- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 2y
happiness obsession
anyone else have ocd surrounding whether or not they are happy?
anyone else have ocd surrounding whether or not they are happy?
Going through the same. I had fear of becoming depressed, and started to worry each time I didn’t feel like I « should » and had thoughts that made me feel so sad and numb.
@Ilham Dah i too have a fear of being depressed bc i’ve dealt with depression in the past. how do you deal with this obsession? my happiness is so important to me
@Ilham Dah I’m scared of getting depression
@snowflakes I never actually had depression in the past, but my happiness is also soo important to me and that is why my OCD decided to attack it.. obviously 🤦🏼♀️ The best thing I found is to really tell myself it’s ok not to be happy all the time. It’s the « i don’t care » mindset. I reduce rumination as much as I can, and accept whatever feeling I have whether it is joy or sadness.. and i go with the flow. Hope this helps. Let me know how you’ve been doing on your end.
@Nacio How are you dealing with it. When did it start for you?
@Ilham Dah Idk I just get the thought like what if it’s depression and anxiety?
@Ilham Dah Or the thoughts? I get are depression.
@Nacio I totally get it! Going through THE SAME. I’d be more than happy to further discuss it in private if you want and share with you some of my tips.
@Ilham Dah Ofc
Hi there! I'm sorry to hear that you are having some rumination regarding how happy you are. You are definitely not alone in this, I know that even I have ruminated about my own happiness in the past before starting therapy. Have you ever tried ERP therapy?
I am always worried I’m not “happy enough” or “happy like them” or that I’m not doing as much in life- social media definitely does not help!
YES. For my money I think this was one of the first themes I ever struggled with—when school got out for summer one year, I started to get really sad bc I was afraid that I wasn’t as happy as I was SUPPOSED to be. Then of course my mind spiraled and made me think I probably have depression if I’m not happy. Etc etc. So yeah I totally get it
@yun444g how did you deal with this obsession?
@snowflakes Well I was literally 11 or 12 so I don’t think I really dealt with it as healthily as I could have, but basically I tried to keep myself busy by reading a lot and finding genuinely new interests instead of clinging to stuff of the past—for some reason, finding new & exciting activities, hobbies, places, etc, helps me a lot with that theme.
Absolutely, and for me I think it manifests in trying to make the best use of my time possible. Sometimes even turning into just being jittery I'm not doing better activities... Or whenever I'm doing an activity I looked forward to for a long time and it's not making me feel as complete and fufilled as I thought it would? Sometimes trying to be happy like I remember being at my happiest feels like trying to catch lightning in a bottle, but I always feel like feeling any lesser happiness feels like too little...
I'm dealing with this too right now. It's been very scary for the last 2 weeks and I keep having meltdowns cuz I'm so scared I'll feel like this forever. It comes and goes throught the day, one minute I'm fine and the other I'm feeling blah and then I spiral into almost a panic attack sometimes and end of sobbing. How do you do erp for this??
I’m scared of getting depression too..
i have been diagnosed with OCD & generalized anxiety disorder. for some reason, i’ve been very hyper aware of everything. like the way i talk, the way i see the world, how certain things sound/look/feel, and it’s very distressing. i feel like the hyper awareness makes me afraid of things? like for some reason, my mind attached to cartoons, and i was hyperfocusing on it, and got extremely scared, like scared of the cartoon for no reason? i’ve done this a lot, and i get scared i have psychosis or schizophrenia, or something that makes you afraid of things for no unknown reason. i feel so scared that this is my new normal…. im heartbroken. so many what if’s. did i just ruin my own life?? 💔
Whenever anyone starts to feel like their thoughts are less triggering or they feel a moment of happiness/ relief OCD tells you that you want the thoughts back or you actually like having the thoughts and maybe thats just the person I really am? I feel like im going insane😢
i’ve unfortunately fallen into the cycle of trying to figure out my thoughts and find answers as to why i feel so distressed. this still pertains to the situation regarding changing my room for those reading who have seen my multiple posts over the last few days. i’ve been so distressed and in so much panic about it. i’m also panicking over my other room looking so different from when i left it. it’s been making me feel crazy because to me there’s no reason for my anxiety to latch so hard onto something that seems so minuscule. i was thinking i was having anxiety over change, but it’s like symptoms of ocd too that’s making it really hard for me to let go. SO i started thinking maybe it was perfectionism ocd? i’ve realized over time that i do compulsions to where things have to feel “just right”, but i also do that with any environment i’m in. like it HAS to feel cozy to me and provide me comfort in order for me to feel at ease. and this change is causing me to panic because there’s something wrong that i can’t find an answer to. maybe the different colored carpet? but it’s also more than that it feels like. however, now it’s spreading into other areas of my house where i’ve always been fine in and possibly to just any area i’m in at all. hence why it’s making me feel crazy because there’s no reason for me to be THIS distressed over that as i’ve never really had this problem before. and when i did it would last maybe an hour to a couple of days at most, but this has been going for over 2 weeks with my really bad anxiety being this week. i’m doing a little better, but it’s still hard when i can feel that panic waiting for me to acknowledge and just engulf me in the ocd cycle. i’m also analyzing basically any feeling i have so i just feel off in general and like i’m going insane. i’ve been so hyper focused on how i feel and that will send me spiraling too. multiple themes then start coming in like existential ocd and fear of solipsism. not to mention my harm and contamination ocd that just adds on when i’m this vulnerable. then i worry if no one is real, then no one feels the way i do. or just in general that what if no one feels the way i do. honestly, i think being out of college and in my house with nothing to do is causing me too much time with my thoughts. which is why i’m so distressed about everything that pops into my brain.
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