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Could I be questioning because of my OCD?

Discussion in 'Sexual Orientation' started by Music Girl, May 21, 2015.

  1. Music Girl

    Music Girl Guest

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    For the record, I have been diagnosed as having OCD by a medical professional, and my symptoms are mild to moderate. Recently I've read that people that have OCD actually are way more likely to question if they're gay or not. https://iocdf.org/expert-opinions/homosexual-obsessions/ I've been questioning for over a year now, and I'm still not really sure. I haven't had any past experiences with any gender, and I'm wondering if that could be all this is.
     
  2. Foz

    Foz Guest

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    Don't feel you have to question because you have OCD, that's like saying twins should be questioning because they are much more likely to be gay! If you're genuinely questioning then that's it, you'll follow your journey and you'll know when it's come to an end once you know. But don't feel you have to continue doing so just because of some statistic!

    You don't need any experience with any gender to know, you don't hear people saying "how do you know you're straight if you've not had sex with a man?"
     
  3. Music Girl

    Music Girl Guest

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    I started questioning before I even knew the correlation between the two, but I just feel like maybe all of this unsureness is stemming from that. It's not like I questioned BECAUSE I have OCD, it's that I think that my OCD might be the cause of my questioning. It's more like saying, "You're questioning if you're gay? Oh, that makes sense. You have a long lost twin." (I don't know, just pretend that's not as weird as it is.) If the only reason why I'm questioning is because of this correlation, doesn't that mean I can just drop it?
     
  4. blurryface

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    Hi,

    I am bisexual and have been diagnosed with OCD also which was once very severe but since treatment is now mild-moderate. Most people don't realise that questioning sexuality is not only a correlation or symptom of OCD but can be OCD itself. Often called HOCD for homosexual OCD it can lead to straight people becoming anxious that they're secretly gay, gay people being anxious that they're secretly straight and bisexual people being anxious they're not bisexual which results in compulsions such as ruminating or checking your reactions to people of a certain sex. So you having OCD and being concerned this is a symptom is understandable. However there is a big different in OCD questioning and actually confusion over sexuality.

    The main way you can tell is how the questioning makes you feel. Does the thought of being gay make you anxious or the thought of being not gay makes you anxious? If so it could be OCD at work. However if it does not bother you being gay/straight/bisexual/pansexual etc. but you're just confused because you're not sure then it's more likely that it's not OCD. Of course people without OCD can fear coming out and the others reaction and being confused can cause people anxiety but OCD is very different in the way that it follows a pattern which is; intrusive thought --> doubt/anxiety --> compulsion. Such as; that womens very attractive -->what if this means I'm gay(anxiety accompanied) --> ruminates on this, tries to convince self not gay and check reactions to females.

    To know properly you may need to talk to a cbt therapist though. I'm bisexual and my OCD has led to me thinking 'what if I'm only attracted to one sex really' which caused me anxiety because of being in a relationshipship with a women at the time and being afraid the relationship wasn't real but it was all due to OCD and I am infact, definitely bisexual.

    I hope this helped :slight_smile:
     
  5. Music Girl

    Music Girl Guest

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    Shit. Ok then... Damn it. Definitely not because of my OCD. I didn't realize that questioning because of OCD was actually a compulsive behavior, and now I'm back to square one. I was kind of hoping that it was because of it, as then I would be able to just let it go and know that I wasn't legitimately questioning. Great. You did help, just not in the way I wanted. :dry:
     
  6. sporn

    sporn Guest

    I'm questioning because of OCD. I really want to be truly gay, but I keep freaking out about actually being bi or homoflexible. It's a horrible feeling. I've been obsessing about this for about five years. It just goes in circles. I sometimes get anxiety attacks when I see a cool guy. I get scared that I'm getting attracted to him.