I literally have every social media/contact app on silent, because I’ll get ocd over the random notifications popping up. Ill start thinking “I have to do (whatever it may be) before she texts me back, or (consequences) will happen” anybody else?
Thank you for sharing Cody! Uuuf I understand where you’re coming from, this seems like it would be a good chance for ERP. In moments like these I find it helpful to change the narrative, your brain is asking you questions such as “what if I don’t respond” or “what if I say this and it comes off wrong”! These are distressing thoughts and I think they reveal things about your values that are important to you and you can take solace in that. Yet at the end of the day your brain is engaging in a question that makes you uncomfortable, a strategy for me that has helped in these situations is to try tl engage my brain actively in a different question. Be kind to yourself and patient as you will probably have similar thoughts for a bit going forward, but next time they pop up try to engage in a different set of questions such as, “what is going on around me?” or “what can I see around me?” These questions will help to engage your mind in more neutral things which are less distressing but also rooted in reality and what is going on, helping you realize that although your mind and body may not feel that way in the moment, physically you are safe. I hope this helps, it is a technique which I used daily and helps with my recovery. If you have any questions please continue to reach out to the community! You got this, are an amazing person and will grow from these tough times! Lots of love!
@Gabriel P. Thanks for sharing these things Gabriel, ocd is a tough and sometimes even seemingly hopeless battle, but I know it can be beat and to anybody reading this right now, you were born to beat this! It’s not “if”, it’s “when” and we’re on our way✊🏻
@Gabriel P. I also would love a therapist that specializes in ERP for ocd, I called but unfortunately you guys can’t accept Medicaid and I don’t have the funds to pay for the therapy. Do you know anywhere else I could get help like what you described here? Google hasn’t been very helpful :(
Hello Cody, I will speak with someone from NOCD who may be able to assist you further regarding this matter than I’d be able to! In the meantime I’d suggest following NOCD on Instagram and social media, as well as @jenna.overbaugh who is one of the star therapists of the community and has a very active social media presence with lots of helpful content!
@Gabriel P. Appreciate you so much man. You guys are truly saving lives with just the app alone. It’s helped me so much and I’ve only really been on here for like a month haha
@Cody Hello Cody, how have the last couple days been? So with regards to your question concerning insurance, unfortunately at the moment Medicaid doesn’t cover a lot of OCD treatment options. If I come by one these days which is covered I will make sure to send it your way. Have you tried calling NOCD and having a 15 minute free consultation, perhaps there professionals, as I’m just an alumni / someone with OCD like you, could offer more advice regarding helpful resources. I’m sure they’d be happy to contribute however they can! If I come across something I will let you know too! I’d advise reaching out to NOCD asap though as sometimes the advice found online doing google searches is misinformed and incorrect or in bad cases can make things worse.
@Gabriel P. I appreciate you checking up on me brother! I’ll be honest ocd is working me overtime lately, I haven’t been winning the past couple of days but I’m still fighting so as long as there’s breath in my lungs I’m still in this✊🏻💯 you are too. I don’t know what exactly your ocd is telling you, but just remember that it’s notorious for making people believe nothing but its lies, why would it be any different with you? :) I didn’t even know you could do a 15 minute free call?! I would absolutely love that. Do you know how I could find the number? Thank you so much man I’m hyped right now
Hope this helps in the meantime!
Hey Cody, I’m sorry to hear these last few days have been tough, it is typically quite common for OCD to have spikes so perhaps this is one of those. Regarding your question, OCD isn’t necessarily about lies but rather about uncertainty vs certainty and making you doubt things. It is many times referred to as the doubting disorder or an addiction to certain, so the best thing we can do rather than feeding this addiction of trying to find certain across situations is to become comfortable living with uncertainty. An example of a possible exposure would be that it may be your brain is telling you lies or telling you the truth, who knows, but either way I’m not going to try to figure it out and will continue on with my day as planned. Your question about subtypes. It’s actually not that important what your ocd targets but rather the underlying continual doubting behind it, however, there is a tendency for ocd to latch on to the things we care most about, for me that has been the sport I love, the city I live in and my first relationship (at least these have been the most difficult ocd bouts to overcome). The number you can call for NOCD is this one below, if it turns out it is a different number offering the consultations, this number will at least be able to direct you there. Let me know how it goes and if you get through to get a phone call! A big hug +13127666780 https://www.treatmyocd.com/about-us/contact-us
I’m so stressed, my mind is always telling me to recheck my messages that I sent because what if I said something racist, inappropriate or mean to the person I was messaging. Or what if I post something inappropriate or rude, the only way I can somewhat cope is by logging out of my socials every night. But even that is a long progress. Like I have to make sure to read every message I sent and that it’s safe for me to leave it for the night. And if it doesn’t feel right I have to log back in over and over until it looks and feels good to me. I’m so exhausted lol:,)
My ocd gets so loud in the silence and right before bed when there’s no distractions. I always struggled with anxiety since my teens and guided meditation used to help… until OCD. First time trying guided meditation with OCD I had an intrusive thought of “what if you actually lose control and can’t follow these instructions?” And got even more anxious 🫠🫠🫠 had to stop, and haven’t tried to meditate ever since. Just curious to know. Sometimes I feel like I have the worst type of OCD. It will latch onto anything to make me anxious!
i’m a new user on this app, I downloaded it just cause I was curious, I don’t really know if I have OCD. Because in school all I learned about OCD is things being out of place and having it to be perfect almost like perfectionism, but I’ve just recently realized there’s a whole kind of different types of OCD, some things I struggle with daily is a fear of bad things happening or almost like an impending doom of when is it gonna happen? I’m always in my head thinking feels like I’m having multiple conversations at once. Sometimes it doesn’t even feel like I’m having a conversation with myself. I have horrendous anxiety about everything and anything talking to people being around people. It just feels like it consumes my everyday life and I don’t know what to do. I can’t clearly remember anything from my childhood and some things I feel like I may be imagining I just don’t really feel like a person. I’m always thinking the worst in my relationship over analyzing and stressing out thinking of scenarios or thinking, my boyfriend‘s cheating on me. It almost all feels out of my control.
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond
