How to stop ruminating without distracting yourself?

Hey there! My name is Tyler Devine and I am one of the advocates here at NOCD. Let me start by saying I’m sorry you are having a rough time. OCD is a very, very debilitating area in the realm of mental health and anxiety disorders. However, we know this. Saying how hard it is and continuing to dig a deeper hole is not how you win this daily battle. Learning to face OCD head on is something that comes with time and practice. I’m not sure where you are in your journey with OCD, but let me give you some background on myself: I’m 27 years old and have been dealing with ocd since I was young. About five years ago, I finally surrendered to the monster that is OCD (particularly SO-OCD, which if you’re unfamiliar with some of the main subtypes of ocd, is obsessive thoughts, feelings etc of a sexual relation). Ever since then, I have never looked back. I know it’s tough but trust a vet like me who has put a lot of time into this stuff when I say you are far from alone. Some big things that helped me tame the beast and still do to this day are meditation, prayer, ERP (both staged and in real time), help from a specialist, faith, and medication (if necessary, as a supplement to your training). All these things combined with a positive attitude toward yourself and your OCD will lead you to victory! Keep helping others and keep utilizing the wonderful community of therapists and people who struggle with the same stuff like you and me. To answer your particular question, I like to look at escaping rumination as more of like throwing the switch track on the railroad as opposed to “distracting” yourself from it. I think anything you use to throw that switch track (meditation, prayer, reading, exercise, comedy, etc) is going to help you and your brain learn to not get stuck. This is just a different approach/perspective that has helped me get the upper hand on my ocd. I hope that helps! Strength and prayers, Tyler D

That sounds like distraction for me, are you sure it's a good thing to use against OCD

I think that distraction is fine, and can even be helpful, but only if you approach it the right way. You can’t think to yourself “This thought is so awful, I need to do something right now to distract myself from this horrible thought. I don’t want to think about this.” That would be a compulsion. But if you approach it by telling OCD: “Ok, you’re trying to tell me and convince me that (blank) may be true, but I know that everything you say is nonsense, so I don’t care how long you keep trying to tell me this thing. I’m not going to take what you say as important anymore. I am going to live my normal life and go do something else.” Notice how in the second example, you are not running away from the thought itself, but are allowing it to stay as long as it wants, and are not responding to it or giving it any significance. I hope this helps!