Silly girl
- Date posted
- 6y
@Dee@Dee
- Date posted
- 6y
Psychologist is super helpful, meds are also good as well helps lessen the symptoms. But you must continue to do cbt or erp to get better, meds are a control but not a solution if that makes sense. Like if you decided to stop taking them it would pop right back up without therapy techniques and even then ocd is chronic so it doesn’t go away but the more tools you learn to manage it and attack it the better. I’ve found detaching yourself from your thought that upsets you can be helpful.
Silly girlSilly girl
- Date posted
- 6y
I’m not currently on any meds and would like to avoid them if I can. How do you detach yourself from your thoughts?
@Dee@Dee
- Date posted
- 6y
What is exacerbating the anxiety is your reaction to your thoughts. You think something, bells go off your body goes into overdrive and you break that thought apart piece my piece or push it away or argue with it... I think it’s helpful to acknowledge the thought, simply label it (let’s say you have a theme of a fear, then label that), do not dive in, do not judge it. Notice the thought and then consciously try to let it go. Allow yourself to have the thought. No thought as good or bad. You can’t control your thoughts.. but you can control your reaction to your thought. The more you become alarmed by it the body remembers that response and it causes pattern of thinking. But what if you broke that pattern? The idea is that you become bored or disinterested in that thought, you don’t allow it to mean something anymore you just observe it as it is. A therapist said once: you can’t be bored and scared at the same time. And that is how you trick you brain or at least the idea of how it should work. Easier said than done... I like to imagine a ship setting sail and just drifting across the ocean whatever thought is bothering me that is printing or labeled on the sail, then I imagine the sail boat drifting away. I’m not attaching a meaning to the label or judging it or diving in, I’m simply just giving it a label. This also helps in recognizing your ocd when it’s happening because most people have themes so once you catch yourself with similar labels then you can see a pattern occurring.
@Dee@Dee
- Date posted
- 6y
There is an app called Calm, it has a subsection called anxiety. These are guided meditations, but they discuss noting thoughts and various other techniques. Essentially your brain gets stuck on a loop and goes through whatever synapses pattern that is engrained the most, the idea with mindfulness and other therapy techniques like cbt and epr is to break that pattern of thinking by shifting your perspective and reaction. Remember that facts are facts, and anything beyond that are just stories we tell our selves... Don’t let this ocd scare you, you can do it. I understand your desire to not take medication I’ve been like that on and off for various years. Lately I’ve been off for a year and resistant though might go back on it. I prefer things natural and learning to manage without medication but I think it just depends on your quality of life as to what you decide. Personally for me I’ve noticed it getting worse since a few big transitions in my life. I think you should do what works best for you, cbt and epr and the leading techniques. Meds just help maintain. Also I read something about milk thistle being really effective but I couldn’t find much evidence to back that claim up. I’m sure there are different things out there. I’ve also tried acupuncture and I found that to be helpful in the short term.
madmad
- Date posted
- 6y
I’ve been feeling the same way. You have to take it day by day. Unfortunately, it’s not something you can control over night. Intrusive thoughts are the worse, but as long as you know you’d never act upon those thoughts then you’re taking a step in the right direction. Within time you’ll start seeing changes! Therapy is a great start, and I’d suggest seeing your doctor to talk about starting medication, if you’re comfortable with that. Another great outlet is Support Groups! I have an OCD Support Group that has sessions the first Wednesday of every month. Talking to others face to face who struggle with the same illness will help you feel less alone during this journey. Wishing you the best! :)
Related posts
rokenna
- Date posted
- 22w
New to diagnosis, and wanting advice
Hello, I’m in undergrad and recently was diagnosed with OCD. Its a very new diagnosis and it’s both been stressful and relieving to receive it. Looking back at my past I’ve been able to explain a lot of behavioral issues that I thought were simply attributed to me being “crazy”. It’s comforting to know it’s something that others struggle with and that there are set coping mechanisms and treatments for it. There are a number of thing of which I obsessively think about, and it’s been getting really hard to deal with all of them. The most troubling are my thoughts toward suicide. I can’t stop thinking about it. There’s not really any intent, it’s just like my brain has tuned into a frequency that plays in the background at all times. Usually though this leads to more dangerous behaviors, and so I always try to do any preventative work to keep myself safe. As for the asking for advice portion of this post, what do you all do to combat unending loops of thought? Because I’m so new to my diagnosis, my therapist and I haven’t found good strategies for me yet, outside of just labeling those thoughts as OCD in an attempt to delegitimize them.
