it’s weird because when i drink my intrusive thoughts seem to be more constant/more persistent, yet easier to ignore. i know for most they seem to get better with alcohol so then i worry that “this means my thoughts are real” but i know they aren’t. does anyone experience more persistent intrusive thoughts with alcohol?
I experience more intrusive thoughts with any altered state of consciousness, from mushrooms, to weed, to alcohol, all the way down to caffeine. For me personally, I'm pretty sure it stems from feeling like a substance is altering my state of being in some way, which makes me feel as though I'll have less control, perhaps even no control, in acting on them. It also makes me worry that maybe the substance will reveal the truth of the thoughts. It's all nonsense, and for a while weed was really helpful for me, until it/being high became central to my OCD themes, and over time I went from doing bong rips and feeling great, to not even being able to take a hit of hemp flower because I indulged in more and more compulsions to prove that I wasn't going to lose my mind, or whatever. There's also the aftermath of drinking in particular that absolutely can make my OCD worse. I'm almost always far more anxious, depressed, and susceptible to intrusive thoughts the day after. In short, you're not alone in this and I find it very relatable.
@Tommygdawg thank you so much! it feels good to know i’m not alone in this. i, like you, get worried that because my thoughts are more persistent with alcohol in my system that means they are “true” and i agree, it feels like i have less control of them
@snowflakes - This is kind of a sub theme I've dealt with for a while now. I used to be so into weed. I feel like OCD took it from me in a way, and I haven't been able to get it back. I don't know where I stand on substances right now, how hard should we fight to be able to keep using them? On one hand, it seems like letting OCD win to not drink or smoke. But on the other hand, people would probably rightfully say if it makes you anxious, don't do it! But I thought we were supposed to not stop doing things because they make us anxious...however I could see how it'd be different for substances. If you figure out the answer, let me know? :P
Alcohol is a double edged sword in my experience with my OCD. On one hand it lowers my anxiety and gives a momentary escape of the endless intrusive thoughts. Then the day after my OCD plagues me with what if doubts of what terrible thing I could have said or done when I was drinking. Of course I have no evidence or memory of doing anything bad but the alcohol is a high octane fuel for revving up the OCD engine. Im going to steer clear from alcohol from now on.
I find this relatable too. I often also find that while it lowers my inhibitions, there will inevitably be a moment when I'm drunk/tipsy where I will get extravagantly anxious because I've started ruminating that something I just said or did while "under the influence" was hurtful to someone.
OCD just latches onto any doubt or intrusive thought and alcohol puts in that fogginess effect where its so easy to question and start ruminating. My OCD has been persistent regardless of alcohol. Even after 5 months of zero drinking this year I had two of my worst OCD spikes. This goes in line with the way it has been my entire adult life. However when there is alcohol I usually have way more spikes and themes.
10000%. I find this with weed too. I get less spikes/panic attacks now that I'm not smoking, but it's not like I don't get them at all.
It's only been recently for me that my anxiety and intrusive thoughts have been the worse after drinking alcohol. I'm afraid of losing control and forgetting. I've been avoiding drinking alcohol which in the long run is a good thing to give up.
Does anyone have advice for intrusive thoughts while tipsy? I haven experience this before and then a random thought hit me! Had this happen. The buzz had warn off but it still freaked me out cause I don’t know it was OCD or an actual thought. I got anxiety really bad after.
Alcohol and OCD: A cruel mistress! Hi all. I wanted to share my thoughts and potentially start a discussion about the role of alcohol in OCD. Certainly in my case I think it is a fundamental contributor to my suffering, and I'm not surprised about the statistics related to how many OCD sufferers also suffer from problematic drinking. My current obsessive themes are Real Event/guilt OCD and are often related to situations and events where I was incredibly drunk with fuzzy and missing memories, or my drunkenness contributed to certain actions that I now obsessively regret. Whilst this was in the past, alcohol is still contributing to my suffering, and I'm starting to wonder whether I would be much happier without it. I find that after sometimes months of feeling fine, most if not all of my major relapses have occurred directly after a night of heavy drinking, and that spark has sent me spiralling for days and sometimes weeks. I then became obsessed about limiting my drinking in certain situations, I had a fear that if I was drunk I would end up committing some horrible crime or cheating on my partner. Now though I'm finding that I'm drinking moderate amounts of alcohol on a very regular basis, just to take my mind off my obsessions, which is very unhealthy. When I have a drink, even just one, it feels like my thoughts just almost vanish in importance, it's like a beautiful break from all the suffering. This feeling scares me a little and I now worry that I might be verging on some form of dependency on alcohol. I'm not looking for any reassurance here, just wanted to share my experience and chat with others who might also be struggling in this way.
I’m having constant intrusive thoughts and it’s driving me crazy. I will go through these periods where everything I do I get an intrusive thought and it’s just my brain is so loud. Anyone else?! How do you stop the constant intrusive thoughts when you can’t really do an exposure for every single one?!
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