Do you struggle with mental compulsions? What do they sound like to you? Let us know in the comments and we'll try to answer some questions.

My compulsions are rumination, analyzing and mental review. They always feel automatic like I'm trying to protect myself.

it feels almost impossible to not try and remember the event like that compulsion just is something that happens automatically in my head

My compulsions are rumination, self reassurance, and analyzing memories. A lot of rumination is about whether I'm doing erp well enough, whether I will relapse, or for themes such as so-ocd or rocd: "if you say love is love and you feel/don't feel love for this person than this means..." type worries.

I deal with this constantly it’s exhausting overwhelming and the battle just feels so undefeatable. I want so badly to be better…

Sometimes I catch myself ruminating on existential thoughts. They don’t start out with “what if” but more of “why”. I know inherently there’s no answer and at the end of the thought cycle, it doesn’t make sense. At this point I figured I’m in the OCD rabbit hole and it s—ks.

Constant fear of going crazy. I am terrified at times that my OCD is actually the beginning of schizophrenia. When I am in an episode, I am always scanning my mind and body for anything that feels weird. Like I am always looking for the evidence that something is not right and that would mean I’m crazy. Then I try to convince myself that I am not by scrolling through google questions about schizophrenia. What I worry about, is that I don’t seem to have any physical compulsions, it is just all in my head. And it can seem so automatic and real.

They feel like that annoying fly that suddenly comes into the room and you wonder how in the hell it got in. Trying to make it fly out doesn’t help…I’m learning to watch it buzz and bump against the window, and then it finally leaves.

Newly diagnosed. How do I even do ERP with Pure O?

My compulsions are stupid. So I decided to stop doing them

Trying to remember acutely what happened

I find this video to be helpful when rumination is a mental compulsion- which actually happens a LOT in OCD-https://youtu.be/a-QR_1KoJ80 I think it isn't as easy to just stop as maybe this makes the process seem in the video but it does make a lot of sense and I find it useful. I also like this one:https://youtu.be/7U9DGeT8OPw

(Possible NSFW Trigger) My main compulsions are self assurance via rationalization and rumination. It often feels like I'm pointlessly fighting a voice (the one attached to the OCD) that is intent on undermining or even trying to kill me (note: I am NOT suicidal). Other times it seems it is trying to get me to question my sanity or my sense of knowing, meaning, or moral worth. It seems to me the way to defeat it or at least undermine the voice is to not be reactive to something unless it is literally in front of me or is credibly close in time. I also have difficulty with self-punishment in conjunction with the above.

Thanks

I always tell my intrusive thoughts to go away because eventually they do so it feels like it works but realistically it's probably making it go on for longer.

Mental review for myself is awful and I got to say to myself it’s the past what’s done is done

I need to make a plan for everything that could happen. I need to make sure I'm doing everything I can to prevent bad things from happening. I need to check and see if anything bad that DID happen was my fault... OCD reasoning is that failure to prevent and prepare is ALWAYS the same thing as total responsibility for the outcome, so I better think everything through

My biggest compulsion is rumination. I try to figure out the reason for my thoughts, and I think of the scariest scenarios and let my imagination run wild. Most of it is existential, which has been the hardest for me because there are no answers..and that’s what causes the anxiety and depression for me. I have a lot to “what ifs” as well. Believing the thoughts are the scariest. You know deep down it’s a bunch if BS but the OCD convinces you of things sometimes.

Idk anymore it's just constant annoying bullcrap. Makes me so exhausted

Yes, I struggle with mental compulsions because I have false memory OCD. They sound like, "Maybe you didn't really do this action. Maybe you contaminated something. Maybe you were in a rush and missed something important." So then my rational brain lays out the memory but replays it step by step or detail by detail. Ultimately my rational brain argues with the OCD voice. That voice is so strong that no matter how many replays and vivid details given, OCD often wins by instilling doubt which leads to fear and worry later followed by mistrust, shame, criticism, judgement and disappointment in self.

So easy to do because if don’t have ocd you too may review a memory to be reassured that you locked a door or something like that. The difference is that the one time mental review is enough to reassure you with ocd. It is the anxiety that keeps the unsure feeling going. Allowing the anxiety to pass is the difficult part.😬

Correction without ocd one review is enough

Ive had intrusive thoughts so much of my life. Im new to the erp therapy and really hooing it helps. Sure wish i had been treated earlier.

When someone says OMG (not the abbreviation but in the normal context) I repeat “gosh” in my head to somehow correct what they said without having to speak up to them that it is probably wrong to use that phrase unless you’re actually referring humbly to God. Drives me crazy but it’s a tad more difficult for me to correct because it is a mental compulsion.