- Date posted
- 3y
- Date posted
- 3y
I used to believe it was. I now be careful with my phrasing when I talk about my mental disorders. I think of my disorders as a seperate thing from me. They are not my identity, they are not a part of me, but moreso I battle with them or I have it. I like to think of my disorder as like some type of little annoying goblin that follows me around. I replace "I keep thinking about" with "my OCD keeps telling me-". It has helped tremendously with my self confidence, and it keeps me from hating who I am because of those thoughts. This is what has worked for me, It was weird at first but it helped
- Date posted
- 3y
Thank you for this comment, its nice to have another perspective about this!
- Date posted
- 3y
@Solaris Definitely! Everyone has thier own way of dealing with mental illness & identity. It's my own little way to boost my self confidence.
- Date posted
- 3y
I love that! A “little annoying goblin” 🤣
- Date posted
- 3y
Yes a lot. I literally cant dissociate myself from ocd since it's a part of me and it will always be. And thats okay
- Date posted
- 3y
Yeah, even though it’s not who we are, we do have to accept that it’s a part of our life. I’ll have to try out balancing that line
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 3y
Yes! I used to feel like my anxiety and ocd were my identity. I get what you mean with the processing phase cause for awhile I felt like all I did was do ERP exposures, listen to anxiety podcasts, read books, etc. There's this quote by @anxietyjosh on instagram that was really good, he said "you've got to stop making anxiety the centre of your life. Our threat response thinks it's being helpful when you give it attention, so when you make "recovery" the focal point of your life, you unintentionally tell anxiety that it's still important." That way of thinking helped me stop identifying with my anxiety, however for OCD, it's a little trickier. I did do what Bluusticks said and named my OCD something (I chose OCD Demon). Idk if you've heard of Dr. Patrick McGrath but he says "There is no 100 percent ability to get rid of your OCD; it is a treatable disorder, and you must always be working to fight it." ...and I'm just like 😐 how is OCD not going to be my identity then? 🤔 😂 So what I do is I keep both of these ways of thinking in mind and try to keep things simple. I have anxiety, but I'm not going to let it be my identity, I'm going to be smart with my resources and not make recovery from it the focal point of my life. I have OCD and while I can't get rid of it, I'm going to continue to face what I can't control so it doesn't control me.
- Date posted
- 3y
Yes, that is exactly what I’ve been doing! But I never connected making “recovery the focal point of your life” as a way to actually make the anxiety worse. But I guess we could consider that a compulsion in itself 🤷🏻♀️ Thank you so much for those resources too! I will use them wisely 😁
- Date posted
- 3y
When I was younger, yes. But you can’t let anything take over your life and indenting that way because it’s not healthy and it could even ruin your life and relationships.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 21w
People who went from a really bad time with OCD to a better time now. Is it really possible? What was your theme? Did you take medication?
- Date posted
- 18w
I’ve been thinking a lot about how OCD changes the way we see ourselves, but I recently realized that I am not my thoughts. Just because a thought pops up doesn’t mean it’s true or that it defines me. I’ve started learning how to see OCD for what it is—just a disorder trying to trick me—and I’ve become stronger in dealing with it. Has anyone else here had a similar realization? How do you handle these thoughts when they show up?
- Date posted
- 17w
Anyone else feel that when they aren’t experiencing a theme that their ocd is almost non existent. It almost makes me feel like I’ve been faking it, and also makes me feel ridiculous for obsessing over things. I feel sorry for myself :/ I know that my themes are valid and felt very real in the moment, but after I “get over” them I just can’t believe that I was obsessing over something that either wasn’t true or didn’t apply to me. I would also like to know how to prevent themes from reoccurring. Health, religion and existential OCD themes tend to take turns throughout my life, I just didn’t know that was it ocd. Trying to break the cycle.
Be a part of the largest OCD Community
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond