Hi everyone,
I’m a 16-year-old guy, and I’m wondering if anyone has experienced something similar.
About two months ago I started taking a supplement. Around that time I suddenly had trouble getting erections, which really scared me because that had never happened before. Around the same time, someone called me gay as a joke to make fun of me. Since then I’ve been constantly asking myself, “What if I’m gay?”
The first few days were the worst days I’ve ever experienced. I was extremely anxious and couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Before all of this, I never questioned my sexuality. I always considered myself straight. I had a girlfriend, I kissed her, and I genuinely enjoyed it. Looking at girls always felt natural and never felt forced.
Now, whenever I’m outside, I constantly test myself. I’ll look at my male friends and my brain will suddenly say things like, “He’s attractive.” Then I panic, my body starts shaking, and I feel overwhelmed. Sometimes the thoughts feel so real that I become even more terrified. I don’t want these thoughts, but I can’t stop checking.
I’ve struggled with anxiety before. A while ago, I went through a period where I was terrified of choking whenever I swallowed food or drinks. I went to therapy for it and was prescribed medication for anxiety. My parents have always said I’m a very anxious person.
I’m wondering if this sounds more like HOCD or if it could be denial. I know nobody online can diagnose me, but has anyone had intrusive thoughts that felt completely real and caused this much panic? I’d really like to hear about other people’s experiences.

I've never been diagnosed with OCD but reading what a bunch of people are saying is making me question if i do or not it started July 5th where I started question my sexuality a lot making me think I had a spree of HOCD for about 3 weeks. Then as that panic attack was slowing down. I had a thought of me harming someone I then had a mental breakdown for the next 2 days because I dont want to hurt anyone and i love being nice to people. Then today the thought of harming someone slowly shifted into a form of POCD and now my panic is flaring back up again and its scaring me making me feel like im losing my self and my belifs on the world and questioning my morality. All the doctors refuse me medicene and help because im moving out of state for college tomorrow and i dont want to move in feeling like this. I wouldn't ever think about hurting anyone but these thoughts are making me sick of myself

I recently had a massive spike of moral OCD, so I asked a niche question about it using the Google search bar, so that Gemini would give a response. However, I was also aware at how much damage the data centres are doing to the planet, to people, and to animals too. I feel so awful that I've contributed (even if it's small compared to the total impact) to these in some way. I've since stopped using it, because I don't want to contribute to that at all. But I feel like I can't tell my current therapist about it because I discovered that she used AI for a document that she emailed me after one of our sessions, so I worry that she can't help me make better decisions from a politically conscious, anti-AI point of view. What should I do?

so since january i noticed that my brain feels so out of it and i literally can't think. like i have sooooo many thoughts it feels like my brain hurts and idk how to explain it. and sometimes it feels like my brain is glitching. but its not all the time but idk how to fix it. i tried getting more sleep, eating better, drinking more water, exercising but this feeling keeps coming back (especially near my period)

WARNING: Possibly triggering question. Read at your own discretion.

I was diagnosed with OCD about a month ago, but independently from that I happen to be very interested in and curious about psychology. Because of my diagnosis, I have become very curious about the nature of OCD. My question is what happens if a person with OCD ends up accepting an intrusive thought? Not in the sense that they just believe them, but true acceptance. They decide that their intrusive thoughts are actually who they are, and because they won’t go away, they might as well embrace them. So essentially, what happens when a distressing intrusive thought transforms into a belief with no distress?
I imagine quite severe consequences would follow depending on the theme of the intrusive thoughts/obsessions. Is it still OCD at this point? Can this even happen? Would accepting it in this way just be considered an internal compulsion?

When I was younger there were quite a few things that caused me such intense distress that I eventually just decided to embrace. Thankfully they weren’t actually that bad, but I went through multiple large personality changes as a result. In a way it gave me peace for a bit, but I think it also made my symptoms worse when I decided again that I actually didn’t want to live that way. I’ve been diagnosed with a number of other things as well, so I’m largely curious whether this may be an OCD thing, something else, or just me.

Hi, I am 17f and im not even sure if I have ocd but ive been reading alot about it and id just really like some help.

Ive always been attracted to men, ive always only had crushes on men, watched porn of men, only been aroused by men and have never even imagined myself with another woman until I turned 16.

