I’m new to the forums, as you can probably already tell, but this matter for me has become to where I need feedback. So I’ve had HOCD for around 10 months now, it started after excessive porn usage to where my tastes gradually became more and more kinkier to where it reached gay porn. One morning after I masturbated I went to school (I’m 17 years old and a guy) and suddenly I had intrusive thoughts about one of my friends (never had any feelings or anything at all for the same sex) and it completely caused me to start having multiple panic attacks because I’ve never experienced anything like that before. I’ve always had attraction to girls, since I was 4 years old, I’ve always wanted to marry a girl one day and have kids with her and love her, but after that moment, my HOCD has distorted my thoughts and constantly sends me questions “am I gay” or “you’re gay cant you see that now”, and it terrifies me. I already had anxiety and had beaten depression before the HOCD arose. So after about 8-9 months of struggling, I decided to start NoFap, a program where you obstain from porn masturbation for 90 days. So, I’m on my 11th day and I’m actually feeling pretty great, and it’s really improved my mind to where I can feel my HOCD fading, but I still meet situations where my HOCD will flare up and cause me anxiety again.
For example, I’m a really diplomatic individual, people can come to me and they can talk about their problems and I’ll talk them through it and help them. Well, I have a lot of friends that are girls that come to me about their issues, and I talk to them about it, and HOCD comes out of the corner shouting “You’re gay, because you have friends that are girls and you talk them through stuff like you can relate, that means you’re into dudes, just face it” and I know I’m not but it’s killing me because it makes it seem like it makes sense. I’m losing progress on my HOCD all because I’m a guy that isn’t too aggressive, I’m willing to be emotional sometimes and it makes me feel like it’s robbing of my heterosexuality because it awakens my HOCD. I’ve always been straight and very very attracted to women and I’ve never questioned my sexuality until now, someone please help.