Whenever my brain says ‘if you hadn’t done this, you would be enjoying life more now’ should I try to counter this with a positive thought? Or should I do nothing and treat it as an intrusive thought?
You can do exercises for offering yourself self-compassion. I mainly do meditation for it. However, doing anything to try and get immediate relief from your current obsession is going to backfire and reinforce it. I just did ERP for 75 min yesterday and the tension was very strong but I persisted through it and eventually the anxiety subsided on its own. Ultimately you have to be okay with not knowing- and not with an ulterior motive behind it. You have to sit with that. It's really hard but it's possible and you can start today.
Immediate relief as in compulsions*
@seagull2 I do not do any compulsions to get rid of the thought, but I just don’t know how to respond to it
@DillonLee I'd say you don't have to respond to it. Just allow it and it's feelings to be there and eventually pass. If you interact with the thought you're giving it more power I think
@seagull2 Alright thanks
Leave it alone.
@Nica can I also say something like ‘I love this thought! Please keep coming back!’
@DillonLee You need to stop replying to it, no matter what it is. Just let it be.
@Nica Ditto. I try to not give it any attention at all.
@Nica but whenever I have that thought I feel intense regret and pain. And the thought keeps coming back even though I don’t respond to it. I’m just afraid it might take away any enjoyment I can ever have in my life
@DillonLee I’m so sorry. I feel that way too with certain thoughts and it really hurts
What Nica said.
I’ve noticed that I’m somewhat happier also ignoring my thoughts than I am instead of doing compulsions (I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired atp) but I’ve heard you’re technically supposed to do erp rather than pushing under the rug. But idk if I have a thought I just refuse to think about it again and im fine even if I want to do compulsions
I struggle so bad with intrusive thoughts. They can be so bad that I'll cry because I KNOW that's not how I feel or want to do. (Too embarrassed to say what they're about) I'll constantly try to figure out why I have them, and constantly figure out what they mean, causing me to constantly circle around and around. I had to get on anxeity meds, which helped a little but the thoughts still happen. How do you help yourself with this? How do you know that you're just not some physcopath? 😅
Does confessing an intrusive thought just make it come back stronger?
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