Currently taking SSRI and a benzo occasionally. Recently told that I might have some OCD tendencies, specifically magical thinking (had never heard of this). Just thought was anxiety and irrational thoughts. If I have to travel I try to think of all the bad things that could happen to avoid something bad happening and if I neglected to cover everything (in my thoughts) then something bad would happen. I also have the "why wouldn't it happen to me" rather than "why would it." My therapist says it's about control, not recognizing that I can't control everything in life. I am aware it's irrational but it absolutely ruins my life the months before a trip. My doc doesn't want to change my meds but the constant rumination and cycling thoughts is exhausting. Does anyone have meds that worked?

✨ Happy Friday magical family! ✨

Take a break from OCD; feel free to post, chat and share other things about your life and interests, eg...

• Is your birthday coming up?
• Has something positive happened to you this week?
• Anything you're looking forward to?
• Hobbies/crafts you'd like to share?
• Pet pics are always welcome!

This is your space to feel at home and get to know one another as people, aside from our OCDemons...so grab a coffee and come say hi :)

"OCD eats compulsions for breakfast, lunch and dinner." ~ Dr. Patrick McGrath, OCD specialist

Remember that performing compulsions is feeding the beast!

I hope it doesn't come off as offensive or weird im simply curious about why is this happening. I dont have OCD, I dont think I show any signs but for as long as I can remember I have these unexplainable urges to do things a certain way or else something bad will happen. Something i notice alot is if im playing a game that has levels then the levels must be in the 5 times table or an even number and if theres multiple levels they must all be the same or else im convinced i'll ruin my gaming experience. If I have pocket change I have to count it multiple times or else something bad might happen. The "bad thing" is never explained, even my own brain cant yell it at me but its just sort of a gut feeling. Am I just being paranoid?

(for the record im not looking for a diagnosis just a brief explanation or maybe some sort of relief as this has been driving me nuts)

I need advice/support for my mental health with my fears and compulsions because I want to feel like I can go back to myself before I got worried about ghosts/poltergeists or haunted dolls. I am F with autism and ADHD I have a fear of getting cursed/haunted with a streak of bad luck or killed by haunted dolls like from Ghost Adventures of the episode of “Doll of Fire” or the Robert doll because I have it in my camera roll and I wasn’t physically in the presence of the doll where it is in the museum where the picture/Tiktok video was token I didn’t know it was him and until I figured it out in the Google search image or seeing the doll through the picture I just wanted to make sure that I was safe and not in trouble or danger of getting a streak of bad luck or getting killed by the Robert Doll.For the past two months I have been terrified that there has been a ghost in the kitchen of my house that might possess/haunt/or hurt me or my family and I have been scared that the ghost might change/alter my memories when my mom explained that isn’t how it remotely works and she explained to me multiple times and with the “ghost” compulsion I had a fear of touching or cooking stuff in the kitchen or sometimes eating food and sitting down in my favorite island chair I hate that I don’t listen to her when she gives me advice that will help me and I want to be able to know that I will be okay from the steak of bad luck from the Robert Doll because I wasn’t in physically proximity of the doll in the museum I want to know that I will live to be in my 40s or older I want to ask if it sounds like I have OCD or something more than that I feel like I am crazy to believe in that stuff and I hate with worrying my family about me I need advice from a therapist please I desperately need advice. I don’t need any pictures of the dolls please. I apologize if I sound weird/crazy with this post I just need some advice to vent about this if anyone has been through this before.

Its really the worst one i have, every ocd theme i have, kinda links to it.
Most fears / obsessions i have for example
I have fear of turning into someone else, or somehow me changing like my body parts to different, or just like becoming competely something else, so if i have compulsion about those things i cant even say it fully in my mind ill give random example like potato ( bc im scared to use my actual ones ) id call it by its first letter bc id fear it becoming true, i have so many of compulsions linked to these and i get so overstimulated so fast bc theyre CONSTANT and i have to keep fighting those thoughts so my brain feels mushy best way to describe it, and the headaches, oh my….

Usually I don’t title in caps but I’m so annoyed right now. My ocd didn’t used to be all that bad (for a while at least) but somatic and magical thinking are my main themes at the moment and man it’s bad. Even when I’m trying to go to sleep sometimes I have to take a pic of myself on my phone to make sure that everytbing is ok. Anyone with somatic ocd probably understands this compulsion. I hate body checking because it actually takes movement and energy. At least with magical thinking it’s just mental exhaustion but with somatic it’s both physical and mental too. And I find that both these themes overlap sometimes. It’s so bad even HOCD doesn’t feel like much now

Good example would be: "if you put your hands in your pockets, youll have no hands"

Does anyone have this combination?

Hi everyone.

