- Date posted
- 2y
Help to change thinking
How do I go about changing my thoughts about covid I want to think of it as any other viruses but my ocd is just taking it into catastrophizing mode
How do I go about changing my thoughts about covid I want to think of it as any other viruses but my ocd is just taking it into catastrophizing mode
I am having the same problem! I have almost zero social life because I got Long COVID and now I'm so scared of getting it again. I also feel weird because I see almost everyone just moving on, not wearing masks, and thinking I'm the odd one for caring so much! I think just taking proper precautions should be a start like you can wear a mask in public places and around a lot of people, wash your hands when you've been out touching things, etc. I know in ERP therapy a lot of my exposures are trying to get back out there slowly and facing what I'm scared of. Maybe this therapy can also be helpful for you! I know it's difficult, so don't give up!
I want to first off say that my therapy did help with my fear of Covid. But mostly I want to say…of course it’s different. Have you had to live through a pandemic of any other disease that has changed life as we know it? Sure, most non-ocd-ERs dealt with it better, but did anyone REALLY just chill through 2020? Hell no. However, Covid alpha was a much more destructive disease than omicron. We have moved forward. The disease has mutated into a different disease essentially. A friend who works in the ER says that she now sees more flu than Covid. The fact is that you could still have an awful outcome from Covid. But your chances now vs in 2020 are SO MUCH better. So update your level of fear just like we have updated our treatments, knowledge, and hell, even the virus has updated itself! Try to think of it as “ omicron” and not “Covid” and it’ll help.
@Anonymous Thank you this was helpful!
I wish I had an answer for you. I don't. But I saw your message and assume you're struggling today. I'm struggling today too. I sincerely hope your day gets better.
Dotty, NOT ALONE! The pandemic is OCD’s field day for us with Health themes! I am holding onto my victories of 2022 getting out there and living! Was it with masks? Yes, but the victory was not avoiding life. We still mask because I am struggling in that space too and still living restricted activities compared to pre COVID life, but you are not alone and we can only take one step at a time. Lots of grace and self compassion just know YOU ARE NOT ALONE in these thoughts and thinking ❤️🌻
Thanks everyone for ur comments i really appreciate them. I've been doing alot of work to get myself out more during 2022 and it's definitely helping it's more when I or my parents who I live with have had covid and its in the house that i start to lose all control like I shut myself away in my room until I or they test negative (which has been 11 days before) I won't us the plates, cups or cutlery (I use disposable)I won't touch anything in the house without gloves and then there is the giant clean up after we get the negative result it takes hours and hours I clean everything and rewash all the plates, cups and cutlery to make sure no covid is on them but even after that I still don't feel the house is clean enough and I think someone is going to come into the house and touch something and get covid. I'm not like this with any other virus I normally just carry on nd hope I don't get whatever they have but I can't ever imagine sitting with my parents knowing they have covid and I don't know how to change my thinking
I’ve been thinking a lot about how OCD changes the way we see ourselves, but I recently realized that I am not my thoughts. Just because a thought pops up doesn’t mean it’s true or that it defines me. I’ve started learning how to see OCD for what it is—just a disorder trying to trick me—and I’ve become stronger in dealing with it. Has anyone else here had a similar realization? How do you handle these thoughts when they show up?
Common posts on here are "i had a thought" "why am i thinking this" "what if" and these are all OCDs way of making you doubt yourself while taking you round and round in never ending circles at the same time. Regardless of the theme you are facing, there is no "figuring out" or "making sense" of a thought, because it isn't a real situation - it's a passing word or image or scenario without any meaning attached. You can't control your thoughts and the more you "don't want to have them" the more they will appear. For instance, tell yourself not to think about "apples", it will be the first thing that comes to your mind, because that's just how our minds work. Once you categorise a thought as "bad", every time it comes into your mind, your anxiety level will go up and this makes the thought seem real. Because if it "Feels" this bad, surely it must mean something or must have happened - But none of this is true. All we have to do is naturally notice thoughts as they come up, and rather than try to assess or ruminate over the content, we can almost shrug them off. It's the only way to accept thoughts as simply thoughts and nothing more. Anxiety drives the intense feeling and the more attention you give to thoughts, the more power they have over you. No random thought can change your real intentions. OCD is never ever satisfied, so the only way forward is to accept the uncertainty of never knowing "for sure" and to class the unwanted thought as irrelevant. OCD says "quick..bad thought..feels horrible.. what does it mean.. fix it". But in reality there is nothing bad here or nothing to be fixed, it's a false alarm. Once you learn to respond to a thought calmly by working on anxiety, it gets easier over time. It's your perception of your thoughts that needs to change, you believe they mean something about you, but random things pop into our heads all the time - both things we like and things we don't. OCD also latches onto what we care about most and it always comes with a feared consequence, so think about what yours is, e.g "what happens if my worst fear comes true" you can then practice imaginal exposure which is imagining your worst case scenario over and over until you become desensitised to it and no longer fear it - therapists use this technique in sessions. Everyone in the world has thoughts, the thoughts are not the issue, you just get more of what you focus on, up until the point that you can change your attitude towards the thought. If I asked you if you went upstairs today you would have an answer straight away, however if I asked you a question related to your OCD theme, your anxiety would increase and you would doubt yourself, because that's OCD doing the thinking for you. Once you give it less power it becomes a less significant part of your day. It's so easy to give into compulsions as they feel like a "quick fix".. but as I mentioned, ocd is never happy, which is why it wants us to continue to check and seek reassurance. Once you start reducing and gradually stopping compulsions, whether this is rumination, checking, or a physical action (whatever you falsely believe is "keeping you safe" from your feared consequence) you will see it's not necessary to do them, and that the time consuming little things you have taught yourself to do have no effect on what actually happens in real life. Thoughts prompt feelings and feelings prompt actions - meaning - thoughts cause anxiety and anxiety drives unnecessary actions. As a side note, I overcame contamination ocd (I was in a very very bad way and now the theme doesn't bother me anymore). I still have OCD and it can affect me slightly at times, but i can manage it in a way that it doesn't interfere with my day and without the need to carry out compulsions. Please practice, because I promise it helps, it's super scary at first and extremely difficult but the end result is worth it. ERP therapy is also very helpful.
i don’t want to do my compulsions. I feel like if I don’t somebody will get hurt, sick or die. It’s a very scary thought to feel like if I don’t do my compulsions it will be my fault even though it isn’t & nor will it happen. I know it’s magical thinking & my thoughts are not true nor will they come true. it’s just im so tired of doing these compulsions. im so tired of feeling like I can stop something bad happening if I don’t step on this or touch this 4 times. it even got me believing that if I do something I want to do & love, something bad will happen. I just want to be able to live & feel like I use to. I hate ocd. how can I calm this down so I can be able to navigate in my own life?
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