- Date posted
- 2y
Questioning motives/intentions when faced with a decision
I'm sure the answer is yes, but it would be nice to hear others share their experiences. Does anyone else face crippling anxiety when faced with some decisions because OCD has you questioning your motives for making choices? I face this with a lot of decisions, both small and large. My OCD/anxiety mostly centers around fear of sexual sin and infidelity. I'm happily married and don't want to do anything to hurt my marriage or do anything that even smells like cheating on my wife, even emotionally/mentally, and I have a lot of fear over my interactions with other women etc. For example, something small might be "am I choosing to wear this nice outfit because I want to look good for myself or my wife (good motive) or because I want to look good for another woman at the party to get her attention (bad motive)" or "am I opening this text from an unknown number because I want to make sure it's nothing important for work etc., (good motive) or because I'm hoping it's a spam text with a racy picture or something (bad motive)." A big decision example might be "am I choosing to volunteer at this event because I want to help the organization, see my friends, have a good time, and further develop my community and friendships (good motive), or am I going because I want to see this particular woman who I know will be volunteering also (bad motive)." When this kind of anxiety hits, it makes it almost impossible for me to make the decision, because I'm so afraid of making the decision for a bad/sinful motive. As with most OCD attacks, I am always 90% sure it's OCD, but I can be certain, and am afraid enough that I can't move forward. This results in a lot of avoidance, trying to get others to make the decisions so I don't have to make the decisions, or reassurance seeking. I'm not asking for reassurance for any of the above examples, and I'm working on this with my therapist, but I'm just hoping to hear others' experiences and how you deal with it to build my tool box for dealing with this, convincing myself that it is OCD, and disregarding the anxiety.