- Username
- kayd2329
- Date posted
- 5y ago
Hey! I struggle with something similar, I obsess over the fear of having a violent thought. I understand how horrible this can be. Think of it this way: people who ACTUALLY hurt others do not worry about it or feel fear about it. Your fear and obsessions are because to hurt anyone is not in your nature. Don’t try to shut the thoughts out; thoughts are only thoughts, and it does not reflect on you. It’s the opposite—you’re a good person. Here’s what has helped and is currently helping me: 1. Find a good therapist who can help with CBT/ERP/ACT. Talk therapy is not helpful for OCD 2. I highly recommend the book “Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts” by Sally Winston and Martin Seif. This book is amazing. Please give it a chance. 3. Commit to ERP. If you feel scared, pinpoint where the fear is coming from and embrace that fear—it WILL start feeling less scary. Follow the app as if you’re training for a race—little by little every day. 4. My first step before this app was to monitor when I was seeking reassurance and give myself a goal of not seeking that outside reassurance and just living through the anxious feeling. I want you to know you are not alone. I want you to know that the fact you are on here means that you are a sweet and loving person who has OCD centered around something important to you. Please please know the only reason these thoughts come back is because you’re looking for them, hoping they don’t come back, which is how they DO come back. You are strong. Don’t give up.
Yeah, we gotta dream of the thoughts not bothering us
Oh friend:( First off, you should to sit down and breathe really deeply and really slowly. No one who wanted to hurt their loved ones would EVER stress about it this much before hand. The only reason that you have concluded that you’re gonna loose control and hurt someone you love is because of this equation- meaningless thought+extremely intense anxiety NONE of the above is cause for an action. You aren’t gonna do anything, and you don’t have to make sure that you aren’t gonna do anything either. The only person that you should be worried about, sadly, is yourself:( You are the one that deserves your vigilance and protection. I’m so sorry you are struggling with this, and I hope you can get some peace soon.
I second everything @EmmaleighH said!!!❤️
@EmilyRose The thing is it’s very tempting to say “yes I’d definitely want to shut them off”, but having occasional intrusive thoughts—as heinous or gruesome or disturbing as they may be—is completely normal. It’s why everyone you reach out to for reassurance says that yes, they have also experienced these random, weird thoughts. So I wouldn’t want a to shut them off entirely; I’d want a lever I could pull that would give me more CONFIDENCE to accept them for what they are, simply a part of being human, and not a reflection of something wrong with me.
I think that’s a problem I’ve faced—I always wanted any thoughts I deemed bad to be gone forever, which set me up for failure when one inevitably pops up every now and again.
You’re right Emmaleigh. Kayd, please ignore what I wrote.
Don’t worry about it EmilyRose- we are ALL doing our best to navigate this. And it’s so damn tricky!
Lol yeah sometimes (ok most times) I feel like ocd is just this little tricky jerk and I just want to be like “excuse me could you not for ONE SECOND”...but EmilyRose I completely know what you mean...believe me, the idea of just turning intrusive thoughts off completely used to be a total dream scenario to me...it’s just that it’s a dream that can’t be reached for anybody:/
YES exactly. It’s changing you’re relationship with the thoughts that needs to happen. You cannot extinguish them- and get this- you don’t need to!! ACT and mindfulness will help so much with that.
Thanks..yeah, OCD tricks me every day?
Every second of every damn day??♀️
Hi my name is Erick I’ve been dealing with ocd for a while. The negative thoughts don’t leave me alone. All of them are about me hurting myself or hurting a love one. Those images looked so real. And they make you doubt a lot. Please someone going through something similar please help me. Because sometimes I feel I am the only one going through this thing
So my husband has been off work a couple of months due to me having some pretty severe health problems, not associated with OCD. His Family medical leave has run out and he is returning to work. I’ve been struggling with this because when he’s home my OCD is non existent. When he’s here I feel safe, and I don’t fear because he’s here with me and I feel like he would stop me from losing it if I were to. My recent fear is that when he goes back to work he won’t be here to stop me if I were to lose my mind, I get thoughts of what if I lose my mind, what if I run out in traffic, what of I go to a neighbors house and try to harm someone. I NEVER want to do anything like that, but the thought and fear of it and the urges are very REAL! I know I’m supposed to sit with the uncomfortable thoughts, feelings and urges but my god that’s impossible for me, I go straight into panic attacks and freak out! I’m doing ERP but I’m in the very beginning stages of it, and I’m really struggling to cope. My fear is I’ll forever be debilitated by this and it will cause my husband to lose his job, and we will lose everything. Can anyone help me to find extra resources on how to cope and deal with this, or any hope? I would greatly appreciate it. This is the WORST condition to ever have to deal with. :(
Everyday I spend my whole day convincing myself I would never hurt anyone. I run through all the reasons I never would I don’t have a history of any harm, I love all the people I’ve thought “what ifs” about with my whole heart. Constantly begging god to show me a sign that promises everything will be okay. I’m exhausted I feel so scared of myself everyday. I’ve thought these things with most everyone but I stay home with my little girl and that’s where the life shattering fear comes in. I’m just tired
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