Wed_Wheel
- Date posted
- 21w
My SO OCD
I have just recently realized that I had SO OCD. This began whenever I was watching porn and had an intrusive thought about the guy in the porn. It was more minor at first, it was a majority of what I was thinking about throughout the day but it didn’t feel as distressing at first. If I had downtime to think about it, it would affect me but if I was just going about my day I wouldn’t notice it. I began going through the compulsions of checking myself. This lasted for a while until another obsession occurred. Then it seemed as if my SO OCD took a step back. I would have flare ups but they would seem to pass. Recently, I had a very bad night of constant compulsions and looking at pictures and imagining things to check myself. After that night it was very distressing, it affected me to the point where people around me began to notice and ask me if I was okay. One of the big reasons I was so upset was my girlfriend, we have been together for over 3 years and I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I was thinking “Oh my god, if I am gay I can never be with her.” I would sit and cry about it thinking I would lose her and that might life would change because I was gay. I finally had enough and talked to her and my parents. We did some research and I was so shocked to find out that I had a form of OCD, it was like a weight being lifted off my shoulders just knowing that other people have been where I am and that I’m not gay. However, I may have naively expected the compulsions and obsessive thoughts to go away now that I knew I had an actual problem. But I found that the compulsions and thoughts were still there and I was going to put some effort into getting better. I have researched and now know what to do when experiencing intrusive thoughts, yet I still have been performing the compulsions which is just feeding into the OCD. I find myself having intrusive thoughts and then start performing compulsions to see if they are true. What really bothers me is when I have an intrusive thought that tells me that I do like something. But when I think about it I have no desire to pursue those thoughts. However when I feed into the compulsions they just seem to feed into each other. It is like my OCD ignores all the things that I know I like and goes straight to panic mode. I am also trying to do ERP and am going to start doing my best to get better. Does anyone have any tips for not performing the compulsions no matter how anxious you are feeling and no matter how real the intrusive thoughts seem to feel?
L0ng16aelak
- Date posted
- 10w
Unsure if I even have OCD
Hello, I’m new to this app. I’ve always had an anxious brain, and I’ve had coping mechanisms for as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, from as early as I could spell, until I was probably early teens, I would constantly write words in my head along to the beat of music. It’s such a vivid memory because I never stopped doing it. The word had to perfectly match up to the lyric and I loved that it kept my brain busy. I grew out of that, but felt like good context. My anxiety increased drastically around ages 17-19, and I began therapy. I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety and panic disorder, due to having a panic attack nearly every day at that time. I overcame that as well, and now the panic attacks are every now and then, but the anxiety is constant, and some recent symptoms have led me to believe I might have some form of OCD. Maybe not. I’m trying to understand myself and get better so I joined this app to make sense of things. Lately I’ve been having really intense intrusive thoughts. I’m really embarassed and they make me feel like a bad person. Thoughts pop in my head seemingly out of nowhere. It will be an image of me harming myself or someone else in a really bad way. (Trigger warning) for example the other day I couldn’t shake the image of me putting a knife through my own forehead, although it’s not something I want to do. Or I’ll imagine someone killing me. I imagine my loved ones dying often. The thoughts feel so out of my control it’s insane. I hate them. Another persistent issue that isn’t as new is replaying social scenarios. I’m a hairstylist so this one is difficult since I meet a bunch of new people every day. I obsess over how I act and if people like me. I will impulsively say things all the time and they will haunt me for weeks. I question even my closest friends and family who show their love. I find myself so angry and numb and like I have so much built up emotion and a busy mind always. While doing my job I spiral really badly if any little thing goes wrong and it’s embarassing. I know there’s more but I can’t think of it now. I just want to feel better and like I’m not constantly battling my mind.
Be a part of the largest OCD Community
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond