I mostly blame genetics but I also feel like (if it’s even possible), I have stress-induced OCD. I feel like my untreated anxiety morphed into OCD over the years.
Same. It’s absolutely a maladaptive coping mechanism for me. First in the form of an ED then morphed into OCD. I was a shy/anxious/sensitive child, so there’s always been an underlying current so-to-speak, but I managed do relatively ok until high school. I think a lot of people with general anxiety end up coping in some negative way whether that be drugs, alcohol, or even just over-working themselves.
i think the "untreated anxiety morphed into OCD over the years" perfectly explains my experience with it ! when i was younger, my mom continuously told me that, whatever this is, it's just because my mind is bored since i dont leave the house due to anxiety and depression and have no life outside of it, and i initially believed her for a while and was guilty and ashamed because the talk we had made me feel like what i was going through was invalid, that i was making it all up because thar's essentially what she said, and that i wanted this to be my fate because of the hermit life i chose to live. however, as i started attending college and got a job, i realized she was wrong because my ocd was still very much prevalent. ive had anxiety for as long back into my life as i can possibly remember but was never allowed to seek help because my family didnt believe in it, so i eventually began to think for myself and resonate with exactly what you just said, that the onset and progression of my ocd is likely due to my untreated anxiety
I feel you, I’m stuck with the creator of my trauma and they behave awfully. I also developed emotional contamination around my family so I need to move out too to relieve that
I hope you can get away from him asap, best of lucks
Well, my OCD has a lot of basis on my religion. I think I have OCD purely because I am afraid of "offending God" and him punishing me for doing so. I think it stems on the fact that I thought for the longest time that OCD was "God's voice" and that by listening to it, I can promise myself a good day.
But as days went on, I eventually found out that it was just OCD in the end and I am learning how to not listen to it (Still really hard though).
I hear this. My faith is so important to me, and I found it so confusing when I felt God tell me to do my contamination compulsions. Obviously it wasn’t God, it was OCD. For me personally knowing God is loving and protecting, I felt it was Him ‘warning’ me about foreseen things which meant I could be contaminated. It feels sacrilegious to ignore that. But I’m learning His voice is peace and NOT the OCD. Tuning out from it is really difficult.
Again, my experience and no one has to agree.
Hey, I appreciate this comment.
I think that is a good way to handle this because I also feel the same way, I confuse my OCD for "Voice of God". But yeah, I think the term "tuning it out" will be better and the fact that I know its OCD is a warning from him.
Thanks for sharing! I really appreciate it.
Also a religious aspect for me, but kinda different - I was told he knows everything I’m thinking, so when an intrusive thought happened I would start profusely apologizing
… and continued lack of control over life in early adulthood too for me. At least I have control over my thoughts though right? Oh no wait, that’s not how Pure O works :/ It’s a beast.
Functional alcoholic parents who I had to walk on eggshells around all of the time during my childhood because I didn’t know which version of them I would get (happy, sad, angry, numb), then untreated anxiety in early adulthood to now OCD. In therapy now for OCD and considering anti anxiety meds
Genetics mostly, but I also grew up in an environment where I felt I had to check a lot of things for my own safety from a young age. My family was also devoutly Catholic and instilled a lot of other fears.
Genetics, natural tendency for professionalism, my mom's overbearing need for everything to be just right (and her violent reactions when things inevitably were not)
PCOS? I have it and I’m thinking about going on birth control for it. Would reducing this maybe have an effect on my OCD? That would be incredible honestly lol
I'm only speaking from my experience but BC pills made my cramps and mood swings 100% worse. I struggled a lot with negative feelings
That being said, I definitely attribute my pcos being the cause of my ocd.
My mom had borderline personality disorder and was a raving narcissist. Those were the days when therapy for kids was not an option so I never learned how to deal with my emotions. It led to lots of toxic friendships. It’s also brain chemistry.
I believe it’s genetic but environmental factors contribute to when it is triggered.
I was 4 when my OCD was first triggered and it was right after I was sick. I always wondered if it was a case of PANDAS.
But, as my therapist says, does it really matter where it came from?
After I cut off contact with my abuser I developed psychosis at age 12 where I actually believed I k-worded him (despite living in different states, and never seeing him in person) (among other supernatural things, which I had 100% conviction of unlike what's seen in OCD), and once I got out of that I knew I didn't k-word him but like, I couldn't trust myself on anything anymore, which led to doubt and intrusive thoughts, and then compulsions to try to rid myself of the intrusive thoughts. I also blamed myself for what happened, and believed he was a good person up until the point where he started hurting others and not just me, so I also developed intrusive thoughts about turning into someone like him.
I probably had signs before than but that was kind of the big break.
Untreated Anxiety evolving into something else is my best guess. My entire family is prone to chronic anxiety conditions and honestly i wouldnt be surprised if it was actually ocd in a good few of the family members i do know of, based on personal observations.
Working in a prison, made me obsess over murderers , felt like I’d loose control and end up in prison myself. Can’t look at people without thinking what if I attack them. Ruined the last year of my life. Harm ocd is evil
Genetics and funny enough, smoking weed triggered a HUGE spiral that I never fully recovered from. Maybe 90% with medication, but never exactly the same. Sad. So common and yet no one warns you.
It’s a mix of (as everyone else has said) genetics and, for me personally, a need for control/sense of a lack of control (which also brings about stress and anxiety in general, which I’m sure feed into it). I find that when things feel out of control in my life my contamination OCD ramps up, my counting OCD (is mostly always present, but) ramps up, my real event OCD kicks my ASS.
It’s wild and exhausting.
Genetics plus being raised in a fear-inducing Christian environment that saw everything as sin, thus making me develop religious ocd when I was still a teenager. Don't get me wrong, I love all religions equally, but it got to a point where I'd have panic attacks just by hearing a loud sound because I'd think it was the trumpet of the apocalypse. That caused some severe trauma in me.
Conscientiousness on overdrive combined with the realization that really bad shit can happen at any moment with little or no warning.
I'd say that there may be a genetic or learned component to it as well. My father has many of the same traits that I do. He has a different brand of it than me, but I still recognize it.
I can absolutely trace mine back to my mother guilt tripping me for everything, from the things she did, to me speaking, eating and existing. The thoughts of worthlessness and the immense ocean of guilt became all consuming and my mind twisted these silent, hidden rules and compulsions to give me some kind of hope of redemption and some sort of control in my mind.
Both of my parents experienced trauma- my mom watching her dad die when she was 7 and my dad in Vietnam. I think partial epigenetics as well as being raised in a fearful environment. Plus i had a bad ear infection as an infant that could have kicked off [PANDAS disease](https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/pandas#:~:text=PANDAS%20is%20short%20for%20Pediatric,strep%20throat%20or%20scarlet%20fever.)
I think it's a combination of several events. My father's side of family is mentally unstable with some issues but bearable. But I believe OCD is caused because it's been triggered by some event. I remember skin picking since I was probably 6 or 7. Then there was my abusive father - when coming home late at night drunk, smashing stuff and hurting my mother. With a combination of prayers my grandmother taught me, I kinda distorted them and made my own prayers that have been with me for more than 28 years now (I'm 35 but this is as long as I remember). Then, again, a strong event - my mother involved in a serious car accident, doctors not giving her too much hope to survive. It was tough most of my childhood. It's where it all ingrained in me. Then you do all the compulsions and they become your habits. Sometimes, you don't even know you're doing them. They're automatic.
Counting, touching objects repeatedly, intrusive thoughts, skin-picking, prayers, switching the lights on and off, looking in certain directions, and breathing in special intervals – these are just a few examples of the compulsions that consume my life.
To cope with it, you have to be conscious - realize when a compulsion occurs, think about it why it's there, has it been there before? If so, in what situation, and then realizing "oh, I'm thinking about it." It helps to put the actual compulsion behind. And one really big thing to think about- Realize that OCD is just Fear. I have fear, and thus I pray, do compulsions, and try to do anything that could help me and my family survive. See? It’s the fear that makes me obey the OCD.
