Neurodivergent on Sidechat | My sister and my mom both spoke about me to their therapists, and BOTH OF THEM said it sounds like I have OCD. I have been diagnosed with many things, but never OCD. Can someone w OCD tell me about their symptoms/experience? Bc maybe.....

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Neurodivergent 1d

My sister and my mom both spoke about me to their therapists, and BOTH OF THEM said it sounds like I have OCD. I have been diagnosed with many things, but never OCD. Can someone w OCD tell me about their symptoms/experience? Bc maybe.....

Anonymous 1d

I don't, but therapists aren't really supposed to weigh in on a potential diagnosis for people who aren't their clients...

Anonymous 1d

My OCD is nothing like the typical stereotype, so it got diagnosed a whole decade late. It’s a lot of doubting myself, what-ifs, and thought spirals. OCD is basically intrusive thought > obsession > compulsion in a never-ending loop. The OCD themes I have are about my most valued things in life: family, friends, and romantic partners (Relationship OCD, or ROCD). Instead of physical compulsions (mostly), I ruminate and have to do things in my mind as well as ask for reassurance.

Anonymous 1d

everything #4 said! it's intrusive thoughts you can't let go of and need to obey even if you know it's irrational. to give some personal examples: I need to shower everytime I leave house or I'll smell bad lol. I must check the washer five times and turn the dials in a certain pattern or my cat will get in and die. There was a period where I would wake up every hour at night to check there were no bugs on or around me, there's also a head motion I do to prevent bugs. and so on and so forth

Anonymous 1d

Maybe I've just been repeatedly misdiagnosed and that's why nothing clinical has ever seemed to help? (In regard to therapy and treatments and meds and ish from professionals)

Anonymous

#1 1d

They aren't, but they do 😂 when they hear REAL juicy shit about a potential premium psych case, they jump at it I've had a few who've offered insight into my sister, and this particularly ill ex-friend of mine

Anonymous

#4 1d

Like, for example, I’ll think: “What if my friends hate me?” And then I feel like I need to confirm whether or not that’s true… even if my friends have told me a million times that they don’t actually hate me. When they tell me the millionth time that I’m worried over nothing, I feel relief for a bit before worrying again the next day. It’s an endless loop of anxiety > relief > anxiety.

Anonymous

#4 1d

But what got me diagnosed was talking about my experience as a kid that still is prevalent even now: where I have these random “goals” pop into my head (like “complete this task in this amount of time”) and I feel like I need to complete them or else something bad will happen. My mind just assumes that something bad will happen if I don’t complete them, so I *have* to. The anxiety is great enough that I give into the compulsion.

Anonymous

#5 1d

this is not to say every person with ocd has rituals that resemble mine. but I thought it might help to give some examples of what it can look like for some people

Anonymous

#5 1d

I didn’t realize anyone else’s OCD focused on bugs, but mine does too! I used to check every room I went into to make sure there were no bugs and count hives outside compulsively. Do you have entomophobia (fear of bugs) by chance? My entomophobia is so ingrained with my OCD that it’s hard to tell the two apart sometimes. I think my phobia’s severe *because* of my OCD.

Anonymous

#4 1d

yes I do😭 thankfully I've gotten a bit better so I'm no longer waking up throughout the night to check. but I'm still hyper vigilant and have multiple rituals about it and yeah I think it's the same for me! I developed my fear of bugs so young it's a major part of my ocd

Anonymous

#5 1d

That’s good that you’ve gotten a bit better! It sucks that you’re still stuck in rituals about it, though. It’s the same for me. It’s so hard to tell which came first: the phobia or the OCD. It’s such an awful combination!