I’m doing an art project based on ocd and was thinking about painting horses to represent the phrase “beating a dead horse” i want to add more visual representation of ocd to my project, aside from just the horses. i’m wondering if you could describe ocd is a way, that could be visually represented through imagery, how would you describe it?
Don’t think of a pink elephant is another one I’ve heard
Oh! And dr McGrath says ocd is like a koala koalas only eat one type of food eucalyptus I think? the only thing ocd eats to stay alive is compulsions
@makeupandchinchillas this is awesome! thank you for ur responses!!!
A phrase that my therapist uses is to not keep pushing the boulder up the hill. Also I painted a picture of what my ocd looks like to me. It is a fire breathing dragon, setting fire to all of the things that are important to me to have in my life. I also draw the intrusive thoughts & my mind while having them as many different colored spirals all entangled together & overlapping. A big question mark is another one, with the phrase what if & then several other words or short phrases that ocd causes one to struggle with. For that is.. I am a bad person, I can’t do it, i didn’t do that the right way, that was not perfect, etc. So many possibilities here, I use different colors to represent different feelings, emotions. Red is always sadness, black, brown, grey are depression, anger, anxiety, my intrusive thoughts are dark blues & greens, my regular thoughts that ocd can hijack are all brighter & happier colors such as purple, yellow, orange. I have also heard the phrase, dropping anchor to describe allowing the thought to just be there. Or dropping the paddle is another one. Letting go of the rope, as if you are in a game of tug a war with your ocd thoughts. Hope that helps. I’m sure your art project will be amazing. Art has been an amazing way for me do be able to get out what I think or feel, my emotions, the overwhelm of ocd & the intrusive thoughts & the way it wreaks havoc on my life. I find it calming to paint a picture of what is happening in those moments.
@Trish1014 I’ve drawn the overlapping spirals so much in life, even before I was diagnosed. It was so soothing🥲
@Trish1014 i appreciate ur thorough response!!! thank u so much!!!❤️
A maze, and all the shrubbery that makes it is plastic with different color roses. Someone frantically collecting fake rose petals from the ground and trying to find the flower they go to but none of the petals match the flowers that are there. Hitting walls and having to backtrack. Crying in a pile of petals, lost in the maze. Idk I think mine would work better as an animation now that I’ve written it down.
@Bronsautracks thank you so much! i really appreciate ur very detailed response :))) this helps me so much
I see my OCD as dark spirals or whirlpools in the path in front of me, waiting for me to step into them. They distort the edges of the world where they touch them, so that things looks different or weird or scary. Like if it was touching an Apple tree it could pull the tree into it, and all the apples would become poisonous and the branches claws.
@Anonna thank you so much for ur response!! this is so helpful ❤️
Obsessive-compulsive disorder, also known as the disease of doubt, has a very crippling effect on an individual's ability to function at its worst. This seems to happen especially when the individual's obsessive-compulsive disorder is thematically related to violence, sexually inappropriate thoughts or other taboo topics. When the vicious circle progresses far enough, a person no longer necessarily knows himself at all, is not sure of who they are or what they want. I believe that the background of obsessive-compulsive disorder, like the background of mental health problems in general, is a feeling of disgust and revulsion towards some thought, scenario or self. The way in which obsessive-compulsive disorder manifests itself, especially in the so-called "pure o" form, is very complex, because the individual disgust-inducing thematicity manifests itself not only in thoughts but also in the form of feelings, temptations and physical sensations. In some cases, however, this goes so far that the person's beliefs about his own integrity begin to decay and the feeling of hope and the meaning of life disappear. The idea can be clarified analogously to Nietzsche's thoughts on belief systems. As a result of obsessions and other repulsive thoughts, feelings and temptations, a person's belief system about his own integrity begins to collapse, but when the belief system collapses - the belief in that belief system itself collapses as well. When it no longer seems meaningful or possible to believe in the realization of a familiar and safe belief system, there is also no hope for anything better. So there is no longer even hope left for a meaningful whole of self, which drives a person to deep anxiety and depersonalization, which in turn begins to displace a person from social relationships and from all meaningful activities that a person is used to enjoying and creating meaning for his life based on his own complete self-concept, which is no longer felt to exist. Any thoughts or similar experiences on this?
What does an OCD episode look like?
What do you guys do to distract yourselves from having intrusive thoughts and images? help please.
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