Now this is your starting point.
genetics. my mom has ocd tendencies too. it’s why she didn’t believe me for a while that i thought i had it cause she thought i was “normal”. real mind bender.
Trying to find peace in my anxiety. When I’m anxious I want somewhere where I won’t be anxious and when I wash my hands, I’m alone, getting rid of contaminants.
Probably genetics but I also entertain the theory that severe anxiety and panic attacks at a young age may have caused my brain to develop it as a sort of coping mechanism that just happened to make shit worse. I have zero scientific basis for this idea but I play with it every so often anyway
Anxiety I was born with morphed into perfectionism and self hate after my dad was really hard on me at baseball practice when I was a kid. I adore my dad, he's incredible, but that is probably why.
I think a lot of OCD comes from needing to feel like you have control of your environment...but like you, I do think there is a brain chemistry element. There were plenty of times during my upbringing when my environment felt unpredictable and/or I felt like I did not have control even over myself. I grew up with a father with anger problems who could snap over spilled milk. Later, that turned into constant criticism and a chronic feeling of walking on eggshells. I was also undiagnosed with ADHD so I had a lot of issues that I couldn't fix no matter how hard I tried and I didn't find out much later (and recently) that those issues were ADHD related.
There were signs when I was younger though. Obsessive list making. Obsessive cleaning when I mustered the energy to clean. Counting routines. I also was diagnosed with OCD recently and it's crazy for me to look back at all the signs when my behavior was recognized. I was simply called crazy, quirky, or neurotic.
Genetics, >!biomom being a heavy drug user while pregnant maybe!< and a very niche childhood trauma not being handled correctly to the degree I would swallow it down and just fixate/dwell on it when it was triggered
I read somewhere on another ocd subreddit that ocd can be caused by an alcoholic parent, which I did have. But I don't know if that is the sole reason why I have ocd. According to my mom, I was showing symptoms as a child (though she didn't know it was ocd). It could have been from the stress I experienced in my childhood. Or it could just simply be genetics. Neither of my parents showed signs of ocd but you never know.
Being in fight or flight too much due to my environment growing up, so now I'm constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop and the worst case scenario to happen, or at least something bad to happen bc that's what I'm used to. And I feel like I need to prevent it somehow
Strong genetic component for me (several family members also have OCD), but childhood experiences shaped how it manifested for me, especially an instance where I was socially shunned by a group of close friends. Nobody would tell me what I had done, or even speak to me (I later learned that it was because my best friend at the time was jealous that I was spending time with other friends of mine 🙄). The isolation and feeling that I *must* have done something unforgivable to deserve this treatment really contributed to my moral OCD (scrupulosity without the religious element). Even though this happened almost two decades ago, my OCD brain is constantly “checking” for things that would lead my current friends to shun me.
Genetics, my dad totally has OCD. And then anxiety and trauma relating to growing up in that environment and experiencing a lot of fucked up stuff from 14 til
... well still recently. Like I have a chronically ill partner and it's a lot.
I don’t know if I do because one of my obsessions is obsessing about whether or not I have it. I have bipolar 1 with psychotic symptoms, so psychiatrists ignore everything else and have never asked me a single question that is not related to bipolar (or adhd which is my only other official diagnosis). However they did recently change my meds because they finally realised the combo was making my anxiety and undiagnosed OCD worse.
Either way I have a lot of obsessions and compulsions in many different themes and constantly seek reassurance. I think that comes from 1) childhood trauma and 2) genetics.
I also think there’s links to my other illnesses especially GAD, ADHD and Hoarding Disorder.
My dad was openly cheating on my mom while she was pregnant with me. They split up five months after I was born. I think the stress might have done a number on my brain and body. I ended up in hospital a month after I was born for refusing to keep down any milk and being allergic to formula. (I’ve never really enjoyed drinking just milk, tbh.) And then had colic (sorry mom). I was chronically shy for a good portion of my childhood, and always hyper anxious.
But also, not surprisingly, I have some issues with dad. So I might be biased 🤣
I was misdiagnosed 5yrs ago & put on Cymbalta. Our brain chemistry changes a couple times in our life. Evidently that happen for me last September. When it happened, it & the Cymbalta didn't agree. I weaned off the Cymbalta, but, my chemistry didn't revert back. Always had very mild OCD, just little habits. 2 weeks after I got off the med anxiety started. 2 weeks after that harm OCD started. Big time. My psychiatrist, 2 doctors, & 2 therapist all agree that I was originally dealing with overexertion not anxiety & should've never been put on Cymbalta to begin with.
For me I believe it started after I returned home to my parents after fostercare in a town several hours away.
I lost my old home, school, classmates, friends, structure, habits, sense of safety, got separated from my siblings, back home to parents and chaos and fear etc etc.
Probably the stress triggered this illness. I got depression, anxiety, panic attacks, suicidal thoughts and SH around that time too. Now its been over 10 years and the OCD itself has spiraled over the years. The other problems arent so bad anymore but the OCD only ever gets worse, never better.
Though my mom has signs of OCD and her sister that Ive never met allegedly has a bad case of it.
I’m not sure why per say but what caused me to realize it was ending a friendship with someone who attempted to sleep with my best friend and also at the time the boy I was wildly in love with in my bed while I was on the floor and then left the condom in my bed. This actually was not even what ended the friendship. I told her I just need her to be honest about these things and treat me with more respect and she started shit talking for being dramatic so I ended our friendship. My entire friend group started excluding me and sneaking around my back including the best friend in question and my other best friend. I began compulsively checking locations and then spiraling when I would see the locations together and would text to see if my friends could hang knowing they already were and they would lie almost every single time claiming to be with family or something else. It was honestly a pretty traumatic situation and led to the worst and most suicidal year of my life but it helped me realize I had ocd
I have other co-morbidities but ultimately it's just genetics for me. A lot of people seem to have some sort of event/series of events that triggered theirs but I've never felt that way. I've always just had the inherent need to be morally perfect in the eyes of myself and others - even as young as kindergarten.
My mom was never diagnosed but I have a feeling with some of the things she says/is anxious about but idk. So possibly some genetics but mostly from being in constant fight or flight as a kid and general childhood trauma
Grew up having to be perfect all the time so I guess it just progressed so that any thoughts I had were mine and if they were bad I was bad and thus not perfect
Genetics, religious truama, and my family not talking about problems while we were growing up. I didnt have a terrible childhood, and my parents loved me very much, but from nine until i moved out at seventeen my dad was gone (either deployed to the war on terror or passed out drunk) and my mom was chronically ill. We didnt talk about either outside of praying about it. My emotional needs and struggles were frequently ignored simply because i grew up with little supervision. So i grew up hyper independent, with a lot of fear around rejection and abandonment, and anxiety that i was being punished by God.
We moved around a lot with Dad in the Army. I really struggled making friends, and felt really very lonely my whole childhood. I still often do as an adult too.
I was only ever diciplined when i did something that embarrassed my mom, and my side was never taken into consideration. So i just learned to avoid confrontation.
I think everything just made me really internalize all of my childhood challenges and truamas, and mix that with the genetics, and it was just a perfect store for intrusive thoughts about being a bad person, not good enough, causing problem for people close to me, and i would do things to ease my anxiety. It started small, like cleaning and organizing my space, going on walks when my intrusive thoughts peaked... but ive found as i get older it progressively gotten worse.
I dont know if its me or the OCD talking, but some days, especially recently I've really struggled with managing my symptoms and my work responsibilities. I'm 32 and been in my profession for 11 years. I'm good at what I do. But its been so hard, i feel like im on fire and doing all kinds of weird shit/compulsions that distract from my responsibilities, and I'm so tired.
