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Hey guys, So basically I've had the sexual orientation OCD on and off for years and sadly I'm feel very overwhelmed by the possibility of my family knowing I have anxiety about being gay / fear of others thinking I'm gay (mainly this one these days) - I feel quite assured that I'm straight although that reassurance doesn't help at all! I'm having physio treatment from someone who is also very "tuned in" to anxiety and the body and has noticed my tension and slight tremors and wants to help with them. I'm paranoid he knows what my fear is and he also knows both my parents and is known to chat and never keep any confidential. He wanted to help with my anxiety and I feel he's just going to confront me with my fear on Friday. I already have a therapist who knows and is helping me with this and that is confidential - which helps hugely! But someone know knows my family well is NOT someone I want prying into my personal anxieties. I wish I didn't care so much, but I do and is pretty overwhelming. Just wanted to rant as I feel quite alone on this as my actual therapy isn't until next week.

Medal

From the Summer Exhibition. Portal 1 by Joan Roche. I really like this one And this was my favourite - an oil painting by Katherine Lees called "View from the loo".

Ha, that's clever @daja. You been watching Wimbledon at all? I have. We've got lots of interest this year with British players. Went to the Royal Academy for the summer exhibition last week. It was fun and a good atmosphere. Lots of people smiling at some of the quirkier exhibits. Here's one by Glenn Baxter.

I am familiar with ways on how to treat OCD but i have never engaged in professional therapy. All OCDs ive had before i just waited an eventually they would go away on their own. However with the things im dealing with right now, im not so sure anymore that they will go away soon. Since I dont know how to talk about it with friends and family, i wrote this post in the forum.

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Well, if one gets urine on their hands it's no big deal. Absent a infection, urine is sterile. Besides whats inside you can't affect you if you get it on your skin. If one gets poo on the hand do they clean it off with toilet paper? No, they wash their hands That's what wipes are for. Like Dude Wipes. Cringe if you want but in my city we recycle toilet effluent & buy it back as drinking water mixed with the regular water.

Hi everyone I have suffered from OCD (specifically the Pure OCD variety) since I was a teenager. It has been difficult to deal with, but I've muddled on through. Last year, a very nasty incident happened to me. I have a female friend I had been friends with for over 20 years. We went to school together, swapped CDs, pop magazines, hung out every day for 4 years at school with a few others. One day last year, I received a disgusting message on Facebook from her then-boyfriend, full of four letter words and threats, just for liking her posts on Facebook, the same way as I had done for all my friends when they come up in my newsfeed, for almost 8 years. I hadn't even seen her in person in several years. I should point out that I'm a gay guy, so I have no romantic interest in my friend or indeed any woman. I later found out that her boyfriend (the guy who sent me the message) used to beat her while they were together and he has many convictions and even spent time in jail for domestic violence. The message upset me hugely. I blocked him immediately and did not respond. I eventually left Facebook because of it. My female friend is no longer with this guy and he's with someone else now. I am still bothered by this message. I know the threats were empty but it was still such a vile and cruel message. I keep thinking of the message- though of course it could just be the OCD latching on to this as a theme. Maybe if I didn't have the OCD, it would be easier to leave it behind in the past. As well as this, I am under investigation for dizziness that happens when I move about, that suddenly came on start of 2023, and stress (especially stress the OCD causes) makes it worse. Sometimes my legs just give way and I fall on the ground, most recently last week. It's neurological and all connected, I think. But I am having it looked into, diagnosed and hopefully eventually treated. The aftermath of the cyberbullying and the dizziness can be so hard to deal with sometimes, as well as the OCD still there (although the cyberbullying is the main theme it has latched on to right now), but I've got a great family and a beautiful kind dog to help when things feel a bit rubbish. I also phoned the Samaritans last year when I was in a bad place over the cyberbullying incident - they were fabulous and helped so much. I recommend them so much and for anyone having a tough time thinking of phoning them, please do call them - a chat with them did me the world of good and pulled me back from the brink after the cyberbullying incident. Just wanted to vent a bit. I have been a member of this forum for an extremely long time (you may notice from my join date!) but barely ever posted. I have used this forum so much in the background over the last 16 or so years - it is a fabulous resource so thank you. Thanks for listening.

Using packs of disposable things like wipes and gloves to avoid contamination is a very slippery slope. You'll end up using more and more of them and then feel guilty about all the waste, with some justification. There's no such thing as reusable toilet roll, so I can understand why that is hard to cope with. I keep wasting it by using it to dry the floor. With everything else you can switch to washable alternatives and avoid the temptation to just throw things away because they feel contaminated.

