How do people with scrupulosity go to confession?

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Is there any scrupulous people here what do you do?
What if someone has maybe like OCD that causes them to doubt everything?

Say if the priest gives you a penance to do three Hail Marys and your OCD or scrupulous behavior causes you doubt that you said them correctly or something.
 
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This was my life for many years. Confession was torture, not because I was embarrassed or afraid that the priest would chastise me, but rather because I was afraid that I would say something wrong or incompletely. Even worse, I was afraid that I would confess too much or have to go into excessive explanations in order to make my confession valid. This still happens to me from time to time, but overall I have gotten much better. It takes a lot of patience, prayer and the advice of a solid priest. The following article was extremely helpful to me in this regard:

http://catholicapologetics.info/library/onlinelibrary/scruples.htm

There are quite a few other resources out there as well if you do an internet search for “scrupulosity and confession” or “obligation to confess doubtful sins”. That latter issue (the non-obligation to confess doubtful sins) was a particularly difficult hurdle to overcome for me, though it is treated directly in the above article and confirmed by quite a few theologically orthodox sources such as the Catechism of St. Pius X and the writings of St. Padre Pio. Scrupulous Anonymous, an online resource run by Redemptorist Priests also has some good information (especially their 10 Commandments for the Scrupulous-advice which is also corroborated by orthodox sources), though some of their writings are a little liberal, and at least one of their priests has written responses to questions that seem, at least on the surface, openly hostile to traditional Catholicism.

The most important thing is to discuss your situation with a priest and trust his advice. The CAF forum, as solid a source of information as it is, is absolutely dreadful with regard to scrupulosity. Too many people with no understanding of the condition feel free to answer these types questions not realizing that their answers are extremely harmful to the scrupulous soul.
 
You go and ask your confessor to refer you to a person who specializes n dealing with the scrupulous.
There are priests or other Spiritual Director that are wonderful in this area.
God bless you. I pray you find relief soon.
 
im scrupulous and i go to confession almost every weekend (i try to). I always confess doubtful sins, is that bad?
 
It’s not bad. It’s just not strictly required and usually not recommended for the scrupulous. Speak to your confessor and trust his advice over what I tell you though.
 
I’ve read somewhere that if you’re doubtful, you should say you’re doubtful instead of saying that you’ve definitely sinned. Because to say you have sinned when you aren’t sure is also not complete truth, too…or at least that was the explanation…
 
NuclearReceptor said:
Because to say you have sinned when you aren’t sure is also not complete truth, too…or at least that was the explanation…
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then i wasn’t being truthful to my confessor 😦 . I had a hunch i shouldn’t confess those doubtful sins. Am i still in sin because i didn’t convey the whole truth?
 
As a scrupulous person myself, I also have the temptation to think “I’m sinful. I’m not sure I have sinned with such and such, but I probably did sin. So I will say I sinned to cover my base.”

Unless you know you’ve sinned, it is best to not say you sinned — but if there’s doubt, tell your priest you’re doubtful.

As the poster below said, giving in to scruples hinders trust in God’s mercy and goodness.

(And nope, you did not sin because you doubted whether something was sin while confessing.)
 
Guest1 said:
Is there any scrupulous people here what do you do?
What if someone has maybe like OCD that causes them to doubt everything?

Say if the priest gives you a penance to do three Hail Marys and your OCD or scrupulous behavior causes you doubt that you said them correctly or something.
Click to expand...
Remember that it is enough to take the time to do the penance, even with imperfections present, such as lack of complete attention, or mispronunciations, or a missing word, or imperfect understanding.
 
This is exactly why I recommend not asking these questions on this forum. You’re mind is already working against you. I will say, you cannot be lie by accident. If you thought you were doing the right thing then you have nothing to worry about. Talk to your priest. And read the link I posted as it addresses this concern directly.
 
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NuclearReceptor said:
As a scrupulous person myself, I also have the temptation to think “I’m sinful. I’m not sure I have sinned with such and such, but I probably did sin. So I will say I sinned to cover my base.”
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That is exactly what goes on in my mind!
 
In my opinion if you believe you are sinning in thought, word, deed or failure thereof it, and you still commit that act, you have sinned. Confess it. If you are truly not sure, ask a priest. When and if he corrects you, learn from it and don’t repeat that particular scrupulous behavior. Remember, God knows what is in your heart. Prayers are forms in which we pray but the intent is what is most important. Love God and love your neighbor as yourself and you cover most of the bases. Accept the Priests absolution as complete. God bless you all.
 
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No I’ve been Catholic for my entire life. I fell into heresy a couple of times but I didn’t really leave my regular Catholic Church. I almost did but luckily the heresy didn’t completely brainwash me. I decided to take the Catholic faith seriously almost (I think) a year and a few months ago. Probably longer. But I guess when I truly took my faith seriously my scruples decided to show up. Idk
 
While your opinion on confessing is fine for normal people, it is not necessarily so cut and dry for scrupulous people, who legitimately may not know whether or not they committed a sin. Confessing these doubts leads to more doubts, which in turn leads to a constant fear of committing sacrilege, which may ultimately end in their outright rejecting the faith, or in some cases even suicide. This is why it is critical that they have recourse to a solid confessor, preferably one trained in scrupulosity. Also, telling a scrupulous person not to repeat a particular “scrupulous behavior” is like telling a heroin addict to just stop shooting up. If we could control it, we would. We are often aware that our behaviors and thoughts are not rational, but we are still compelled to repeat them. It is no coincidence that the scrupulous also often suffer from OCD.
 
I think it is equally dangerous for people who don’t know the person to say things like “NEVER confess doubtful sins” though. The proper answer is: discuss this all with your confessor and spiritual advisor and follow their instructions. If the only information we have is a forum post we should not try to give specific advice. Only those trained and with actual access to the information should be handing out advice like this.
 
Anton said:
In my opinion if you believe you are sinning in thought, word, deed or failure thereof it, and you still commit that act, you have sinned. Confess it. If you are truly not sure, ask a priest
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That assumes you’re not someone like me who can somehow find a reason where any possible act is a sin.
 
Once you realize scrupulosity is a form of pride a disordered focus on perfection and start trusting in God’s mercy things will lighten up. Don’t stop praying. Go to confession when you can. Stop trying to will yourself to be perfect and let God’s grace guide you there instead.
 
Did you read the part in each one of my posts where I said to talk to a priest?
 
Actually it’s not a form of pride at all. It’s a form of obsessive compulsive disorder that doesn’t just go away because one wants it to. I know you mean well but comments like this are extremely harmful and damaging to the scrupulous individual.
 
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