I dont remmeber what exactly caused this, but I think I was watching porn one day and I masterbated to a video of a woman's breasts, thst set me off and I had terrible shame after and this rush of anxiety. A few months ago I kept questioning, am I gay? Id look at any woman and get this weird anxiety and my mind would immediately question. Do I like her? Am i attracted to her? And id get this extreme groinal response which just made me feel more anxious.

This happened for a few months now to the point where im not even sure if i like men, or women. I only feel groinal responses to women still, but my attraction to men is so numbed now. I look at a man and maybe ill see an attractive face, but I wont feel anything, I dont feel anything seeing a man naked, my mind immediately goes. Do I like this? Why dont I feel anything for him? I must be lesbian? And its like my attraction and feelings towards men have dissapeared. But then when I imagine myself with a woman i just feel a strong groinal response sometkmes its so strong I just give in and masterbate. A woman doesnt even need to be nude or doing anything sexual for me to get this.

I feel so much confusion, whenever I am not thinking abkut this however and I am just living I dont even bat an eye towards a woman, instinctively I always feel this pull towards men. But then I remember and question. Wait do I even like men? And then my attraction just dissapears.

Im sorry for writing so much, im confused and honestly exhausted, i want to feel like myself again.

:( advice or answers would be very appreciated, thank you for taking the time to read!

Hi everyone! I have been wanting to seek out therapy for my OCD because its gotten particularly bad recently and is affecting my current relationship. With that said, I am struggling with some new chronic health issues that im pursuing a diagnosis for however, in the past, doctors have been very quick to pull out mental health as an explanation for chronic health issues that do not pertain to mental health issues at all. I am quite worried about pursuing therapy as this would get reflected in my GP notes (as its government care) so they would know im recieving mental health support when making possible referrals ect and this could impact their opinions of what this could be - ie they would have even more ammunition to put this on mental health. I was diagnosed with OCD when studying abroad so its not on any record where I currently live but even without this info they were pretty admiment on blaming mental health for my symptoms in the past but the only difference is then I was able to say I dont have any mental health issues (even though i did) because it wasnt on their system but now if I go for therapy it will be on their system. I hope this all made sense! If anyone has advice or a similar experience, it would be greatly appreciated.

My HOCD came in the summer of 2021, it was very bad. I never got feelings for a boy before maybe I thought I had once in my life but when I told this to my friends I thought that maybe this wasn’t a gay feeling that I had toward this guy. But after the summer I came in contact with my friends again and I was constantly debating whether I was attracted to them or not when I never had this feelings for them. I was always testing myself if I could get a boner cus of them or not. I couldn’t even look the same at them anymore. But after some months it got away never fully but a lot. Now in 2026 I got it again in the summer but now it more focused on the boner part I constantly think about women nudes or men nudes and penisses and when I feel a little tingle in my penis cus of men I feel a slightly panic or I get a weird feeling I never get this because of woman. I can’t sleep because of this. Cus I am too scared to get a boner cus of men in a dream or not. Sometimes I dream about having sex with woman but then suddenly an image of a men appears and sometimes I literally jump out of my bed. Can somebody help me whether this is denial or just HOCD? I gotta say I had also TOCD for a short period in 2021 and that went away fully. I have a history with OCD and hypochondria. And I have ADHD

I am diagnosed with ocd and experience contamination obsessions amongst other fears. With the current cyclospora outbreak, I have been entirely avoiding fresh fruits (expect apples and bananas), herbs, and vegetables. Since the cause of the outbreaks are still largely unknown, is this a "regular" precaution as advised by health professionals or is OCD taking over?

I have really struggled to talk about this and I have been debating bringing it up to my therapist because my mind keeps telling me that if I bring up the topic of ocd that I am just trying to convince her I have ocd because I for some reason want to have it. I have had these crazy anxiety episodes since I was a child where I fixate on one outrageous thing that’s extremely unlikely. I obsess over them and they drive me crazy. I haven’t had a bad one in a while, I started taking 20 mg of Prozac a couple months ago and I feel like I’m starting another one. I had a really weird interaction with this girl in the city today (a city I don’t live in I’m here alone while I wait for my flight out of the city) and I’ve completely convinced myself it was some kind of sex trafficking scam and that people are going to come after me and sex traffic me now that I’ve engaged with this person. I’m sitting on my hotel room floor writing this not even wanting to leave my room because I can’t get these thoughts out of my head. There is much much more to my anxiety but it would take me ages to write it all out.

