The Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Support and Discussion Thread

What happened?

I need to go out to the shop but I have so many rituals I'd need to go through and it's honestly just easier to stay in bed.

Hi aww please stop, think about how you'd like your face to look Posting will definitely help me thinks

aww bless you.. i stopped and went to sleep! there's a tiny patch of bald on my left eye and its a bit more sparse... but ive done worse so im happy i stopped before then!

posting really did help, forced me to think about what i was doing and to consciously try to stop. so hard overcoming the "urge" though!

great idea for a thread btw i think people who understand OCD are the best to turn to for support... because non-OCDers just cant comprehend how we think.... tbh, even I dont get how i think!?

im just glad mine isnt as severe or impacting too negatively on my life like others... to the guys above, hope you managed to get out and get things done! and if not, it was horrible outside today so you were probably best off staying in!

Not sure if you can quite class it as as a diagnosis of OCD but many of the traits of my disordered eating, anxiety and cardiophobia all have a ver obsessive-compulsive nature to them so maybe this thread's for me?

hi OCDers! i have trich (i cant spell the full name, its aka the hair pulling disorder!). been so good for weeks, and just had a mini pull-session on my eyebrow and eyelashes. boo sad now hopefully ive not gone too mad and i can still wear mascara and it not look gappy. its been lovely having a hairy face haha dont want to go back to my old ways! i look so ridiculous when ive pulled, it really makes a big difference to your face.

hopefully posting about it might kill the urge a bit. gonna check the damage, vaseline my eyes and go to bed... must.not.pull.must.not.pull.

still pulling arghhh stop it! someone tell me to stop, otherwise ill end up looking like a dick. my eyelashes feel irritating and i just want to pull them outtttt. but they look pretty and normal. need to overcome the compulsion and let it pass. so horrible

I have OCD too. Diagnosed when I was 15, and I'm now 22.

I still have therapy (private, NHS is awful about mental health), and i'm getting better. When I was first diagnosed I had to be sedated and put on heavy medication. I never wanted to leave my room, as I was afraid I was going to get infected or pregnant. I couldn't sit on chairs, if a person touched me I had to wash my hands, found it hard to even get in my own bed which once led me to trying to sleep standing up on my cupboards.
I had to get changed about 3 times a day because I thought my clothes were dirty. I couldn't sit on my own toilet seat, could never go to public toilets. Nobody could come into my room apart from my mum. Use to hoard stuff and check things, especially my window to see if it was locked. Had to go through all TV listings before I went to bed, just incase I missed something. I'd cry with anger and frustration to the point where I even cut myself.

My problems all stemmed from my irrational fear of pregnancy and self-doubt. I thought dust could get me pregnant/chairs/if a man was to touch my hand etc...Because of this I could never have a sexual relationship with my boyfriend of 4 years. I still can't, but I'm nearly there.

But yeah, I'm getting better now. I'm starting to come off my medication. It's slow, but I'm getting there. I still have irrational thoughts -- but with therapy I'm learning how to deal with it, and my rational brain is slowly conquering the OCD side of my brain. It's been a long journey, but I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Hey,

I have this too and I'm a guy.
I had my haircut today so i feel no urge to pull but the urge will come back as always
I've tried wearing gloves, wearing hats but it doesn't work.
I do it a lot when i'm focused on something. i.e revising and exams are in jan, so i did pulling quite a lot before this day.

How do you cope with it? I pull hair from everywhere you can think of.

It's mostly on my scalp. I started at a young age and my left side of my scalp has no hair, so it's like a patch. I comb my hair for like 3 mins before i go out, it's embarassing and people at school still tell me, 'do i comb my hair'

i frickin do!!! but they don't know

so yeah, that's my story

I have OCD too. Diagnosed when I was 15, and I'm now 22.

I still have therapy (private, NHS is awful about mental health), and i'm getting better. When I was first diagnosed I had to be sedated and put on heavy medication. I never wanted to leave my room, as I was afraid I was going to get infected or pregnant. I couldn't sit on chairs, if a person touched me I had to wash my hands, found it hard to even get in my own bed which once led me to trying to sleep standing up on my cupboards.
I had to get changed about 3 times a day because I thought my clothes were dirty. I couldn't sit on my own toilet seat, could never go to public toilets. Nobody could come into my room apart from my mum. Use to hoard stuff and check things, especially my window to see if it was locked. Had to go through all TV listings before I went to bed, just incase I missed something. I'd cry with anger and frustration to the point where I even cut myself.

My problems all stemmed from my irrational fear of pregnancy and self-doubt. I thought dust could get me pregnant/chairs/if a man was to touch my hand etc...Because of this I could never have a sexual relationship with my boyfriend of 4 years. I still can't, but I'm nearly there.

