Suffering with TOCD/HOCD/POCD or any OCD? Read Me.

(Following post may trigger OCD obsessions)

Hey guys my name is Peter im 18 years old and a sufferer of OCD, i have had it for 4 years but have 80% overcome it. After seeing so many people on these forums suffering with OCD i have so much knowledge over it that i believe i can help a lot of people with it, im also looking into studying psychology.

First of all i want to start off letting you know that there is no such thing as (POCD/HOCD/etc) all OCD is and i mean, is, EXACTLY the same. I know your probably thinking how its the same but it is. Every single type of OCD that is mentioned is simply an obsession over something, it dosnt mean it has a different name therefore its different. Its simply a phase of OCD, you may even find yourself after defeating an obsession you might develop a new obsession.

If your wondering why every time you defeat something with OCD a new compulsion (Habit) or obsession (Thought), is because OCD is an anxiety disorder, and every time you defeat something in its own way its trying to find a new coping mechanism. Compulsions are coping mechanism's for anxiety. 99% of the time a person has developed OCD from a stressful/traumatic related past which led to this problem. In your unconscious mind (The part of your brain that does things automatically without thinking, such as driving) You believe you get relief from these compulsions but you logically know that it dosnt mean anything, yet you still do it cause you feel you have to.

Now ill start off mentioning most of the time the compulsions are always connected to an obsession, for example you have a thought, of a number, or washing your hands, you begin to obsess over it etc. (What if i missed a spot on my hands?) You then develop the compulsive urge to go and rewash them till you feel that its been complete, if you dont do the compulsion you will begin to feel anxious, but when you do it you feel better and the anxiety diminishes.

This is the cycle that your living everyday:
1. You have a thought.
2. You then begin to obsess over it.
3. Lets say the thought was.. (You hurting a family member)
4. Now this is the difference between someone with OCD and someone without, a person without OCD will simply disregard the thought because in logic, its just a thought. A person with OCD will as said begin to obsess over why they had that thought. (In a way its like the thoughts are getting stuck in a net, but a person with OCD the net holes are much smaller.) An example is you start saying. "Why would i think of hurting my brother, AM I CRAZY? whats wrong with me?"
5. You then start to get anxious.
6. You perform a compulsive ritual or seek reassurance.
7. The anxiety goes and you feel better.

I'm sure no matter how much your told something, or given an answer, or look for proof online no matter what you do, you dont feel better.

You may also notice that every time you have a thought it feels real, for example a person with the fear of pedophile OCD, you may see a child, have a sexual thought about that child, the OCD cycle above, but you might actually feel like your liking the thought, for example you might start to feel aroused, and the reason why is because your OCD will latch onto your emotional mind and make certain things feel real when they arnt.

The way i overcame this was in 2 ways:
When it comes to dealing with compulsions the answer is quite straight forward, you must do exactly the opposite of what your OCD wants you to do, the more you do the compulsion the OCD wants, the more you will adjust to that and get used to it, the harder it will be defeat it. At first this will be extremely difficult to do, but in time it will slowly get easier.

The obsessions, what people tend to ask with this is "Can i make the thoughts go away". The answer is no, because the thoughts are not the problem, the problem is the way you associate to these thoughts because the OCD tricks you into feeling they are real or have power. The first step to overcoming this is recognizing it. YOU WILL CONSTANTLY doubt yourself, for example, "But what if i really want this but im just hiding" "But what if i am crazy" Notice every time you might find yourself saying "What if" and you might think if you dont perform a compulsion for an obsession, you dont care about the thought - WHICH IS A TYPICAL, ocd lie. The method i used to overcome the obsessions are training your own logical mind to overwrite the OCD emotional mind. For example a person with pedo OCD, you would need to write down with a piece of paper and pen, or even say in your head, its whatever works for you 2 options:

1. I want to be a pedo.
2. I don't want to be a pedo because im not.
Put a tally next to what you want, every time you have the thought.

Again, you will doubt yourself, first step to overcome OCD is RECOGNIZE this, once you do, as you keep on picking an option, you will begin to know what you logically want, and the OCD obsession will slowly diminish. This may not work for you, but you must stay with it for awhile to see a difference.

After going through this for so long, ive gone though every phase of OCD, fear of being gay, fear of being a pedophile, fear of wanting to hurt my family, and my own fears. There are 2 ways to overcome a fear.

1. Go direct to the fear and face it (This may have a bad or good effect)
2. Face the fear in SMALL, doable, steps. (This is recommended)

To overcome OCD, you must be willing to overcome it, you must recognize when your OCD is making you feel the need to doubt yourself, you will get through this, but it all comes to how much you want it gone.

Something that OCD also does is can trigger depression, for this there are natural ways to overcome or medication, as depression is not something you can really talk to yourself and recognize over.

I recommend you do see a psychologist to help treat your OCD. Don't go looking for answers on the net or seeking reassurance because you might find info that makes you feel worse and obsess more then better. If you need any help dont be afraid to PM me or add me on Skype (Peter - X8ReaperZ) I hope i can help and wish you all the best, dont give up, you will overcome it.