My brain keeps telling me even if i get help the theme won’t go away because its ‘true’ and because ive had this theme on and off for a few years equals it being true. God help me.
i just started my period yesterday, but i'm not feeling much relief. i'm curious what part of your luteal phase is the worst for most of you, and also when you start to feel better. i'm sure it varies from time to time, but i'm just curious. these past few nights i've been getting terrible sleep because i've been having terrible death anxiety. i've had a lot of existential anxiety in the past that contributes to my derealization, but these past few days i've just been feeling so hopeless and depressed when i think about my own mortality and the fact that i will just cease to exist. i think it's the unknown that scares me and not knowing what comes after life. i haven't met with my therapist in quite a bit, and after talking with a friend i'm becoming more certain i have some form of OCD with all the ruminating and intrusive thoughts i can never stop. everything just feels out of control. any advice is appreciated
i’ve been dealing with this theme being terrified if i have crossed a boundary with my boyfriend. i’ve never had a theme take over me this bad. is there anyone i can talk to please?
Hi! Im new here. Glad to have found my people and hoping to get some insight on an issue im having this week.
Context:
I have severe category OCD. I also have trauma around betrayal and abandonment that I wont discuss but it adds context to the issue Im writing about. Additional context, music really controls my mood and can trigger intrusive thoughts and those feelings of abandonment if I choose certain themes or genres. Music moves me, what can I say?
Honestly I have learned to cope really well with my ocd especially after getting a diagnosis, putting a name to things really helped. But this week im struggling badly with a massive case of earworm.
earworm /ˈɪəwəːm/ noun 1. a catchy song or tune that runs continually through a person's mind.
"the whole album is packed full of earworms that get stuck in your head"
Current issue:
I have the song 'How does it feel to be forgotten?' By Selena Gomez stuck in my head. I dont even like the song or her music (personally. I do think she's a great artist.) I have the main lyrics stuck in my head on loop, going on 3 days. Music controlling my mood and triggering intrusive thoughts also means the lyric and atmosphere of the snippet sound is really triggering and causing a kind of depression and deep sadness.
Imagine hearing "How does it feel to be forgotten?" in your head for 3 whole days. Im finding comedy in it but im also very sad.
My question: does this happen to you? How do you cope? Any theories around this or research?
Thanks!
I am diagnosed with bipolar disorder and being treated for that, but I struggle with obsessive thoughts and phobias that are brushed off by my psychiatrist as "part of my personality".
I pick my skin on my whole body without realizing when I am watching tv or about to go to bed. I pick the skin on my arms during the day until it bleeds. The way I found that I can release that tension is scratching the skin around of my nails with my own nails, and I usually hurt my fingers in doing so.
I get obsessive thoughts that connect to my past trauma. My psychologist said I may have PTSD. I am always sick, so people think I make everything up but I actually suffer from a lot of things all the time. Since I am very paranoid and obsessive about food, smells, textures, caducity dates, temperature, they just disregard whatever I am feeling with "she's overreacting".
I don't know. I chew at the sound of music when I am nervous too, I don't control it. I know people consider stimming to be linked with autism, which I definitely don't have, or ADHD which I also don't have. I have seen many people with bipolar start stimming when in a manic or hypomanic episode or as a result of antidepressants.
There are much more examples but I just want to know if this is normal behaviour or if I should ask my psychiatrist to help me with it. Thanks!
So, this girl has been trying to get to talk to me more or ask me out since a year ago and i just noticed. A year ago, she invited me to her birthday party, but i couldn’t go, after that she would text me, reply to my ig stories and notes and stuff like that, flirting but i would not take a step because i didn’t felt the attraction (Not saying she is not a very beautiful and smart woman) at first so whenever she texted me because i would start ruminating about flirting back and then ghosting her and then she would hate me and see me as this ‘manipulative fear of commitment’ girl. So i talked about it to a friend and she said there is the option of going on a date with her, flirting back and stuff and no marriage could happen if i don’t want to (which is obvious but my rumination does not see it that way). So i stopped replying to her until on april she texted me to invite me again to her birthday party.
Anyways, she returned to text me, i now felt more comfortable replying and occasionally flirting back. This night we were texting and she asked me out so i said yes, i would go pick her up then go to a café. But now that rumination returns: i like her but i don’t know if i could maintain a relationship, but going on a date doesn’t mean getting to be girlfriends, i would hate if she ends up hating me and blah blah.
