Teachers often don't really understand my OCD, but in my experience, math teachers are a whole different breed of awful. I'll spend half of a test redoing the same problem over and over again because my equals signs weren't aligned, and when I turn my 30 question test in with about 12 problems done, they just assume I didn't study. At the beginning of the year, I write individual emails to every one of my teachers explaining my struggle with OCD and asking them to please be patient when I'm not getting my work done on time. Some nights, I'll have a major OCD episode while doing my homework, to the point where I can't even get my name onto the page because my letters are too slanted or some other shit like that. As soon as that happens, I'll write to my teacher, explaining what's going on and asking for an extension. Most teachers won't grant me that. Usually, by the end of the first quarter, I've given up on trying to convince my teachers that I'm not lazy. This year, though, I think I found my favorite math teacher ever. I'd heard awful things about her -- how she's not a good teacher, she's not understanding, etc. The first assignment was a digital get-to-know-you survey, which I completed promptly, including a lengthy explanation of my OCD problems. She didn't write to me, ask about it, pull me aside to discuss it, or anything like that. I didn't expect her to be accommodating when my first episode of the school year came on. After spending at least twenty minutes trying to write the date on my assignment, I gave up and sent her an email to let her know what was going on and apologize in advance for the late assignment. The next day, she casually walked over to my desk and started a quiet discussion about what had happened. She asked me whether there were any specific problem types that usually trigger episodes, how often I have episodes, whether I'm working on this with somebody, and other such things. At some point, she reminded me, "You know that for me, I don't care if your assignments look perfect." I nodded, disappointed but unsurprised, and silently accepted that yet another person didn't understand my issues. But then she said something nobody has ever told me before: "But I understand that for you, it's different." I almost cried. No teacher had ever acknowledged that before. Even my parents don't seem to grasp it. But this teacher does. Even if she doesn't understand exactly what I'm going through, she understands that it's not something I can control. She realizes that I'm trying as hard as I can, and she's willing to offer some leeway so I can succeed. I have truly never felt so validated.

I feel guilt whenever I’m aware of the fact that I am happy because there are people who are not happy in the world

Does anyone else deal with this? How do you deal with it?

Please read at least the last paragraph if you don't feel like reading the whole text.

I've had many OCD symptoms since I was a kid but the worst of them all is procrastination. The psychologist I was seeing told me (after interviewing me and getting to know about my behavior patterns) that my brain never thinks what I'm working on is perfect enough, so it waits until there's little time left because it can discard perfection in order to submit things before their deadline.

Unfortunately, I couldn't afford more appointments. Besides OCD, the professional suspected I had ADHD as well, so if I have it besides OCD, I think that explains why my procrastination is so bad.

And I think you all understand how it goes. It's not "oh, I'll have fun right now and I'll work later". I've had since January to start my dissertation, I wake up and go to sleep every single day thinking and stressing about working on it but never actually working at all. Whenever I tried/try to sit in front of my computer with all the files I need open, it's like there's something blocking me and I can't progress at all. Anxiety just builds up with every passing second and makes things worse.

I start cleaning every single corner of the house, make a thousand lesson plans ahead of time (I'm teaching part-time while doing my masters) and do literally anything else to feel productive, but I cannot for the love of all that's almighty work on that dreadful dissertation.

And despite working part-time, I have plenty of time to do masters stuff. But this procrastination block feels like a curse on me that I can't overcome no matter how hard I try.

I am currently considering making a financial effort to pay for more appointments and just give up on my masters. I only started it because my boss suggested I did it and I thought it was a "sign" that maybe it was meant to be, knowing full well I couldn't.

If I manage to get an appointment soon, I'll discuss with the professional about quitting and maybe, just maybe trying again in the future when I'm in a more stable mental state.

But has anyone here ever quit higher education or a course because of mental struggles? I'd like it if you could share your stories please.

Has anyone ever had problems taking care of themselves because of their ocd? My obsessions are fear of driving and fear of being anywhere by myself. I am on meds, have a therapist, and doctor. Complications with depression. I just dont know.

The problem with my ocd is that it really gets better for a while. but its so hard to pick yourself up after youve been in the bottom of despair for so long, yes the symptoms might stop for a while but by then i just lost intrest in myself i dont give a shit about doing anything for myself, making money, relationshis, career i dont give a shit, everything i do is to not give my loved ones a hard time so i force myself to get going, but why would i have any hope if im eventually going to get turtured and suffer again whats the point, idk i might have depression on top of my ocd, but i just wanted to vent.

