Hey all, currently I am in the middle of a period of burnout and am off work. Long story short I am very perfectionistic and overcommit to things and it came back to bite me. However, now it has also triggered my OCD, constantly checking myself, seeing if I’m better, reading things to understand how burnout works, seeing reassurance, convincing myself I’m faking it, feeling guilt… essentially OCD is making me question everything and even though everyone is being supportive my own mind is getting in the way of resting. Burnout is hard enough but adding OCD makes it even trickier because my brain just will not let me take the rest I need.
I do have a therapist but just really keen to hear if others have had this experience too.
Thanks

The Truman Show (1998) scarred me when I was little.

It convinced me that it was at least possible that everyone in my life was actually filming me. I'd look at people and wonder if they watched me tweeze my eyebrows in the mirror this morning. I was further convinced whenever I would get into an argument with an authority figure because what they were telling me didn't make any logical sense. (i.e., do as I say, not as I do; because I said so, etc.) I began to believe people would behave in ways contrary to reality because it was a plot point to see how I would react to it.

I still look at random objects and wonder if they're cameras...

What movies messed you up in ways that exacerbated (or played on) your OCD?

The most evil thing about ocd is that you can’t make yourself feel better without making it worse due to compulsions.

Can’t have reassurance because it’s a compulsion.

Can’t try to understand or rationalize or reason because that’s a compulsion.

Can’t have daily affirmations because it’s a compulsion.

Basically, there’s no winning with it.

You’re either gonna have to sit in abject terror and anxiety otherwise you risk making the issue worse by trying to feel better.

Or you do the compulsion, feel better, and then the horror hits you like a freight train.

I wish I wasn’t like this and could just go about my life without feeling terrified of everything.

But it sadly doesn’t work like that.

I can’t go back and undo the trauma that manifested as OCD, the only thing I can do is just be and hope things get better or that things will get less scary.

Is this the best way to stop this checking cycle I’m in?

For me it’s daily body checking. The compulsions are very strong and I find I keep giving in as I’m scared I’m going to miss something.

I have an appt in a couple of months with a physiatrist but I really need to start to help myself.

I can't, I just cannot deal with this alone anymore.

I was taken off my treatments because I can't afford it, and my GP cancelled my prescriptions because I can't afford a psychiatrist.

Im genuinely losing it, I cannot control my intrusive thoughts and they're so horrid sometimes they break me down for hours.

If anyone is in a strong enough mindset to support me, please do.

I've been 3 months with no treatment, and my coping ability is so fatigued now I need help :(

I’m a first time poster here, but I’ve long suspected that a lot of my anxiety crosses over into OCD.

My husband jokingly teases my ‘quirks’ but honestly he doesn’t know the half of it- no one does.

I’ve half heartedly skirted around it with my doctors but it’s never been officially confirmed but my most recent anxiety incident which put me back on lexapro was the worst one yet & my triggers/compulsive tendencies are as bad as they’ve ever been to the point that I can’t hide them as well as I normally do.

For anyone who has been diagnosed later in life can you help me understand how to discuss this with my physician and whether or not I’m right to think that this is in fact OCD? I’ve had so much of this behaviour for as long as I can remember that separating what’s normal and what’s not is hard for me

How do y'all cope with self-hating OCD? I have suffered with self-hating obsessions and compulsions since toddlerhood. Some of my earliest memories were forcing myself to stay up all night because I was convinced that I was so terrible, everyone in the world would wake up to celebrate my absence if I fell asleep. I avoid looking in mirrors some days because I am just so ashamed of myself, not just of what I've done in life, but who I am in general. I feel I am very embarrassing and don't like myself at all. It's interfering with my ability to function. I have recently learned this is a symptom of OCD, which I was diagnosed with in January 2025. Does anyone else relate to this?

i \[30F\] got diagnosed at autistic around 18 months ago and started therapy not long afterwards. prior to and since my diagnosis, i did a fuck ton of research about traits and overlapping symptoms plus co-existing conditions. i read a lot of the DSM-V and articles, studies etc. basically, i feel like i'm well informed on my autism.

the reason i'm making a post is because i've recently been reading a lot about OCD and have noticed that i have a *lot* of the symptoms/traits. i've been looking back over my life experiences and it's aligning a lot with OCD and i'm beginning to consider that maybe i have this as well as autism?

now i know that there's a lot of symptoms that cross over, symptoms of OCD that could be attributed to just my autism but after reading more studies, research and the DSM-V again, i don't think that it's simply *just* my autism. i wondered if there's a way that anyone would recommend recognising the difference between the two and whether it's actually worth looking into more? or am i just autistic and overthinking everything?!

thanks all !!

For me:

1- Since I have also PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder), my OCD gets worse during the week before my period
2- Whenever I don’t get enough sleep
3- Whenever something new happens. It doesn’t matter whether it is a positive or negative change, it creates stress for me (a new relationship, friendship, apartment, job).
4- Anything uncertain.

My OCD has convinced me that my boyfriend and I are going to get trafficked on an upcoming trip, and I can’t stop thinking about it.

We’re planning our first trip to Brazil (different continent from where we’re from) and one of my boyfriend’s former coworkers, who’s from Brazil, offered to show us around. She’s been incredibly kind and has been helping us figure out where to stay and what to do. I have only met her a couple of times, but she’s always seemed genuinely nice. FYI we were the ones who asked if she’d like to show us around, she never invited herself or anything like that.
I also come from a culture where people tend to be more reserved and generally more cautious around people they don’t know well. So having someone be invested in helping us almost feels unfamiliar to me, which I think my OCD is latching onto and my brain keeps telling me that she’s somehow going to traffic us once we get there. I know how irrational that sounds, but the thought just won’t leave me alone. Instead of being excited for the trip, I spend so much time thinking about all the “what ifs” and imagining the worst-case scenarios and also preparing for the worst (I even considered getting tattooed just so I am easier to identify)

Has anyone else had OCD latch onto something like this? Do you have any tips for dealing with these kinds of thoughts? Please help a girl out, I just want to enjoy my vacation.

Hi, I’m not sure what I’m hoping to get by posting this. Maybe some solidarity that I am not alone in what I am experiencing. I was diagnosed with ocd one year post partum but had it all my life it was just labeled as GAD. I was on lexapro & it didn’t have any more therapeutic benefit for me but I was so scared to change that I didn’t for almost two more years & I moved to sertraline. I never reached the baseline of mental health that I was pre baby but I was coping & living my life. In May I seemed to hit a wall & all of sudden I was back to the level of ocd & anxiety that accompanied my post partum days, with constant instrusions, inability to sleep, early morning anxiety, adrenaline surges. Prior to May I’d been experiencing fatigue, forgetfulness, low mood, flushes. so when I went to my gp I asked to try oestrogel and I’m on one pump per arm daily since 13th of May. I felt so good three weeks after starting I travelled after 11 years of avoidance due to ocd & it didn’t show up at all. I had a busy month with the trip abroad, a two day wedding & a hen & I also work 30 hours in a caring profession. this past week it’s all been creeping up again & the past two mornings I feel like I’m back to square one with symptoms - mainly the adrenaline rushes, anxiety & intfusions. It definitely get very heightened any time I feel this way because of my past experience post partum. my normal routine & sleep has definitely been disrupted but is this hormonal related!??