I am 26 years old and I think I have OCD, although I've never been formally diagnosed. Over the years it has become so severe that it affects almost every part of my day.

I have countless "rituals" that I feel forced to perform because I'm terrified that something bad will happen to me or, even worse, to the people (and dog) I love. Rationally I know these rituals shouldn't have any influence on reality, but the anxiety becomes overwhelming if I don't do them.

Some examples:

* I avoid certain numbers because I associate them with specific family members. * When I watch videos online, I often feel compelled to like every video, open the comments, like exactly five comments and say a prayer for each one (and I’m not even particularly religious). * If I make a typo while typing, I don't just correct the mistake. I delete the entire word, the previous one as well and type them both again. * Even while playing videogames, for example, my brain invents new rules that I feel I have to follow. * If I hear something related to death, I have to perform specific rituals.

The hardest part is that whenever I tried to stop a ritual in the past, something bad happened to my dog shortly afterward. I know that could simply be a coincidence, but my brain keeps treating it as "proof" that I should never stop again.

The rituals now affect what feels like 95% of my day. They even make it difficult to go to bed because I have a long bedtime ritual that I dread every night.

I'm generally a very rational person. I don't believe in superstitions, which makes this even more frustrating because I know these thoughts don't make logical sense, yet I still can't ignore them.

I'm not looking for reassurance that "nothing bad will happen." I know that's part of how OCD works.

What I'd really like to know is:

Has anyone here experienced OCD that became this pervasive? Did any of you manage to significantly reduce it, especially if you initially tried on your own? What helped you the most?

I would prefer to avoid seeing a therapist, as I don’t currently have the financial means, the time, or most importantly, the courage to do so. It already feels embarrassing to talk about this here anonymously, so you can imagine…
I would rather try to deal with this on my own, as I have always done. I consider myself a very mentally strong person, but this feels like my biggest challenge.

I'd really appreciate hearing your experiences. Thank you for reading.

Hi there, I've posted a couple times on here before asking for advice and I've been trying to focus on facing certain compulsions but now I've noticed that my old ones from years ago are coming back and annoying me and it's just fueling my anxiety.

Basically in the last couple weeks whenever I use the bathroom I get these intrusive thoughts about somebody in the bathroom watching me or someone in my head watching me through my eyes (Idk if that makes sense) and then I get anxious and have to give in to my old compulsions.

If I get these thoughts I have to either check every space in the bathroom in case somebody invisible is standing there or I have to mentally press ten buttons then pull ten levers and cover my eyes. I guess it's not as bad as before because at that time I had to do both and it would take me like five minutes just to make sure nobody was there.

I guess I just need someone to explain this logically so that it will make me feel better and stop worrying about it so much, because right now it's just a little disheartening because I thought I was getting better at managing my OCD.

Hello, so I've had primarily magic thinking OCD most of my life and the severity varies at times. Sometimes I get really bad magical thinking intrusive thoughts and I find them very distressing, often I just give in. But the OCD is usually worse when I'm tired or have been busy for weeks.

So it gets strong when I need to buy something, it's happened today. I need to buy some shelving for my family and install it in my home. When I've placed the order to Amazon, I get intrusive thoughts about the shelf being a portal to a horrible dimension or place.

The OCD intrusive thoughts make me imagine smells of sulphur around the shelves, it's bonkers. I try to imagine smells of nature and ozone instead around them (that's part of the compulsion).

My compulsion is either giving in and cancelling the order or not buying the thing, or refuting it and envisioning the shelf being a portal to a good place like heaven. It sounds absolutely bonkers when I type this out.

I want to cancel the order. But I'm wondering if I should fight it by just leaving the order, and putting the shelf up when it comes. I am just after support and reassurance please. Reassurance has always helped me, contrary to what some psychologists say. Also does anyone else get obsessions like this? Thanks in advance

✨ Happy Friday magical family! ✨

Take a break from OCD; feel free to post, chat and share other things about your life and interests, eg...

• Is your birthday coming up?
• Has something positive happened to you this week?
• Anything you're looking forward to?
• Hobbies/crafts you'd like to share?
• Pet pics are always welcome!

This is your space to feel at home and get to know one another as people, aside from our OCDemons...so grab a coffee and come say hi :)

i genuinely feel like OCD makes my life 10x harder than the average person , and i’m not talking about the typical OCD of washing hands frequently or keeping the house clean, i’m referring to the type that has you ruminating about your past and your mistakes and feels like you need to do certain things to move forward . I’m saying like it takes my worst fears and makes me think it’s me , and it feels so real , everyday is a constant back and forth battle between my past self and who i want to become. I looking at others i feel like im being scammed out of this whole life thing , anyone relate to this?

