since we don't see each other often despite living in the same town. These days I try to distract myself by watching TV series or playing video games, but sometimes my head overloads to the point of making me feel like everything is 'shutting down.' I'm terrified of having a panic attack and I'm exhausted from constantly thinking that everyone hates me; I'm even surprised I haven't had one yet with all these accumulated events.

​I don't expect a magic word that makes everything go away, but I wanted to know if any of you have lived through similar experiences, even just to exchange a few thoughts and feel less alone right now; I feel like a bad person, and my older brother and others only know how to tell me that I'm overthinking everything. The truth is I don't make myself feel this bad on purpose: it really is all automatic.

so last month, I was diagnosed with ocd. my parents told me sternly not to tell anyone about it. recently, I’ve been trying out CBT which made me miss a couple of my classes. my teacher texted me asking why I did not attend. he is a super empathetic teacher, and probably my favourite teacher, but he is very strict about absences. I did not want to tell him a false excuse, so I told him about my diagnosis, and that I will try to schedule cbt on days I don’t have classes. also, I let him know I would appreciate it if he would keep it private since my parents arent comfortable letting other people know, and he was understanding about it. should I tell my parents I told him or not?

how do i deal with the feeling of wearing a mask and if people knew they’d hate me.

i tell people i have ocd and whenever i do i get this thought of if they knew the real truth about me and what i did they would look at me and shame me.

this makes me feel like i deserve this and it isn’t ocd. i feel like i don’t deserve happiness.

I'm not sure if this is the right sub for this question, but it's something I've wondered about for years. Sorry if it's repulsive in any way!

I have this habit of folding up a piece of fabric, usually the hem of my shirt or pillow case ect so that it creates a corner and kind of shoving it underneath my nail for lack of a better way to describe it. Or making a tiny ball out of paper and pressing it under the nail, or using the tip of a post it note folded over a few times. Yes it does hurt, that seems to be the point. I do it almost subconsciously all throughout the day. I just find my hand grabbing around for any fabric that I can fold up and use. It gets significantly worse when I'm anxious. It used to pull the skin back enough that it would bleed but now I actually have a lot of callous underneath my finger nails believe it or not so it's more rare that it bleeds. If it doesn't hurt I'll adjust it until it does. I've done this or something similar since I was a kid. I remember drinking a bottle while pressing the cartilage on my ear underneath my nail till it hurt. A self soothing behavior I guess, but why is that soothing? I also remember that if I had a loose tooth as a kid I'd push it side to side in order to cause a specific pain. The nails and teeth are the only things that give whatever kind of satisfaction it is I'm looking for.

I guess I'm wondering if anyone else has any kind of similar habit, or if anyone can point me to a more fitting community? I want to understand why it is I do these things, or what it's even called.

I am 17M. I have no clinical diagnosis for it, I just think I have it based on my own thoughts and experiences. I discovered Loli through a papa meat video, it ruminated in my head for a year or two years, then suddenly I started thinking I was a pedophile at around 14 or 15. I also saw my first bits of Loli art around 16 and 8 or 10 months. It feels like a needle stabbing my brain every time I think about it and there’s always a heated back and forth about whether I am one or not. I’ve also had the thoughts that I might be a lolicon based on recent experiences. Sometimes I think I’ve accepted that I can have these thoughts and have even gotten a few positive things from that acceptance(mainly in art. I haven’t drawn anything nsfw), but other times it causes serious mental distress to the point when I think I’m some inhuman monster. I’ve never had and will never have a genuine desire to hurt anyone outside of self defense, and I don’t really know what to do. Online discussion hasn’t helped either, as any time I’ve brought it up outside a safe space for people with similar thoughts or a space which had normal people who were into Loli, I’ve immediately been branded as being attracted to kids. I don’t want to tell my parents because I’m worried about how they’ll react. Do you know what I could to cope with this or accept this as a part of me, or am I beyond help?

I need some help with this theme it’s an actual nightmare. I’ve been constantly checking my spit for blood for ages, checking my pillow in the morning and having to change to darker sheets so i cant check so much.

However the other day I actually had some tiny bits of blood in my spit because I had a cough for two weeks. I went to drs and have been throughly checked and all is fine, but now obviously the theme is worse and I can’t stop checking my spit and thinking about how my mouth tastes ie is it metally and full of blood.

I’m away at the moment, with my pillow but white duvet cover and sheet and I can’t settle because I’m scared of what I will find in the morning and can’t sleep coz I can’t stop thinking about what I can taste in my mouth.

Any tips? Or just solidarity? I’m largely able to get through the day without too much distress with all my other themes but this one is really stuck at the moment.

So, this may get a bit over detailed here, but I feel like I need to lay out every single thing otherwise something crucial that would change everything may slip by. So an early warning here for sexual topic.

Okay, I’m a virgin, however I convinced myself I’m pregnant. It started last week, when I convinced myself that I had gotten pregnant from the (possible) microscopic drops of semen that may have survived 2 hours in my mattress and had gotten inside me after I sat naked on the bed. That made me spiral so much that the next day I took a morning-after pill. I didn’t listen to my friends plea that doing that would just make my thoughts worse, and it did.

A few days later, me and my boyfriend were in bed and I played around with you know, his male parts. In theory he didn’t cum or anything, he said he didn’t, I didn’t feel anything, I didn’t touch the tip and last time I did something like this it took WAY longer for it to actually do it. However, WHAT IF you know? And a little after that, I touched the inside of my inner lips (but not much further than that), without washing my hands or anything.

I’ve been paranoid for days that I’m now pregnant. It’s haunting me. My friends and internet tell me it’s really unlikely, but I feel like they are lying to me. I can’t take another pill and I have to wait weeks to do a test that actually show accurate results. It feels like hell honestly.

Does anything help this. I’m about 7 weeks on Zoloft and still worried.

"repost this within 10 minutes or you will die in seven days" okay I guess I'll die.... thanks bro

I wish this stuff didn't still bother me at my age. Usually they don't anymore but I HATED that one