OcdDemons
- Date posted
- 6y
catpantscatpants
- Date posted
- 6y
Both. Yes and yes, I’ve had themes run the gauntlet of the umbrella of “what if I’m a horrible person or did a horrible thing” and it will latch on to real events at times and twist my memory and reaction until it is out of proportion. You’re definitely not alone in your themes. POCD was a theme for me for almost a year, it got to the point where I couldn’t even look at a child without anxiety, but the exposure helped and now I’d say it’s 80 percent gone. I still get fears about it here and there but it’s a world away from how I felt. Of course something else took its place, but there is always hope !
catpantscatpants
- Date posted
- 6y
Hey I just responded to your other post hahah. I just wanted to chime I. And say I have the same theme as you. And what works for me in this instance is saying, well if I was I’d cope. I’d live through it and I’d find peace again. I always accept that the fear could be a reality because it takes the power away from the intrusive thought for me. If I’m terrified of that reality than I resist the thoughts and try to fight my way out but if I accept that maybe it could be a reality, then the anxiety spikes momentarily but eventually gets lessened.
OcdDemonsOcdDemons
- Date posted
- 6y
Damn thanks. Like me, do you also suffer from real event themes of OCD? Or POCD?
FernandoVFernandoV
- Date posted
- 6y
Same thing here, real event and POCD. Best weapon is to become cynical - When you see those news smile and say, yeah I am evil but right now I don' want to rape anybody, I want to feed my dog or go exercise.
OcdDemonsOcdDemons
- Date posted
- 6y
Fernando ha well ive never seen or heard of that!
OcdDemonsOcdDemons
- Date posted
- 6y
Catpants, thanks :-) how did you get over real event themes as traditional ERT isn't working a lot. As instead of "Oh god i might harm someone close to me" its "OH GOd! Ive molestered someone!"( when i havent really, my mind just bends and twists things out of reality) Ive tried imaginal exposures and that failed
FernandoVFernandoV
- Date posted
- 6y
What I mean is that you need to agree with the OCD and then do something aligned to your values. With real life events the imaginal exposures are the best - If they didn't work then you didn't do them properly. Make sure you create them under the guidance of a behavioural specialist. For example, if your obsession is that you molested someone, or if you are not sure whether you did, then write a script that states the consequences of that, worst case scenario - Going to jail, never enjoying life due to guilt, etc. It must create anxiety, if it doesn't then it's not the right approach. You need to read it and/or record it and listen to it at least 20 times a day, to a degree where it is boring. Your OCD then will throw you a new question that will scare you, then you do another script. The thing is this - Let's assume that you did molest someone, now what? Report it to the police? There is no evidence. Kill yourself? Like that's gonna help someone. Go on with your life, man. You are an imperfect human - live your whole humanity.
Related posts
HOY
- Date posted
- 19w
False arousal and uncertainty
Just gonna vent, this never happened to me before during my 20 years alive. Whether it is POCD or not, I have truly lost my sense of self and my innocence. Why of all things did this have to happen. Ive been experiencing more strong groinal responses and mixed feelings of arousal regarding specific thoughts. Its so odd, cause last month none of this happened, it was mainly just anxiety and mental breakdowns. Never did I think I would experience physical sensations as well. Acting on compulsions as well left me feeling absolute confusion, Ive stopped doing that but now I get the urge here and there, and Ive learned to sit with the discomfort. All this leaves me with more questions on whether I will truly get through this or not, or if people will understand my situation. On certain days I feel fine, on other days its sheer terror. I blame myself mainly for this all, It is scary as these images, causing both arousal and terror, only result in me feeling like a shell of my former self
str4berrycoo...
- Date posted
- 17w
how i deal with the "what ifs" (+18)
i feel like i have been posting a lot about this and i will try to stop since now but i just don't know where to start or what to do, and i can't take therapy right now either. my event is about something that did actually happen; i had a boyfriend and we had a 1.5 age difference (i know this sounds stupid) but the thing is that we both started to sext a lot since he was 14 and i was 15. we shared audios videos pictures ect and i don't know how to just let this go, even when i know that i never really forced him into anything and i was always constantly worried about him being comfortable, when to stop and ect. the memories keep coming back to my mind and the guilt is eating me up slowly because i keep thinking that i'm a predator or a groomer or something like that. i don't know how to deal with the what ifs either, lately i haven't stopped thinking what if i sexually harassed or sexually exploited him or something like that. how do i deal with the cycle of guilt and constant what ifs if i also feel like my event is worse than others i've seen? please help me with this. it's getting a lil tiring and even if somedays i know how to deal with this, i still get really triggered sometimes. this wouldn't even bother me before, i wish i could just get back in time before this theme popped into my mind. my life has been a hell since then and i live constantly scared and suicidal.
stephg1231
- Date posted
- 12w
Severe panic attack
Today I woke up with severe panic attack. My heart jumps out of my chest. As I do every morning. When I wake up and my brain is awake it automatically goes straight to intrusive thoughts about my partner, my life and everything else. That I don’t love her, I don’t want to be with her and she’s not the one for me and I should break up with her. This all happened from TikTok comments I saw that triggered this. Since then I haven’t been able to stop my thoughts. I know she is the one for me I know I love her I just can’t stop the thoughts. It feels so real. The voices feel so real.
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