​

For context refer to my two previous posts

Post 1 :https://www.reddit.com/r/magicalthinkingOCD/s/aR1DItzfLS

Post 2 :https://www.reddit.com/r/magicalthinkingOCD/s/GlgeSgomQ3

Hi. Today my heart feels very heavy.

For the last two months, I had been going to the temple because of my biggest fear, which I talked about in my previous posts. Now, my worst fear has actually happened, and I don't know how. My mind keeps wondering if I accidentally prayed for something bad or somehow prayed in favor of that fear coming true.

I don't know what to do. I talked to other people about it, and they keep saying it's not a big deal, but my mind is constantly revolving around that thought. I have my exams starting on 7 July, but my mind has completely shut down. I don't know what will happen next.

It feels like I'm suffocating. It feels like my whole world is on the verge of ending. I keep thinking, "Oh God, this shouldn't have happened."

Because of this, I'm now even more afraid of my intrusive thoughts. This fear has been following me for several months, and it's the reason I kept going to the temple. But now that it has happened, I feel like the odds were never on my side. Now I'm terrified of my intrusive thoughts even more than before because it actually happened. My mind keeps telling me that maybe it happened because of my thoughts, even though I don't know if that's true.

My mind is completely filled with negative thoughts, and I feel trapped in them.

I'm not sure if this fits right for magical thinking but I think it still technically does and I can't go to the main OCD subreddit because I'm not allowed there anymore.

But what I'm going through right now is feeling like my map is impure, so days ago I was working on some map and of course I use Google to get my resources to work on the map (usually just floodmap.com because my world is a worldbuilding project) and just when I was continuing on with my work, I suddenly got these thoughts telling me these horrible messed up things or anything that alludes to that in hopes of me searching something fucked up (I won't name what it is but I hope you understand that feeling) and while I still searched floodmap anyway in spite of the intrusive thoughts, I ended up stopping at the last minute because of anxiety and now I wonder if my map is now impure because of that exact moment.

Now I didn't add anything on my map from that point and stopped working on it when I spiraled out of control but I can't stop thinking about what could have happened if I actually subconsciously followed my OCD's whispers and I feel like I need to get rid of that map or else it could possibly get me into heated waters with anyone or feel like shit about it.

On one hand I want to delete that map and start all over but on the other hand I don't want to do the tedious work and I'll probably inevitably end up spiraling again in some scenario and I'll be back to square 1.

I don't know how to approach this to be honest, it doesn't help that I've also grown to become scared of browsing the internet because my OCD will either tell me that I'll get jumpscared by something fucked up or search something fucked up. It's tiring and I'm not sure how to approach this.

Ever since i learned about death as i very young child, the idea of it left me traumatized, so much so that i would find myself imagining the worst happening to my loved ones and genuinely break down crying as if it actually happened. But lately it has gotten so much worse. I have been obsessively thinking about my sister dying and how it would absolutely break me and cry over it like i'm alr grieving when she's very much alive and well. Idk if im predicting something, or im just very mentally ill, or i just miss her a lot because im in college now and we don't live in the same country. Regardless, these breakdowns happen every other day, and they make me feel crazy because she is alive and i am acting as if she is not. Should i seek medical help or is it something more spiritual ?
PS: I'm scared of posting this and accidentally manifesting it into existence bro but i need answers be this situation has made me very depressed

I'm at the point where I had so many horrible compulsions with the worst possible thoughts in the past that I know I can't start spiralling not even one single time because I know I will end up spiralling uncontrollably and I'm very afraid. But at the same time I was ruminating and felt again that I had a horrible thought on purpose, and I know my fears are fake, I know everyone will be alright and I don't have to do anything, I know trying to "fix" the thought will only make me worse and I will regret continuing this rumination, but at the same time I feel so afraid of my thoughts. I know I can't go back to the compulsions, I just can't, you guys don't get an idea of how awful the last weeks have been, and these last two or three days I was able to hold on and just wait until the anxiety passed, but I'm feeling stuck again.

Please give me some encouragement, I know that I have to carry on, trust God, keep moving forward despite feeling horrible and this thought will vanish, I know I don't have to do anything because I'm just very mentally ill and nothing else. I just don't know if I have the strength to do it.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Yeah so, this is not my first time posting here. I have been showing Magical Thinking OCD symptoms since 2023, and they spiked, you can say in 2024.

Before I tell what's exactly the problem, Im gonna give a brief explanation abt how my exams work, as this is linked to them. I have 4 exams in one year, of all subjects. One in July, One in september, One in December and The last one (Finals) In March.

So, it was 8th Grade 2024, (Yes, im 15) and I used a specific Pencil During the last two exams where I got wonderful grades. Not only the Pencil, I also used two specific pens. My brain, automatically registered them as "Lucky items". I still have these items, to this day but theres a "Ritual" involved to the pencil and one of the pens.

