- Date posted
- 2y
- Date posted
- 2y
I personally think it doesn't make sense to analyze the thoughts. When I try to analyze them, I just think myself deeper into a thought spiral and get more anxiety. Also if you analyze them, you signal your brain that the thought is important, so it will come back with more force and fear. Also, the goal of ERP is not to repress thoughts, but to really accept and feel them, but without doing anything about them, so no compulsions.
- Date posted
- 2y
That's pretty good advice.
- Date posted
- 2y
@Kain366 Thanks : )
- Date posted
- 2y
Nope, no analysis.
- Date posted
- 2y
@Nica can you elaborate on this?
- Date posted
- 2y
@r0s1e There’s nothing to elaborate. Analysis of your thoughts will only makes OCD worse.
- Date posted
- 2y
Thoughts and feelings are not meant to be analyzed. They are meant to be felt. Analyzing them means you are resisting it somehow making it stronger.
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 2y
I try to not analyze. But I do let myself think hard about my values and my needs, and make a choice about what to do next that aligns with my values. Like if I get a thought that I should stay home to stay safe instead of going out, I let myself think about how important it is for me to connect with other people. I guess it's analysis in a way. But it feels more true to myself and it helps me build up the courage to face my fear.
- Date posted
- 2y
Don’t analyze.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 20w
There’s something that happens that keeps me stuck in a thought, it’s when I can see some part of myself agreeing with or relating to it in some way. That’s when the doubt creeps in. If I can understand *why* the thought is there, doesn’t that mean it’s not just random? Doesn’t that mean it actually reflects something about me? For example **(TMI/TW)**: I had the thought, *“I wonder what other people’s kinks are (including friends, family, even teenagers).”* And then I caught myself thinking, *“Well, I guess that could be interesting information… maybe I wouldn’t even stop someone from sharing it with me. Does that mean I actually want to know? Wait—does that make me perverted or incestuous for even having this curiosity?”* The same thing has happened with other thoughts, like wondering what someone’s privates might look like. I recognize that, on some level, that could be interesting—but does that mean the thought is truly mine? Maybe the answer is super obvious and I just can’t see through my OCD smoke. This was a bit embarrassing for me to write 🥲, but can anyone provide some insight?
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- Date posted
- 20w
When I was a child, before I knew this was OCD, I struggled with constant "magical thinking" compulsions (don't step on the crack or mom's back will actually break, etc). When I later learned this was OCD, it almost immediately solved it. Any time I got a magical thought, I would say to myself "that's just an OCD thought. ignore it." and it just stopped coming! Like seriously it fixed the magical thinking stuff forever. But of course the OCD has resurfaced in other ways. So naturally, I've tried to use the same strategy since I had so much success with it previously. But I wonder sometimes if telling myself "that's just OCD" is almost functioning as a reassurance compulsion? I hate how meta this gets. For example, I have ROCD that comes and goes. So sometimes I'll get a thought like "what if i'm still in love with my ex?" and then I'll tell myself "that's obviously just an ROCD thought" and will feel relief, almost like reassurance. But it comes back. So is telling myself that it's OCD a reassurance compulsion ?? It's just so weird because it worked so perfectly as a kid with the magical thinking thing.
- Date posted
- 17w
Does anyone else experience a moment of clarity where you feel strong relief that the intrusive thought isn’t true, only to then immediately start questioning if you’ve only convinced yourself that because you don’t want the thought to be true? I’m pretty confident it would take some crazy mental gymnastics to actually successfully convince myself I didn’t do something that I deep down knew I did, but every time I resist the compulsions and try to sit with the uncertainty or tell myself to think about what is logical, I usually briefly know that this probably didn’t happen but am unable to move on out of fear I’m just in denial and have convinced myself of that.
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