u/Fluffy-Discount-7229

For most of my life, I didn’t question my gender at all. I lived as a guy and felt fine and happy with it. I had goals, interests, and no ongoing confusion about my identity. I was living a life that felt worth living.

About 6 weeks ago, after I broke my foot and was pulled away from the things I care about, I started experiencing a major spike in anxiety and mental stress. Around that time, I began getting stuck on identity-based thoughts that feel obsessive and repetitive. They come and go—sometimes they feel real, other times they feel forced or like my mind is trying to escape how overwhelmed I feel.

It initially started with an OCD theme around my sexuality, which didn’t last, but this current one has been much more persistent. I’ve also been in the psychiatric ward twice in the last 6 weeks due to how intense this has been.

I do have OCD, and I’m struggling to tell whether this is just another OCD theme or if it means something deeper about me. When my anxiety is high, I start questioning everything and feel disconnected, confused, and mentally exhausted even relief from anxiety if I just agree with thoughts even tho I don’t want to

Because of that, I can’t tell if these thoughts are meaningful or just coming from being in a very overwhelmed mental state right now.

I’ve also been told by my therapist (who I’ve known for years) that this may be a form of escapism, but mostly he thinks it just a new theme since these thoughts mainly spike after severe anxiety episodes and don’t align with my actual values or what I want in life.

I’m a 24-year-old heterosexual male, and I’m trying to make sense of why this suddenly started when it doesn’t seem to match my past or my goals.

Hey everyone,

I’ve been dealing with what my therapist believes is sexual orientation OCD (SO-OCD). I relate a lot to the intrusive thoughts, “what if” doubts, and constant mental checking around my sexuality.

Before this started, I never really questioned my sexuality and I was in a place where I felt comfortable with myself and was even moving toward starting a relationship. Then about 6 weeks ago, these intrusive thoughts suddenly started hitting me.

At first it caused a lot of panic and fear, but now it doesn’t really feel like panic in the same way anymore—it’s more like numbness, detachment, and constant mental checking. The anxiety feels different now, like it’s faded into this flat “stuck” feeling instead of obvious fear.

The problem is, even after getting some clarity on what it might be, I’ve started doubting the diagnosis itself. My mind keeps going “what if it’s not OCD and it’s actually something else?” and then I get stuck back in the same cycle of analyzing, checking feelings, and trying to figure it out for sure.

It feels like no matter what answer I get, my brain finds a new angle to question it. I’ve noticed reassurance doesn’t really stick for long, and I end up right back in the loop.

I’m in therapy and working on it, but I wanted to ask others who’ve dealt with OCD: did you go through this phase of even doubting the diagnosis or label itself? How did you learn to stop engaging with the constant questioning and uncertainty?