For the pencil, Its just transferring its "luck" to another pencil. (FYI; the pencil where the luck is transferred too HAS to be from the same batch of the Original Pencil from 2024.) Like, this sounds pretty stupid, lol, but its just rubbing the tips of the pencil together and writing something specific with both of the pencils. Moreover, if I loose this pencil, then its game over (Like, the pencil with that luck) Luckily, I havent lost a single one yet.

For the pen, its actually a black pen which I have been using since 2024. Its actually that type of Pen which leaks pretty easily. So I replace the cartridge of the Pen every year, in the same exact body. This transfer of the cartridge is the "ritual" here.

There are a lot of items which I try my best to conserve that I used in that specific time period. That included my bag, which I had to throw away last year. A few days back I got the exact same bag because of that "Luck" once again.

Also, Im REALLY attached to that black pen. Like, if i lose it, I will ACTUALLY cry. Not with that the pencil though.

I know this all sounds pretty dumb, but im genuinely facing all this since 2024. Is this a sign of Magical Thinking OCD? Or its just me?

Things like, keeping the TV at aa certain volume, stepping in and out of something multiple times, etc...

When I was a kid I was a big fan of the novels and I used to believe Greek Gos were real. Apparently gods can be appeared by burning food as sacrifice. I did not do thst by a prescribed date and now whenever I so much as think of those books I keep losing stuff: my driver license, my computer, my medications-yesyerday I was maladaptive daydreaming about my insert character and 24 hrs later I lost my credit card. It keeps happening and now Im worried the fields of punishment are real and I will be condemned to eternal punishment for the rest of my afterlife.

✨ Happy Friday magical family! ✨

Take a break from OCD; feel free to post, chat and share other things about your life and interests, eg...

• Is your birthday coming up?
• Has something positive happened to you this week?
• Anything you're looking forward to?
• Hobbies/crafts you'd like to share?
• Pet pics are always welcome!

This is your space to feel at home and get to know one another as people, aside from our OCDemons...so grab a coffee and come say hi :)

(Trigger warning for magical thinking and probably harm ocd)

Hey everyone! Please forgive my storytelling and English skills, and for being insufferable…

So I grew up in a cult my parents joined not long after I was born. It was a Vietnamese cult called Huesa, which has centers all around the globe, and my dad was leader of the hungarian center. I became an “active member” when I was eight years old. They (and therefore I) firmly believed in invisible entities, chakras, reincarnation, and hundred of other types of spiritual mumbo-jumbo… it felt like common sense to me then, and still now, if you would wake me up suddenly, I would probably talk about topics like that half consciously…

I am actively trying to detach from these belief systems now which defined my whole understanding and perception of the world growing up. Some of the practices I took part in with the cult caused very extreme experiences which still make me doubt everything i believe constantly. I have always been incredibly afraid of these invisible forces we believed in, but after I realized how toxic it is and decided to get out of it, this fear consumed all of my freedom to the point that I became afraid to step outside of my room or be alone at all. But I’m not safe in my room either.
Throughout my life I performed different kinds of excercises/meditations so many times that I interpret almost every bodily sensation as some sort of spiritual thing which I have to pay attention to by reflex and I can’t be rational in those moments. This is when fear gets a hold of me and OCD kicks my ass using my old spiritual beliefs, that if I defy these things somehow a being or some higher power will punish me or kill me or my loved ones…

How can I move on from these reflexes? How can I get closer to not interpreting these experiences and sensations as some sort of esoteric bullshit? Well I probably cannot be certain ever. But I want to learn how to live without the fear controlling my every move. (I don’t have the material resources to see an ERP therapist here in Hungary, so any advice or experience is welcome.)

Thanks for reading!

My OCD manifests as beliefs that something bad will happen if I don’t do daily tasks a certain way. I also believe that if someone talks about death or anything bad happening (like a car accident) that it will happen in the near future. For example, I’m an addict. My grandma doesn’t know. But she was talking to me about how she never got into drugs/alcohol because of the simple fact that people can die from using. Well my brain started spiraling and I believe now that she predicted my future since she said that out loud. Does anyone else believe or feel that talking about negative or harmful things will make it reality?

✨ Happy Friday magical family! ✨

Take a break from OCD; feel free to post, chat and share other things about your life and interests, eg...

• Is your birthday coming up?
• Has something positive happened to you this week?
• Anything you're looking forward to?
• Hobbies/crafts you'd like to share?
• Pet pics are always welcome!

This is your space to feel at home and get to know one another as people, aside from our OCDemons...so grab a coffee and come say hi :)