- Date posted
- 6y
- Date posted
- 6y
Well, first of all, that really sucks, and I sympathize. :( So I’m no expert, but from what I’ve learned, by trying to push the thought away or engage/argue with it, it’ll only come back even stronger, so even if the thought causes you a lot of distress and anxiety, letting it sit on its own until your mind gets bored of it and it goes away on its own is the way to go. It’s really hard at first, but eventually it’ll stop bothering you as much, or at least that’s been my personal experience. So not arguing with it, or ignoring it, just saying okay... you’re there, I acknowledge you. I hope this helps.
- Date posted
- 6y
Of course! For me, accepting the thought as it is and not arguing with it really helps after a while. I just have to remind myself to accept uncertainty.
- Date posted
- 6y
Yeah I think my issue in the past was I would always convince myself “you would never do ______”...so whenever the thoughts would come back the anxiety would be just as bad......now I’m trying to say “Hell man there are no guarantees so maybe your thoughts could in some way reflect reality, but it’s the human condition...shit is weird, don’t let it get you down” In the short term it’s not as effective as the compulsions but hopefully the grim acceptance will keep the spikes from coming back so strong
- Date posted
- 6y
OCD thought like an obsession, or a specific intrusive thought?
- Date posted
- 6y
Specific intrusive thought :(
- Date posted
- 6y
Thank you so much. Its hard when its a harm thought towards myself. I know i dont want to do it because i have so much to live for and im so much smarter then these thoughts but its just hard and makes me dizzy from trying to push it away..
- Date posted
- 6y
I have no intentions of doing anything so stupid but i just wish my brain would be quiet. Lol
- Date posted
- 6y
I'm going to try that and see if i can just coexist with it! Clearly me arguing with it to stop isnt helping lol
- Date posted
- 6y
One step at a time..
- Date posted
- 6y
You got this!
- Date posted
- 6y
Oh, maybe try Headspace too? It’s a meditation app. I thought there was no way it would work for me because of my anxiety but it’s actually really calming most of the time and it helps me with my intrusive thoughts.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 21w
I’m tired of thinking about the same OCD thought to “kill mom” it just doesn’t leave. I try to break the cycle but when it’s broken it just sits there and waits to be interacted with. Idk what to do im tired of it. And it makes me feel like a psycho path and I’m tired of not feeling like myself.
- Date posted
- 21w
My ocd is hard today- it’s been two weeks focusing on the same ocd thoughts and countless checking repetitively. Any suggestions?
- Date posted
- 18w
I’ve been stuck in this cycle for the last month or two and am not sure how to get out of it. Basically, I will work on ignoring the thoughts and not responding or engaging plus limiting/completely eliminating compulsions. After a week or two of constant work, the amount of intrusive thoughts in a day goes down. The anxiety each thought causes also goes down with some, but not all, thoughts passing without notice like they would for a normal person. The thoughts that do stick cause anxiety and make me want to ruminate or do other compulsions but I make sure to limit them. After a bit, I’m in a pretty good head space. This is usually when it goes down hill. I’ll start to question if I even have ocd because some of the thoughts (once again not all) pass without notice. The difficulty resisting compulsions goes down and so does the anxiety, only increasing the questioning. I spend a while questioning if I’ve ever had ocd in the first place and then something sets me off or the questioning itself becomes a trigger and I get stuck back into the same ocd cycle with constant rumination, anxiety, and other compulsions. This lasts for a week or two before I know I need to stop and try and work hard to get back to ignoring the thoughts. And the cycle just restarts over and over again. Does anyone have any tips to stop this from happening? It’s really harming my recovery as every few weeks I dive back into the same negative place I was.
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