I was showing my therapist something on my phone when she went through my gallery and started reading my private ChatGPT chats . They included personal things like my feelings towards her. I hadn't given her permission to read them, and I felt extremely embarrassed and exposed.

I dont feel like going to her again , i dont know how will i face her , what she will think of me now

When doctors meet someone with OCD, they should ideally remain unbiased and respect the patient's autonomy. They should explain the potential benefits, risks, and limitations of different approaches, including medication, psychotherapy, and choosing not to seek treatment and instead adapting to live with the condition.

Patients have different priorities and preferences. Some may want to pursue symptom reduction, while others may prioritise comfort, daily functioning, or learning to live with their symptoms without pursuing treatment.

Doctors should provide balanced information and helpful recommendations without pressuring patients into a particular choice. This allows patients to make informed decisions based on their own circumstances, values, and comfort levels.

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 :)

I've had OCD for about a year and a half. I find myself redoing certain things several times, and when I pray I instantly forget what I've said or done, so I feel I have to start over.

Has anyone here tried Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) therapy? I can't afford to see a therapist right now, so I'd really like to hear how it went for you. What were you asked to do, and what did the process look like in practice (exercises, pace, etc.)? Did you do it with a therapist or on your own (self-guided, workbooks, apps)?

Thanks in advance for your replies!

So NSFW, although im not gonna overshare I promise. Also this is not about if nofap works or not

From a young age I had this sexual direction in general. When I was bored I dreamt up stuff about it. Unfortunately eventually I got so excited about those things that I had to try it out, and bought stuff for ~100€. I put a lot of effort into it and after being done, felt extremely ashamed, disposed of everything and went on with my life.

Now for the actual problem:

I feel like I am caught in a vicious cycle of the following:

Normal (feel like life is kind of boring, unmotivated/ no spark) --> Try nofap, because I feel like thats the main villain (It gets better for ~3-5 days) --> This fantasy looms over me --> I break, do it again and pledge to never do it again.

The problem is, this fantasy is extremely powerful; If I think about it I get extremely turned on and almost start planning different ideas. Then going back to whatever I was doing before feels like going back to your task after a 1h doomscroll.

Right now I am 14 days into nofap and especially in the afternoon I get hit with strong urges to distract myself with just fantazising about that stuff.

Just this afternoon I tried to study for 2h and 1,5 of those 2 was spent with this almost stress-like feeling of excitement, not trying to think about this, but knowing that it would be amazing.

I also argue with myself sometimes if I shouldnt just give in, do the thing and then try another route, because it seems like a lot of people are living with these things and dont really have a problem.

After some thought, I boiled it down to the following main worries / questions:

- I feel like I spent way to much time on this fantasy if I go through with it, and it consumes my life. I feel like I am no longer living, but simply existing and waiting for the day I can go through with it. Its like it outshines everything

- If I dont do nofap, then my life feels kind of unmotivated and grey, but I dont get the urges

- If I continue nofap, how long will I have to endure this stuff, or is this all OCD anyway and will not get better?

Sorry for the long rant, I guess I am just wondering what to do about this, any advice / stories are welcome.

Im terrified im losing my memory! My mind just feels off, the other day I put "eco" when I meant "CEO" I had to hurry up and change it before the person thought was crazy, also a bunch of other wired things. My therapist tells me to stop my compulsions and things will get better but I honestly think I have Alzheimer or dementia which is the real problem. I feel like I can't catch a break

I 20 F am a college student who recently got tested and diagnosed with ocd after developing anxiety and obsessive thoughts. I have had ocd tendencies and rituals since I was 9 years old (going to the bathroom 1,000,000 times before I went anywhere, if I wore certain clothes people would die, fear of the oven and sink). They became more visible when I went to college and now I have rituals around contamination that are noticeable to the people around me which led me to seek treatment. I am doing great in therapy and improving a lot!

I recently had to go to the ER because of multiple abscesses on both my tonsils and now need surgery to get them out. My mom had a friend mention PANS/PANDAS to her because she had similar issues with abscesses and neurological symptoms. My mom is now convinced it is what happened to me and is trying to get me to see normal and functional medicine doctors to get tested. She thinks this is all too much of a coincidence and while I get where she’s coming from it is really bothering me. I have had anxiety and ocd symptoms for a long time and it feels too gradual for it to be an immune issue. My family also has a genetic history of anxiety and ocd which I think is the more likely solution. Has anyone else dealt with this? Any tips to get her off my back? I have health ocd so thinking about some crazy immune disorder attacking my brain is freaking me out.