But yeah, I'm getting better now. I'm starting to come off my medication. It's slow, but I'm getting there. I still have irrational thoughts -- but with therapy I'm learning how to deal with it, and my rational brain is slowly conquering the OCD side of my brain. It's been a long journey, but I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

.y

Hmm, I think I have a mild form of OCD and so does my best friend, neither of us are diagnosed but I'll share what we do and maybe you guys can decide!

Well my friend has the germ/hygiene type I think because she washes her hands multiple times a day, that gel stuff during lessons etc, her hands are red sore because of it and often bleed if it's cold. On page 1 someone talked about spending a long time in the bathroom, she does that too but I do not know if that's just her general slowness. She seems to take longer to do everything menial, but is pretty smart.

Mine is much more of a fickle version, because I'm a guy with medium-long hair one of my problems is my fringe, if someone looks at me and I notice, the first thing I instinctively do is rearrange my fringe, I can't stand gaps in my fringe and I go to extremes to make sure there isn't one non photos etc. the other is less obvious but I always have to pull the bottom of my top/jumper whatever down when I move, as if I think it might have ridden up or something, but I do it too often and in the same way each time so I think it may be some type of OCD. I also can't stand long fingernails and bite mine routinely, they are often sore/cut where I bite the nail too short.

Any tips for either of us?

aw hello! how long have you been pulling for? for me its a fairly recent habit, i cant remember how it started, but looking at pics maybe its been about 1-2 years now... ive always been fidgety and used to pick skin from my scalp (thats an OCD type thing too actually, but i never did it anywhere near compulsively!). i also enjoyed plucking my eyebrows with tweezers before i developed trich, and sometimes id get carried away with shaping them and they'd end up a bit too thin.

anyway, for me i only pick out my eyebrows and lashes. i dont get the same feeling from any other areas (plus i used to be paranoid about my hair falling out so vanity stops me from pulling my scalp hair!)...i like the pain you get from finding a eyebrow or lash hair and pulling it out using my nails... maybe it's a kind of self harm as well as OCD? i also prefer pulling from my left side, i dont like my right side as much.

what made me realise i could "stop" (or at least, control my pulling) was when i realisation that i did mostly pull from one side. even though pulling felt out of control, it was actually focused on particular areas (my left eye, the outer lashes... the middle of my left brow). this made me realise that i was in control. so it helped encourage me to stop myself when i start pulling even just one or a few hairs.

i also decided to "stop" when i got so fed up one day i googled trich and found UK website that offers free support and forums for trich sufferers. i read a few stories and threads, and from that day i decided to make a conscious effort to stop. since that day, i definitely have been more in control than i was. and ive tried harder to stop when i start or when ive done a bit of damage. i havent gone mental-pulling since (touch wood!)

you're different to me though because you pull from your scalp. what feeling do you get from pulling? do you like the blissful, empty-headed feeling you get from being so focused on finding a hair and pulling out the "right" one? that's part of what makes me pull... it helps clear my mind of stresses and thoughts. although it does cause its own stress, when im doing it there's always a voice at the back of my mind saying "nooooo stop! you're gonna make yourself look stupid again" and i get anxious at the thought of trying to disguise bald bits and waiting for them to grow back.

the best way to stop is to keep active. if you are bored, or messing about on the internet, or watching telly, or trying to fall asleep... you hands will be pulling before you realise. once you realise, punish yourself by getting up and doing something. running round your room or tidying or going for a walk...anything that means you arent sat down idly. the urge will fade and hopefully you'll learn not to pull.

id also go see your GP, or more than one if yours is not understanding (my GPs are pretty much prehistoric and totally ignorant of mental health issues! thank god for a lovely student doc who referred me to CBT, didnt have this for the OCD though). see about getting referred to a CBT or counselling... explore every free avenue you can!

also, maybe talk to your friends or family. one thing i hate is that i keep it secret from nearly everyone (apart from my mum). im plucking up the courage to tell my best friend soon. i think it would help having someone to talk to about it... and at least make it feel less like a dirty little secret, kinda thing.

im so sorry that was so long everyone!! i wrote this as i was doing a million other things so it went rambly and im too tired to edit it down. plus i never chat to anyone about my trich... hope it helps!

Glad you could finally open up

I am better than I used to be: I can now step on cracks in the pavement and stuff.

Right down to the volume the remote goes to when watching TV - it has to be in 10's,.

Thanks ViceVersa

Took me a while

Haha they are good ones. The volume on the tele must be even. Odd numbers really annoy me and don't even get me started on primes!

Haha they are good ones. The volume on the tele must be even. Odd numbers really annoy me and don't even get me started on primes!

Don't think I'm OCD though.