#ocd awareness

[the-archenlandian-court]

OCD isn’t always:

“If you don’t do the thing your family will die”

Sometimes it’s:

“If you don’t do the thing, bad things will happen”

“What bad things?”

“Bad things. Very bad things”

#actually ocd #ocd #obsessive compulsive disorder #ocd awareness

[butchspace]

I guess I kind of just use this account for PSAs now, and this has been on my mind a lot lately.

I figured out that I have OCD a few years ago, and recently I’ve seen a lot of bad advice around dealing with intrusive thoughts and obsessions.

There’s that post that goes around occasionally about “taking pictures of your oven knobs before you leave” or other things I’ve seen that say to “make a weird face when you lock your door.” THESE ARE COMPULSIONS. If you have/suspect you have OCD or you often struggle with things like that, please do not follow this advice. Instead, try to accept your intrusive thoughts and move on, not argue with them. Over time, they will get easier and easier to deal with. Ruminating, stressing, or arguing with them just makes them worse in the long run.

If you think you might have OCD and want to seek a specialist, the IOCDF’s home page has a lot of resources under the “find help” tab, including a locator.

I’m going to put the rest under a read-more because I’m going to talk a bit more in depth about intrusive thoughts and compulsions. This mostly because good OCD info is so sparse on line, and I’ve spent many hours compulsively researching OCD lmao.

Content warning:

discussion of unreality/doubting one’s own perception

discussion of specific compulsions

I’m not going to push this point too hard or shame anyone who doesn’t want to follow it, because OCD doesn’t really just go away. It’s a constant struggle. I give in to compulsions regularly, even though I am medicated and have seen a specialist to learn actual coping skills. It’s hard to resist sometimes and you don’t always have the energy, the awareness, or the power to ignore them. You do what you have to do to get through your day. The main difference is that the right medication and the right therapist make it easier to stay out of the spiral and to leave a spiral when you’re in one. They still happen. You still kind of have to play everything by ear.

Similarly, it is super fucking hard to get help or even get diagnosed. No regular therapist actually knows what the fuck it looks like, and specialists are few and far between and often don’t take insurance. It’s not fair or easy or necessarily productive to try and do exposure response prevention on yourself. Your “good coping skills” can even turn into an obsession or compulsion, where you’re constantly worried about what is an intrusive thought and what is not, or if you’re responding to them properly.

What I want to do is try to give at least some useful advice to people who are struggling with intrusive thoughts.

The best way to respond to them is not at all. This is especially true with OCD, because the response to them is sort of the root of this disorder. Sometimes, it’s recommended that with depression or anxiety you challenge your thoughts. In OCD, it’s the opposite. Challenging them can so easily lead you down a compulsion spiral. (More about that cycle from a professional.)

Compulsions can be entirely mental, but I’ll use a common behavioral one to look at how engaging with compulsions can go:

You start by taking a picture of the your stove knobs to make sure they’re all off. That works for a few hours or days, but then you start wondering if the knob is ever-so-slightly in the “on” position. You wonder if the picture proves they’re off enough. You forget to take the picture at all, and have to go back in to check anyways. You check your phone a few times before leaving to ensure that the picture is still there. You take several pictures because you can’t tell if you actually took any at all. You start to wonder if you can even trust what you see before your very eyes. What if you’re just imagining that the knobs are set to off? What if you’re just imagining the whole picture to begin with? The picture allows you to engage with your checking compulsion throughout the day, strengthening the connection between the intrusive thought and the urgency to do something about it. That means it gets worse. That means you find new ways to doubt your perception or your memory or whatever.

It can eventually get really bad. It’s hard and awful to try and deal with this on your own, but sometimes you have to.

It’s so shit. It’s so fucking shit how long many people suffer with mental illness without even knowing what’s going on. I didn’t know that my constant, overwhelming guilt over almost everything I’d ever thought or said or done or maybe did and couldn’t remember was the result of a disorder. It was so freeing to realize there was actually something that might help me, and I could learn to just live with myself and my weird ass thoughts that don’t necessarily mean anything at all. It’s so shit that OCD-awareness is so low among therapists. I was never going to get diagnosed until I found an OCD SPECIALIST (bold, italicized, all caps. Don’t trust people on psychology today who just put OCD in the list of what they treat.) and went over the Y-BOCS with her. It’s all so shit that several therapists I came to with textbook examples of OCD either ignored me or didn’t have the tools to help. I told one of them I “didn’t feel connected to reality” and he kind just went 🤷.

