How often do you experience intrusive thoughts?

@moonjoy & if ur okay with it, what do u mean by u think about people & their names?

@moonjoy Thank you so much for responding. Three weeks ago I was under a lot of stress to the point that started to forget people’s names and it freaked me out. Every since then I get very anxious about not remembering people’s names. It could be anyone I’ve known even people from tv but the fear is more intense when is someone I used to know like a high school classmate. The fear of not knowing their names gives me anxiety and almost panic attacks. So at night or when I’m quiet I get so scared and my mind starts to wonder about people and what their names are. Before I would simply search their name and keep on moving but now is more like once I find out someone’s name then the next person pops in my head and then I need to try and remember or else I get anxious. It’s becoming less intense but doesn’t fully go away. I don’t know if it’s fear and anxiety about forgetting or ocd.

@moonjoy I find the compulsion is to go on social media and find their name or think really hard until their names come to mind. It doesn’t happen all the time but most at night

@Hopeful soul ahh okay, of course im not a professional so i can’t diagnose you or anything. did this just start 3 weeks ago or has it been for a while ? Now, im not sure about just having those thoughts at night because like you said that can be a fear of forgetting , but again im not a professional so i dont wanna say i think you do/do not have it. is there a way u can see a therapist & maybe see if you do?

@moonjoy Whenever I forgot a name, I used to get anxious but then I would go back to normal. 3 weeks ago due to a lot of stress of work and other life events, whenever I forget a name the anxiety gets out of control and so my mind is trying to remember as many names as posible to avoid anxiety

@moonjoy I’m gonna see a therapist on Wednesday and see what they think. I hope it’s just anxiety because I took a Xanax yesterday for the first time and it calm my nerves down and also the anxiety of remembering names

@Hopeful soul ahhh okay, maybe it’s intensified for all the stress you’ve been dealing with. if you can, whenever you get some free time, try to do something relaxing. take a warm shower/bath. set some candles up & watch a comfort movie/show, even if its just for an hour or 2. try to give your body/mind some stress free things to do. another tip is , since u said it happens at night, i suggest looking up “brown noise for sleep no ads” on youtube . brown noise supposedly helps you stay more calm and calm ur mind. i use it like every night

@moonjoy I’m going to look into it. I really appreciate you taking the time to hear me out. I hope you are on your way to recovery, I pray that we all get to a better place with time and patience. We really need to just do the work and get over our fears little bu little

@Hopeful soul i appreciate that & same goes for you! it’s definitely a hard process but its worth it in the end