How often do yall experience/is it common to experience back door spikes? I’ve been having a pretty rough couple weeks but the past two days have been alright. It seems like the moment I start to feel okay/remember a sense of normality I get suspicious of myself/was this even ocd/where did the anxiety go thoughts. Even if I feel good for just a few hours at a time.
What are back door spikes?
@Anonymous 99 It’s a type of denial obsession if I remember correctly, its when someone’s anxiety about unwanted thoughts becomes less severe, so they’ll begin to obsess over the question of whether or not they’re anxious/worried enough about the thoughts. (Anyone feel free to correct me if you need to)
@4bs1nthe_ Yep, that’s how I would describe it. Either naturally or as a result of exposures and resisting compulsions you might have a better moment, day, week etc and when you realize you’re not anxious about the thoughts, or if they’re not coming as often, your brain takes it as evidence of your fear. Like if you often test yourself with the thought of breaking up with a partner (in the case of ROCD) and it doesn’t bother you as much, you might get worried you were right all along, you don’t have rocd etc
I think I’m going through this currently. I had a peace of mind yesterday for the first time in forever and now I’m questioning myself again
@1996. I’m with you, we’ll get through this. I listened to a podcast yesterday that suggested using the same techniques we usually use for erp for this kind of “secondary” questioning
I usually go through bouts of this every couple of days or weeks depending on how I’m doing
@4bs1nthe_ Gotcha, okay. And how long does it last for you?
@anxiousmollusk On a decent day maybe 30 minutes to an hour, on worse days it can sometimes go on right up until I go to bed and wake up in the morning. As of recently its been 2-3 hour long phases.
@4bs1nthe_ Okay. Sorry to ask so many questions and thank you so much for sharing, I know everyone is different I’m just kind of getting used to applying these labels to what’s been happening for me. So do you find when the bout is over you go back to your main fear/worry or you make the effort to disengage and feel “better” again? I’m just trying to see if what I’m experiencing correlates lol
Yepp it’s last attempt to hold on when you feel better