distinguishing “real” vs “ocd” thoughts

I feel like I notice ppl here talking a lot about trying to distinguish/being unsure which thoughts are really theirs vs which “are OCD.” And i feel like that’s a potentially really counterproductive distinction to make? Labeling some thoughts/intrusive thoughts as OCD as though somehow “OCD” is a mutually exclusive category from “thoughts” just feeds into some form of reassurance, right? To be clear it’s for sure helpful to label your RESPONSE to triggering thoughts as OCD, but the thought itself is just a thought. And many (even most?) people without OCD also have intrusive thoughts of the same sort as those of us with OCD, it’s just that we have the obsessive/compulsive response to them where others are able to brush them off. Shouldn’t the ultimate goal be to stop attaching so much importance/meaning to thoughts so that you don’t Need to have a separate category for the “bad” ones?

Danielle Carter

User type: Member advocate

Date posted: 2y

In working with my ERP Specialist here at NOCD, I learned to allow thoughts to be just that "thoughts". You're right! We don't need to define them, whether "bad or "good". No need to judge them in anyway. We sit with this thought, prioritize what's more important in the world of "what now" and not "what if". It takes time to put this into practice but it's worth it. You're also right, everyone has had some sort of intrusive thought at some time in their lives, we just process them differently. When we learn to react by "not reacting", we see that we are in a much better place! Thank you for sharing your insight.

Anonymous

User type: Staff

Date posted: 2y

Yes everyone has intrusive thoughts it's just they are far less likely to pay attention or even recognize that they are having them when they don't have OCD. When you have OCD you get "stuck" on the thoughts and want to find out why they were there in the first place or what they mean. That is why we say that thoughts don't need to have any meaning in OCD. I think that the terminology of "OCD thought" versus "thought" in general may be a way that we sometimes recognize that we have this disorder and so it kind of flags us to not engage with that thought, as opposed to maybe thoughts that are helpful or non-intrusive. Hope that makes sense. But you are correct that we want to passively acknowledge an intrusive thought but not stop and pay it attention. Thank you so much for sharing.

Kyle

Date posted: 2y

Hi there! I absolutely understand what you're saying. I think it's more so identifying and acknowledging when you are experiencing intrusive thoughts, and the ruminations that spur off of those thoughts - "OCD". You are right - the ultimate goal is to have no response to intrusive thoughts, which in turn takes away their meaning.

K.at.lin

Date posted: 18w

The Quiet Ones

I find that the intrusive thoughts that hurt me the most are the quiet ones. The ones that, at a glance, can be hard to differentiate from your own thoughts. The louder thoughts are easy to diffuse, to say "maybe, maybe not" to but the quiet ones leave me ruminating for hours trying to figure out if they're mine or OCD's. They leave me feeling disconnected from those around me and even from myself. I can go from happily thinking about marrying my boyfriend in the future to feeling like I have never actually loved him in a matter of minutes all because a thought was a whisper rather than a scream. This is my first post and I'm not sure what I'm looking for in making it. Advice? To know I'm not alone? I guess if there's anything you feel the need to share I'd love to hear it.

Ok_Paint758

Date posted: 18w

Is telling myself "it's just ocd" a compulsion?

When I was a child, before I knew this was OCD, I struggled with constant "magical thinking" compulsions (don't step on the crack or mom's back will actually break, etc). When I later learned this was OCD, it almost immediately solved it. Any time I got a magical thought, I would say to myself "that's just an OCD thought. ignore it." and it just stopped coming! Like seriously it fixed the magical thinking stuff forever. But of course the OCD has resurfaced in other ways. So naturally, I've tried to use the same strategy since I had so much success with it previously. But I wonder sometimes if telling myself "that's just OCD" is almost functioning as a reassurance compulsion? I hate how meta this gets. For example, I have ROCD that comes and goes. So sometimes I'll get a thought like "what if i'm still in love with my ex?" and then I'll tell myself "that's obviously just an ROCD thought" and will feel relief, almost like reassurance. But it comes back. So is telling myself that it's OCD a reassurance compulsion ?? It's just so weird because it worked so perfectly as a kid with the magical thinking thing.

Rayanswaid

Date posted: 17w

Realizing That Thoughts Are Just Thoughts.

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?

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distinguishing “real” vs “ocd” thoughts

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