As I’ve mentioned before, I get more questions about HOCD than anything else. Even after adding a disclaimer to my question form (directing people with HOCD questions to my most thorough HOCD post), they still pour in.

And I get it. No one wants a general HOCD post; everyone wants to share their specific story and ask specific questions and get specific reassurance. 

But I can’t, friends. I’m so sorry. I wish I could bear the burdens of everyone with grace and ease and without taking on anxious energy, but I don’t have the emotional capacity for that. Therapists get paid for this sort of work; they are trained for it; you have to set up an appointment, whereas my question form makes it seem like I am available 24/7 to handle OCD concerns.

Even if I post my policy online, even if people get my auto-response full of resources, people still email over and over or else find me on social media. I get this as well. Remember, I know what it is like to have that intense fear, that terror that drives you to seek answers. I know what it is like. I’ve been in those shoes.

My heart so deeply loves the OCD community, so desperately wants for those enslaved to experience freedom, which is why I blog about my experiences and provide resources. But in trying to protect my boundaries, in trying to prioritize my own remission, in trying to respect my health by not taking on crisis-level anxiety that I cannot manage, I know that I sacrifice that personal touch that a therapist or other mental health professional could offer you.

I’m going to take down my question form.

My answers remain the same:

• Assume it is indeed OCD/HOCD.
• Educate yourself on OCD and ERP therapy.
• Pursue ERP therapy either with a specialist or guided by a book.
• Consider pairing ERP therapy with medication, but don’t neglect ERP: ERP is the #1 evidence-based treatment.
• Use free resources like the nOCD app or Pax the OCD Bot.
• Trust that there is hope and healing at the end of hard work: the only thing harder than ERP therapy is living with untreated OCD, 

God bless you all. Thanks for understanding.

xo Jackie