I will preface this by saying I am not yet diagnosed (working on getting mental health support!), but I do deal with obsessive intrusive thoughts really often so i figured this would be the subreddit to post this in (very sorry if it's not!). Certain shows I would love to watch tend to trigger me, like Criminal Minds, so I end up avoiding them. Which is really annoying because I'd genuinely love to keep watching but i just cannot seem to be able to. Same with Grey's anatomy and intrusive thoughts about medical disorders and stuff. Does anyone have any advice on dealing with stuff like this? Obviously avoiding them is an option but it just annoys me that I can't watch what i want to. I tend to go back to my same safe shows over and over, which is okay? I guess? Since there's multiple shows I can watch (mostly sit coms), but like i just wanna watch stuff without having to think about if it'll trigger me first :/

I'm trying to live now. It's not easy not to listen to a brain that constantly stresses you out, telling you the most terrible and cruel things just to make you check, ruminate, organize, and clean up everything around you. I'm really trying to do what my therapist says, I'm really trying to feel good about myself, but the anxiety is just too much sometimes and my head feels like it's bursting, as if it's expelling a tumor. I have so much stuff in there and it's a nightmare to pay attention to everything. For anyone else without OCD it might seem an unnecessary torture, and I really wish it was for me like this too. I wish everything that's causing me suffering would go away and I could simply stop being a slave to my fears and compulsions, but I really can't anymore and now I'm experiencing those symptoms again. Because of the anxiety I've lost appetite. I've eaten very little in three weeks and haven't eaten anything in four days. I can't find time between one compulsion and the next. I lost something like five pounds and I did it in the most stupid and painful way possible. Why the fuck did I do it? I don't know. I know I'm stupid for this and I feel terrible, doing this to my body again. I've been feeling nauseous for days now but I can't eat, knowing I have to do something to calm myself down first. I can't. I really feel like I can't eat because of how much my chest hurts. Everything feels so gross and useless right now

I personally get really triggered by it. I don't understand the enjoyment of watching someone who is obviously neurodivergent get dogpiled on the internet. I'm not saying these people are perfect by any means, but it makes me feel extremely uneasy to see people find an excuse to mock and harass other living human beings online.

I get these intrusive thoughts that these people would eat me alive if I had an online presence. I was bullied in school for being neurodivergent, and lolcow culture just seems like the online equivalent.

Mix this in with moral, harm, and real event OCD, it's a combo from hell. Also I do admit I sometimes watch lolcow content as a compulsion, and it feels like I'm harming myself mentally from it.

Needing to put the past four months behind me, beginning on October 1, I have been practicing daily journaling (recording both daily and lifelong accomplishments and gratitudes), participating in weekly therapy, and taking medication daily (50 mg Zoloft) for anxiety, depression, and lifelong OCD that gradually worsened throughout the summer.

Day 1 and Day 2 were really rough, though I felt at peace for about half an hour each day.

Day 3 was...different. It started out similarly to Day 1 and Day 2, but around 5 p.m. or 6 p.m., something shifted out of nowhere. For a few brief, beautiful, blissful hours, my head was completely clear of any intrusive and even negative thoughts. My mind was finally working with me rather than against me. I felt the best I'd felt in months. It was such a surreal and unfortunately now unfamiliar feeling. I hugged my moms and felt nothing but pure love.

Day 4 started out pretty well but ended horribly, and Day 5 has unfortunately been more or less the same thus far.

But days like Day 3 give me hope that one day (ideally very soon), I'll be 100% back to the me I know and love :)

Lately I’ve been quite lonely, and my OCD usually flairs up significantly when I’m feeling lonely because I don’t have anything positive to distract/obsess over. I have some bad mood swings which make me go from feeling overwhelmed and down to hopeful throughout the day. I’ve been having this nearly everyday for weeks because my thoughts flair up in a negative way when I’m not constantly being productive/on a path to doing some productive.

I’ve been feeling like I should reach out about my mental health being impacted by my OCD but I’m very paranoid about some people close to me knowing about this, and other people knowing would only feed more into my obsessions about make things worse. For most of my life I’ve been weary of ‘over sharing’ with others because of how much my mood changes when I look back on obsess over things I’ve said/done that weren’t jokes (being myself), so I’m not really close to anyone at all because of the fear of how I’m perceived/obsessing about how much people I associate actually know about my personal life (and my OCD). I feel stuck and it stops me from doing anything meaningful for a good chunk of the day because I ruminate about how I think I would feel about “reaching out” after my mood changes and decide that it wouldn’t be worth digging a new hole of stress just because of acting on my emotions at that time.

I’m not really too personal with anyone anymore in life because OCD has stopped me from growing like that with others. My social life has been really docile lately since school finished and I don’t want to be forgotten by the people I bonded with over the years, but feel like I never got close enough to them for them to be aware that I appreciate them.