Hey. Sorry to hear you having to go through this at an age you'd suppose to be having the time of your life. Reminds me of my youth with Ocd and all the painful things it was attached with. You said you've experienced Ocd anxiety before. Are you having any treatment for it? If not, you should. Also are you generally how familiar with how to treat Ocd? I mean it doesnt go away easy but knowing what to do and receiving treatment gets you on the right path. And last, getting reassurance that the problem is really ocd is one thing that will keep ocd running. So dont try to convince yourself or find proof, overtime that will make everything worse. However since your probably knew to this, Ill tell you not to worry, what your experiencing is 100% Ocd and nothing worse. Just dont search for more of this kind of certainty or proof what I just gave you. Focus on finding treatment and gaining knowledge on how to overcome this

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Hi Xlex, What you’re going through sounds really distressing. From everything you’ve shared, it does sound like classic POCD - especially with your history of OCD and the changing themes - something I can relate to! OCD often latches onto what matters most to us. The fact these thoughts are so upsetting to you is a strong sign they don’t reflect who you are. Groinal responses, panic and guilt are all things others with POCD experience too, however it is treatable. ERP therapy can really help, as you probably know if you’ve previously had treatment for OCD. The key is to stop engaging with or analysing the thoughts, as that only feeds the OCD cycle. Try to label any thoughts as OCD and let them be - try not to react to them. I know that’s hard, but challenging or checking them just makes things worse over time. You’re not a bad person - you’re someone dealing with a very real illness. You still deserve a full life and future. Roami

Hello, im 18 years old and Im suffering badly from what i hope to be POCD. Iv‘e had contamination OCD before, which got better, but then, approx. two months ago POCD came up. It all started with instrusive thoughts about kids, especially little girls. These thoughts are very frustrating and are hard to bear for me. On top of this, things like groinal response and arousal non concordance are killing me. I even feel deep discomfort while writing this. Ive never questioned my sexuality, i always felt attracted to girls my age and never had weird thoughts about children. Like i said i have suffered from various OCDs during my life like Contamination and Harm OCD (they all come and go) , but this one is by far the hardest. Its exhausting and everything i do is influenced by this ****. I feel like i am a monster and therefore have to give up all my career dreams and things like being a dad someday. Please send tips to overcome this nightmare. Kind regards

Cheap (as)

Chips

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The OCD-UK conference is coming up in November. I'll check the dates and venue with @Ashley and get back to you.

It often does. If you are the victim of any kind of abuse it is something you may wish to discuss with your therapist.

Nonsense. That's twisted OCD thinking. Thoughts do not have the power to do anything. You can safely shrug them off and ignore them and nothing bad will ever come of it. Typical twisted OCD thinking, convincing you to keep worrying. Let it go. True or not, real or not - a thought is just a thought. Anybody can experience a thought about anything and it means nothing. You can even deliberately think 'bad thoughts' and nothing bad will come of it. Thoughts do not have magical powers to make things happen.

Hi jpico and welcome to the forum. It's all OCD. Resist the urge to keep asking him for reassurance about it, and practice not engaging with the doubts when they arise in your mind.

*****DO NOT FLUSH BABY WIIPES DOWN THE TOILET***** There's a risk they'll block your toilet, but far, far more devastating is the harm they do to our rivers. Maybe you're not aware just how much sweage gets released into rivers untreated? As in every time it rains the UK water companies just let everything go straight into rivers or the sea with absolutely no filtering or treatment whatsoever. If anybody does resort to using baby wipes as a compulsion to avoid using toilet paper, they should be aware that it creates more problems than it solves as you'll then need to (bag and) pocket the dirty wipe. Surely that's worse than getting a drop of urine on your hands - which you then wash anyway.

Compulsions never solve OCD problems. As you've discovered the OCD justs morphs so that the compulsions you did before are no longer enough. This will keep happening, even to your rule-based structured compulsions. This attempt to set rules around your compulsion is in itself also a compulsion. Case in point. OCD always finds a way to make you think you need to do more compulsions. Trick is not to engage with these thoughts. Another compulsion. Everything you're describing is just standard OCD with standard compulsions in response. You need to learn to recognise an OCD thought and deliberately choose not to engage with it. Shrug it off as 'just a thought'. There's no need to perform any kind of compulsion or ritual to prevent bad happening. Thoughts do not have magical powers.

Has anyone with ocd or even without ocd possibly I don't know had a thought when stressed and said they agree to it when stressed then felt awful? Can we as sufferers agree with our ocd thoughts when upset or frustrated (but clearly not mean it as it's our obsession) can we lose control when stressed? I'm trying to accept this so I stop replaying what may or may not have happened I feel like the worst human alive and want to not be here anymore due to the guilt of possibly losing control and saying I agree to horrendous thoughts when I don't, I'm scared and I know it sounds like nothing but the topic for me is so heavy I am so sad

Yes if you keep doing it you wil be in a perpetual loop of compulsion and relief. Yes.