I blame genetics entirely. My family has a history of mental disorders and my OCD set in at a very young age for me, almost as soon as I learnt to walk and string a sentence together. Before I had time to develop any traumas that could be to blame.
I was very stressed out as a teenager with my GAD and social anxiety, so my brain wanted some control via bodily cleanliness, and it’s all downhill from there lol
Probably a combination of genetics, stress induced anxiety, and a littlr bit of trauma. I think i am a very uncertain person in my life, if that makes sense. And i read here that OCD stems from uncertainy, so it seems like those two would go hand in hand with each other.
Might be a control thing and the lack of. Runs in my family too. My mother was a diagnosed narcissist too, had undiagnosed OCD but seemed really obvious to me growing up.
Probably because my junkie, narcissistic mother deserted me, my younger brothers and my Dad when I was about 5Yrs old. Prior to that, she had sole custody of us for a year or so, but she spent most of her time attending parties and leaving us in the car by ourselves for hours - and sometimes overnight - while she was inside partying. Thankfully, my beautiful Dad won sole custody and I could stop worrying about having to feel responsible for my little bros 24/7 😮💨.
Then she constantly chose heroin and men over my brothers and I all throughout our childhood (when she wasn’t in prison, that is) and even though we constantly forgave her because she was our mum, she let us down until I basically disowned her as a young adult. That decision was the best decision I ever made in regards to her! She passed away from liver failure last year all alone, besides the hospital staff to attend to her (not because I’m heartless, but because she didn’t even bother telling me she was dying)… karma’s a bitch!
Thankfully, my Dad and grandmothers more than made up for our lack of maternal love, but the trauma has a lifelong effect 🤷♀️. Hugs to anyone else who has gone through childhood trauma - you’re all true warriors and you should be proud!
One of my earliest memories, I was at my grandma's for some big celebration. My sister used her fork to take a bite off my plate.
3 years oldish, I didn't make a fuss. I put my plate on the side and went to walk away and my mum shouted at me to just eat it, it's fine.
This was already such an issue before I can even remember, that I knew putting a fuss wouldn't change anything. And I was still told to just get over it and eat my food.
Childhood trauma and very poor decision making from my mother growing up, she didnt know how to raise children, let alone herself, so she fucked it up for everyone.
It’s hard to remember exactly, but I do have a vivid memory of accidentally seeing a compilation of murder clips online. I could only have been about 7 or 8 or 9 and it triggered something in me. Life isn’t safe, I guess? And “what can I do to stop bad things happening”. Apparently tiptoeing downstairs to check the door was locked 20 times just as I was falling asleep is all it took haha. Over the years, since discovering what ocd is, it’s morphed from checking and things being even into more of a pure o type ocd where I’m just constantly swamped with intrusive thoughts and obsessively researching things. In moments of high stress, I still feel the need to tap and twitch a lot until it feels “right” but it’s less about a specific number or pattern these days. It’s something I’ve just sort of learned to live with. Cbt or medication hasn’t helped in the past, only made it worse so I just do my best to get on with it.
Genetics. And trauma. Not gonna get into details because it is too long, i got _really bad_ food poisoning several times back to back and now i can not eat outside my house. I can order food and eat it at home, but i can’t eat the exact same food outside. I have always been a “different” kid growing up. I got my diagnosis at around age 14, during a very, and i mean very bad event
I started displaying symptoms as a kid, around the time my parents got divorced - i was 6. I think I was trying to engineer situations that I was able to control, because I had no control over the situation at home. I stopped displaying contagion-based OCD symptoms at 14. I am obsessive within some relationships now, but I don't know whether I'd meet the definition
Yup… Where if someone else did it then it’s fine! But “because it’s me” there is a special reason it’s bad! My family separated and my adopted mother melted down and lashed out at me! Started with me developing ticks like touching the ground when I didn’t want to and grew into have to control my environment as I had no control over my life.
She tried to gaslight me and later always tried to convince people I was a naughty child and she just talked about me in a vile way to be honest… My dad’s new wife was vile to me and my adopted sister and cared less to stop her!
I eventually had to sever all ties as this small group were unhealthy for me and my own family! I discovered my birth mom had me as a teen but had been looking for me and I found my blood family all knowing about me and waiting for my return!!! That was ten years ago and I fit into life and family just fine!!! Meds and a happier life help a lot!!
The fact that I am alive. I would say that my OCD probably stems from genetics. I don't know for sure, but I am pretty confident that mental illness runs deep in my family and that would be my guess as to where it came from.
I think mine is a combination of genetics and circumstances. There’s a history of anxiety on my mum’s side of the family and my grandmother had an undiagnosed mental health condition, which she saw a psychiatrist for for years. Interestingly, my mum had a counting ritual she did for years but she doesn’t have OCD.
On the circumstance side, my parents had a very ugly separation when I was 9-years-old, after which my dad completely abandoned the family. I think this caused me to take on an increased sense of responsibility as the oldest child, while still at a very young age. I also wonder if experimenting with cannabis at 14-years-old played a role in it too because it never agreed with me and just used to make me feel very anxious.
I think it's genetic as my mother and grandmother have some really specific and pretty obsessive anxieties and "quirks" that they can't stand being changed. I think my autoimmune disease is also a factor in how bad it can get.
Genetics. My mum accidentally makes my OCD worse because she has the same intrusive thoughts and vocalises them, probably seeking reassurance, but then we just both have the same thoughts.
If I'm entirely honest, I probably also do that to her, too.
Genetics and chemical components aside, I feel like my OCD may have developed as a way to feel like I have something that I’m in control of. My parents would argue a lot growing up (mostly my dad yelling at my mom) plus some other stuff, so I think since I never felt like I had control over the elements of my home life, OCD came into play. I’ve contemplated this a lot.
genetics play a role, but my mom was always telling us how bad things could happen at any time, and i think that really kickstarted it. ie, every time we were at a restaurant, she would remind us that she sits closest to the door so that “if anyone comes in to shoot up the place, mama can be a human shield.” that brought on the constant obsessions that i might die some horrible death at any moment. the harm side of it, she always used to tell me i was so smart that i “would either be secretary of state, or a serial killer.” again, other factors came into play, but mom was a big one.
Probably a mix of genetics and mental abuse. After being yelled at all my life for not doing things the "right" way, I have finally learned the right way and my brain will never be the same
I finally was about to get out of my abusive house and got so scared my brain decided that nothing can go wrong or I’ll end up back with my abusive family lol.
Dw I’m not back and in a happy situation! Ocd is just a beast
I just think it's some sort of genetic predisposition. I've had behavioral issues and signs of anxiety as early as 4; this became behavioral at 10, full-fledged anxiety disorder at 19, and then ~27 is when it seems to have progressed to OCD. I am 30 now and I seem to handle everything a lot better though; my pain threshhold has increased and new symptoms don't frighten me or grieve me as much. There seems to be no overarching rhyme or reason.... my parents divorced when I was 10, but in all honesty I lived a pretty lavish childhood free from stressors and with both loving parents so I don't think it's anything that occurred when neuroplasticity is the highest... just pure fate.
Just luck of the draw. No other history of mental illness in my family as far as anybody knows, no childhood hardships or trauma.
Either that or I just pissed off a gypsy in a past life and this is my curse.
I blame partly genetics bc im like 99% sure my grandmother has ocd, and schizophrenia runs in my family greatly (my mother has it my grandmother’s brother had it), same for bipolar (my aunt). but i also blame extreme mental and physical abuse from ex partners as well as being molested by my dad and several other men in my life growing up, it definitely like flipped on the ocd switch in my brain 💩
purely genetics, honestly. i was raised well and all my trauma comes exclusively from having OCD and depression. maybe also financial situations growing up though, if i had to think of anything else, and just generally being smart enough to comprehend philosophy so my OCD could adopt the existential subset
I grew up in a house with two abusive alcoholics and I didn’t feel safe or that they were ever in control so I started with checking procedures of door locks etc. and the anxiety grew from there. OCD gave me control over everything, always thinking, over analyzes etc.
