u/HeightAdmirable1077

Two years ago, my friend was on an anonymous chat app and matched with someone who claimed to be 18. They had one brief flirty and sexual chat, no images, no meeting, no continued contact, then he unmatched. Later he found her TikTok and realized she was 16 and from Texas.

He’s been spiraling ever since. Constant anxiety, guilt, barely eating, terrified of future legal consequences, and convinced his life is ruined. He spends hours researching laws and subreddits to make sure he’s safe. He won’t see a therapist because he’s afraid of being reported. He was lied to and this isn’t predatory, but he says I don’t understand. Nothing has happened in 2 years.

Is there any realistic legal threat from a one-time anonymous chat with no images and no meeting, where she lies about her age? Or does this sound like severe anxiety/OCD/intrusive thoughts? He needs help and I don’t know how to support him.

I’m looking for advice from anyone who has dealt with false-memory OCD, real-event OCD, or something similar.

I’ve reached a point where I’ve convinced myself that I committed terrible crimes that I genuinely don’t believe I committed. I constantly feel like I’m waiting for the police to come, that I’m going to be arrested or sent to prison, and I live with almost constant anxiety about it.

There were a few online real events 2-3 years ago that were traumatic and difficult for me mentally. Since then, my mind seems to take those events and repeatedly analyze them, question every detail, and sometimes turn uncertainty into the worst possible interpretation. I’ve also had various online interactions where I couldn’t necessarily verify whether the other person was truthful about their age, which has become a huge source of fear and rumination for me.

The hardest part is that I know OCD can distort how you remember things, but I don’t know how to trust my own memory anymore. I’ll think about something repeatedly, and the more I analyze it, the more confused I become about what actually happened versus what my mind is telling me happened.

I don’t want to keep researching these fears or mentally reviewing every event trying to reach 100% certainty, because that seems to make everything worse. At the same time, I’m terrified of ignoring potential consequences that could humiliate me and ruin my life forever. I need help on how to deal with this and I’m wondering if this is just OCD or a rational fear.

I’m looking for advice from anyone who has dealt with false-memory OCD, real-event OCD, or something similar.

I’ve reached a point where I’ve convinced myself that I committed terrible crimes that I genuinely don’t believe I committed. I constantly feel like I’m waiting for the police to come, that I’m going to be arrested or sent to prison, and I live with almost constant anxiety about it.

There were a few real events in my past that were traumatic and difficult for me mentally. Since then, my mind seems to take those events and repeatedly analyze them, question every detail, and sometimes turn uncertainty into the worst possible interpretation. I’ve also had various online interactions where I couldn’t necessarily verify whether the other person was truthful about their age, which has become a huge source of fear and rumination for me.

The hardest part is that I know OCD can distort how you remember things, but I don’t know how to trust my own memory anymore. I’ll think about something repeatedly, and the more I analyze it, the more confused I become about what actually happened versus what my mind is telling me happened.

I don’t want to keep researching these fears or mentally reviewing every event trying to reach 100% certainty, because that seems to make everything worse. At the same time, I’m terrified of ignoring potential consequences that could humiliate me and ruin my life forever. I need help on how to deal with this and I’m wondering if you guys experience something similar.