Does anyone else feel like there intrusive thoughts go away when the are deeply involved in some sort of work? Then when I come out of it, my mind goes straight back to my rocd. It makes me feel like it’s not actually rocd.
Hi Jigjon, I’ve noticed that sometimes when I’ve been busy with work or life events, I don’t notice my OCD themes as much. And sometimes stress/busyness with work can exacerbate my anxiety + ocd. Just because you don’t always notice it/it’s not as loud doesn’t mean it’s not OCD. OCD is a rollercoaster, there are times of high prevalence and times where things aren’t as noticeable. It’s the doubt disorder, so it’s going to make you doubt things, even doubting that what you’re experiencing is OCD! My best advice to you is to accept the uncertainty; maybe it is ocd, maybe it’s not. You may never have a concrete answer. But worrying, ruminating, over thinking won’t get you any closer to an answer. If you’re not in therapy, I definitely recommend giving NOCD a call for their free consultation!
Often the best way to deal with Intrusive thoughts is to accept the uncomfortable thoughts/feelings and not engage with the OCD. Since that is so hard to do, sometimes redirecting can help. It sounds like what you are describing is a form of redirecting. Perhaps you just need to add in a step prior to redirecting, where you let the thought come up and sit with it for a moment prior to redirecting by focusing on work, etc. I am in ERP (Exposure and Response Prevention) therapy for my OCD. It's helped me to deal with thoughts in a clearer way.
Yeap!
of course, I think it's kind of a coping mechanism
One thing I’ve noticed is when I’m with friends, or talking, or am busy with a task, my ocd (for the most part) settles down. It’s when I’m alone and bored and have really nothing to do is when it gets bad. Anyone else?
Hi! I have OCD in a few different subtypes. Even when my brain isn't stuck on those scary obsessions and compulsions, it seems like it is getting stuck on every thought that comes in. Like my brain is constantly and very intensely trying to find problems to solve all throughout the day no matter what I'm thinking about, even if they aren't specific OCD thoughts. It's super exhausting! Is this a common thing with OCD? Does anyone else experience this?
Does anyone else feel like they’re OCD turns off for a couple days? Like you go through an intense period of having intrusive thoughts and feeling the need to confess and then you only start to get thoughts here and there? And you try to keep yourself from having the thoughts but you’re not sure if it’s avoidance? Like I have felt sooo much better the last couple of days, especially in the morning, I live for those times of quiet in my head. But I still haven’t been able to accept myself for the things I might have done, like I can’t accept myself still because of my OCD. This probably sounds a little jumbled but I would like to think someone can relate lol
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