- Username
- NeverGiveUp
- Date posted
- 2y ago
Why doesn’t using logic help manage OCD symptoms?
Question.
Why does playing logic with OCD never work?
Question.
Why does playing logic with OCD never work?
Ack--it is so frustrating and so true!! OCD overrides logic at every turn. It hates the truth, because the truth hurts IT. Let's say your OCD makes you worried you're going to go crazy and murder someone because you accidentally hurt a small animal once. Your OCD thrives on your attention--if you knew the TRUTH, that you really ARE a harmless and well-meaning person, the OCD would shrivel up right away. So it's trying to block you from logical reasoning. I know that is an obvious thing anyway, but that's just what I was thinking!
Because mental illnesses aren’t logical.
When you play logic with OCD and give it a million “logical” answers, you’re going into a spiral! It’s part of the compulsion; find every logical answer possible, confront your OCD and it’ll fix the problem, right? Nah. It will certainly not because wants MORE. It’s like a thought-eating Cookie Monster… so what I do is say “okay let’s think of 3 logical reasons” for whatever is happening, and ONLY ALLOW MYSELF to think of 3, and every time I try to think of more (because my OCD wants to eat up those thoughts and demand MORE to reassure itself of certainty), I redirect back to the three I originally came up with, whatever they were. It’s helpful:) so if you okay logic, don’t let it spiral into a compulsion. It won’t help if it’s an endless list of endless reasons you’re taking up time to find in order to quell the thought. Isn’t 2 logical answers enough!? *ugh!!*
Because the fear part of the brain doesn't operate within the logical part of the brain
Hello everyone! I’m hoping to get some advice here because I’m worried that my OCD therapist might be steering me in the wrong direction. I started having doubts when she would give me reassurance/logical “explanations” to neutralize my thoughts while we worked through CBT (ex: I would be afraid of becoming schizophrenic, and she would help me list out evidence against that thought, and reassure me that I’m not at risk of psychosis). However, we recently started ERP and now I’m even more concerned. I’ve been doing a lot of research lately, and the biggest thing that’s come up is that you cannot fight OCD with logic, and that the cycle must be broken at the compulsion level. I have pure O, so lately, whenever I catch myself start to ruminate on an intrusive thought or try to use logic to neutralize it, I’ll say something like “I don’t need to answer that question, I don’t need to know this for certain, etc” and try to move on. I’ve found it’s been helping. While doing some ERP today with my therapist, I told her that I caught myself doing a compulsion. For context, I was working on my suicidal OCD fears by reading an article on suicide rates and OCD, and I said out loud “I just caught myself trying to engage in a compulsion by telling myself that since other mental illnesses have higher suicide rates than OCD, I shouldn’t be worried (this is something I researched while deep in rumination about this thought a while back), but I know this is a compulsion and that I’m trying to neutralize the anxiety, and I need to sit with the uncertainty instead”. However, my therapist then denied that this was a compulsion at all - she told me that it was just thinking logically, and that it is normal and a good sign to push back against OCD fears using logic to beat them. Now I am wholeheartedly confused. Is this normal? I thought that logic was not the answer with OCD, but rather, sitting with the anxiety and uncertainty is the right way to go. However, my therapist now has me questioning everything, and this has honestly led to even more anxiety on my part (ex: why does logic not work against all my OCD fears? Does that mean some of them are real?). Could anyone tell me what the right answer is in this situation? Is my therapist right, or should I be looking for a new one? I thought I was on the right track, but now I’m so confused!
So, i just seen a post talking about why logic doesnt work? But really why doesnt it? why cant i just say hey thats not true that doesnt even work? is this just another effect of ocd? The inability to understand the true logic behind it so it can hind the fear?
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