I just want everyone who is in that/a similar situation to at least have this information available to them.

If you want to learn more, these blogs from Sheppard Pratt were the best discussion of OCD I found online that really described what I was going through. They’re written by licensed therapists, several (all?) of whom live with OCD. They’re very healing to read if this is something you’re struggling with, or something you think you might be struggling with, and great in general if you want to learn more about OCD.

Whatever’s going on, OCD or not, have some grace with yourself. Take a few minutes today and do something kind for yourself, even just think one nice thing about yourself. You’re doing the best you can.

#actually ocd #ocd #ocd awareness #do with this what you will but I stresses me the hell out when I see people #uncritically reblog posts suggesting new compulsions to people #because they worked on me and made my ocd worse #im sure a lot of those suggestions came from others with ocd so I’m not trying to come after anyone about this #I just feel like I don’t see a lot of discussion about this stuff in general and even in the notes on those posts

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

Understanding Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Pathlight Mood & Anxiety Center

#ocd #ocd explained #ocd awareness #living with ocd #obsessive compulsive disorder #neurodiversity #neurodivergence #actually neurodivergent #feel free to share and reblog #Pathlight Mood & Anxiety Center (Facebook)

[waitingforthesunrise]

I love you people with dermotillamania. I love you people walking the weird blurry line between self harm and skin condition. I love you people with healing scabs and scars and bandaids. I love you people who get triggered by short sleeves and can’t explain it. I love you people who have to take deep breaths while wearing a tank top. I love you people with scars that look like stars and planets and stories written on your skin. I love you people with short nails and long elaborate nails. I love you people who are learning to find boundaries around triggers. I love you people who hide your infections and don’t believe their story is valid. I love you people who are caring for eachother in this community. I love you people who don’t trust their hands but are learning to trust their heart. You are valuable and loved and beautiful. I am kissing your forehead and wishing you joy

#Dermotillamania #excoriation disorder #tw bfrb #tw dermatillomania #ocd awareness #bfrb culture #bfrb awareness #living with ocd #ocd

[multifandomconfusion]

How I look every time someone says their "intrusive thoughts won" or they're "kinda ocd":

#not my usual stuff but whatever #ocd awareness #ocd #actually ocd #obsessive compulsive disorder #obsessive compulsive spectrum #mental health #mental health awareness #intrusive thoughts

[ocd--culture-is]

questioning ocd culture is swearing up and down that you do NOT have ocd and are being dramatic/that even suspecting that you may have it makes you a bad person or a faker and then heavily relating to every symptom you come across on an otherworldly level.

this fr before being diagnosed, very normal apparently but it's so frustating

#ocd culture is #questioning ocd #public ask #ask #answered #--- #culture is #actually ocd #ocd awareness #ocd tag #ocd thoughts #ocd things #ocd #obsessive compulsive disorder

[starfishinthedistance]

"Actually, liking things neat and tidy, and organizing stuff because you find it satisfying is OCPD not OCD-"

no no no NO NO NO shut up oh my god.

OCPD is a (usually trauma induced) mental illness where a person finds comfort in rigid patterns, perfectionism and self-imposed rules, and exterting control over everything they can, to the point of severe dysfunction and/or distress in their life. It comes with a lot of anxiety, troubles with relationships and extreme difficulty with school/work. It is painful to have and causes a lot of suffering, because it is a goddamn mental illness.

If you like organization or cleaning because it's satisfying and it doesn't cause you distress or dysfunction, you are a perfectionist or a neat person. You are not any mental illness. End of story.

For the love of GOD stop redirecting OCD stigma onto OCPD, especially when OCPD is so under researched and misunderstood, even by professionals.

