Doubting i have ocd

[stanwee lee]

Today i had the thought that maybe i don't have OCD and it has hit me hard.

For many years i have accepted i have ocd, even though how tough the condition is to live with it gave me reassurance and made sense of the everything i was  experiencing and it became such a relief that all the things i was obsessed about were very common and i was not alone and i wasn't all the unimaginable things i thought i was.

Even as i write this being so preoccupied with the thought of not having OCD and feeling the anxiety and fear, normally i would know or label as my OCD at work and it would help get things back into a manageable perspective labeling it as OCD, why am i doubting this now, even when i know if i didn't have OCD i simply wouldn't be an issue.

Edited October 13, 2018 by stanwee lee

[thought.amnesty]

It’s just a thought like any other. Our brains throw them at us to get us to react to them. The trick is here to live with the uncertainty that you may or may not have ocd and then do something you value. This is a really good recovery trick and has helped me a lot  it’s only uncertainty it can’t hurt you  

[stanwee lee]

I understand what you are saying about living with the uncertainty but i would rather believe i have ocd, i believe the first step for recovery, for me anyway, is to recognise i have ocd and then identify and accept the thoughts and how i deal with them as such so i can treat them for what they are.

[Ollie46]

Very typical thought/fear, one I think pretty much everybody on this forum has had or experienced in some way or another. Just label it as what it is and carry on, it’s no different from the other OCD things you think about. You’re having OCD about the possibility of you not having OCD, the absolutely most classic anxiety trick in the book!

[gingerbreadgirl]

agreed, doubting you have OCD is part and parcel of OCD's sneaky game.  I think pretty much every single OCD sufferer will have had this fear at one time or another (many chronically).  The key is to treat it the same as any other OCD intrusion. 

[Avo]

I have had this many times - and still do on occasion, treat it like any OCD intrusive thought.

[stanwee lee]

Thank you everybody, starting to realise this is ocd up to its old tricks and part of ocd is it can trick you into anything that makes you anxious and doubt yourself,  so it is pretty logical it can make you doubt you have ocd.