My dogs finally got vaccinated today and im glad but im starting to feel nervous now. I have really dry skin and some open cuts due to constant hand washing. My sister and her bf went to go vaccinate our three dogs but i didn't go now im wondering and thinking what if they touched a dog that secretly had rabies when they were over there, what if the dog has rabies and soon dies but noone sayss anything, what if somehow there was rabies present and i never find out that i got the virus until it was too late? They (my sister and her bf) touched my hands and they probably touched something which i then touched and they did not wipe down their stuff or wash their hands. And now my mind is racing. I cant even wash my hands because my parents wont let me but either way besides rabies i just feel like its sanitary to wash my hands knowing my sister and her bf went to the vet and touched all these dog germs and then touched my hands. So, now im scared of rabies and these skin infections that i can get it.

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!

Whatever it takes,I wanna heal,fuck people taht Say ocd is incurable,I wanna heal I wanna heal I wanna heal,if not completely at least in remission for 6 months,if I doesn't go away, I'm sorry but I will have to go to trigger warning euthanasia

I did isolate myself and did everything you can imagine.

The thing is in the end "Exposure Response Prevention" is the first step.

People with OCD need to teach their brain that life is nor fair and bad things can happen to anyone even the good people.

No one is entitled to absolute safety.

I got a horror scenario about an elevator and I still went inside because I refused to become "avoidant". Like if I avoid it, it becomes bigger.

Or if you are afraid of flying with a plane, sorry to say the hard truth but you can only get rid of it when you go fly and tell yourself "Hey bad things can happen but I can handle it"*.

Avoiding is the worst in OCD. You gotta learn the bad things can happen.

Avoidance is the worst hell. If you avoid things, OCD becomes more stronger and restricts you even more.

I think you just gotta be brave and go out and tell yourself "Yes this bad thing can happen to me and when it does, I will deal with it" and then just go for it.

Because the goal for me was to be free and that happens when you accept the possibilities of bad outcomes happening to you.

If you avoid more and more, it is like slow suicide. Trust me I have been there. It is a very bad way of dealing with this.

You are basically afraid of being afraid.

I believe OCD is not evil. It is a malfunctioning system that tries to protect you from what it considers to be a threat. But yeah I feel much safer knowing that I pray to my God and be fearless about it as I know he will protect me.

Also for all religious folks, whether you are Muslim like me or a Christian. If you really trust God, then you should just face all fears and trust him no matter what happens.

That is all I gotta say.

I will say the hard truth. You can only face your fears. Everything else will make you feel worse because i only felt better when I confronted my thoughts.

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?

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.

Hi I work at dominos and I think that my OCD is messing with my ability to work. No one suspects this because I’m not good at cleaning things, still deal with contamination issues related to handwashing and wiping, anyways my boss has been giving me a lot of shit related to my ability to multitask. I understand where she’s coming from and honestly agree with her I back track excessively to check that I’ve done everything properly(counting the till 7 times, mess up counting inventory because I forget if I messed up counting it etc..) also ruminate a lot and because of the OCD giving off the vibe that I don’t care. I just don’t know how I can cope with the fact that I’m incompetent. Is there any fix for executive function or is it just something have to continue living with.

i just got out of hidden river healing(for eating disorders, i know,) because they said they could treat me, and they did for a few weeks and then started treating me like an eating disorder, it was horrible. anyways, my ocd is so so so so bad still because it didnt help at all, and i am constantly worried about bugs behind my bed, and now i keep needing to ask my mom if she is mad at me or if i am doing anything wrong, i ALWAYS feel like she is upset and worried about and so i keep needing to ask, but i never fully believe her when she says it so i have to say it again and again. and i ask her random other questions some times, but for some reason her answer doesnt "count" unless she says it in a very specific way, like if she says "im positive" "not at all" "not even close" in certain scenarios, it is fine and i feel better, but if she DOESNT say those things i have to keep asking and asking until she says it. but i cant tell her to say these things otherwise it doesnt "count" either.

does anyone else deal with this?? i treid SO HARD to start to recover and now i feel even worse because of that place. i just cant do this anymore, im so scared of what my mom is thinking and feeling and im terrified of her answers to what i ask because i never know if it will be "right" or not.

