I kinda proud of myself..typically when I find myself ruminating or doing a compulsion mental compulsions.. I have to go through the cycles of my OCD. This time though..I went into a separate room of my house and just told myself no I don't have to these compulsions because this is my OCD.. that is power.. it's tough and it's not easy but if I can do it anyone can.
Proud of you! I hope to do the same very soon
You got this!
How can you tell if you’re ruminating or not though. Anytime im not distracted by something, which tends to be a lot, im in my head…and when im in my head, im thinking and its usuallt trying to figure out like all these questions about life. How do we know who to trust and what to trust. I hope i dont make anybody else’s issues worse by now thinking about this. But figured this is the place to ask
The mental ones are so damn hard! Well done! I feel like my OCD tricks me thinking I'm not doing mental stuff but I am. Definitely just takes a lot of will power.
Like whats the difference between ruminating and thinking about a subject deeply. Is it that the first causes distress and the other doesnt
I'm not sure but my guess would be that ruminating is like spinning wheels and getting nowhere (and yes, probably ultimately causing distress). Where deeply thinking is like a long car ride that gets you from A to B and/or is fulfilling or brings answers or clarity or some kind of interesting perspective or knowledge... Just my thoughts based on my experience.
Also, at least for me, when I think about a subject deeply im usually more grounded in my body and emotions with the thoughts. Whereas when I ruminate it's like I'm all just up in my head and totally disconnected from my body
@Jamie L Thanks for your response. Interesting. I’m not sure I fully am able to distinguish between the two. It seems like any and every topic I get nowhere and that is distressing. And even if I do get somewhere, I immediately doubt it and im back to square one. Ever since I was a little kid I would ask existenstial questions..such as what is infinity, what is outside of the universe, etc. I remember they would disturb me and make me anxious but I just sort of ignored them and moved on with whatever else I had to do as you kind of have less autonomy as a kid. But now being in my 30s and sort of removed from a productive life which was caused by or did cause some serious depression, a lot of extistential ruminating is happening. I think its ruminating st least. Im constantly zoned out and trying to figure out life. I need to be more distracted and busy. But depression can get you into a really deep hole of bad habits and make change hard. And so im alone and stuck ruminating all day. I am definitely trying to convince myself now that I’m just ruminating and will not come to any more clarity and try to focus on something else. But my brain loves to ruminate
Totally agree.!!! So incredible to hear!
When I ruminate it's like my brain has an urge to do the compulsion of Ruminating.. it's weird..but it also tells me that it's not just a mental thing a physical/chemical imbalance thing as well
Im trying to stay positive and busy and practice some mindfulness. But its just like ugghhhh. Those thoughts just creep in of “this is just too much”, “is it like this for everyone”, “cant be because they are productive”, “and everybody would be jumping off bridges”, “why should there be any pain at all in this world”, “are we in hell” like wtf
When I was a child, before I knew this was OCD, I struggled with constant "magical thinking" compulsions (don't step on the crack or mom's back will actually break, etc). When I later learned this was OCD, it almost immediately solved it. Any time I got a magical thought, I would say to myself "that's just an OCD thought. ignore it." and it just stopped coming! Like seriously it fixed the magical thinking stuff forever. But of course the OCD has resurfaced in other ways. So naturally, I've tried to use the same strategy since I had so much success with it previously. But I wonder sometimes if telling myself "that's just OCD" is almost functioning as a reassurance compulsion? I hate how meta this gets. For example, I have ROCD that comes and goes. So sometimes I'll get a thought like "what if i'm still in love with my ex?" and then I'll tell myself "that's obviously just an ROCD thought" and will feel relief, almost like reassurance. But it comes back. So is telling myself that it's OCD a reassurance compulsion ?? It's just so weird because it worked so perfectly as a kid with the magical thinking thing.
Hi all, I wanted to share an OCD win that I had this past week. I recognized and stopped a compulsion. I felt the urge to keep going with the physical compulsion of checking on my son before going to sleep to make sure he was still breathing and to pull the blankets down away from his neck, but I knew it was a compulsion and I used my ERP skills and didn't go and check. Even though my intrusive thoughts haven't been too bad the past few months, I still have them and still have my ups and downs. With me continuing with my ERP, I know that is why I am still on the upside of my OCD. Without it, I wouldn't have the skills to get through the bad times. What’s a small win you had last week in your OCD journey?
After almost 2 decades of struggling with Pure OCD that was all-consuming, all day, every day, I'm finally in a spot where I can effectively manage this disorder. A big way I did this was realizing that compulsions NEVER help and they are NEVER the answer. It might feel like it's helping in the moment, but you're just giving power to the OCD and it WILL come back stronger. Sometimes (especially with Pure O), it can be hard to even tell if you're doing a compulsion. If you're not sure and think there is even a possibility that it could be, try to stop doing that immediately. The better you get at noticing your compulsions and stopping them quickly the better off you'll be in the long-term. It's definitely a tough and bumpy road, but if I was able to get there I'm sure anyone can. Just stick with it and it gets way easier.
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