What triggered your OCD?

[gingerbreadgirl]

Sorry, Alex. 

Regarding your original question... I don't really know what originally triggered my OCD but it definitely wasn't trauma.  I have never experienced anything you could really call bad.  My first memory of compulsions though did start up really suddenly though.  It was around the time I watched a fire safety video at primary school.  I was distressed by that and had nightmares and severe anxiety and my compulsions really started around then (or might have done slightly before), or at least as well as I can remember.  I have never spoken to my parents about OCD so can't really ask them, although they have commented on how "annoying" I was at that time!! I also remember being told about heaven/hell around that time and got really distressed about whether I could be punished etc. So trauma - no. But life's little anxieties, yes.

Not sure if that is helpful...!

[orange]

I've always been a worrier but only had OCD for the last six years. I think for me it was both trauma, stress and physical issues like not being able to sleep much the summer before it started (due to taking too much of a supplement that messed with my temperature) along with hypoglycemia and POTS (both of which increase adrenaline). I was in a very difficult marriage that was frightening at times. After I got out there was still stress from my ex and then mice got in the house, then a rat, then pest control dealt with the rat but it got stuck in the wall and smelled so bad that flies came in, huge ones, then hundreds of regular flies. I was exhausted and overwhelmed (have CFS too). So when that was all overcome I developed OCD. I think I got used to the constant stress that my brain needed something else to worry about and also I was physically wired and tired.

[St Mike]

I have been highly strung for most of my life. So, nervousness and anxiety are part and parcel of my life until recently. Looking back, I could see behaviours which were quite clear cut OCD caused. Therefore, there isn't a really a trigger or a moment that made my OCD "emerged" from a latent state, it has been there all along. I suppose you could say I was born with it, I behaved and reacted to certain situations very differently from most regular folks.

Edited April 6, 2018 by St Mike

[taurean]

I am highly strung and emotionally weak, a combination not helpful in keeping OCD at bay. 

I have had obsessive tendencies significantly, and can remember some incidents when I was primary school age and before. 

[Legend]

Never had a trigger personally. Just got worse , over the years before eventually reaching out for help (2004) after reaching crisis point .I’d call it just unlucky. 

Once diagnosed , jumped into challenging the ocd using cbt /Erp . 9 months hard work , now 13 years free of any symptoms that would fit into the criteria of ocd. 

Legend

[Caramoole]

Hello Legend....Nice to see you

[Legend]

8 hours ago, Caramoole said:

Hello Legend....Nice to see you

Thanks ☺️

[Isthisreality]

On 2018-04-07 at 00:05, St Mike said:

I have been highly strung for most of my life. So, nervousness and anxiety are part and parcel of my life until recently. Looking back, I could see behaviours which were quite clear cut OCD caused. Therefore, there isn't a really a trigger or a moment that made my OCD "emerged" from a latent state, it has been there all along. I suppose you could say I was born with it, I behaved and reacted to certain situations very differently from most regular folks.

This. However i remember some obsessions which i sees as my first obsessions. Beside that have i always worried about everything, also as a child

[bendylouise]

When i was little, my mum sat me on the kitchen table one day and told me i was adopted. I pretended it was ok but I think i felt like a reject (which i was, albeit thru no fault of my own). I think i felt obliged in a way 2 take it well, like i was expected 2  and i didnt want to upset mum and dad. But it was huge and i had to internalise it and cope.  I think this def comes under a heading of 'trauma'.

Whether this caused ocd is unclear but certainly at age 13 i feel i was trying 2 keep/make myself 'safe' and felt  really anxious and scared and frightened of being left alone as at this time i was having problems with nasty bullying 'friends' and my family were worse than useless at supporting me.

 I think my earliest memories of ocd was around age 10ish, when i had some trouble getting up the stairs because of counting different steps and going backwards and forwards. I just grew out of this i think.  Maybe i had some probs with cracks in pavements too.  I was always extremely shy, very fussy and felt increasingly like an alien in my family.. As time went on i grew v unhappy, and at 13 started 2 have dreadful anxiety . I was a fish out of water, i resented my parents cos they didnt understand me or the situation enough 2 help me. I needed help desperately, and didnt get it. and ocd began 2 develop big time.

Hope this is of some use Alex.

Edited April 9, 2018 by bendylouise
clarity