- Date posted
- 2y
Hmm
I have obsessive fear of a robber or murderer breaking into my house. I don’t see this theme talked about often, does it even have a name?
I have obsessive fear of a robber or murderer breaking into my house. I don’t see this theme talked about often, does it even have a name?
Themes don't always have names because theres not actually sub catagories for OCD. Its just easier when you're talking to someone who specializes in it so they can pin it down. Just because yours doesnt have a specific title though doesn't mean the treatment is going to be any more difficult. You can do this! You have to stop doing your compulsions and sit in the uncertainty. Maybe if you don't, say, lock your windows, someone will break in. But maybe they won't. You have to take those steps to stop being scared of your thoughts. That's how ERP works. You've got this! We're all fighting the same demon and we're all fighting together! Try therapy through NOCD, it genuinly helps.
I have multible themes and they change often, many of them not talked about. The thing is that it doesnt matter, what matters is to find out what kind of safety behaviours you are doing. What kind of things are you doing to protect yourself? Ruminating? Analyzing? Googling statistics? Checking? X-tra locks? Treatment is about breaking with those rituals and then your fear will calm down with time.
@Estrid Yep, same. I had this one for a while but I have lots of themes. You have to fight them all the same way. I went weeks with barely any sleep, put up cameras, learned how to shoot my husband’s gun because he travels a ton. Eventually I got tired of being so afraid and just sat with it. It’s easier said than done and when you get in that fear spiral, you can’t rationalize with yourself.
@OCDMM Well done! So true.
Thank you everyone 🙂
Not sure , have you talked to a therapist?
I think Scelerophobia would fit in this idk. Scelerophobia is the fear and avoidance of criminals, robbers and burglars.
Usually my compulsions are always motivated by fear. I feel like a child when I have compulsions. Like for example, my brain convinces me that someone is in my house and I need to open every cabinet and all the shower curtains, and do tons of other crazy things like march instead of walking so that if someone where to shoot at my legs they'd have less of a chance of hitting me. How do I stop it? I am just going about my day and I can see in my head, myself getting attacked or something and so my only option to calm myself down is to do a bunch of random actions that will keep me "safe". Does anyone else experience this? Or convince themselves that they are under Milo Murphys law? That anything bad that can happen to them will, so they need to never do anything that could result in anything bad, and avoid everything? And how do you convince yourself you're not in danger?
This is my first post, so I apologize if the formatting is weird. I experience existential ocd I always struggled as a kid but learned more and more how to manage with school and such forcing me to learn how, now I experience a lot of overwhelming intrusions from when I wake up to when I go to bed (simply because I live and work in the same place it gets cabin feverish) but now more often going out maybe it’s just paranoia, I walk into a place and each person comes with a story immediately, every piece of trash on the floor, every piece of produce, each isle is a brand new way I could get into a life altering situation. I’ve managed well enough but sometimes I just completely lose my original objective and just leave or I’ll wanna leave my house but everything that goes with it and that could happen pops up and I just won’t go. It’s started to become avoidant behavior. Any help or similar stories? I just feel like I’m going crazy but my thoughts are so scattered and immediate it’s hard to break the habit and not spin a story. Thank yall!
I can't figure out what type of OCD I have. I must be the only one who has mental hoarding OCD with some Just right and death themes. I've never seen a description of someone's symptoms that match mine. Mine are a combination of Just right and mental hoarding of a memory. Like if I have dinner, I need to do a routine where I take in various elements on the environment - the food, my phone, the people around, pets, the coolness of the air con, and think of them in a specific syntax. I need to go through this thinking cycle without also thinking about certain people, deceased people, any themes of death, certain colours (red and black mostly) and then when I get to the end I deliberately have to think about something that is anti-death, like a particularly person who is younger, a certain good colour. But there are other conditions to prevent having to re-do the routine. The phone can't give me a notification or ring. Then I have to touch the phone and think of a supporting person or colour. On top of this, if I go to Youtube, Facebook or anywhere else and I see something related to death first I have to re-do the whole routine. I have a pre-thought that protects me if I do see something in the theme of death. Touching a cat tail will re-trigger the routine and so will touching a certain matt or matts in my house without first say '1,2,3,4'. I do these mental hoarding routines every time I eat, every time I leave the house, every time I leave work, before I go to sleep. The other element of this is protecting loved ones and pets. In some of my routines, around food, leaving the house and going to bed, I have to mentally think of everyone in the house and all of my pets in the same way as above. I dont even know if it is OCD. It's mostly mental compulsions. I don't get anxiety, just discomfort. As exotic as my symptoms seem to be, I don't think my OCD is as bad as it is for others. it's a bit Just right and thats it. My symptoms do not fit any of the categories.
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