Anyone here that has reduced the number of ruminating thoughts but still live with a weight on the stomach dictated by the fear of not being sure to be fully straight ?

👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

I’ve had SOOCD since I was about 14, and I’ve had years were I didn’t even question myself at all. Now I’m 27 and I just tell my brain I’m bi to appease it. And that has literally made my intrusive thoughts go away. Like I can see a naked woman and be like “oh yup, woman just like me” so I think the key is unconditional acceptance

That's amazing I try to do so but I go on alarm mode and my brain start ruminating since it wants to find a solution to it Did you go through this phase as well ?

@AndreaRolle Yes absolutely. It took me a very long time to actually look into a cure and read books on it, and find that there’s a scientific reason that our brain ruminates and gets stuck. It’s stuck in fight and flight mode, and it’s stuck on something that we can never solve no matter how hard we think about it. So, scientifically speaking… you give your brain a solution. You just say “yeah, maybe I’m gay. Maybe I do love women. Oh well!” And then your brain is like ….. oh. 😳I’ll shut up now.

@AndreaRolle And I should add, I have a husband I live very much and two kids. I enjoy se% with men very much lol…. Im definitely not truly gay. Maybe a little bi but I don’t care to figure it out honestly because I’m happy

@Anon1294 That's the right mentality 👏 I am not able to accept of being a bit bi....

@AndreaRolle Acceptance doesn’t mean it’s true. That’s very important to remember. You’re simply tricking your brain out of the cycle it’s in. I can say “I’m a serial killer” but that doesn’t make it true. You just say it to get your brain to not *fear* it anymore. For example, maybe you were afraid of jumping off a diving board. The first couple time you do it, it’s still pretty scary. You’re walking up to the ladder thinking “what if I slip, what if I get water up my nose, what if I drown”.. And then after you’ve done it 100 times, you don’t even think about it anymore. You don’t have any scary thoughts, you just go with the flow. So repeating “maybe I am gay or maybe I am bi” calms the fear and clears your mind

@Anon1294 Thank you, it makes perfectly sense. I'll write down your advice

Hi there! Definitely has happened to me. As I continued with my ERP, I found that my intrusive thoughts did not distress me, and that put in your stomach that questions everything does quiet down! I also will say exaggerated statements like, “Yep I’m totally gay! That gayest that’s ever lived! That’s me and I love it!” It helps trick my OCD, and I find it funny too! Keep up the hard work! You’re stronger than you know!