OCD, Scrupulosity, Confession question

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adoratio93

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My name is Janet, I am new here, and I came because I don’t really know a priest personally who I feel comfortable enough to speak openly about my situation. I just have been declared to on “remission” from my OCD by my therapist after a year or so of therapy and medication. A while ago, I struggled a lot with intrusive thoughts and scrupulosity. I am now in a completely different state of mind and feel ready to approach the confessional again after a horrible, horrible year of dealing with this illness. My question is, and I hope I can find help on here with it, how to go about confessing. A lot of people ( including my therapist) have told me that since I have such a problem with scruples, I should not confess any sins that I have already confessed, but what if I don’t know if the confession was valid? The thing is, when I was a child, I basically taught myself to go to confession. My sweet mother tried very hard to get us to CCD classes, but we weren’t really taught much there. We just played games. I discovered confession through EWTN, and at 13, I kind of just jumped in on my own. Looking back, I don’t think I did it right. I do believe that I confessed everything, but not all at once. I don’t think I ever stopped myself from confessing something that I knew had to be confessed, but I would stop myself from thinking about more sins after a while, or if I became overwhelmed. For this reason, I believe I should re-confess everything, but I also know that there is a very high chance that I will see fault in that confession again. I know myself, I know I will want to do so again. I don’t want to let my OCD keep me from practicing my faith properly, but I also don’t want to go mad again. What should I do?
 
I think the best thing would be to get to know a priest well. Approach a priest, let him know you struggle with scrupulosity, and then develop an ongoing thing with him.
 
adoratio93 said:
What should I do?
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You MUST tell the priest about your OCD and scruples and follow his guidance.

We cannot help you here. You are already feeding back into your scruples by questioning the validity and obsessing over the need to confess everything all over again.

You need to work with your therapist and you MUST work with a priest. Simply call the nearest parish for an appointment.
 
Alright, should I just tell them what’s going on then? Will they know what to do? Should I bring a note from my therapist or anything like that?
 
adoratio93 said:
Okay, thank you! I will give it a try!
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The trick is to find a priest, develop a regular interaction with him and the trust what he tells you. Don’t go constantly looking for affirmation from other sources. If he says you’re good, you’re good.
 
adoratio93 said:
I also know that there is a very high chance that I will see fault in that confession again. I know myself, I know I will want to do so again.
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Oh, I know the feeling. I have OCD/scrupulosity myself.

You should tell the Priest exactly what you told us. You want to make a good confession, but you have doubts about the past and you suffer from scrupulosity. You should do exactly as the Confessor says and do not second guess him. Do not go Priest shopping. Do not get second, third or fourth opinions, etc. Do not ask questions about something you are scrupuling over on this forum.
 
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