- Username
- Anxiousmindsthinkalike
- Date posted
- 764d ago
- Harm OCD
Hey! In my journey of recovery, what I found to be extremely helpful, was realizing my brain can throw up any thought (and I mean any thought). Weather it be about harming myself or someone else, saying something I didn’t want to say, losing control of bowel’s, becoming psychotic etc. It doesn’t matter what theme or thought your brain throws up- It only cares about the compulsions. Think of your brain as this uncertainty barometer. Or maybe a watch dog that just watches out for danger or things that make you feel bad. Your brain is going to constantly throw up thoughts that make you feel anxious or uncertain, because it thinks that’s what you like to do. It thinks you like to FEEL CERTAIN. So naturally, your brain is just going to keep throwing up thoughts, sensations and feelings that you don’t feel certain about, because it knows you like to feel certain. Your brain isn’t being complicated, it’s not sick, it’s not chemically imbalanced. Your brain is actually being very logical. For example- “Ohhh that thought I just had, I’m going to label that as bad and intrusive.” That’s a compulsion. You don’t even have to label a thought as good or bad. A thought is just something your brain will always do. It’s like fart, that’s stomach digestion. A thought is brain digestion, nothing more, nothing less. “I just had a thought of harming my loved one” ok, you had that thought. It’s over, there’s nothing you can do to change that thought, it already happened. Your brain will probably want you to ruminate, check, try to control the thought, because it knows you like to be certain that you won’t commit something awful, right? Because that’s what you have trained it to do for probably your whole life. When I realized this cycle. (Some call it an OCD cycle 😊) you can now change the cycle- as in cutting out the compulsions that just feed the fire. You can have any thought your brain throws up, and still continue to do the things you value and want to do. 😊
Thank you for this. It’s often hard to remember what’s actually happen in the brain during these times.