Video game OCD

But you don’t understand, my ocd revolves around perfectionism and doing everything to a T. This means that if I have any intrusive thoughts or ruin the game in anyway, it ruins the “perfectionism” of the game that I’m trying to do. I know I should just ignore the feeling and continue playing but I literally don’t enjoy any of it knowing it’s not “perfect”. Like I could play the whole game and still not have fun because it isn’t “perfect”

What if I only take it when I really need it? My ocd usually acts up when I’m just starting a game off. If I took it only when I needed it (say, once every week or two) would I still be ok?

As someone who was in the same boat as you but for anime instead, I suggest you quit this hobby as I did with anime and find another thing to obsess about. For me, I started watching a movie and it was time well spent because it was something I gained a lot of enjoyment from. Now I play videogames and watch anime once a week. Try to get some variety in.

I've been in the exact same situation. It was so bad, I sat through every conversation in Witcher 2 multiple times because I felt like I was not paying attention last time. One 10 min segment could easily take several hours for me. Eventually it got so bad, it started to ruin gaming for me. I decided to stop being an OCD faggot there and then and forced myself to go on every time. It worked. Felt horrible for a week or two, but now I can do whatever I want. I still have OCD tendencies, like being a big completionist. But i also truly enjoy that so it's fine.

tl;dr: Force yourself to ignore OCD and it will go away.

I work out regularly and also have a job. Unfortunately I don’t have any friends or a gf so video game’s was one of my only ways to cope with the stress in life. Now that that’s ruined I don’t know what to do anymore

I used to have a lot of intrusive thoughts as well when I was younger. It got to the point where I could barely get through the days without having nervous breakdowns. I would constantly think about the possibility of my parents getting killed or some insane shit along those lines.

What helped me is realizing that the thoughts only have control if you let them. At the end of the day user, you're playing a fucking video game. There's no pressure in trying to be perfect, just do the best that you can and have fun with it. Who cares if you missed out on +1 on some stat because you didn't min/max perfectly, games are easy as fuck nowadays.

I wish it was that easy user. I try so hard but it literally makes me feel sick if I just try to ignore it. Like, I’ll try to sit through dialogue and I’ll have an intrusive thought about death or rape or some shit, and it totally ruins my “perfection” of the game. I know you’re supposed to ignore this and keep playing but I have 0 motivation to continue knowing I had that thought/bad moment, like it’s permanently stamped onto the game

This user here

You sound like a bit of a faggot, though. Meds are not a solution, they're a band-aid. Grow a spine and make it difficult for yourself. My OCD was/is the same as yours, perfectionism. There's no excuse not to try what people tell you to. It's tough, but it's the best solution. I still have OCD, but it's easily manageable. For example, I only buy games/create characters on certain dates. Or just completionism. But otherwise, I'm fine. So grow a pair and force yourself through some uncomfortable times. Then it will be fine.

user please help me, these intrusive thoughts drive me insane and I try not to pay attention to them but they completely ruin whatever hobby/activity I’m doing. See
For how bad it is

I’m sorry user but I literally can’t do it off willpower alone. I literally can’t continue playing the game knowing it’s fucked up. Like imagine if you are watching the opening cutscene for your favorite game and you get a awful intrusive thought about death. Now whenever you sit down to play you realize that during that cutscene you had a thought about death and it ruins the perfectness of the game because normal people don’t think about that shit

What games have you tried? Have you tried other genres than the ones you usually play? Have a game you like but don't play because you force yourself to enjoy a game you don't? I switched from the usual real time combat to turn based.

I take clomipromine for my OCD. It's prescription only but it works really well.

I love RPG games like new Vegas (my fav game) but I’ve also tried different games (strategy, shooting, turn based) I have the same problem in every single one. Hell, I tried playing a LEGO game the other day and I couldn’t even get past the title screen without having intrusive thoughts

Can you tell me about it? Is it a benzo? Does it help with intrusive thoughts? Any side effects? I just started taking seroquel

There really is no magic off switch man, I really just learned to live with them for a while. It took me a long time, but once I started to realize that it wasn't my fault I was thinking these things and that they were irrational, they eventually went away. My OCD is still here, but it's more harmless shit now, like repeating words in my head and counting the number of letters in them. I still get the stray disgusting intrusive thought, but I will either ignore it or laugh it off. Don't beat yourself up over these thoughts man, it's not your fault.

This. It probably won't be curable but you need to reduce it with willpower otherwise it'll get worse, you don't want that.

There has to be some drug I can take to help me out. I bet if I pooped a Xanax before playing vidya I won’t have any trouble just sitting down and enjoying it

Well, you are not playing them perfectly user. Most games are made in a way that you are meant to die and mess up things. The way you play is non intended and thus imperfect.
Let me just say that i can somewhat understand you, for the longest time i had such problems, too. It can get better

How did you get over it user? It’s such a heavy burden on my soul I literally don’t feel like living anymore. Imagine everything you once loved to do is now ruined by your own mental state

You'll one day realize that it's not worth the trouble and that doing such things is irrational

And then you would need xanax every time you wanted to play vidya. Is that really what you want, user? Relying on medication to play a fucking video game? I would highly suggest talking to someone about what you're going through. Once you get it out in the open, you'll understand how ridiculous your thoughts are.

I used to have intrusive thoughts about killing my own parents when I was a teenager very frequently. Since it happened so often, I would then have another terrible thought of, "If I keep thinking this, maybe I would eventually do it." which scared me even further. For a long time, I kept it to myself and felt miserable. Telling my mother about what was happening to me was a very terrifying first step, but it was vital in getting better.

Self medication will just lead you to feeling even shittier down the line.

Not a benzo. it's helped eliminate all of my intrusive thoughts over the years - I'm actually decreasing the dose gradually and am still doing fine, I may be able to get off it eventually. It has a lot of possible side effects like any prescription drug but the only one I have is infrequent drowsiness.