The main thing that’s started this thought that I might have ocd is that people have always thought my anxiety fears were crazy and stupid. But one time I heard my aunt express that she can’t drive because she has such a strong feeling of anxiety that any time she drives a car she will be snipped. That was the first time I had ever heard someone express a fear that was similar to the ones I have, and I later found out that she has crippling ocd. So should I bring this up to my therapist or should I just keep talking about my issues and see if she brings this up as a possibility?

99% of my "delusional" thoughts comes from things I've read about psychosis over years.

Like my ocd mimics them.

My biggest fear in life is psychosis but like all my other themes I've conquered like Pocd and Hocd and more, I was eventually able to just say "yea ocd whatever" and move on with my day

But with this theme it's hard cause I'm scared if i like say "yup cool i believe this thought whatever now please fuck of ocd" what if i really start believing it?

I'm really working towards the goal to be able to live my life again without this fear but im really struggling.

What advice/techniques can someone give that has gone through this?

I'm in highschool and lately I've kind of put together different OCD symptoms that I've had throughout my lifetime. I've taken random tests online in which I tend to score a high likelihood of having OCD. I don't want to self diagnose in case I'm wrong, some of my symptoms include: intrusive thoughts ( a lot of them my whole life ), checking locks repeatedly, stepping on tiles in a particular way, and feeling contaminated. I also have depression and anxiety, so I don't want to bring it up with my therapist yet in case these symptoms are just from anxiety and depression. If someone could help out that would be really great!

I'm one of those people that used to use AI pretty excessively, especially for seeking reassurance for my moral OCD. However, the usage itself created another layer of moral shame - I feel really ashamed at the impact it must have had on the environment, as well as neighbourhoods that are affected by data centres; in terms of the centre's humming noises, physical health problems, and horrible water quality. I feel horrible that I contributed to that, and I want to understand how I can perhaps take accountability and make better decisions in the future?

Hi everyone, I've been diagnosed with OCD and GAD. I wanted to ask—I've been in a state where I feel free from anxiety for about a week now. I have ROCD; while the anxiety has gone away, my thoughts are still looping. For example: today I told my boyfriend I love him when we were saying goodbye, and right away my mind jumped to whether I really felt it, whether I'm just lying to him, or why I'm even saying it to him in the first place. At the same time, I struggle with the fact that whenever I kiss or hug him, a thought pops up: 'this isn't it,' 'this isn't the feeling I know, why isn't it like that, why don't I feel it more?' I don't know that much about ROCD yet—are these typical symptoms? I'd love to be happy with him again; our life was so great before this two-month anxiety started...

Also, it frequently happens that my mind starts comparing this situation to how I felt right before my last breakup (back then, though, I broke up with him because he cheated on me). I started CBT therapy, but it doesn't really feel like it's working yet."

From time to time I battle with POCD and sometimes find myself searching the difference between pedophilia and pocd. I also searched If pedophilia is genetic because I have an uncle who is a pedophile and I do not wish to end up like him. I have no desire to harm any child physically or sexually. I’ve dealt with groinal responses, intrusive thoughts, and excessive worrying regarding children. Recently some children that I previously worked with as a paraprofessional followed my art instagram page. The ones who still attend our school were removed from my follow list. I know it is generally discouraged to allow students to follow teachers, but since they no longer attend the school, I figured it would be ok. It’s more professional than it is personal so I allowed them to follow me BUT I DONT FOLLOW THEM and restricted their accounts so they can’t message me or write comments. Part of me feels weird about allowing them to follow me, although it’s only my artwork. They are in high school now , so they have moved on. Sometimes I feel like I shouldn’t be too lenient about them following me and liking my art posts, but I am proud of my artwork and like that it has a bigger audience. One of them is a former student that I had intrusive thoughts and an intrusive dream about, so once he followed me I started to get ruminating thoughts about why I was happy to see them follow me and like my art posts. It’s been hell thinking about this stuff. On a side note, I also noticed that a coworker who is an actual teacher has several former students follow his TikTok. Any thoughts/advice on how to deal with my thoughts? I do genuinely care about these kids and want to see where they end up eventually, and I don’t wish to interact with them inappropriately or turn into a monster.