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I've been learning a bit of Turkish, Hungarian and Portugese. Not because of lockdown, but so I can chat to my friends across the world in their own languages. My top tip is have a reason why you want to learn the language as that will keep you motivated when it gets hard. Also, early on try to learn lots of words for common things around the house, body parts, colours, moods etc. Then as you go about your day you can make up sentences that use these words. For example, 'I put my hand on the table, This is a fork, I wear red when I'm happy, I'm going to bed now...' Constructing sim

Polar bear makes a good point. I think perhaps you're getting replies, just not the reassuring replies you were after. That's the trouble with seeking reassurance...the OCD keeps on bothering you no matter what people say. You're obviously spending a lot of time thinking about this at the moment. Why don't you try some distraction to get your mind onto other things?

Moser, You've had the answer, yes, it's anxiety. I'm sorry but we can't allow you to keep posting the same thing over and over, asking for reassurance. I'm going to lock this thread to prevent you ruminating on this and posting again when your ruminations convince you again that it might be something else.

Don't be lonely, Daizie. We're here whenever you want to chat.

Hi Daizie, I'm really sorry to hear how badly you and your husband are suffering. It does put a huge strain on things when a partner can't be spontaneously affectionate any more. Yousay he's had CBT before your wedding, so perhaps you could try to talk to him about that. Ask him what he learned from it and suggest he tries to apply that to the present situation. It's been easier this past year for people with OCD to blame their compulsions on covid and claim it's neccessary or reasonable which has been a problem in itself as it's allowed OCD to worsen. Could you talk to him abo

It is very scary opening up about your thoughts and feelings. Happily, the more you do it the easier it gets. And the more honest you are with your therapist the faster you make progress.

Nobody's posts are ignored, Lonelygirl. The mod team read every single one of them. But we can't reply to every post because there simply aren't enough hours in the day! It's the same for all forum users; they respond to the posts which resonate with them personally at that moment, or when they feel they have something useful to add. Just because the people viewing your post have nothing to say at that time doesn't mean you're being ignored. But what is interesting is you feel ignored. In CBT we learn it's not having the thought or feeling which matters, but the meaning you gi

However unwanted or out of character they are, I'm not sure it's helpful to think of things which your own brain generates as something separate from you. 'You' are not your illness , for sure, but 'intrusive' thoughts are still your thoughts. They don't magically arise in your brain because you have OCD. Unpleasant or incongrous thoughts arise in everybody's brains all the time. What makes it an illness isn't having the thought but how you respond to having it. For people just discovering they have OCD it can be helpful to initially label their troublesome thoughts as 'not me', it's

That's true of every aspect of life. Excellently put.

I agree there. I think she got you to start at the top of your hierarchy instead of the bottom, a bit like the old-fashioned 'flooding' technique where you rolled in a rubbish tip to overcome contamination fears. But what's done is done and dwelling on the rights and wrongs of things past never helped anybody. I think you'd survive it! Children swallow batteries all the time with no longterm effects. I myself have been exposed to radiation a number of times from school onwards and I'm still here. But relative danger/ safety isn't the point. Can you see how somebody says

Of course you can. Because obsessing about it makes you anxious, which makes you hyperventilate, which creates the very symptoms you were obsessing about for real. The faintness symptoms are real, the necessity to worry and avoid it aren't.

If you had radioactive medical treatment for any number of conditions you'd be exposed to radiation levels hugely above those in your ionisation chamber. No, it's not something you want, but that doesn't make the minor exposure you may have had as dangerous as you seem to believe. A Radiation Protection Advisor's job is to teach the dangers of radiation to people who are exposed to high doses of radiation on a daily basis over many years of work. Naturally for them every exposure counts, however small, because of the potential accumulative effect if they take unneccessary risks regularly.

Just shows the dangers of continually asking for reassurance. You're bound to get a lot of idiots spouting opinions instead of common sense. Now you think you've got confirmation that your fears were justified which will only feed your OCD further. You've been told a load of twaddle by these people. All I can suggest is you ignore their stupid opinions and go back to trying not to engage with the thoughts.

Hi MarieJo, There are a number of reasons CBT might not have helped, but the commonest one is people don't fully grasp what it's about first time round. Everybody struggles to deal with something. Whatever it is you find hard, chances are it's hard because of the way you interpret the situation. Changing your viewpoint can make things easier to deal with, and this is part of what we learn through CBT - accepting there are many ways to view any particular situation and then choosing to look at things differently. You will have some hidden beliefs behind your fears, such as 'if so