- Date posted
- 2y ago
I feel confused
If I let the anxiety run its course, I'm supposed to feel relief right? But if I'm compulsing I also feel a form of release, do they feel different?
If I let the anxiety run its course, I'm supposed to feel relief right? But if I'm compulsing I also feel a form of release, do they feel different?
I don't know if you are supposed to feel relief. You feel anxiety, you let it be and you go on with the normal day stuff, and the anxiety goes away, just as it came. I guess in the ideal situation, as you are not paying attention, you would not notice. And then, after a while you might realize that you are not anxious anymore. I guess at that point you should also leave it at that (maybe praise yourself), and also not further engage in it. Because then you open the floor for obsessing and compulsing again.
But if you hit the SOS button on this app it literally says "experience relief."
The easiest way to explain it would be the compulsions provide temporary relief whilst riding the anxiety out brings long-term relief. Hope this clarifies!
I was wondering this as well. I did an exposure yesterday and it was so hard to tell if I was reassuring myself or not. And I eventually felt relief but at the end I was confused as to if I compulsed or if I did the exposure right.
Right? And then you question that bit, and then you question the next bit, and so on...
@The Overthinker And that when rumination kicks in :,)
Ah ok, i am not an expert. Maybe it means that in some time you notice that anxiety levels have dropped. If you did not perform any compulsions, it dropped by itself. You indeed also experience relief when you do a compulsion, and i guess the feeling will not be that different. The difference probably is that a compulsion only temporarily gives relief, but in the long run severes ocd, whereas the relief from letting it fade away by itself in some time causes persistent relief.
Feel guilty for not giving into compulsions like rumination and confessing? I feel guilt for having an intrusive thought, trying to shrug it off or just giving it a few seconds of thought and moving along. This sounds like improvement but I still struggle with the anxiety and the guilt. The shame. I’ll be okay and then I’ll remember I have OCD and my stomach will drop and I just want to curl up and cry.
These past few days I was fine. Minimal intrusive thoughts ,no anxiety etc(to add I'm on medication so maybe it's starting to work although it barely is 2 weeks) and today I got a sudden wave of anxiety and it started latching on some thoughts like" what if I'm in denial and I wanna break up with my bf? And what if erp doesn't work for me because I actually wanna break up with my bf?" But they didn't really stay long usually those thoughts would make me spiral for days or so, now they lasted for some hours. And now I'm trying to trigger myself into being anxious again because if I don't it means I don't have ocd and if I don't have ocd it means I don't love my bf and if I don't love my bf it means I have to break up. Idk if it makes sense but the lack of anxiety makes me wonder if I actually have ocd or not.
I cannot for the life of me stop ruminating or checking how I feel about thoughts or focusing on thoughts or creating more thoughts. I feel like I’m losing my mind. I want to scream. I try not to ruminate about the thoughts, but trying not to just makes me think about them more. I try not to check, but somehow, I still check. I want to let a thought sit in the background, but the more I try not to focus on it, the more I end up focusing on it. I don’t want the thought to expand because that feels like engaging with it, but I can’t just stop it from expanding. It feels impossible. People keep saying I’m in control of my compulsions, and maybe that’s true for the physical ones. But when it comes to the mental compulsions, I swear I have no control. It feels like I’m missing something that everyone else seems to have, like there’s some tool they’re using that I don’t have. Controlling mental compulsions has never felt possible for me. I’m starting to fear them. And every time someone says I’m in control and can just choose not to do them, I end up beating myself up even more when they happen. Or when I *choose* I guess. I don’t know anymore. If this is my fault, if I’m responsible for this, then what does that make me? I feel like a monster. I am at my wits’ end. How am I supposed to control mental compulsions when it feels like they control me? I freak out when they happen. They don’t bring me relief, they just make me panic. I want it to stop so bad.
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