And now as the day comes closer there has been these really bad intrusive thoughts about me k-wording her randomly or even planning it out. Which i know i won’t do but convincing myself over and over again that i will not hurt her is driving me insane.
She seems like such a sweet girl and i don’t want to mess it up or make her hate me. Sooo, any advice is welcome.
Hi I’m looking to see if anyone else has experienced this form of ocd. Although I’m ashamed to admit it, I uncontrollably look at breast. I don’t want to and get no sexual satisfaction out of it. It happens with everyone no matter who they are or what they look like, even family members. I am completely horrified and don’t know how to stop it. I have done lots of research and believe I’m suffering from ocd although I’ve never had a formal diagnosis because I’m too embarrassed to bring it up with any mental health professional. This randomly started a couple of years ago and has completely ruined my life and relationships. I have completely isolated myself and avoid everyone in fear I will make others uncomfortable. As a woman this has been heartbreaking to me because I know what it’s like to feel objectified and hate that I’ve made others feel that way against my will. No matter what I do my eyes automatically dart to the chest area, it feels like a tic. I feel so hopeless for the trajectory of my life due to this ailment. I’m terrified of being labeled a creep and fear I already have been. I don’t know how I can work or have relationships due to my issue. I guess I’m making this post to see if anyone else has dealt with this and if it will ever get better. I’m currently looking for a therapist to help manage this but I don’t even know how to bring it up and have not much faith they could even help me. It is completely debilitating and makes me no longer want to live. This issue has completely consumed me and made me feel like a monster. Please be kind.
This is for if you believe in God. Try telling God you’re going to try to quit for him. And do the best you can. You want to please God, it’s like fasting.
I have not found anyone else on the internet discuss this theme. I am in my early 20s, have never had much of a sex life and it is because I am so so afraid that it will “taint” me. I think this started when I discovered the Madonna whore complex around age 17. that a man cannot love a promiscuous woman. im not religious or anything, nothing else in my environment has triggered me to be this way. I feel an excessive need to declare my sexual purity. I come across a pick me but I can’t help it. all I’ve ever wanted is to have a boyfriend and be loved. I feel like it’s also based on male validation. i know it’s pathetic. but can anyone else relate
I’ve been struggling with my ocd for the last 4 months of my life and it’s genuinely ruining my everyday life and I don’t even feel like myself anymore. I’ve experienced obsessions with certain things when I was younger, mainly flickering lights a certain amount of times otherwise otherwise I wouldn’t be able to sleep, constantly asking others to taste something to ensure it’s not “poisoned”, I even had a hyperfixation with my eyes and I was worried everytime I’d pass a car windshield fluid would get in my eye and I’d go blind. Well for maybe 6 years of my life I wasn’t experiencing any of that anymore I finally felt normal. I had an occasional thought or worry but it was never extreme and it never lingered.
But ever since I started university I’ve started experiencing it all over again but to such an extreme. My obsession with my eyes is back, and the worst part is I can’t even wear my contacts anymore (which I’ve worn for 3 years prior without a worry or any infections) without thinking something bads gonna happen. I’m worried about scratching my eye, or getting something in my eye or having a serious infection. And it sucks because I love wearing my contacts so I don’t have to wear my glasses. But the amount of stress and worry I have when wearing them is too much and often times I don’t wear them anymore. Also just the worry of touching something “contaminated”. I’ll touch a surface that is dusty or dirty and I’ll immediately spiral into thinking I’ve somehow accidentally poked myself with a rusty nail (even though there clearly isn’t one there) or I’m gonna get something sort of disease or infection just by touching something. It’s literally made everything a nightmare and I make it worse by constantly searching on google whether something I did is harmful or if I’m gonna get sick, and even when I get reassurance I ask a million other questions. Sometimes I feel like I forget if I even do something, like washing my hands. I’ll ask myself did I really wash my hands? What if I didn’t and I just ate my food with unwashed hands and I’ll get sick. If anyone’s experienced this and has any advice on what to do please let me know, I genuinely don’t know how much longer I can go with this it’s getting worse day by day and I need to find something to help manage it. I tried therapy I don’t think it was much help. Is the next step trying medication or should I just try to let it pass?
I am testing something out you can skip this