- Date posted
- 5y ago
- Date posted
- 5y ago
I would recommend try to let yourself believe what you want to believe... what my therapist told me to do is remind myself there is a chance of developing a crazy illness BUT there is a higher chance that it wont happen. OCD is all about not knowing anything FOR SURE.
- Date posted
- 5y ago
I guess my main worry is that my life will be gripped by a crippling illness and I won’t be able to do all the things that I want to do in my life and I won’t be able to give my son a good life
- Date posted
- 5y ago
I had this exact same problem. I know how paralyzing it can be and how hopeless you must feel. The only thing that really helped me get over it was doing exposure response prevention therapy. I would definitely recommend going to an ERP specialist, but if you don’t have access to that, the OCD workbook is really good. You can get it on Amazon for super cheap!
- Date posted
- 5y ago
Thank you both for the support. Ellie what did you do for ERP? I tried doing a loop tape erp with my therapist but it didn’t work because I wouldn’t get anxious listening to the tape. Most of the time I know my OCD is irrational which makes the erp really hard because I can’t force myself to be anxious it’s only in the heat of the moment of anxiety that It feels real
- Date posted
- 5y ago
It can be hard to do erp on mental rituals sometimes for the reason you describe. But what you can do is erp when the anxiety strikes. Just let the thoughts be there and the anxiety be there without engaging the content of the thoughts. Feeling anxiety is an exposure.
- Date posted
- 5y ago
The truth is you cant be certain you will or wilk nit get some horrible illness. But with ocd you can realize youve spebt years if your life wondering will I get sick and not living in the moment. Even if yo u do get sick being worried about it before wont have helped so its just a compulsion and at the end of the day a waste of time. A lot of time. Learning mindfullness skills and acceptance and commitment therapy can complement erp treatment as well for ocd. Id recommend checking them out.
- Date posted
- 5y ago
I did a lot of loop tapes consistently. I would set a timer on my phone and do them every thirty minutes for a few days. It works for me but I’m sure it might not be the same for everyone. I think another good method is to sit with the thoughts exactly phisch said and don’t try to avoid them. The loop tips for me were essentially allowing myself to think about being schizophrenic consistently throughout the day. I ultimately got bored with the thought and I don’t have as much anxiety when I think about it now
Related posts
- Date posted
- 22w 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
I struggle so bad with intrusive thoughts. They can be so bad that I'll cry because I KNOW that's not how I feel or want to do. (Too embarrassed to say what they're about) I'll constantly try to figure out why I have them, and constantly figure out what they mean, causing me to constantly circle around and around. I had to get on anxeity meds, which helped a little but the thoughts still happen. How do you help yourself with this? How do you know that you're just not some physcopath? 😅
- Date posted
- 12w ago
I started dealing with OCD when I became fixated on health issues, particularly the fear of contracting a life-threatening disease. If I experienced any kind of medical symptom, no matter how small, that even remotely hinted at something potentially fatal, it would drive me crazy, and I couldn’t stop obsessing over it. Then one day, I started having intrusive thoughts about accidentally hitting someone with my car, and I would end up driving in circles to check if I had. Eventually, I found myself overwhelmed by a flood of new obsessive thoughts and compulsions. One day, while I was at the park, a squirrel came near me, and for some reason, I felt like it attacked me. I Googled it and learned that squirrels could carry rabies, which spiraled me into a deep fear of rabies. I became consumed with the thought I received a bite from a squirrel, raccoon, or bat any time I’m in areas that trigger me. It started off only being inside then transferred to even being in my own home. This made me obsess over every physical sensation in my body, compulsively checking to make sure nothing was wrong. One compulsion that I hated the most would to be putting rubbing alcohol on me to make sure that I had no open wounds. Every day feels like I’m walking around in a fog of anxiety, constantly worrying that I won’t even make it to old age. Sometimes, it gets so overwhelming that I just want it all to end. It stresses me so bad at times to where my brain feels like I’ve been studying all day.
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