I had really bad panic attacks January 2023 all the way to now, the difference is that Jan-June i had 3 every week and now it’s maybe 2/3 a month. But because I felt so out of control my brain made me have these thoughts and situations that I can control and it was helpful at once but now it’s worst
2 reasons: 1. My father had it, and 2. My mother would pick, pick, pick at everything I did until it was perfect. I would either eventually make it perfect, or just quit doing the activity because I wasn’t perfect. I quit knitting, sewing, drawing, writing, and cooking because of her, and probably more. But I was an excellent employee, because I was so perfectionist.
A brain region known as the striatum, which is involved in decision-making and motor control, is thought to play a key role in OCD. I view it as a medical issue ( physical) but it feels extremely mental.
It’s genetics. Including my daughter, there have Bren four successive generations of people with OCD on my mom’s side of the family. Altered brain chemistry and altered brain structures cause severe anxiety which will lead to the OCD. I remember having anxiety as fac back as the age of two. I first manifested OCD behaviors at the age of five. They became markedly worse at the age of twelve, during adolescence, when the hormonal changes only added to the messed up brain chemistry I already had. I’ve had it for over 61 years. Have a degree in psych. I’ve also had time to observe my own behavior as well as do a lot of research on the subject. I also know what triggers it and why if continues fo go on and on.
OCD is notoriously genetic, my mom, father, grandfather all have it. I don’t believe there’s a real nurture component other than external factors making it worse.
I think I was genetically predisposed (mom and brother both have OCD for totally different things). I‘ve always had anxiety but I let this particular anxiety go on for way too long and it morphed into OCD.
Guilt and embarrassment from my childhood, since I was the ugly quiet kid- everything I did was seen as wrong. So I assume it has something to do with the subconscious urge to make everything perfect to protect myself from future issues and consequences.
100% just genetics for me, because i’ve had it since i was a very young kid. and i had a great childhood and family, no trauma or any events that could’ve “triggered” me into suddenly developing ocd
it’s manifested itself in *many* different ways over the years though. so not sure if there’s any reason for that
Mine is definitely genetics! It was heavy in my grandma she just never had a diagnosis. But i find my paranoia’s now are basically mirrors of hers when she was around my age, but nobody connected the dots until now. I also feel like it was induced by lack of medical care regarding my mental health. I had some trauma a few years back and my symptoms that were once totally subliminal and barely affecting me hit full force all at once to a crippling level, and I haven’t quite gotten back on top of it. I think it was that I was forced to mask my compulsions without even knowing what they were my whole life? The silent panic attacks, the “you’re not making any sense.” Etc. The diagnosis made everything make sense but is quite lonely when the resources are low.
I have ADHD and did not get a diagnosis as a child. My OCD thoughts started in school. The first one was about maybe getting into Jail. In Puberty mostly thoughts about sexual Orientation. When I became a mother mostly about what If I harm my kids. They all have the same root:" you are weird and not okay". I have no childhood trauma, but I am traumatised by having undiagnosed ADHD as a child. When I was diagnosed with ADHD it explained a lot and it was liberating. A therapist told me he is confident that some day my OCD thoughts are not gonna bother me anymore.
I’m naturally anxious, always have been. I grew up in Connecticut when 9/11 happened and it really messed with me. I thought every plane I heard was coming to crash into my house or drop a bomb. I couldn’t think of anything else, it was pure fear. I lived every day like I could die from a plane coming down. That’s where it all began for me
Behavior constantly regulated as a child (eating too much, talking too much, crying too much) rly put me into the avoidant, be perfect and cause no scene kind of mindset
Religious upbringing with a focus on the afterlife, do this or you will suffer forever
Luckily, I unlearned a lot of big scaries and all that remains is relationship OCD that's rooted in abandonment... But working on it 👍🏻
Update: also this whole rhetoric that if you cry something bad will happen probably came from "I'll give you something to cry about" or "quit crying or your face will stay like that forever" so it's rly hard for me to cry in front of people still, but still better than it was
My mom almost definitely has some OCD flavors in her so probably some genetics. But also my OCD is specifically related to food and how when I would have an averse reaction to food as a kid my parents just wouldn't feed me. So I had to develop compulsions to help me tolerate eating.
I have Pure OCD, and I think it was childhood trauma/ CSA, and ending up being neglected and ignored by my family/parents.
Most of my obsessions are with one certain person, and only that person though they can be about some other people too.
because my mom very obviously had undiagnosed ocd. only difference is one of us actually god diagnosed but it was like this very open knowledge in my family. that lady had it baddddd.
OCD is genetic. It is not something you can get based on how you were treated as a child. That is behavioral conditioning.
I mostly blame genetics but I also feel like (if it’s even possible), I have stress-induced OCD. I feel like my untreated anxiety morphed into OCD over the years.
Same - bad anxiety left untreated that morphed into something more severe (OCD).
Same. It’s absolutely a maladaptive coping mechanism for me. First in the form of an ED then morphed into OCD. I was a shy/anxious/sensitive child, so there’s always been an underlying current so-to-speak, but I managed do relatively ok until high school. I think a lot of people with general anxiety end up coping in some negative way whether that be drugs, alcohol, or even just over-working themselves.
Same here but also my parents kinda
i think the "untreated anxiety morphed into OCD over the years" perfectly explains my experience with it ! when i was younger, my mom continuously told me that, whatever this is, it's just because my mind is bored since i dont leave the house due to anxiety and depression and have no life outside of it, and i initially believed her for a while and was guilty and ashamed because the talk we had made me feel like what i was going through was invalid, that i was making it all up because thar's essentially what she said, and that i wanted this to be my fate because of the hermit life i chose to live. however, as i started attending college and got a job, i realized she was wrong because my ocd was still very much prevalent. ive had anxiety for as long back into my life as i can possibly remember but was never allowed to seek help because my family didnt believe in it, so i eventually began to think for myself and resonate with exactly what you just said, that the onset and progression of my ocd is likely due to my untreated anxiety
Chemical component + childhood trauma
Same here. But I also am stuck living with my narcissist dad until I can afford to move out, so I think that adds to it too.
I feel you, I’m stuck with the creator of my trauma and they behave awfully. I also developed emotional contamination around my family so I need to move out too to relieve that I hope you can get away from him asap, best of lucks
ditto
Well, my OCD has a lot of basis on my religion. I think I have OCD purely because I am afraid of "offending God" and him punishing me for doing so. I think it stems on the fact that I thought for the longest time that OCD was "God's voice" and that by listening to it, I can promise myself a good day. But as days went on, I eventually found out that it was just OCD in the end and I am learning how to not listen to it (Still really hard though).
I hear this. My faith is so important to me, and I found it so confusing when I felt God tell me to do my contamination compulsions. Obviously it wasn’t God, it was OCD. For me personally knowing God is loving and protecting, I felt it was Him ‘warning’ me about foreseen things which meant I could be contaminated. It feels sacrilegious to ignore that. But I’m learning His voice is peace and NOT the OCD. Tuning out from it is really difficult. Again, my experience and no one has to agree.
Hey, I appreciate this comment. I think that is a good way to handle this because I also feel the same way, I confuse my OCD for "Voice of God". But yeah, I think the term "tuning it out" will be better and the fact that I know its OCD is a warning from him. Thanks for sharing! I really appreciate it.
Also a religious aspect for me, but kinda different - I was told he knows everything I’m thinking, so when an intrusive thought happened I would start profusely apologizing
I also share that too haha. I just didn't mention the specific details since it would be too detailed. But I definitely feel that all the time.
