- Date posted
- 5y ago
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 5y ago
Yes, this was one of my biggest/longest OCD themes and I still struggle with it some days. DONT FEED INTO IT. The answer is not to try to "figure it all out" or "figure out your opinion on it". This will continue the cycle. What you need to do is disregard the intrusive thought (Existential question) and not engage in rumination/analysis but refocus your attention on something else. I had to do this over 60 times a day in the beginning. Eventually it calms down and you're not so desperately involved in it 24/7.
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 5y ago
You will find existential questions in every little thing, ever. You could look at a tree and find an existential question pop into your head about it. It's hell, I know. But once again, the biggest thing you can do to help yourself (which you'll think sounds counterintuitive) is to disregard as I've described above. Please, just trust me as I've suffered with this for so long and would like to see you save yourself some precious time. Don't try to figure it out!
- Date posted
- 5y ago
Exsistenital OCD + moral scrupulousity can really come together
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 5y ago
We don't NEED to figure it out to be able to enjoy our lives, even though OCD tries to tell us that. Good luck.
- Date posted
- 5y ago
Thank you you are so right. I also plan to talk more with my therapist about it. My biggest triggers are wondering if I’m really an authentic person or just a product of my environment. I also wonder if emotions are real or just social constructs.
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 5y ago
Oh trust me, I've thought all of these things over so many times and my mind still gets baffled by it. It seems we're able to come up with such complex questions, more than the average person can. They're so confusing and stressful and time consuming. I obsessed over whether we have any control over who we are or if it's all just our brain and it's experiences and genetics, etc. Pretty much what you're describing.
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 5y ago
I wondered if I'm actually a good person or if I was just taught to be that way, like a social construct.
- Date posted
- 5y ago
Yeah and it made me lose touch with reality
- Date posted
- 4y ago
Idk if ur still active but can u explain how it made u lose touch with reality
- Date posted
- 5y ago
Exsistenital OCD & Hyperawernes + moral scrupulousity can really go along
- Date posted
- 5y ago
Yes exactly. My family is very loving about it but they don’t really understand either. It’s nice to talk to someone who gets it. I have not been officially diagnosed or anything, but I found out about Existential OCD and it seems to describe me pretty well.
- Date posted
- 5y ago
Thank you for listening ?
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 5y ago
My OCD came full force around October, and it took me until 3 weeks ago to get diagnosed. Like you I found out about it online. I have other OCD themes as well, religious OCD followed my existential because religion seemed like a solution to all the unanswered questions. Basically, if this feels like an obsession to you and not just natural curiosity, and it takes up a large chunk of your day for more than just a few days or something, it's most likely OCD. Talking to a therapist can help, I just started 3 weeks ago, but most of my improvement came from doing my own research on accredited sites and YouTube and books.
- Date posted
- 5y ago
Yes, I went through a phase where I felt like life had no meaning and I didn’t truly “own” any of my possessions. It was really stressful! This may be out of the ordinary advice, but I got really into this philosopher called Albert Camus. He basically says that life has no inherent meaning, but just experiencing the simple pleasures, enjoyments, and raw beauty all around you is enough meaning. That outlook really helped me move past existential ocd. Meditation too.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 20w ago
I haven't been officially diagnosed with OCD but when I learned more about it, I never related to anything more. A little back story: when I was younger, there were a couple of youth suicides in my area and the schools felt the need to have someone come in and talk about suicide. Well the person they had come in did a horrible job teaching it and basically made it seem like the smallest negative emotion or feeling or change in behavior made you suicidal. This ended up scaring me so much that I got horrid anxiety. Fast forward to now, Everytime I feel anxiety and panic, I fear I'm going to kill myself. Everytime I feel down and depressed, I fear I'll end it all. I'm scared to be around anything sharp because the "What if" I hurt myself comes into my mind. There are always intrusive thoughts at almost every point of the day. And it's not only for me. Everytime I hear someone being negative, I fear they will be suicidal. I know in my heart that none of this is true but it's terrifying me that it's stuck around so much that it makes me scared that maybe it is true. I've had a lot of death in my family in the past year and a half and a lot of other family drama that I'd never had before that is now also bringing up existential intrusive thoughts. And I'd never questioned anything about life before but now I get the "why is life like this?" and "does anything we do matter?" and I hate it. I don't want to think like that. I just want to go through life being able to handle things normally again. It terrifies me even right now going "what if you give up?"
- Date posted
- 15w ago
Really bad theme right now is death, I keep thinking about how one day or at any moment my heart will stop my brain will stop & my memories & everything I know will all fade away. It is giving me so much anxiety I’m only 18, but I realize it all happens to us it is bound, we are born to die. I know it’s a silly thing to be scared because it’s not helping the quality of my life worrying about it and even when I do die, I won’t care , if you don’t have a working brain then how can you care 🤷♀️. It is tainting my everyday life currently & honestly making me terribly depressed & it is giving me derealization & making me feel nihilistic, I’ll remind myself it’s okay but then with my ocd i don’t stop thinking and thinking about it and it’s seriously so hard to stay present in the moment because this thought just feels like I can’t scrub it away it’s miserable I struggle with religion, but I do pray to anything that’s out there possibly listening, because it is comforting, it just feels like this whole experience Is pointless & I am afraid of the unknown and what is to possibly happen but I’m subjected to it anyways so why should it matter
- Date posted
- 9w ago
Hi guys! I’m new to the community and I’ve recently received my OCD diagnosis (tho I’ve known about it since childhood). I’ve been somewhat spiraling lately as I wait for my first ERP session (hooray!) I was just wondering if any of you guys have received ERP for existential OCD and if it was successful? My existential OCD compulsions are more so mental and have been affecting me in the sense of dream/memory flashbacks and giving me a sort of “uncanny” feeling about everything around me. Any advice is appreciated! Thank you❤️
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