OCD Youth

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General Discussion Forum

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Notes: Last active 1 month, 4 weeks ago

This section is open to all. Feel free to say hello, ask questions, and share all your thoughts and feelings about OCD.

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Topic Title: OCD taking over me?

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chanel189 said 1 year, 5 months ago:

Well, what a ride I had. I got medically diagnosed with OCD about 6 months ago now. I have sort of always knows I have it, but I got diagnosed a little time ago. I have extreme intrusive thoughts. Wether they are sexual, Frightening, about myself, my family, friends, anything, they are there very often. Some people tell me to fight them away whilst others tell me to let them be there, so I have not got a clue what exactly I should do. I have pretty bad rituals too. I am currently battling a ritual which tells me that if I don’t hurt myself, I will never get better. I am constantly doing things until it feels ‘right’. My most constant compulsion it so jump on the side of the bath before the toilet finishes flushing. I have now broke my sink twice because it gave in from how much I’ve been doing this compulsion. I told my mum that I lent on it and it just broke, she knows I have OCD, I’m just too embarrassed to say that it was the OCD that caused me to accidentally break the sink. It really feels like it has completely taken over me, I can’t go longer than around 45 minutes without doing a ritual or compulsion. It completely ruins my day and makes me feel so horrible. Does anyone have any sort of advice?

moresunshine said 1 year, 3 months ago:

Hello! I'm so sorry this reply is so late, I hope you're doing better now!

Firstly, people should not be telling you to fight the thoughts! Fighting the thoughts is just another compulsion, which will fuel your obsessions. To reduce feelings of anxiety and the amount intrusive thoughts occur, you need to leave them be. For example, when you feel you have to jump on the side of the bath before the toilet finishes flushing, you have to try and ignore this feeling. I know, it's so hard to do, but you can do it! It'll feel incredibly frightening at first, I remember when I first tried to tackle my obsessions and how scared I was – I cried for ages! What I'd recommend is gradually increasing the time you take before carrying out these compulsions. For example, at first, don't immediately stop jumping on the side of the bath, but wait a couple of seconds longer before jumping than you usually would. Gradually, the anxiety will decrease, and you'll be able to increase the amount of time before you jump on the side of the bath, until you don't do it at all. It'll be really hard, and you may still get the thoughts again suddenly, but I promise you can beat this!

I hope this helps!