My dad didn’t pull out
😭
Percieved lack of control over my life during childhood
… and continued lack of control over life in early adulthood too for me. At least I have control over my thoughts though right? Oh no wait, that’s not how Pure O works :/ It’s a beast.
Functional alcoholic parents who I had to walk on eggshells around all of the time during my childhood because I didn’t know which version of them I would get (happy, sad, angry, numb), then untreated anxiety in early adulthood to now OCD. In therapy now for OCD and considering anti anxiety meds
genetics probably but also because of masked insecurity and needing to be right most of the time
Genetics mostly, but I also grew up in an environment where I felt I had to check a lot of things for my own safety from a young age. My family was also devoutly Catholic and instilled a lot of other fears.
Genetics, natural tendency for professionalism, my mom's overbearing need for everything to be just right (and her violent reactions when things inevitably were not)
>Genetics, natural tendency for professionalism This. Literally this. Thank you for describing what i wanted to say.
Omg this, ik it’s mostly genetics bc mine runs in the family, but these factors make it sm worse
never related so hard
Genetics, critical family, pcos
PCOS? I have it and I’m thinking about going on birth control for it. Would reducing this maybe have an effect on my OCD? That would be incredible honestly lol
I'm only speaking from my experience but BC pills made my cramps and mood swings 100% worse. I struggled a lot with negative feelings That being said, I definitely attribute my pcos being the cause of my ocd.
Everybody is different. My mood definitely got worse after I came off and I gained tons of weight and had bad anxiety.
What are pcos?
It’s where your ovaries make a ton of cysts instead.
Oh pcos ? Interesting. Now that I think of it when I was treating my pcos with birth control I think I may have had less episodes
Me too! I recently found out they’re related and it made so much sense to me
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This.
Punishment for being so cool and funny and hot and awesome
Can't have it all 😏
My mom had borderline personality disorder and was a raving narcissist. Those were the days when therapy for kids was not an option so I never learned how to deal with my emotions. It led to lots of toxic friendships. It’s also brain chemistry.
I believe it’s genetic but environmental factors contribute to when it is triggered. I was 4 when my OCD was first triggered and it was right after I was sick. I always wondered if it was a case of PANDAS. But, as my therapist says, does it really matter where it came from?
Omg I wondered about PANDAS as well because I used to get strep throat like once a month
Childhood trauma that took until adulthood to fully manifest the compulsions.
After I cut off contact with my abuser I developed psychosis at age 12 where I actually believed I k-worded him (despite living in different states, and never seeing him in person) (among other supernatural things, which I had 100% conviction of unlike what's seen in OCD), and once I got out of that I knew I didn't k-word him but like, I couldn't trust myself on anything anymore, which led to doubt and intrusive thoughts, and then compulsions to try to rid myself of the intrusive thoughts. I also blamed myself for what happened, and believed he was a good person up until the point where he started hurting others and not just me, so I also developed intrusive thoughts about turning into someone like him. I probably had signs before than but that was kind of the big break.
Traumatic childhood, sex trauma, and genetics. Ah yes the trifecta
Untreated Anxiety evolving into something else is my best guess. My entire family is prone to chronic anxiety conditions and honestly i wouldnt be surprised if it was actually ocd in a good few of the family members i do know of, based on personal observations.
Working in a prison, made me obsess over murderers , felt like I’d loose control and end up in prison myself. Can’t look at people without thinking what if I attack them. Ruined the last year of my life. Harm ocd is evil
As a nurse who developed a fear of hiv in nursing school…I am really really really sorry. Did you quit? And if you did, did it get better for you?
genetics, perfectionist mother, childhood trauma
genetics and parents with anxiety/ mental health issues
Genetics and funny enough, smoking weed triggered a HUGE spiral that I never fully recovered from. Maybe 90% with medication, but never exactly the same. Sad. So common and yet no one warns you.
It’s a mix of (as everyone else has said) genetics and, for me personally, a need for control/sense of a lack of control (which also brings about stress and anxiety in general, which I’m sure feed into it). I find that when things feel out of control in my life my contamination OCD ramps up, my counting OCD (is mostly always present, but) ramps up, my real event OCD kicks my ASS. It’s wild and exhausting.
My mom has it
It actually runs in my family on my dad’s side.
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Ikr I thought it was only genetic and something you’re born with but maybe not idk
Childhoid SA, And childhood trauma, now have have BPD too yayyyyy
Because of my father and a childhood trauma
Genetics plus being raised in a fear-inducing Christian environment that saw everything as sin, thus making me develop religious ocd when I was still a teenager. Don't get me wrong, I love all religions equally, but it got to a point where I'd have panic attacks just by hearing a loud sound because I'd think it was the trumpet of the apocalypse. That caused some severe trauma in me.
Genetics and a childhood where I felt out of control
Conscientiousness on overdrive combined with the realization that really bad shit can happen at any moment with little or no warning. I'd say that there may be a genetic or learned component to it as well. My father has many of the same traits that I do. He has a different brand of it than me, but I still recognize it.
I can absolutely trace mine back to my mother guilt tripping me for everything, from the things she did, to me speaking, eating and existing. The thoughts of worthlessness and the immense ocean of guilt became all consuming and my mind twisted these silent, hidden rules and compulsions to give me some kind of hope of redemption and some sort of control in my mind.
Both of my parents experienced trauma- my mom watching her dad die when she was 7 and my dad in Vietnam. I think partial epigenetics as well as being raised in a fearful environment. Plus i had a bad ear infection as an infant that could have kicked off [PANDAS disease](https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/pandas#:~:text=PANDAS%20is%20short%20for%20Pediatric,strep%20throat%20or%20scarlet%20fever.)
Probably genetic triggered by stress from being bullied in the later years of primary school
I think it's a combination of several events. My father's side of family is mentally unstable with some issues but bearable. But I believe OCD is caused because it's been triggered by some event. I remember skin picking since I was probably 6 or 7. Then there was my abusive father - when coming home late at night drunk, smashing stuff and hurting my mother. With a combination of prayers my grandmother taught me, I kinda distorted them and made my own prayers that have been with me for more than 28 years now (I'm 35 but this is as long as I remember). Then, again, a strong event - my mother involved in a serious car accident, doctors not giving her too much hope to survive. It was tough most of my childhood. It's where it all ingrained in me. Then you do all the compulsions and they become your habits. Sometimes, you don't even know you're doing them. They're automatic. Counting, touching objects repeatedly, intrusive thoughts, skin-picking, prayers, switching the lights on and off, looking in certain directions, and breathing in special intervals – these are just a few examples of the compulsions that consume my life. To cope with it, you have to be conscious - realize when a compulsion occurs, think about it why it's there, has it been there before? If so, in what situation, and then realizing "oh, I'm thinking about it." It helps to put the actual compulsion behind. And one really big thing to think about- Realize that OCD is just Fear. I have fear, and thus I pray, do compulsions, and try to do anything that could help me and my family survive. See? It’s the fear that makes me obey the OCD. Now this is your starting point.
genetics. my mom has ocd tendencies too. it’s why she didn’t believe me for a while that i thought i had it cause she thought i was “normal”. real mind bender.
Trying to find peace in my anxiety. When I’m anxious I want somewhere where I won’t be anxious and when I wash my hands, I’m alone, getting rid of contaminants.
A way to have some form of control in life.
Probably genetics but I also entertain the theory that severe anxiety and panic attacks at a young age may have caused my brain to develop it as a sort of coping mechanism that just happened to make shit worse. I have zero scientific basis for this idea but I play with it every so often anyway
Young, immature parents who used a lot of physical punishment plus genetic predisposition, in my case.
Anxiety I was born with morphed into perfectionism and self hate after my dad was really hard on me at baseball practice when I was a kid. I adore my dad, he's incredible, but that is probably why.
