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You are not alone. I understand how lonely it feels though. We here understand and struggle alongside you. This "illness" is scary, infuriating, all consuming and all kinds of pain at times. Sending you a virtual hug . You are stronger than you think.

There can be a terrible feeling of aloneness with OCD and the mind games it plays where one feels cornered. Keep a candle of hope burning that you WILL get through this and allow time rather than terror to get you through the next day. People with OCD are strong, caring people living with a condition that pushes them to the edge of what is bearable at times, yet we get through still caring and loving as much as possible. Give yourself possitive affirmations, see how courageous you are in reality and imagine the guilt and ruminating floating away from you gradually leaving life lighter. Sounds impossible? You'll get there!!

Definitely OCD latching onto it, giving an insignificant social media message more importance than it deserves. So treat it as you would any other OCD theme - label the thoughts you get about it as OCD, don't engage with them and get busy with real life. Great that you have a best friend (doggie ) and family to help. I agree about the Samaritans, they are indeed a great resource for times of trouble. I hope you get your dizziness and legs-giving-way symptoms sorted soon. If it does turn out to be stress-related then that makes it even more important to let these obsessive thoughts go unheeded and put it behind you. So my advice is don't even think of it as 'an incident'. It's not that big an issue that it deserves the title! Often with OCD it's just about giving ourselves permission to let go of the feeling that we ought to right the wrong. Maybe just knowing that there's no further action you need to take for your friend's or your own benefit, and that you do not have any responsibility to take action against such a vile person (you're not the moral police with a duty to reform every vile person out there) will be enough to let you feel you can let it go.

Just bumping this, if I may. I'd appreciate any replies or advice please on how to deal with this cyberbullying incident, especially as the OCD has latched on to it, and how to let go of it. I try my best to put it out of my mind, given that it was last year, but it's always there at the back of my mind, and indeed sometimes it's all I can think about. Has anyone any advice on how I can try and move on from what happened, as I have been stuck on it for a while? Any advice that anyone could share would be gratefully received. Thanks!

Sounds scrumptious. Love the chameleon.

Arctic

I get similar triggers to this . What helps me is to remind myself that there is not a person alive who hasn’t done something wrong at some point . Everyone makes mistakes, it’s how we learn . It’s just ocd making it into something more for you and it’s the ocd part you have to fight . Think if a loved one had done it would you be so hard on them ? I know people who have made mistakes and don’t even bat an eyelid . We have to beat ocd and become like them . you can do it and it will pass.

There is a tv program called, Obsessed. It's about real people doing real OCD therapy. I bought the 2 series. It's on Amazon Prime.

Well, OCD is not known to respond to talk therapy, it responds to OCD therapy & that's what you look for. I realize in UK that they use talk therapy, so that is the way they do it.

Label that fear of having poison on your hands as an OCD thought. Then disengage from it and let the idea that there was even a risk of poison go.

So it’s Sunday night , people are thinking oh no Monday tomorrow , getting bags, lunches ready maybe dreading a meeting with a boss….but I’m thinking how am I going to get through another unbearable day of torturous guilt . What if something happens that confirms or strengthens my fear , how will I get through it . I have no one to talk to who anywhere near understands . People are just sick of hearing me to be honest . It’s making me fail at life’s necessary tasks and making me resentful of people who don’t have this . i just had to come on here because i know people on here understand . im so alone

Hi Chris, to the forums. First off I need to point out that you don't have 'PureO' at all. Every one of those 'promises' you felt you had to do was a compulsion. Standard obsessive-compulsive disorder. So another way to look at this is that you were spending a huge amount of time on compulsions, and when you 'break your promises' you're actually doing the right thing at last. Standing up to your OCD and not doing any more compulsions. Of course you feel obliged (compelled) to do them. They're compulsions! That you recognise nothing bad will happen if you don't do them is the healthy part of your brain talking - you have insight that it's not necessary to keep the promises you made. Correctly labelling them and calling them compulsions instead of 'promises' should help with resisting the urge (obligation) to do them. Why do any of us give in to our compulsions? Because we hope they'll make us feel better, even when we know that giving in will just make it worse. Recognise that the thoughts about harm coming to your family are just thoughts and have no power to make anything happen just because you thought them. So there's no need to make 'promises' or carry out any kind of compulsive thought or action to keep your family safe. Realise that the healthy thing to do is to not do the compulsions. If you get further obsessive thoughts in future about needing to do compulsions, treat them too as 'just thoughts'. Shrug them off and pay them no attention. The more you follow this the sooner the obsessive thoughts will fade and stop bothering you.

Hi @Kakyoinisbb and to the forums. What you describe is a series of obsessive thoughts - thoughts about the thing you did, then about 'having to make it right', and also thoughts about needing to confess to a future partner and worrying what other people might think. Doing further things to punish yourself was a compulsion. OCD begins when we give meaning to a thought. In this instance that was when you decided you had done a 'bad' thing and needed to make amends or punish yourself. Giving it that meaning triggered all the subsequent worries. You could just as easily have decided the thing that you did wasn't significant in the bigger scheme of things and recognised you are still a good person overall in spite of what you did. Giving it that meaning instead would have put an end to the matter there and then. So a good place to start is to accept that feeling bad about yourself only exists because of the meaning you chose to give to something you did. It's never too late to change the meaning you give to something you've thought or done. So choose now to change the meaning you put on whatever it was you did. Decide that (with hindsight) you now see it wasn't such a big deal and didn't require you to react the way you did. Then just let it go. If you get further obsessive thoughts about it, recognise and label all of these as just thoughts. They don't require any response or action. It's ok to just let them come and go too without engaging (without worrying.)

Tern

Thanks Angst, I'll be sure to be honest with everything tomorrow. I can definitely see this taking over at the moment and being on my mind almost 24/7 - very intrusive so I'll be sure to try and take the OCD approach and get out there and live my life even if my brain is pulling me back into trying to "solve the problem". It's only 1 hour per week for physio - can't let that rule me!

Sandwich

I read your post but don't really understand it. Do you feel like you done something wrong ?

Thanks I'll join that one!:-)

Cucumber

Salad

Just thought I would point out that thia game is already ruuning in the Chatroom!

It sounds like you're dealing with intrusive thoughts around the fear that you deceived someone into sex, along with compulsive rumination - constantly going over the event in your mind, trying to find certainty. A big question to ask yourself is: has anyone actually complained or said you did something wrong? If not, it's likely this is OCD at work. These kinds of thoughts can feel very real, but that’s the nature of OCD - it targets what matters most to you. Try to label it as an OCD thought and avoid engaging with it. I know that’s easier said than done, but with practice, it gets easier.

no of course not.. and logically and realistically, its also not real.. but what about, if there is something beyond logic and reality?.. like something supernatural that could be real?

Hi Roami Thanks for your reply. It makes perfect sense. First thing tomorrow I'm going to start the journey and find a professional who can help. Thank you once again.

Another one, chameleon. Isn't it gorgeous?