-Someone with OCD who has seen enough of this shit

#rant over #on another note ocpd really needs to be talked about more #as with personality disorders (especially cluster a and c) in general #mental health #mental illness #neurodivergent #ocd #obsessive compulsive disorder #ocd awareness #actually ocd #ocpd #obsessive compulsive personality disorder #cluster c #personality disorder #anxiety #trauma #ableism #disability #mentally ill #mental illness awareness #important

[dersandmannkommt]

when I mention that I have OCD and people think I mean I'm an organized perfectionist, but then they find out I'm actually constantly bordering on psychosis

#not as quirky is it #i just washed my hands three times in a row #because i forgot that i did it at all #ocd #contamination ocd #just right ocd #severe ocd #ocd awareness #actually ocd #intrusive thoughts #obsessive compulsive disorder #mental illness #i need to be medicated #but i cant get anything right now

[inexperienced-0]

I almost never see OCD or aroace representation in media. When I end up making something, im gonna make the protagonist aroace and have OCD out of pure spite.

#ocd awareness #ocd #aroace #aromantic representation #asexual representation

[shurple]

october is ocd awareness month!

please be patient with yourself and others! we're doing our best and we're so scared. be kind to yourself and others and show support to your loved ones with ocd! bless xoxo

#🎐art #miette #procreate #ocd #ocd awareness #actually ocd #october #teal #the bald patches are based on how ocd manifests in cats! #some of us overgroom and fur comes off and it's horrible

[thisisocd]

SUDs Check-in!

What are SUDs?

SUDs stands for Subjective Units of Distress. It's the fanciest way possible of saying "Rate your emotional pain". Some people use a scale of 0-100 (yes, really), but I prefer 0-10 when I work with students. I think that, otherwise, it gets way too overwhelming!

Note: if you clicked on option 10, you might want to check out my crisis tips.

#ocd #anxiety disorders #anxiety attacks #anxiety awareness #this is ocd #ocd awareness #actually ocd #social anxiety #intrusive thoughts #obsessive compulsive disorder #obsessive compulsive #suds #my polls

[the-archenlandian-court]

OCD isn’t always:

“You’re contaminated by a virus and you’re going to die”

Sometimes it’s:

“You’re contaminated”

“With what?”

“…. Contamination”

#this may become a series #we’ll see #actually ocd #ocd #obsessive compulsive disorder #ocd awareness

[chloe-creating]

One time I was in the psych ward because of my severe OCD and intrusive thoughts and was SO upset because I couldn’t find any rep/ books about people with similar experiences, so I wrote a 72,000 word YA romance novel about a girl with severe OCD and her boyfriend…

…anyway, if you’ve read this far, you might as well follow @UnthinkableThingsNovel on Insta & TikTok to read more about this book and help me get it published 😳😳🫶

#mental health awareness #ocd awareness #book recommendations #writer things #psych ward #obsessive compulsive disorder

[your-mothers-wife]

Happy OCD awareness week/month!!!!

OCD is a pain in the ass, and it's hard to get through some days. No matter what kind of OCD you have, you are amazing, and your thoughts don't define you.

Your character is decided by your actions, not your thoughts.

I love you all, and keep kicking!!!!!<33333

#also if you wver feel like you're a horrible person just remember taht if you're trying this hard to get rid of the bad thoughts #it means that it makes you uncomfortable #and trying to get rid of those thoughts mean that you never wanted them in the first place #y'all are some of the bravest people I know #keep going #you're stronger than OCD #ocd #obsessive compulsive disorder #mental health #ocd awareness

[waitingforthesunrise]

Moment of appreciation for all drivers out there with OCD. The intrusive thoughts. The way the steering wheel isn’t straight. The uneven muscle use. Whatever it hits you with — I am giving you a little bouquet of flowers. You are loved <333

#ocdawareness #ocd tag #living with ocd #ocd and driving #ocd awareness #actually ocd

[yourmentalhealthpal]

Remind yourself of your strength and resilience. Each step forward is a testament to your courage and determination. You are not defined by your challenges. 💙

#yourmentalhealthpal #mental health #mental health awareness #ocd awareness #ocd #affirmations #positive affirmations #mental health matters #mental health support #ymhp #self help