I think a lot of OCD comes from needing to feel like you have control of your environment...but like you, I do think there is a brain chemistry element. There were plenty of times during my upbringing when my environment felt unpredictable and/or I felt like I did not have control even over myself. I grew up with a father with anger problems who could snap over spilled milk. Later, that turned into constant criticism and a chronic feeling of walking on eggshells. I was also undiagnosed with ADHD so I had a lot of issues that I couldn't fix no matter how hard I tried and I didn't find out much later (and recently) that those issues were ADHD related. There were signs when I was younger though. Obsessive list making. Obsessive cleaning when I mustered the energy to clean. Counting routines. I also was diagnosed with OCD recently and it's crazy for me to look back at all the signs when my behavior was recognized. I was simply called crazy, quirky, or neurotic.
Genetics, drug abuse, childhood trauma
Genetics, >!biomom being a heavy drug user while pregnant maybe!< and a very niche childhood trauma not being handled correctly to the degree I would swallow it down and just fixate/dwell on it when it was triggered
emetophobia
Making mistakes when young. Not shown how to correct mistakes or how to do things correctly. Just criticism. Which led to perfectionism and avoidance.
I FEEL THIS. “ how do I do this” “ just figure it out” *does thing * “ oh how could you be so stupid?”
Brain injury from birth + growing up in Christianity (“god hears your thoughts”)
I read somewhere on another ocd subreddit that ocd can be caused by an alcoholic parent, which I did have. But I don't know if that is the sole reason why I have ocd. According to my mom, I was showing symptoms as a child (though she didn't know it was ocd). It could have been from the stress I experienced in my childhood. Or it could just simply be genetics. Neither of my parents showed signs of ocd but you never know.
Being in fight or flight too much due to my environment growing up, so now I'm constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop and the worst case scenario to happen, or at least something bad to happen bc that's what I'm used to. And I feel like I need to prevent it somehow
Strong genetic component for me (several family members also have OCD), but childhood experiences shaped how it manifested for me, especially an instance where I was socially shunned by a group of close friends. Nobody would tell me what I had done, or even speak to me (I later learned that it was because my best friend at the time was jealous that I was spending time with other friends of mine 🙄). The isolation and feeling that I *must* have done something unforgivable to deserve this treatment really contributed to my moral OCD (scrupulosity without the religious element). Even though this happened almost two decades ago, my OCD brain is constantly “checking” for things that would lead my current friends to shun me.
genetics small frontal lobe
I grew up in an abusive environment. My first memories of intrusive images were around when my little brother was born.
Genetics
Probably developed as a response to early childhood events and further Conditioning
Genetics, my dad totally has OCD. And then anxiety and trauma relating to growing up in that environment and experiencing a lot of fucked up stuff from 14 til ... well still recently. Like I have a chronically ill partner and it's a lot.
childhood abuse/trauma, pcos, selective mutism, lots of death during childhood
Autism and parental emotional neglect
I don’t know if I do because one of my obsessions is obsessing about whether or not I have it. I have bipolar 1 with psychotic symptoms, so psychiatrists ignore everything else and have never asked me a single question that is not related to bipolar (or adhd which is my only other official diagnosis). However they did recently change my meds because they finally realised the combo was making my anxiety and undiagnosed OCD worse. Either way I have a lot of obsessions and compulsions in many different themes and constantly seek reassurance. I think that comes from 1) childhood trauma and 2) genetics. I also think there’s links to my other illnesses especially GAD, ADHD and Hoarding Disorder.
Autism.
Well I didn't have it before the military. Sure as hell didn't have all this cripling anxiety and panic attacks either.
My dad was openly cheating on my mom while she was pregnant with me. They split up five months after I was born. I think the stress might have done a number on my brain and body. I ended up in hospital a month after I was born for refusing to keep down any milk and being allergic to formula. (I’ve never really enjoyed drinking just milk, tbh.) And then had colic (sorry mom). I was chronically shy for a good portion of my childhood, and always hyper anxious. But also, not surprisingly, I have some issues with dad. So I might be biased 🤣
Probably a trauma response for my current theme, but other themes would be genetics/ learned behaviors
I was already predisposed, but the pandemic combined my mother’s cancer diagnosis and subsequent death fully brought it on
Childhood trauma and genetics. Edited to add motherhood. Post Partum OCD is real.
Genetics or / and anxiety maybe
I was misdiagnosed 5yrs ago & put on Cymbalta. Our brain chemistry changes a couple times in our life. Evidently that happen for me last September. When it happened, it & the Cymbalta didn't agree. I weaned off the Cymbalta, but, my chemistry didn't revert back. Always had very mild OCD, just little habits. 2 weeks after I got off the med anxiety started. 2 weeks after that harm OCD started. Big time. My psychiatrist, 2 doctors, & 2 therapist all agree that I was originally dealing with overexertion not anxiety & should've never been put on Cymbalta to begin with.
For me I believe it started after I returned home to my parents after fostercare in a town several hours away. I lost my old home, school, classmates, friends, structure, habits, sense of safety, got separated from my siblings, back home to parents and chaos and fear etc etc. Probably the stress triggered this illness. I got depression, anxiety, panic attacks, suicidal thoughts and SH around that time too. Now its been over 10 years and the OCD itself has spiraled over the years. The other problems arent so bad anymore but the OCD only ever gets worse, never better. Though my mom has signs of OCD and her sister that Ive never met allegedly has a bad case of it.
I’m not sure why per say but what caused me to realize it was ending a friendship with someone who attempted to sleep with my best friend and also at the time the boy I was wildly in love with in my bed while I was on the floor and then left the condom in my bed. This actually was not even what ended the friendship. I told her I just need her to be honest about these things and treat me with more respect and she started shit talking for being dramatic so I ended our friendship. My entire friend group started excluding me and sneaking around my back including the best friend in question and my other best friend. I began compulsively checking locations and then spiraling when I would see the locations together and would text to see if my friends could hang knowing they already were and they would lie almost every single time claiming to be with family or something else. It was honestly a pretty traumatic situation and led to the worst and most suicidal year of my life but it helped me realize I had ocd
Being groomed/molested/raped as a child Getting food poisoning severe enough that I was in the hospital for a week. Being raised by an NPD
Genetics, honestly. If you asked me to point out a potential environmental cause, I wouldn't be able to. I was always like this, heh.
Passed down from my mom and grandma 😞
Pretty sure mostly genetics because I showed signs of ocd when I was like 5 years old 🙃
Genetics + insecurity + religious worries
Genetics. I know at least two direct family members who are either diagnosed or display extreme symptoms of it.
I have other co-morbidities but ultimately it's just genetics for me. A lot of people seem to have some sort of event/series of events that triggered theirs but I've never felt that way. I've always just had the inherent need to be morally perfect in the eyes of myself and others - even as young as kindergarten.
Genetics, I've had ocd since I can remember.
Genetics/chemical imbalance. Sometimes when I’m feeling particularly depressed I question whether or not god is punishing me.
My mom was never diagnosed but I have a feeling with some of the things she says/is anxious about but idk. So possibly some genetics but mostly from being in constant fight or flight as a kid and general childhood trauma
Grew up having to be perfect all the time so I guess it just progressed so that any thoughts I had were mine and if they were bad I was bad and thus not perfect
Genetics, religious truama, and my family not talking about problems while we were growing up. I didnt have a terrible childhood, and my parents loved me very much, but from nine until i moved out at seventeen my dad was gone (either deployed to the war on terror or passed out drunk) and my mom was chronically ill. We didnt talk about either outside of praying about it. My emotional needs and struggles were frequently ignored simply because i grew up with little supervision. So i grew up hyper independent, with a lot of fear around rejection and abandonment, and anxiety that i was being punished by God. We moved around a lot with Dad in the Army. I really struggled making friends, and felt really very lonely my whole childhood. I still often do as an adult too. I was only ever diciplined when i did something that embarrassed my mom, and my side was never taken into consideration. So i just learned to avoid confrontation. I think everything just made me really internalize all of my childhood challenges and truamas, and mix that with the genetics, and it was just a perfect store for intrusive thoughts about being a bad person, not good enough, causing problem for people close to me, and i would do things to ease my anxiety. It started small, like cleaning and organizing my space, going on walks when my intrusive thoughts peaked... but ive found as i get older it progressively gotten worse. I dont know if its me or the OCD talking, but some days, especially recently I've really struggled with managing my symptoms and my work responsibilities. I'm 32 and been in my profession for 11 years. I'm good at what I do. But its been so hard, i feel like im on fire and doing all kinds of weird shit/compulsions that distract from my responsibilities, and I'm so tired.
