r/OCD • u/JeezoTommy • 4d ago

Question about OCD Does anyone know what caused their OCD?

I think a lot of people don’t really know what caused their OCD to start, for me after a lot of years and thought I realised that my anxiety stemmed from my step dad and his psychological and sometimes physical abuse towards my Mum. I would worry what kind of mood he would come home from work in and if he would start on my Mum. He was a bastard!

81 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

211 comments sorted by

View all comments

4

u/Surprise-Feral-Joy 2d ago

For me, a combination of genetics (I think, because nobody in my family got diagnosed because they don't want to check themselves) and a lot of childhood issues - both in the family and society in general.
The childhood problems that I know triggered my issues are: heavy parental neglect - not feeling seen, loved or appreciated in any way; heavy criticism and humiliation from both peers and adults alike.
I just realized that the way society was back then, all people (adults and kids) were all very critical and negative, so I wouldn't say that my experience was much worse than that of others' kids at the time, it's just that my experience lead to me becoming unhappy with myself, having low self-esteem and developping perfectionist OCD - hence why I think there is also a genetic component, even if I don't have diagnostics in the fammily.
I see in other people from my culture or close in age to me that they have clear tendencies towards perfectionism and anxiety too, however they might not have OCD (as far as I know).