Sitting with a thought, feeling incredibly uncomfortable. The physical effects of not giving into a compulsion are not often spoken about. Nausea, headaches, weakness, rapid heart beat, cold shakes (all a result from anxiety I assume). Any recommendations to aid this? I’m really trying not to give in 😕

Ur right! Because we’re so distracted with the context of OCD! I just finished an online course and it talked about changing your attitude about the feelings of uncertainty. “Want what you don’t want.” OCD gets the upper hand when you cringe and resists what scares us but flip it. Seek it out, welcome it, look at it as an opportunity to practice skills and sitting with uncertainty and doubt. Have this fighter attitude like bring it, can you give me more uncertainty. It’s fine that I’m feeling this way. I can feel this way all day ocd! It also said to turn ur back on the context, the story, it’s a mental disorder that just picked this theme bc it grabs our attention successfully. Turn your back on ur theme and sit with generic uncertainty. It’s about contamination, house burning down, etc., it’s a mental disorder, sitting with generic uncertainty and doubt.

Yes! First good job! 2nd, get up and get out of your head and into your body! When we "sit with it" we don't actually have to sit! Do your exposure, feel the anxiety, as it decreases at least by half then go live your life! Take a walk, sing a song, draw a picture... allow the anxiety to be there yet live and do things you need or want to do... the anxiety will continue to come down on its own and your brain is doing its thing and you get to do a healthy distraction whole it does!

Oh and be careful and don’t do mental compulsions. Your anxiety will not pass if you’re ruminating (trying to solve or figure it out). Mental compulsions can increase the anxiety and you’re sitting there white knuckling. My mental compulsions are often my downfall and for a while I was unaware of how much I was actually doing. Welcome the initial intrusive thought, not the analytical thoughts that come afterwards, those are compulsions

This is good advice. I always just assume that every thought response is always an intrusive thought. Turns out, like you say, they’re the compulsions. Never seen it that way before