Themes popping back up from time to time

For me I am claiming every scary thought as true and just being with those awful feelings. Eventually it kinda fades and you just have to do that consistently

@Sarah🕊 For me, it was a mix of things! My Real-Event OCD was very focused on the concept of being “cancelled” and “found out” for potentially problematic things I did in my past. I started feeling better after I began watching video essays on people had been cancelled, or video essays dedicated to talking about the phenomenon as an exposure. After a while the entire concept seemed less horrifying, and more juvenile.. it just kinda stopped freaking me out as time went on and the more I learned about it. Also, with Real-Event I was constantly punishing myself for my past mistakes. I wasn’t letting people get close to me or be my friend, I wasn’t letting myself leave my room, wasn’t letting myself do things I knew would make me happy, etc. all because I thought I didn’t deserve it. That was a tough one to overcome because it involved having to be nice to myself when I really didn’t like myself. But going out and doing things I liked and being around more people helped remind me that everyone is… a human with flaws. No one is 100% perfect or exempt from doing stupid things sometimes and making mistakes, and that was a comforting realization that made me feel pretty silly for worrying myself into sickness over a few dumb things I did in middle school. Some days are still bad, and sometimes guilt undoes a lot of my mindfulness, but taking steps to do things that are hard really did make a difference. Everyone’s version of Real-Event is different though! I hope that this could help you out a little :)

@Anonymous - Thank you so much for sharing this is really helpful to read about your experience with how you deal with and manage your OCD. Did you work with a NOCD therapist or did you start on your own?

@Anonymous Also playing out the what if scenarios makes you realize even if they did happen it wouldn't be so bad

@Sarah🕊 I started this on my own, but I probably would have benefited from having the help of a NOCD therapist haha! The self-reliance just runs deep with me whoops. It mostly began because I found it hard to find many resources on how to treat Real-Event OCD, as many articles I read gave vague instructions like “Treat it like any other theme”, with no elaboration. That’s when I tried taking manners into my own hands and figuring what I could do for myself, and realized it was less of a “one size fits all” theme, and one that I needed to break down and find out WHAT it was that was bothering me so much about my Real-Event and focusing on those areas (ie. The fear of being cancelled).

@seagull2 Absolutely!! OCD often blows things way out of proportion, and the bad things are never really as bad as they make it seem.