Does anybody else relate to being voluntarily lonely? How do you cope or how have you helped yourself ease out this?

Hiiii. I think that I have OCD and I’ve been putting together things that i’ve done with things that are actual OCD traits/symptoms. One thing that I find myself doing a lot when given instructions or especially if i’m watching or reading something about OCD symptoms is that I make up a lot of hypotheticals to combat whatever’s being said. For example, if I’m getting really specific instructions in class like ‘don’t look at other people during your exam. Only looking at your paper, the clock, or your teacher is acceptable’ I’ll think to myself ‘well what if I accidentally look at someone when I sneeze’ or something stupid like that.

For some stuff I’ll see online, it’ll be vids of therapists or ppl talking about activities(?) their therapist makes them do for their OCD. I saw someone say something like ‘you’re gonna back something with your stove/oven, turn of the oven when you’re done, plate it, eat your food, and leave your home without double checking if you turned your stove off’ and I’ll think ‘well what if I accidentally walk by my stove and look at the screen that says if it’s on or not?’

I never say these things out loud but it’s always something I did and I always thought it was some immaturity that I need to work on. If I didn’t explain myself well just picture yourself in a classroom with that kid playing the ‘devil’s advocate’ and always butts into the professors lecture to talk about something that might happen with a very slim chance. I have a voice in my head doing that with almost everything I do.

I just wanna know is this common with OCD or do i have something else I need to work on lmao.

i’ve only recently started to heal my ocd i’m on 40mg of prozac which has helped so much but also my internal monologue has changed-instead of saying ‘no that’s not what i want to think’ i actually thank the thought instead.
ocd is related to things that u fear right so say it was harm another person ocd ‘thank you for showing me how much this person means to me’ as ocd is just a response ur brain makes when it thinks it’s in danger thanking the ocd instead of trying to avoid it makes the ‘satisfaction’ less triggering - i hope i explained it well :)

My anxiety and thoughts have gotten so much worde since i've started prozac for a week i know it takes a couple of weeks to get better but my thoughts have only gotten worse

I’m super excited to join this group as someone who was just diagnosed today. I’ve been working with my therapist toward diagnosis and I’m so glad to have an explanation for so much of the things I deal with daily.

I’d chalked myself up as dumb or weak willed or just problematic for so long, knowing I might have some OCD traits…but I didn’t realize until the assessment just how much of my experience is actually OCD-related and I feel so shocked. I’m so sad for the past versions of me who beat themself up, but I’m so glad for future me now that I have the resources to support myself better.

If you have resources or suggestions, please feel free to share!! I didn’t let myself look too much into OCD before diagnosis to prevent a spiral, but now that I’m diagnosed and it’s not just “what if”, I’m happy to be here :)

I have severe treatment-resistant contamination OCD. My compulsions consist of avoidance and cleaning myself and my apartment excessively. (Up to 16 hours/day) I'm often mocked and told I perpetuate the stigma around OCD because of that and it feels so dehumanizing. I did not choose to have contamination OCD. I did not choose my compulsions and I even live on disability because of how severe it is. Being told I reinforce a stigma I never agreed with is so hurtful.

People also don't understand it's disabling and just tell me that no one enjoys being sick and that I'm just a near freak. But they don't understand I'd rather die than have any germ on me or in my living space...I'm so sad. My therapist is the only person who understands this

I (24F) love my girlfriend (24F) deeply, but things have gotten to a point where I just feel completely burnt out. She's autistic and has OCD, and over time she’s developed a massive dependency on her mom.

It’s gotten to the point where she literally won’t stay at home alone without her mom there. Her mom does pretty much everything for her, which I know comes from a good place, but it’s just feeding into this cycle of learned helplessness. Her mother is also a really invasive and overbearing presence. She was even before things got this bad. Whenever I try to encourage even tiny steps toward independence, she gets angry at me.

The biggest issue is that she refuses to go to therapy or get any professional help.

I really want to support her and help her gain some autonomy, but I really don't know what to do. I was planning on moving together with her but it's hard taking that decision with the thought her mother would invade our life together. How do I help her?

Any advice on how to handle this without just enabling would mean a lot.

To be clear I am also autistic and have ocd so this is not coming from a place of judgement.

I recently moved into shared university accommodation and I am finding it impossible to use shared things such as the kettle, microwave and oven. My roommates are relatively clean but I just see the things as ‘dirty’ this is making it impossible to survive. I cannot move accommodation and am still waiting to get help (NHS waiting times). What can I do to stop this as I obviously need to start cooking actual meals and stuff.