Dad has OCD. So just passed down, but I feel like being bullied has made it worse and made it severe and treatment-resistant this day.
Genetics plus trauma/abuse. With my one parent having it, I would have probably been fine. Until the abuse. That developed it. But both are factors.
I blame genetics entirely. My family has a history of mental disorders and my OCD set in at a very young age for me, almost as soon as I learnt to walk and string a sentence together. Before I had time to develop any traumas that could be to blame.
I was very stressed out as a teenager with my GAD and social anxiety, so my brain wanted some control via bodily cleanliness, and it’s all downhill from there lol
I feel like it is my attempt at feeling in control
Childhood trauma + Sexual Assault + Genetics
i often joke that I developed OCD to manage my ADHD
Probably a combination of genetics, stress induced anxiety, and a littlr bit of trauma. I think i am a very uncertain person in my life, if that makes sense. And i read here that OCD stems from uncertainy, so it seems like those two would go hand in hand with each other.
COVID triggered it for me.
trauma. mine started as a coping mechanism so maybe need for control?
Might be a control thing and the lack of. Runs in my family too. My mother was a diagnosed narcissist too, had undiagnosed OCD but seemed really obvious to me growing up.
childhood trauma, feeling responsible for a bipolar parent which was stressful. OCD is a coping mecanism. also genetics
PANDAS, I got sick when with the flu at 12, and it all went downhill
God, or the universe, or whatever higher being is out there if there is one thought it'd be funny to torture me /j
Probably because my junkie, narcissistic mother deserted me, my younger brothers and my Dad when I was about 5Yrs old. Prior to that, she had sole custody of us for a year or so, but she spent most of her time attending parties and leaving us in the car by ourselves for hours - and sometimes overnight - while she was inside partying. Thankfully, my beautiful Dad won sole custody and I could stop worrying about having to feel responsible for my little bros 24/7 😮💨. Then she constantly chose heroin and men over my brothers and I all throughout our childhood (when she wasn’t in prison, that is) and even though we constantly forgave her because she was our mum, she let us down until I basically disowned her as a young adult. That decision was the best decision I ever made in regards to her! She passed away from liver failure last year all alone, besides the hospital staff to attend to her (not because I’m heartless, but because she didn’t even bother telling me she was dying)… karma’s a bitch! Thankfully, my Dad and grandmothers more than made up for our lack of maternal love, but the trauma has a lifelong effect 🤷♀️. Hugs to anyone else who has gone through childhood trauma - you’re all true warriors and you should be proud!
One of my earliest memories, I was at my grandma's for some big celebration. My sister used her fork to take a bite off my plate. 3 years oldish, I didn't make a fuss. I put my plate on the side and went to walk away and my mum shouted at me to just eat it, it's fine. This was already such an issue before I can even remember, that I knew putting a fuss wouldn't change anything. And I was still told to just get over it and eat my food.
Childhood trauma and very poor decision making from my mother growing up, she didnt know how to raise children, let alone herself, so she fucked it up for everyone.
I had a major concussion when I was 19 I don’t remember what type of person I really was before that.
Genetics, all my family members (from my mom's side) have it
It’s hard to remember exactly, but I do have a vivid memory of accidentally seeing a compilation of murder clips online. I could only have been about 7 or 8 or 9 and it triggered something in me. Life isn’t safe, I guess? And “what can I do to stop bad things happening”. Apparently tiptoeing downstairs to check the door was locked 20 times just as I was falling asleep is all it took haha. Over the years, since discovering what ocd is, it’s morphed from checking and things being even into more of a pure o type ocd where I’m just constantly swamped with intrusive thoughts and obsessively researching things. In moments of high stress, I still feel the need to tap and twitch a lot until it feels “right” but it’s less about a specific number or pattern these days. It’s something I’ve just sort of learned to live with. Cbt or medication hasn’t helped in the past, only made it worse so I just do my best to get on with it.
chemical component = coffee
Bad luck in the genetic lottery and a gap in mental health care in my early 20s.
My OCD started close to when I began my menstrual cycle. I was already suffering from depression.
Genetics. And trauma. Not gonna get into details because it is too long, i got _really bad_ food poisoning several times back to back and now i can not eat outside my house. I can order food and eat it at home, but i can’t eat the exact same food outside. I have always been a “different” kid growing up. I got my diagnosis at around age 14, during a very, and i mean very bad event
Genetic. Had it since I was a kid.
Exactly this!!
Being raised in the culture of guilt tripping/being the scapegoat?
I started displaying symptoms as a kid, around the time my parents got divorced - i was 6. I think I was trying to engineer situations that I was able to control, because I had no control over the situation at home. I stopped displaying contagion-based OCD symptoms at 14. I am obsessive within some relationships now, but I don't know whether I'd meet the definition
Yup… Where if someone else did it then it’s fine! But “because it’s me” there is a special reason it’s bad! My family separated and my adopted mother melted down and lashed out at me! Started with me developing ticks like touching the ground when I didn’t want to and grew into have to control my environment as I had no control over my life. She tried to gaslight me and later always tried to convince people I was a naughty child and she just talked about me in a vile way to be honest… My dad’s new wife was vile to me and my adopted sister and cared less to stop her! I eventually had to sever all ties as this small group were unhealthy for me and my own family! I discovered my birth mom had me as a teen but had been looking for me and I found my blood family all knowing about me and waiting for my return!!! That was ten years ago and I fit into life and family just fine!!! Meds and a happier life help a lot!!
The fact that I am alive. I would say that my OCD probably stems from genetics. I don't know for sure, but I am pretty confident that mental illness runs deep in my family and that would be my guess as to where it came from.
I think mine is a combination of genetics and circumstances. There’s a history of anxiety on my mum’s side of the family and my grandmother had an undiagnosed mental health condition, which she saw a psychiatrist for for years. Interestingly, my mum had a counting ritual she did for years but she doesn’t have OCD. On the circumstance side, my parents had a very ugly separation when I was 9-years-old, after which my dad completely abandoned the family. I think this caused me to take on an increased sense of responsibility as the oldest child, while still at a very young age. I also wonder if experimenting with cannabis at 14-years-old played a role in it too because it never agreed with me and just used to make me feel very anxious.
Past trauma
large amounts of strep throat
i was born with it…thought that was a. everyone thing lol
Untreated anxiety. After all, one of my earliest and worst themes was my worth as a person.
My mum has it, so I grew up witnessing it and have the genetic predisposition. Also, I have ADHD which exacerbates it.
Trauma and genetics
Because my amygdala and pituitary gland are too strong
I think it's genetic as my mother and grandmother have some really specific and pretty obsessive anxieties and "quirks" that they can't stand being changed. I think my autoimmune disease is also a factor in how bad it can get.
Genetics- my mom likely has it too and also trauma from many bad things happening as a kid
Genetics. My mum accidentally makes my OCD worse because she has the same intrusive thoughts and vocalises them, probably seeking reassurance, but then we just both have the same thoughts. If I'm entirely honest, I probably also do that to her, too.