"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

I don't have just thoughts , actually it is mostly intrusive feelings and sensory experiences. This brain is capable of destroying every thing in my life by creating my reality with those quasi hallucinations ... I feel like even here most people can't relate because everyone always talks about thoughts, but for me the extreme sensory intrusive experiences is way more prominent and a problem. (contamination related /triggered in my case)

I feel like it's involuntary like feeling itchy all day and it doesn't stop. And people say 'its okay to feel like this forever, just accept it :)'. No it's not ; it's torturous and I can't get used to it whatsoever! ERP doesn't work and before people make assumptions yes I did it correctly and with highly rated therapists. One med did work but I can't take it due to dangerous side effects. Tried 9 others and had only negative experiences.

Can someone relate? Please reply if so I feel so alone...

I constantly see Christians on here that suffer with Religious Sculposuty OCD themes. Do people of other religions have Religion Sculposuty too? Like Muslims for example

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

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

I have constant, detailed mental imagery of my friends and loved ones getting hurt or dying. It’s different this time tho, as the threat is actually extremely realistic. Let me explain…

There’s a very specific trigger for this post- that being my close friend and I are from different countries, however he is participating in a large (and I mean huge) protest tomorrow in France. It’s already pretty wild out there as is, but Saturday *tomorrow is supposed to be the biggest yet with expected widespread riots. Therefore, this time I’m imagining my friend getting beaten or kidnapped or trampled or something. I’m literally American, this stuff happens in my country all the time. I know how it goes. I know that people are brutalized in widespread protests like this.

But this is pretty normal for me. If it wasn’t him, it would be envisioning my grandmother falling down the stairs or getting hurt and unable to help herself. Or it would be a friend getting into a car accident. Or it would be something happening to my baby brother. Idk…. Speculating your friends will be in danger vs KNOWING they’ll be in danger are two very different things.

Do you think this is as logical and tangible as it seems in my head? There’s literally nothing I can do from the other side of the ocean except keep my eyes on the news. I’m genuinely so scared

really need some advice from anyone who experiences this if that's okay. this is really scaring me.

hi! for context, I suffered with my first intrusive thoughts when I was about 13. it was related to my family, usually something gorey happening and it would genuinely upset me so much to the point where I'd have panic attacks and couldn't sleep for 6 months. I bottled it all up, because at that age, I didn't understand what was going on at all. I don't know what initially started it. it was very vivid and disturbing.

it got so bad where one night, I just finally talked about it to my father and it took me half an hour to tell him exactly what they were. after that, something flipped. I started to do guided imagery on my own and it really fucking worked. it worked for 7 years. not one flare-up, the thought was pop up every once in a while and it had no effect. I was so happy.

that was until now (im 20 now). I became friends with these people who, to put it shortly, would constantly talk about their ocd. growing up as a therapist friend, this never really bothered me. I always listened to peoples thoughts and worries. but, they would always discuss different fears they had. one of them brought up their fear of incest ocd. at the time, it struck me. because then I started fearing it. never in my life did I have these thoughts. but it sent me into a big panic attack. also around that time, a lot of shit happened, I mean a lot. my life went from having a job, college, friend group, routine, good lifestyle to absolutely nothing. it's been like this for 2 years now. but basically, the intrusive thoughts came back around the 2nd year.

I genuinely felt so heartbroken, whatever about the last intrusive thoughts, these ones were actually disgusting. I feel so fucking disgusted and my guided imagery (that I've used since I was 13) all of a sudden doesn't work. I can't sleep at night, and I can't talk to my family about this.

I think my mental barrier is just shattered I dont know how to explain it but yeah. I'm just worried.

Hi All,

Hoping to get some help in processing this. To keep it brief, I recently started taking Zoloft two weeks ago after finally caving in dealing with my anxiety and OCD I would've previously described as minor. I am currently in the trenches of a reoccurring, everyday episode related to my son's risk factors for a future disease that may or may not happen. All I can think about is the worst case scenario - I try to counter it with the realistic knowledge that it's possible but unlikely, and that just makes it worse. I have spent hours thinking/reading about it, and it has happened everyday for about the past week. I feel like it's constantly in the back of my head regardless of what I do.

Any thoughts ?

I have ocd in my daily life it comes and goes and it happens with different topics . Right now i have it. I wanna ask does medication help? If you take medication what does it do? Is there side effects. Like did you lose weight or gain or insomnia? Please comment help me.

like if I’m making a quesadilla or something and there’s 2 tortillas left I’d feel better making 2 instead of one. And like if I have a soda I would finish the whole can does this make sense?