I was told I may have OCD that triggers my anxiety, if this is the truth, does that..

[Fever11]

Does that mean I don't really have anxiety? Meaning, does that mean I really don't worry and it's all just the OCD triggering it? I was told by a family doctor I might have it, but it's not diagnosed or anything, and he said might. I'm seeing a psychiatrist in two months.

[jessed03]

OCD is an anxiety disorder anyway, which is based around worry, albeit a more obsessive (and subtle) kind.

A quick example of my OCD and how it's similar to regular anxiety.

I have Sensorimotor OCD. I focus on bodily sensations to the point my muscles go numb. Thankfully it's very very rare this happens now (so you can be confident in treatment!).

I focus on the breathing as part of my obsession - this then leads me to wanna control it, and so I hyperventilate.

I get the compulsion to check my breath often, and analyze it.

It's still based upon worry though. Even though it's an obsession.

It's still an underlying worry that causes me to want to keep this compulsion around and in existence.

I still have this worry that says 'you need to change your breathing, it isn't good enough', or it says 'You need to slow your breathing', and so I try, and end up making it worse. Whereas a person would worry their heart is beating too fast and may be dangerous, I worry my breathing isn't adequate enough, and will cause symptoms like in the old days.

This subconscious worry that can get triggered by certain things, like being out of breath from exercise, or swimming, or seeing someone breathe heavily... and it then compels me to check how I'm breathing at random points in the day, whenever I have that thought triggered.

The worry is just more subconscious than a regular anxiety sufferers, as mine is more automatic, and their worry is more conscious, as you can see in their posts.

So in essence I still kind of had to tackle the worry in a similar way to how anxiety sufferers tackle theirs. Albeit it with some tweaks. I still needed to communicate to my subconscious mind that I didn't want to do this anymore, that it was a process I didn't want. That these worries were unfounded, and the compulsions to keep checking in on bodily sensations were pointless.

I still had to deal with the conscious chatter too.

Like OCD and anxiety sufferers, once you communicate to your subconscious that you want rid of anxiety, and correct your conscious worries, you're gonna be in a really good place.

How you go about doing that differs a little from condition to condition, however there are many, many similarities.

Anxiety conditions are like the suit, and your therapy is like your tailor, altering it to suit your individual needs. Your treatment will be like many other peoples, but may have some subtle changes that suit your problem best.

OCD is just another manifestation of an anxiety problem.

I couldn't be more specific as I don't know your type of OCD :)

[BlessedMom]

Does that mean I don't really have anxiety? Meaning, does that mean I really don't worry and it's all just the OCD triggering it? I was told by a family doctor I might have it, but it's not diagnosed or anything, and he said might. I'm seeing a psychiatrist in two months.

have you spoke with a doctor about it, I know you said a "family doctor" said you might have it but was that at an actual appointment? Its important to discuss this with a professional as well as us :) I suffered severly with OCD as a child, a result of abuse, and I would have to do things over and over....... and worry was one of them ;)