What defines recovery? Felt like I was making progress, then experienced a setback, maybe a “lapse” this week. I realized I don’t know what recovery looks like and what actually defines being in recovery.
Recovery is different for everyone and it isn’t linear. You will experience setbacks but you should notice you’re bouncing back quicker or you feel better equipped to deal with them.
@thrutheweather This is great. Thank you for your response!!
I feel this post to my core. I had a huge setback last week. I look at where I was a year ago and I'm like WTF, I was doing better then! I agree that recovery isn't linear. You will always have bad days here and there because anything and anyone can trigger your anxiety, but now you're better at handling it. I think you have to make up your own definition of recovery. Like, "To me, recovery is having mild symptoms or being symptom free 75% of the month."
I was asking myself this same question. I have had a few minor lapses in the past week but I did find I was able to bounce back quicker and that the distress levels were overall lower. I wonder if that’s something you relate to?
I think also when u start to accept uncertainty a little bit easier with fewer compulsions carried out. This is something I’ve noticed in myself. I might double check a mark I spot on my baby but I instantly know that double checking strengthens my ocd. The distress is lower and I don’t obsess over the mark as much. This morning I wanted to check on a mark on his back, but I said nope and carried on with changing his clothes. So i finally ignored a compulsion which is huge since it became an automatic thing for me. Last night I also felt a new theme possible arising. It was a horrible intrusive thought but I just said yep it’s horrible but it’s just a thought and let it be. I was able to move on and distracted myself with a movie instead.
If you suffer from taboo themes, and deal with groinal responses… Do you feel they have disappeared? Do you still notice them? For myself, they have become so engrained/automatic , so while i do not get “anxious” by them anymore i still can clock them & it can feel discouraging … What are your experiences?
Where do I begin with this…….. so my OCD has been around since childhood and has had many themes over the years. I only realised I have it just over 2 years ago. I’ve tried many things to help it not be such a monster and thought I had a good grip on it for a length of time until now! Some of my strategies have been acceptance, change of perception of thoughts and sometimes on hard days just telling myself that no matter what, I have to be brave and go out and live life. In the last few months I’ve developed none OCD related anxiety as well and so have been looking at ways to help with that. Sunday morning I was just casually scrolling TikTok and a video only about 30 seconds long or so comes up, seemingly a therapist of some kind, straight away the video began something like “you cannot replace a thought with another thought” along the lines of “you can’t THINK your way out anxiety” I don’t know the full context of the video it wasn’t long enough, I don’t know who the therapist was I didn’t look but now purely because of that one sentence my OCD has gripped onto it so badly and is trying to tear down some of my strategies because I have used changing my thought patterns a lot to help me, self compassion etc but now because of that video I’m struggling! I’m not looking for answers but I am just really upset and it feels like I’m in an impossible grip of OCD again
Anyone else feel that when they aren’t experiencing a theme that their ocd is almost non existent. It almost makes me feel like I’ve been faking it, and also makes me feel ridiculous for obsessing over things. I feel sorry for myself :/ I know that my themes are valid and felt very real in the moment, but after I “get over” them I just can’t believe that I was obsessing over something that either wasn’t true or didn’t apply to me. I would also like to know how to prevent themes from reoccurring. Health, religion and existential OCD themes tend to take turns throughout my life, I just didn’t know that was it ocd. Trying to break the cycle.
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