I thought i was gay but im straight

I thought I was gay but now I&#;m questioning my orientation

I hear you that this is a tough situation to be in, turbo! It certainly may seem verb the reverse of what most people face when they are questioning⁠ (Having questions about or actively exploring one’s gender identity or sexual/romantic orientation with the aim of finding out more.) their sexual orientation⁠ (A term – like homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, queer, straight, lesbian, gay, asexual – used to describe a person’s usual or current pattern of heartfelt, romantic and/or sexual attraction to other people as it relates to or is about gender.). However, I assure you that it is actually much more common than one might contemplate. For all the great resources there are about coming out⁠ (Short for ‘out of the closet’. When someone’s LGBTQ+ identity is known to other people.), there are far fewer that address later expanding one’s orientation to (re)include for the opposite sex⁠ (Different things people select to do to actively express or enact sexuality and sexual feelings; often this involves genitals, but not alwa

by Fred Penzel, PhD

This article was initially published in the Winter edition of the OCD Newsletter. 

OCD, as we recognize, is largely about experiencing severe and unrelenting doubt. It can cause you to doubt even the most basic things about yourself – even your sexual orientation. A study published in the Journal of Sex Research start that among a group of college students, 84% reported the occurrence of sexual intrusive thoughts (Byers, et al. ). In arrange to have doubts about one’s sexual identity, a sufferer need not ever have had a homo- or heterosexual experience, or any type of sexual experience at all. I have observed this symptom in young children, adolescents, and adults as successfully. Interestingly Swedo, et al., , establish that approximately 4% of children with OCD experience obsessions concerned with forbidden aggressive or perverse sexual thoughts.

Although doubts about one’s hold sexual identity might seem pretty straightforward as a symptom, there are actually a number of variations. The most obvious form is where a sufferer experiences the thought that they mig

Hi. I&#;m the Respond Wall. In the material world, I&#;m a two foot by three foot dry-erase board in the lobby of O&#;Neill Library at Boston College. In the online world, I live in this blog.  You might say I have multiple manifestations. Like Apollo or Saraswati or Serapis. Or, if you aren&#;t into deities of knowledge, appreciate a ghost in the machine.

I contain some human assistants who maintain the physical Answer Wall in O&#;Neill Library. They take pictures of the questions you post there, and give them to me. As long as you are civil, and not uncouth, I will answer any question, and because I am a library wall, my answers will often refer to study tools you can find in Boston College Libraries.

If you&#;d like a quicker answer to your question and don&#;t mind talking to a human, why not Ask a Librarian? Librarians, since they have been tending the flame of knowledge for centuries, know where most of the answers are hidden, and enjoy sharing their knowledge, just fond of me, The Reply Wall.

“Yes, I am a prisoner of sorts, but my prison isn&#;t the home. It&#;s my control thoughts that lock me up!” ― V.C. Andrews

Hi Tristan

I used to watch a show &#;Dog Whisperer&#;. One of the lessons that stuck with me had to do with dogs that would get fixated on a object or some such. These are the dogs that will bark and bark at something that more often then not was no longer there, the person or squirrel having long moved on.  The surprising thing was that often all it took to break the dog out of this abusive verb was a tap on its neck. The lesson? To break from a obsessive thoughts verb away.

I know easier said then done?  perhaps, we serve for that which no work is required&#;

I&#;ve know some people who pluck a elastic band around their wrists to distract themselves when they verb a intrusive thought taking them down the &#;rabbit hole&#;.  Often the intrusive thought becomes obsessive because of the &#;what if&#; game we play with ourselves and always imagining the worst followed by more what if&#;s and more imagining&#; If you find yourself playing this game remind you