Am i now developing OCD?

[becks xxx]

I have high anxiety and very rarely suffer from panic attacks anymore. But for the past few months im now worried im developing OCD too.. but too scared to mention to anyone, including my counsellor
For a while, whenever i have a drink, i feel like i have to sip 4 times, or count to 4
Then it turned into having to to taking 4 sips, but then doing that 4 times.. so everytime in my head im going: 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4.......

I also believe i suffer from intrusive thoughts
Whenever i had a boyfriend, was always nervous round them and feeling sick and would dodge going out with them (god knows why)
I keep getting such weird thoughts that i could be a lezbian, or when im with mates get thoughts or images of me like kissing them and get scared ill act on it.
NO WAY am i a lezbian!!!! To know i even have this thought makes me feel ill, and not being able to talk about it through embarassment just makes it worse. Or am i making it worse myself.. am i bringing this all on myself? Do i think i have OCD, and it's the thinking of having it that im just working myself up?

i'm so confused, just the general anxiety was bad enough :weep: do you think i have OCD?

[reliefseeker]

I know, it's extremely uncomfortable and terrifying. You're not alone. Just keep remembering your thoughts aren't real, they're just thoughts and they will end eventually.

[Nigel]

Hi Becks,

It doesn’t really matter what name you give it. The professionals like to assign labels because that gives them one thing less to worry about, but does a different label make what you’re dealing with any different?

OCD is just another manifestation of anxiety. Same with intrusive thoughts. So all it really is is your own personal form of anxiety, that’s all.

OCD is mostly about reassurance behaviours regarding the things that make a person anxious. Worrying about random thoughts is doing the same thing in a different way – trying to make sense of them in order to reassure yourself and lessen anxiety, because uncertainty tends to lead to anxiety. It’s really all part of the same thing.

We each have 1000s of thoughts flitting through our mind each day, and occasionally it brings one of them to our attention for further consideration. That doesn’t mean it’s important though – just possibly relevant – and most of those can simply be disregarded too.

The important thing to understand is that the mind isn’t exact and precise like a computer. It would be impossible for it to do a fraction of what it does if it worked to that level of preciseness. Instead it does a lot of ‘educated guessing’ based largely on past experiences. ‘Fuzzy logic’ they call it, and some people are working on that idea as the next major leap in computing technology.

So with all these extremely fast though imprecise thought processes, a certain amount of irrelevant ideas are bound to happen. That’s when we use the much slower but far more computer like ‘conscious’ part of the mind to apply it’s clever logic to the idea, deciding what’s important and what’s not.

Take care :)
Nigel

[anxious]

sounds like ocd to me. I think its some peoples way of dealing with anxiety. It can be reassuring as long as its not effecting your daily life too much.
Rationlise your obtrusive thoughts and challenge yourself not to repeat your actions, i.e start reducing repititons to 3.

xx anx xx

[Captain Caveman]

Hi Becks. Try not to be scared about telling people about your fears. Good therapists have heard it all before. If a therapist doesn't understand your issues, then move on to another. And if friends treat you differently after telling them, then they aren't a true friend anyway. I agree with Nigel about labels. I am not a fan of ther term "OCD" as it makes out people have some fixed condition.


I know, it's extremely uncomfortable and terrifying. You're not alone. Just keep remembering your thoughts aren't real, they're just thoughts and they will end eventually.

reliefseeker is spot on about it being unconfortable and terrifying. Reminding yourself these ego-dystonic thoughts aren't real is unfortunately only going to provide short term relief though. The highly anxious person will in x amount of time come up with a "but what if....?". So it is suggested that reassurance be avoided. Learning to accept uncertainty/abiguity is the way to get over these problems. Easier said than done though.

These 2 articles are from the best (in my opinion) website out there dealing with obsessive and compulsive behaviour. Have a read of this article first http://www.ocdonline.com/Rethinkingtheunthinkable.php Then have a read of this one relating specifically to sexuality and relationship fears http://www.ocdonline.com/articlephillipson7.php

You'll be able to sort this out:), but it will be a 2 steps forward 1 step back deal.

[aaron1977]

Becks I do all that sort of thing i read number plates on cars like 1234 and then i must touch things 12 12 must be like that or i think something bad will happen,message me back also add me on facebook to chat more it will help you my email is aaronskinner2207@btinternet.com put that in facebook or email me for futher info