- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 3y
Hi! Remember, a thought is not a prediction, instruction, or call to action. Thoughts just appear. Keep in mind, the presence of an anxious thought doesn't necessarily mean anything at all. When you try to analyze the thought or guess its origin/meaning, you are falling in the ruminative trap. It's important to keep in mind that OCD's nickname is "the doubt disorder". The best way to combat OCD is to practice ERP. Something you can try: when an OCD thought comes up you can say “Oh wow, there goes that thought again. It’s really bothering me.” By doing this, you are using language to distance yourself from the bothersome experience. The more you do that, the more natural it will become over time. I highly recommend The OCD Answer book by Dr. Patrick McGrath if you haven't read it yet. OCD can be so difficult to deal with, it's important that we stay compassionate to ourselves. Here's somethings you can say to yourself when things are hard: "I feel sad and angry that I have OCD. I am sure everyone often feels this way at times. May I be gentle with myself and honor how hard this is." Kimberly Quinlan "Recovery entails accepting the presence of thoughts, not accepting thoughts as truths" Lauren McMeikan If you are to use fear as a criteria, an OCD life is more abundant with fear than a life where you accept uncertainty. Have you done ERP/worked with an ERP therapist yet? It might also be helpful to check out NOCD's support groups just to know you're not alone. https://www.treatmyocd.com/support-groups
Thank you so much that really helps. I have been in therapy but I just now after two years found a psychologist so I think before I wasn’t getting the therapy I needed but I mean I’m anxious to talk to them about everything but i want to get better. It was just yesterday I was having a really good day then I got a bad thought and it felt like it was literally screaming at me to admit a part of it was true and I was like okay it is not in the way it’s telling me it’s true though not in a bad way that means I’m attracted to or want to harm children just I was like okay i think that this means that and it is true in that way. But even that feels bad and I’m just wondering if all of it was a part of the ocd attack cause I guess i feel I can’t think about things clearly ever and I would never think or actually feel the way my ocd was trying to tell me I think or feel about this thing and it’s like cause I gave in a little about the best case scenario and was like I don’t feel that way in a gross disgusting way that the rest of it is true? Or that me being like okay the best case scenario which is I just agree with the thought in a normal way not a gross one is true but also like I just idk how to explain it I just idk if I actually agreed with the best Case or if it was also just from me ruminating and a symptom. But sometimes idk what is ocd or not and idk if that’s normal.
Ii spoke w my bf this weekend and he mentioned that he has thoughts just like me, but his don't bother him like me. I then felt a lot better and he tried dissecting one of his thoughts like I usually do and realized it felt more real for him after. That made me realize that none of my thoughts were ever true and I blew them up. However, yesterday I had a thought ab “wait wut if you liked that one guy? How dare you bc youre supposed to love your bf and not secretly like someone else” and treated it as I usually did bc I accidentally wanted to see if it was true but didn't rlly but I would check to see if it was there and now that thought feels so so so real now and I feel really bad how do Ik it's not real? I feel so bad and guilty bc lividly this makes 0 sense but it feels so prominent. It felt pretty real when it happened yesterday too. And now I feel awful bc how is it possible after my clarity the other day? Why does it feel so prominent 😞😞😞
I have really bed harming intrusive thoughts and sometimes feels like it’s feeling! The thoughts happening every day and the hardest part is that I’m testing my self in head all the time if that’s what I am or want!!! Also, so many times feels like I’m been tricking myself and doctor or people and maybe I don’t have OCD, just that maybe it’s me really!!!! How can I know who I am really 🥹???!!??
I can be way too hard on myself and beat myself up over the smallest slip up in regards to OCD. Sometimes it can feel like I'm gaslighting myself on what was "so blatantly and obviously a moral atrocity in thought and intent", when 95% of the time I'm not even sure what my own intent with dealing with these thoughts is or why I do what I do. It makes me feel like some shameless beast for "daring to even entertain the thought of something so VILE!!!" When I just get so confused and scared on moral issues, like my mind is pulled down a rabbit hole I can't escape until the tricks are done on me and it's too late, i've accepted such ideas I hate until that hate and trying to not give in convince me "it might not be that bad". It feels like anything, even the most mundane things can trigger this. This cycle happens mainly because I feel like there's "no way to escape committing more 'attrocities' in thought or compulsion anyway"...and these cycles become the basis for more of these incidents. there a way to stop this? There have been multiple times where I called myself the R word, and even knowing it's a slur I still called myself that because "I'm nothing if not deserving of such scorn". Any attempt to stop the madness makes it worse and it's like all this I talked about is so convincing I dare not question it until after the fact. Please help.
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