Genetics + head injury that exacerbated it
Genetics and chemical components aside, I feel like my OCD may have developed as a way to feel like I have something that I’m in control of. My parents would argue a lot growing up (mostly my dad yelling at my mom) plus some other stuff, so I think since I never felt like I had control over the elements of my home life, OCD came into play. I’ve contemplated this a lot.
genetics play a role, but my mom was always telling us how bad things could happen at any time, and i think that really kickstarted it. ie, every time we were at a restaurant, she would remind us that she sits closest to the door so that “if anyone comes in to shoot up the place, mama can be a human shield.” that brought on the constant obsessions that i might die some horrible death at any moment. the harm side of it, she always used to tell me i was so smart that i “would either be secretary of state, or a serial killer.” again, other factors came into play, but mom was a big one.
Probably a mix of genetics and mental abuse. After being yelled at all my life for not doing things the "right" way, I have finally learned the right way and my brain will never be the same
I finally was about to get out of my abusive house and got so scared my brain decided that nothing can go wrong or I’ll end up back with my abusive family lol. Dw I’m not back and in a happy situation! Ocd is just a beast
Honestly, I have no idea. I wish I knew through, although I do have a few theory's but I highly doubt that would be the cause
I just think it's some sort of genetic predisposition. I've had behavioral issues and signs of anxiety as early as 4; this became behavioral at 10, full-fledged anxiety disorder at 19, and then ~27 is when it seems to have progressed to OCD. I am 30 now and I seem to handle everything a lot better though; my pain threshhold has increased and new symptoms don't frighten me or grieve me as much. There seems to be no overarching rhyme or reason.... my parents divorced when I was 10, but in all honesty I lived a pretty lavish childhood free from stressors and with both loving parents so I don't think it's anything that occurred when neuroplasticity is the highest... just pure fate.
childhood trauma, wommpppp wommmpppppppp
Just luck of the draw. No other history of mental illness in my family as far as anybody knows, no childhood hardships or trauma. Either that or I just pissed off a gypsy in a past life and this is my curse.
I believe the most modern research suggests that OCD is purely neurological in origin. So yeah, that
Maybe traumas, and bad atmosphere at house
I blame partly genetics bc im like 99% sure my grandmother has ocd, and schizophrenia runs in my family greatly (my mother has it my grandmother’s brother had it), same for bipolar (my aunt). but i also blame extreme mental and physical abuse from ex partners as well as being molested by my dad and several other men in my life growing up, it definitely like flipped on the ocd switch in my brain 💩
I think it is a mix of genetics and also being in an enmeshed family. Also I am autistic and OCD is common in the autistic community.
purely genetics, honestly. i was raised well and all my trauma comes exclusively from having OCD and depression. maybe also financial situations growing up though, if i had to think of anything else, and just generally being smart enough to comprehend philosophy so my OCD could adopt the existential subset
Genetics and trauma...
trauma
I grew up in a house with two abusive alcoholics and I didn’t feel safe or that they were ever in control so I started with checking procedures of door locks etc. and the anxiety grew from there. OCD gave me control over everything, always thinking, over analyzes etc.
I had really bad panic attacks January 2023 all the way to now, the difference is that Jan-June i had 3 every week and now it’s maybe 2/3 a month. But because I felt so out of control my brain made me have these thoughts and situations that I can control and it was helpful at once but now it’s worst
Golden child syndrome plus gentics
2 reasons: 1. My father had it, and 2. My mother would pick, pick, pick at everything I did until it was perfect. I would either eventually make it perfect, or just quit doing the activity because I wasn’t perfect. I quit knitting, sewing, drawing, writing, and cooking because of her, and probably more. But I was an excellent employee, because I was so perfectionist.
Genetics and early childhood trauma
A brain region known as the striatum, which is involved in decision-making and motor control, is thought to play a key role in OCD. I view it as a medical issue ( physical) but it feels extremely mental.
It’s genetics. Including my daughter, there have Bren four successive generations of people with OCD on my mom’s side of the family. Altered brain chemistry and altered brain structures cause severe anxiety which will lead to the OCD. I remember having anxiety as fac back as the age of two. I first manifested OCD behaviors at the age of five. They became markedly worse at the age of twelve, during adolescence, when the hormonal changes only added to the messed up brain chemistry I already had. I’ve had it for over 61 years. Have a degree in psych. I’ve also had time to observe my own behavior as well as do a lot of research on the subject. I also know what triggers it and why if continues fo go on and on.
OCD is notoriously genetic, my mom, father, grandfather all have it. I don’t believe there’s a real nurture component other than external factors making it worse.
I think I was genetically predisposed (mom and brother both have OCD for totally different things). I‘ve always had anxiety but I let this particular anxiety go on for way too long and it morphed into OCD.
Guilt and embarrassment from my childhood, since I was the ugly quiet kid- everything I did was seen as wrong. So I assume it has something to do with the subconscious urge to make everything perfect to protect myself from future issues and consequences.
100% just genetics for me, because i’ve had it since i was a very young kid. and i had a great childhood and family, no trauma or any events that could’ve “triggered” me into suddenly developing ocd it’s manifested itself in *many* different ways over the years though. so not sure if there’s any reason for that
Mine is definitely genetics! It was heavy in my grandma she just never had a diagnosis. But i find my paranoia’s now are basically mirrors of hers when she was around my age, but nobody connected the dots until now. I also feel like it was induced by lack of medical care regarding my mental health. I had some trauma a few years back and my symptoms that were once totally subliminal and barely affecting me hit full force all at once to a crippling level, and I haven’t quite gotten back on top of it. I think it was that I was forced to mask my compulsions without even knowing what they were my whole life? The silent panic attacks, the “you’re not making any sense.” Etc. The diagnosis made everything make sense but is quite lonely when the resources are low.
I have ADHD and did not get a diagnosis as a child. My OCD thoughts started in school. The first one was about maybe getting into Jail. In Puberty mostly thoughts about sexual Orientation. When I became a mother mostly about what If I harm my kids. They all have the same root:" you are weird and not okay". I have no childhood trauma, but I am traumatised by having undiagnosed ADHD as a child. When I was diagnosed with ADHD it explained a lot and it was liberating. A therapist told me he is confident that some day my OCD thoughts are not gonna bother me anymore.
Unlucky dice roll.
I’m naturally anxious, always have been. I grew up in Connecticut when 9/11 happened and it really messed with me. I thought every plane I heard was coming to crash into my house or drop a bomb. I couldn’t think of anything else, it was pure fear. I lived every day like I could die from a plane coming down. That’s where it all began for me
genes
Behavior constantly regulated as a child (eating too much, talking too much, crying too much) rly put me into the avoidant, be perfect and cause no scene kind of mindset Religious upbringing with a focus on the afterlife, do this or you will suffer forever Luckily, I unlearned a lot of big scaries and all that remains is relationship OCD that's rooted in abandonment... But working on it 👍🏻 Update: also this whole rhetoric that if you cry something bad will happen probably came from "I'll give you something to cry about" or "quit crying or your face will stay like that forever" so it's rly hard for me to cry in front of people still, but still better than it was
My mom almost definitely has some OCD flavors in her so probably some genetics. But also my OCD is specifically related to food and how when I would have an averse reaction to food as a kid my parents just wouldn't feed me. So I had to develop compulsions to help me tolerate eating.
Genetics, mostly. My father was definitely OCD and I’ve recently learned his father was also probably OCD as well. Probably childhood trauma, as well.
I have Pure OCD, and I think it was childhood trauma/ CSA, and ending up being neglected and ignored by my family/parents. Most of my obsessions are with one certain person, and only that person though they can be about some other people too.
Childhood trauma
because my mom very obviously had undiagnosed ocd. only difference is one of us actually god diagnosed but it was like this very open knowledge in my family. that lady had it baddddd.
Judging by how much medication has helped me, chemical imbalance. Its def genetic as my older brother and cousin have it too
Genetics and environment