I am 33 and have OCD and severe anxiety to the point that doctors gave up on me, was very close to death(don’t wanna bore you with the story, just to let you know that I understand) Doing a lot better now, so what helped me. Started with philosophy - Osho worked best for me. Understood how OCD works, recognise when I am spiralling on unreasonable imaginary situations. A lot of psychology (Carl Jung Shadow work) renowned psychoanalyst. Understanding complex childhood trauma “Tim Fletcher” Got a really good psychologist ( was assigned to me because of my severe condition ). You need at-least 1 safe space where you can speak your mind without the fear of getting judged. Finally Awareness, understanding the root causes of my patterns and behaviours and being aware of how my brain works almost all the time( both philosophical and psychological ). Currently my anxiety and OC are at 10% or my worst, still working. It’s been 8 years since I’ve been diagnosed with anxiety and 2+ for OCD. In the last 5-6 months, I have worked a lot on letting go my subconscious habit controlling things people and expectation and future. Go with the flow. I started using my brain less and decide things by how my body feels ( with people, places and situations). More trust on my gut feeling/intuition. Take more decisions with my heart and reduce reliance on my brain. Mostly changing my entire thought process about almost everything, even how I imagine my future. I still get anxiety but instead of getting afraid I treat it as a learning opportunity to understand myself better. Also I just treat all of this as a complex and difficult problem, and I love difficult problems, and trust me it is not easy at all, there are some bad days even bad weeks, but definitely gets better. I also take a lot of rest just to compensate years of exhaustion. Do not try to do 40 things in a day. Keep life and my thought process simple. It’s still a long journey but I am hopeful, because I ha...

My therapist suggested voicing my anxieties out loud and it has helped. Usually I try to internally work through the logic of "what am I afraid of?""is that likely to happen?""what if it really happened, would it be that bad?" etc. But somehow, saying these things out loud and getting them out of my mind has helped me physically calm down. I can't explain why it works, and I do it in private, but it does work for me.

I have been in a similar place. This is something that you can get past. I did it. I still feel more anxious than I used to, and have to deal with the occasional panic attack, but are now able to go about my day and live in normal life without anxiety interrupting that. It is not a quick fix, but you just need to carry on doing what you’re doing. Keep exposing yourself to situations that make you anxious, and you will eventually show your brain enough evidence to realise that the threat isn’t real. This will take months not days. There is a difference between reluctantly going about exposure, and doing it with a recovery mindset. You have to believe that you can get better. You need to tell yourself “ I am going to feel anxious in this situation, but I’m ready for when it comes, I will divert my attention elsewhere and I will not escape or avoid, because it is the only way to communicate with the threat response” There is a psychological phrase called White knuckling - this is when you do the exposure, but through gritted teeth. You need a different mindset. Treat your anxiety like a small child. A small child might be fearful of certain social situations or bodily sensations, but you would not let a small child run your life. Instead of giving anxiety to the seat, put it in the back. Still there, still vocal, but not making the decisions for you Take on this attitude, live like a un anxious version of you would live, stay consistent for three months, Journal at the end of each day for accountability, and see how far you have come by the end of the year, I think you’ll be surprised. It’s worth saying I did this without medication, and I think you are already making positive steps