What if it’s not OCD?

Thank you for sharing. Yes, this is a common theme with ocd - it is meta-ocd. The key to this is to sit in the middle - when the intrusive thought comes in - we can say maybe it is and maybe it isn’t. I don’t really care and I am not going to figure it out. Treat it like any other ocd thought.

OCD is the doubting disease and it is going to attach to whatever it can. Try to treat the thought that you’re trying to convince yourself its OCD just like you would treat any other intrusive thought. It helps me to remind myself that thoughts are not facts; they do not define who you are. Often the harder someone fights or challenges the thoughts, answer or push them out of their mind, the stronger they get. Instead Allow yourself to have the thought and say “maybe it’s true maybe it’s not” without engaging any more or any less than that. I know easier said than done, but with time and practice it does get easier.

This is a typical OCD tactic and a tactic it used on me. My therapist reminded me that no amount of rumination will ever solve all the “what ifs?”. Just when you solve one “what if?” Question OCD will throw another one at you. So honestly it’s not worth your time to give it attention. You got this!

Doesn’t sound silly. I grew up with a very religious mom and sometimes my intrusive thoughts make me feel that I have evil inside me or was a horrible person in a previous life and deserve the chaos in my mind. 💚

Yep same here with my harm OCD. I can tell you though that if the thoughts make you uncomfortable and you don’t want them and you try to push them away or fight them…they arent you it’s your OCD. OCD is the doubt disease. The what ifs will be endless, your mind will look for any way to keep you from accepting the ocd. Do ERP with a trained specialist, listen to OCD podcasts and educate yourself on the condition. You will come to find that everything you just wrote is how every person with OCD thinks. We aren’t special, we aren’t harboring some big secret of being evil. We are normal human beings just trying to live life and face our fears. Wishing you the best of luck in your recovery!

Yes yes yes. I feel the same way. I worry that it’s not actually OCD and that I’m actually crazy. I feel so much guilt and sadness and fear of my own self.

Oh yes. A lot of times I think it’s trauma and not OCD. But I see the world and people so differently now, I don’t know how to un-see things the way they are now. It sucks. My OCD doesn’t want me to believe anything

Yes I get this, what helps me is to egg the thoughts on. Sometimes I'm good and can do it successfully and sometimes I have really tough days, on a good day I I'll reply maybe that's true maybe it's not, come at me bro, give me more. It challenges the OCD in a way that makes it say, huh?

yesss