Anyone else with harm ocd also have the fear that they are a psychopath/sociopath along with it? This causes me to constantly go over my past behaviors to look for signs and worry about the future as well. I’m just really struggling with this lately and finding it hard to move past this lapse as I was doing really well. Hopefully starting back on Prozac today but I know it can take 4-6 weeks to start working

Harm OCD

Elephrank

Date posted: 3y

Me, me, me! Yep, this was really hard for me for a while. The thing that worked for me (and all OCD in general) is to NOT engage with the thoughts. I would ruminate all day and find myself constantly trying to problem solve to figure out if I was a psychopath. I would get occasional moments of "Okay, I think I proved to myself I'm not a psychopath" only for the doubts to come rushing back in along with NEW doubts as well. The thing that truly helped was staying true to my values. Write them out and do what you can to stay in line with them. Trying to problem solve and "figure it out" will only make things worse.

Kati3

Date posted: 3y

Hi Elephrank! I’ve been struggling with ruminating and sometimes it feels impossible to stop. When I acknowledge that I’m having ruminating thoughts, I try to distract myself but sometimes it’s hard to distract myself from it. Ruminating is exhausting. Do you have some other tips to deal with it? Thanks!

Elephrank

Date posted: 3y

@Kati3 Hi Kati3! So, first I have a question. How are you distracting yourself? I’ve found distracting to be compulsive behavior for me. Doing something to actively try to take your mind off of your obsessions while you’re anxious can become a compulsion. So, be careful! I ruminate way too much and so my therapist taught me to write down uncertainty statements when I’m obsessing. Stuff like, “I may or may not be a psychopath which would mean I have no empathy and hurt people I love.” Also, script writing helps but for me it can be really scary in the moment. If you have an OCD therapist, I’d recommend asking them before taking my advice. Exposures work differently for everyone!

Kati3

Date posted: 3y

@Elephrank I try distracting myself by doing activities that I used to find relaxing like reading, going for walks, or watching my favorite shows. I have not tried writing the response messages down. I have only been repeating them mentally. I think I will try that! I will check in with my therapist though. I just wanted to see what worked for others when it comes to rumination!

Elephrank

Date posted: 3y

@Kati3 Yeah! Write them down and see if that helps. I have mine on sticky notes that I keep at my desk, but luckily I work from home most days haha 😂 also, setting alarms on my phone with uncertainty statements has helped too! They say things like “I may or may not stab someone.” They used to make me anxious when they’d go off. But, now they’ve lost a lot of affect on me 😊 I’ll see them and just giggle most of the time.

Kati3

Date posted: 3y

@Elephrank I’m glad it works for you! This will be very helpful😁

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