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How do you distinguish between the Obsessive thoughts/ruminations that are due to depression and the "pure obsessive" type thoughts that are considered OCD? I know that you don't have to be compulsive to have an OCD diagnosis (I think) but more & more I see my obsessive, negative ruminations taking over and I wonder if this means I have both OCD and Depression? My brain just gets stuck on a track loop....any sad trigger and I start having related obsessive thought patterns and I cannot escape the resulting mood/emotion that comes with it.

edit: i took out my annoying rant

I've never told my tdoc about the thoughts I often have in some situations. It's probably not serious but they still come sorta alot. So I'm wondering if I have some kind of "OCD" obsessive thoughts? Like today I was going down some stairs and I got the thought I'd fall and hurt myself. Some days ago I put on the oven in the kitchen and I was afraid it'd start to burn. Also when I'm in the bus or crossing the road I get the thought something will hit me (or the bus will crash). Does it sound like a problem..? Should I tell my tdoc about this? Many thanks.

Where do I start? My friend and I were recently talking about how we feel weird with our t shirts and posters of a particular celebrity, because we have this weird and disconcerting feeling that they can see us, hear us, is watching what we do and judging. Yes..... we are crazy. I've had this feeling pretty much my whole life, and thought I was alone, until my friend confided in me that she feels uncomfortable when wearing her t shirt. I Googled it, and was surprised to find loads of questions on Yahoo Answers from teenagers who felt like their posters were watching them. They even said they couldn't get changed in their own rooms because of their posters. What the hell is this? It's physically impossible, absurdly crazy, for a human being to see and hear through an image, a picture taken in one second, one moment, years and years ago. It seems to be worse if the celebrity is deceased - perhaps they're spying through the paper, cotton, plastic etc. from another dimension, giggling at our private moments. Is this OCD, paranoia, social phobia, what? Is this really more common than anyone realizes?

Many people don't realize that many times mental heath professionals can have a difficult time diagnosing patients because their symptoms can "mimic" each disorder (bipolar disorder and ocd). I thought this was quite strange to read at first but know that I think of it my grandmother (she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder) showed many symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder. She never had compulsions, only obsessions. So I have this theory and I want to hear others responses to this subject as well... perhaps bipolar individuals create a kind of obsessive personality in order to create a sort of homeostasis of ones inner mind? Maybe the repetitive actions help create a more balanced mood because of the outward actions. I'm not sure...just thinking. Any thoughts regarding Bipolar and OCD???

Hi all, This is one of my first posts. I've been a long-time lurker and have since decided to make an account as I have gone through a series of medication changes over the last year. I have really severe GAD/PD with ruminating thoughts that I'm not quite sure are part of my GAD or border the OCD spectrum (pure O). Anyhow, I was on Lyrica which did a great job controlling my anxiety, but completely destroyed my sexuality, so my psychiatrist took me off it and I relapsed. I'm currently taking 10mg of Lexapro (used to be 20mg) but cross-tapering to Luvox as Lexapro is causing sexual dysfunction and not controlling my anxiety, along with 22.5mg of Remeron and 3mg of Klonopin. Anecdotally, my psychiatrist says that Luvox causes less sexual dysfunction - we'll see. Anyhow, I've come across a few studies via google scholar that purport that memantine (Namenda) can be used as an adjunct agent for GAD (http://www.hindawi.c...ry/2012/749796/), and it certainly has helped a lot of people who suffer from OCD (http://scholar.googl...dt=0,5&as_vis=1), as well as depression and mixed depression/anxiety states (http://scholar.googl...dt=0,5&as_vis=1). I'm wondering if anyone here has used memantine as an anxiolytic. If so, please discuss - let me know of your experience with the med. As an aside, I've read that a lot of people use memantine in conjunction with a stimulant for ADD/ADHD, and because I'm not able to tolerate stimulants, e.g. Wellbutrin, as they exacerbate the anxiety, I'd prefer to hear from those who have taken memantine in conjunction with, say, a benzodiazepine or an SSRI. I'm desperately trying to regain my sexuality and looking/thinking outside of the box for ideas to suggest to my psychiatrist at our next appointment. Thanks, all! addendum: I'm a 27 year old (male) and so not having any sexuality is absolutely terrible. Like, ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE!