- Username
- Calove
- Date posted
- 2y ago
For me, my OCD is also worse at night making it difficult to fall asleep without doing the “ritual compulsion” to completion as well. I understand how you feel. Apparently, this is common for people with any and all types of OCD. Night time amplifies these thoughts and feelings for us.
I have a compulsion of thinking I left the stove on so obsessively that I will literally have a nightmare about it and be tormented by the compulsion until I get up out of bed at 3am and go look at it
I have excoriation disorder, and every night around the same time without fail I have an episode. It’s always worse than it is in the day and I don’t know why. My guess is that the quiet of night causes me more anxiety, because my thoughts just run rampant when I’m alone in silence. And like you said, I feel like if I don’t give in to the resulting compulsions than I can’t sleep, because things “just aren’t right” until I do.
This can feel so hard! I often hear people say that mornings or night are particularly rough for OCD acting up. Remember that OCD lies- that's what it does best. It causes you to doubt things and think "well what if". That's why it can be so helpful to work with a ERP specialist to tailor a plan or exercises that best suit you and your OCD symptoms. A therapist can provide support and encouragement along the way. This is such a difficult illness. A ERP trained therapist can help you to sit with the anxiety and discomfort that not doing the compulsions would likely bring and teach you how doing this is important for your brain to recognize that there is no real danger and that what you are really experiencing is a false alarm. As far as the why, well unfortunately I don't have a solid answer as I think it depends on the person experiencing it- I think at night time it makes sense that as we try to unwind and relax from the day we can tend to be more thoughtful which leaves some space for OCD to creep in more heavily.
Unfortunately I have had trouble finding a therapist that will take my insurance. And ERP is very expensive. I have done it before and had to stop because i couldn’t afford it. I will keep looking though. I just feel like I’m scared that I will convince myself that my thoughts are real and my brain won’t bounce back.. but it always does. I just am feeling extremely depressed and worn down from it.
I feel like I’ve gotten pretty good about not letting the intrusive thoughts take over during the day, because there are things to do. I can let it scream in the background while I go about my day. But at night when I go to bed…this obviously gets more challenging. How do you guys handle intrusive thoughts at night? Do you guys have an evening routine that helps relax you? Since ruminating is my primary compulsion, this can be difficult for me. Maybe I should start doing a nighttime meditation every night to help me fall to sleep?
does anyone else feel their ocd gets so much worse at night or even when it gets dark?
I have only had this happen twice in all of my years dealing with ocd. Recently I woke up during the night to change positions and as soon as I did, an intrusive thought hit me so hard and so strong. It felt so real. I was really scared and really upset. I laid down and went back to sleep really upset. I eventually got past it. I always immediately tell the ocd “ that’s not true” whenever I get an intrusive thought. My ocd randomly brought it back up again and is telling me that I didn’t deny the ocd that night and that it means the intrusive thought is true. I don’t remember because some time has passed but I am sure I denied it because I always instantly do. We’re not supposed to but I feel I have to. I keep telling myself that I must have but even if I didn’t, going back to sleep and ignoring it is also denying it, right?
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