> Tfw diagnosed with OCD this week.

How bad is it?

Is it "have to flick this switch 300 times before doing anything" bad or is it more of a patterns and getting anxious when the smallest of things dont turn out according to plan bad

>>17431584
You have been diagnosed?
Sounds more like you have Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder, which is not nearly as bad as OCD, pretty much same symptomps... are you abel to get a second opinion?

>>17431584

This guy prolly
https://youtu.be/rXijzaUxMrs

>>17431584
I have never been diagnosed with OCD, but I have it. I kinda have it under control though.

>>17431584

1/2 I'll give some advice

I had extremely bad OCD. it was basically this: >>17431624 with the 300 switch clicks, except it was checking the car doors, the house locks, making sure I checked my emails 100 times over and over (no, really, I do mean hundreds of times) etc.

I know ignoring it doesn't work firsthand. You start to fall asleep and then you get a panic attack thinking "but is the door REALLY locked?" so you go downstairs and stare at it and count to 10 thinking "ok once I'm done counting I'll be done" but then you hit 10 and start counting again a few times to 10. You being walking away and then turn around and say "well lemme check again to be SURE" and you spend an hour looking at a fucking locked door. Then you either pass out, say "well ok if I'm killed in my sleep so be it", or lower panic long enough to sleep. And by then it's 3am, and you started getting ready for bed at 10:30pm.

Here's what I've been doing. I keep a diary where I grade myself on how much I check doors etc. per night. For example, a C night might be, I check the car doors for 10 mins, stare at my keys for 10 mins, check mail for an hour, look at my phone's time for an hour, and fall asleep. An A- night would mean I check the car doors once, look at my keys once or twice, spend 10 mins refreshing my inbox and sent box, and spend 30 mins looking at the time before I feel comfortable to sleep. An A night happened only once, and I checked everything only once and fell asleep in 10 mins. An A+ night is my goal where I remember I checked my car doors earlier in the day already, and check nothing before sleeping.

>>17431957
Oh right, you asked for advice. What I did is I tried to make myself realize that nothing bad will happen even though I stop doing that stupid shit. Just make a decision that tomorrow or today you won't make of that shit and see what happens.

>>17431989

2/2

My grades started at an average C- level (around 2.5-3 hours a night of checking things), and now I average around a B to B+, though last night was a D, since I spent 4 hours. I've had tons of A- nights lately.

Some ideas:

- realize that it's caused by something physical. I hear it's a sort of lack of seratonin or w/e. Realize you're working with something real. It makes it feel like you're fighting something real rather than some hocus pocus sigmund freud "tell me about your mother" fake mental "illness". It is due to a fundamental mental, physical problem. But it is workable.

- Realize the compulsions are just compulsions. Say, "well, this is OCD. The car door is fucking locked!" and half the time it works. If you have a compulsion, play a few minutes of a video game, or read a few pages of a book. many times it goes away.

- keep track of your OCD attacks. You need to have an objective idea of how bad it is and if you're improving.

- Exercise. Yes, really. Lowers stress. Doesn't get rid of OCD, but lowers other non-OCD stress because OCD stress + other stress compounds for a really short lifespan.

- Become a stoic. If you're afraid you didn't do something and something bad will happen, convince yourself, "eh, if it happens, oh well. If I die because someone breaks in to the house, oh well. Worst case I'm dead!" You won't believe it, but get the idea in there. You'll believe it sometimes.

t. 20 year old with OCD who's managing without meds or therapy, and would use meds or therapy if he weren't aiming for a security clearance soon

>>17431584
How is your life going to be any different from a diagnosis? It's not like you caught a bug, you've had it for a long time and the only difference now is that you have a word for your neuroticism. Depending on how disruptive it is, behavioral retraining might be of use to you. However, I'd it's not disruptive to YOUR life, therapy likely won't work. You have to want it to get better. Also, avoid medication at all costs. The side effects of SSRIs and tryciclics are heavy shit, you don't want to take them.

t. Guy who gave up after he turned 18 on treatment and instead learned to cope rather than change and is all the happier for it

Why are you depressed?
>>17431630
Lol what in his one line post made you think this?

I have OCD, diagnosed when I was a teen, eight years ago. It's not especially bad and generally speaking I've had it in control for a few years already. Currently during the process of tapering off paroxetine.
Basically what annoys me is not even the OCD itself right now, but rather the general neuroticism of my character.
I did have several bad episodes in the past, so there's that. I don't want to tread those waters again.
But it's not like you're seriously mentally ill (though I did think that in my bad periods), it's just a disorder. You're not really different from other people, maybe just chemicals in your brain are a bit imbalanced at the moment. Or maybe it's also that your personality has neurotic tendencies.
>>17432034
Like what are those side effects of SSRIs? They really aren't especially invasive compared to things like antipsychotics.

>>17432095
Depends but common trends are depression, suicidal ideation, and worst of, erectile dysfunction. You may think "oh those are the worst case scenarios, they won't happen to me" but if it does, you'll kick yourself everyday.

>>17432119
>erectile dysfunction
>worst of
I did notice decreased libido
but it's not like I use it anyway lol

you realise ocd is really not that bad right?