- Username
- CPeach
- Date posted
- 1y ago
Demons?
Interested to know whether anyone here feels there ocd is the result of engagement or exposure - intentional or not - to some occultic practice?
- Username
- TheocdguitaristTheocdguitarist
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 1y ago
this is a theme I've dealt with for years, and I'd encourage you to be cautious here. regardless of beliefs (I'm personally christian), the human mind is a very powerful thing. it's important to treat thoughts like that like all other OCD thoughts - by allowing yourself to have them and not feed them. I thought I had been possessed when I was a kid, but now, regardless of if that happened for real or not, I see how big of a hand my OCD had in it. I'm in a much better place now, but I still have difficult days where my mind obsesses over demons/possession. Remember, you are stronger than you know, and although it's counterintuitive, the way to beat OCD is by saying "maybe, maybe not" to your thoughts.
- Username
- CPeachCPeach
- Date posted
- 1y ago
@Theocdguitarist Thanks, I’m struggling with this because I had a spiritual experience that I found haunting. It is hard to know what is mental and what is objective. I think the spiritual experience was objective. But I guess I can’t do anything about it. Maybe I just say “it’s in God’s hands.” Would that work as a response to ocd?
- Username
- AnonymousAnonymous
- Date posted
- 1y ago
@CPeach I don’t know about your particular case, especially since it has spiritual/religious themes, but for me saying “it’s in God’s hands” is helpful. I basically try to give God all my fears and trust that he will take them, even if it is real, even if it is my fault and I’ve done something wrong. For me as a Christian I try to put it all on the cross and trust that God takes my sin, my anxiety, my fears, my wrongdoing, my confusion, everything. This helps me because it’s another way of accepting uncertainty, but it’s a way of accepting uncertainty while having faith. Maybe my OCD thoughts are real, maybe it’s just anxiety, maybe my fears will come true, maybe it’s just chemical…whatever it is, I give it to God and trust that he is bigger than all that, and he loves me, and he is willing to take it all on himself. Also my favorite psalm for ocd/anxiety is psalm 139. Hope this helps! Wishing you the best.
- Username
- CPeachCPeach
- Date posted
- 1y ago
@Anonymous Thank you. I am a Christian and only recently has OCD turned to become “ugly” fears. This is new to me and I feel so defiled. I feel like the devil is in my head. Learning to live with it when I have had very few impure thoughts in my life is tough. I don’t know who I am in the midst of this.
- Username
- AnonymousAnonymous
- Date posted
- 1y ago
@CPeach It’s so, so hard. My experience of OCD is that it twists up the things that are important to me and makes everything feel unsteady, like I’m so lost in my mind that I’ll never be able to get out. It is so scary to not be sure of who you are in the midst of OCD. It’s easier said than done, but I hope you can give yourself some grace as you work through this new theme. God is bigger than OCD, and is bigger than any demon too.
- Username
- AnonymousAnonymous
- Date posted
- 1y ago
I mean no disrespect, but I have to caution you on trying to reason on the basis of feelings. This is a cognitive distortion called emotional reasoning. Feelings aren't facts. As far as I can tell, we have no evidence that OCD is caused by occult practices. I believe those practices are unwise, but on separate grounds. You seem to know that God loves you, but are distraught because your feelings don't accord with that. I expect that if you do ERP, eventually you will feel better and your feelings will be more in accord with your knowledge.
- Username
- CPeachCPeach
- Date posted
- 1y ago
@Anonymous Thank you. My husband would say the same.
- Username
- CPeachCPeach
- Date posted
- 1y ago
@Anonymous What ERP would you suggest for this? Writing my fears down?
- Username
- AnonymousAnonymous
- Date posted
- 1y ago
@CPeach Depending on how much anxiety it causes you, you could either just say "there's a chance my OCD is caused by demons, but I don't need to figure that out right now" or write down a worst-case scenario of your obsession being true, and then reading it over and over until you get bored.
- Username
- CPeachCPeach
- Date posted
- 1y ago
I know I am forgiven but I feel very much I am being disciplined. I am struggling with this so much. I feel God’s spirit has left me and so pray for it to return, but then is this a compulsion? Ah, how to manage scripturally v psychologically is challenging as the advice is different.
- Username
- CPeachCPeach
- Date posted
- 1y ago
I know God is loving and forgiving, but I feel he is so far away from me right now I am struggling not to despair.
- Username
- CPeachCPeach
- Date posted
- 1y ago
I keep praying “Lord please help me or take me home to be with you.”
- Username
- j.dj.d
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 1y ago
I have struggled with the fear that I am being disciplined and choosing to ignore God by getting help. But what I have remembered is that the gospel is all about us giving up control and allowing God to work. So I have to rest in that. I trust his will, will be done. So maybe it is punishment maybe not. I don’t have to sit and figure it out. God is not a God of confusion but of peace. Ocd sounds like confusion to me.
- Username
- CPeachCPeach
- Date posted
- 1y ago
And anyone done rite of deliverance?
- Username
- CPeachCPeach
- Date posted
- 1y ago
And whether or not this is an obsession or true is another thing I can’t know the answer to.
- Username
- CPeachCPeach
- Date posted
- 1y ago
Thanks so much for your support. My ocd used to help with high standards. Now it is dear of harming family and fear of losing faith. I appreciate your encouragement. Is there a way we can stay in contact? Maybe via a private message from time to time? I am new to this app..
- Username
- AnonymousAnonymous
- Date posted
- 1y ago
@CPeach I’m not totally sure how it works but you are welcome to private message me! Also new to this app.
- Username
- CPeachCPeach
- Date posted
- 1y ago
@Anonymous Thanks! Not sure how.. will try to figure out
- Username
- CPeachCPeach
- Date posted
- 1y ago
*fear
- Username
- ReadyForImprovementReadyForImpr...
- Date posted
- 1y ago
It is common to want to figure out where our OCD started or why we have it. But it's not helpful. Redirecting focus on moving towards recovery is a better use of your time and energy. If you're on a boat that sinking, it's better to move ashore to safety instead of standing on the boat trying to figure out what caused it to start sinking and drowning with it.
Related posts
- Username
- Anxiousashley
- Date posted
- 5y ago
So someone posted the other day about OCD being a spiritual attack. I couldn’t agree more and I would love to dive deeper into this topic. Please comment your thoughts on this theory:
- Username
- worryqueen
- Date posted
- 5y ago
Has anyone ever had ocd focus on the devil? Whenever I watch a show where they portray him as wounded or the good guy I start to believe it myself, like start questioning if Satan was bad or if God was unfair about punishing him. It's driving me insane because I keep obsessing over how I'll get possessed or turn into a horrible person because of these thoughts. But I don't know how to get rid of them or how to do any exposure in this situation cause even though I'm not a believer in God, I fear evil, and I can't touch it even if it helps. All I do is compulsively pray and beg God for forgiveness and I hate the cycle but don't know how to break it.
- Username
- IWillNeverKn...
- Date posted
- 33w ago
OCD and Religious Trauma
I was raised in a Christian fundamentalist environment. As a kid/teen, I was having panic attacks and experiencing crippling doubt and uncertainty, specifically involving the concept of hell. The idea that anyone could do anything to completely invalidate their life was, and still is, a very triggering thought for me. I have since left behind all forms of Christian thinking (or so I thought), but after some sessions with my therapist, it’s starting to feel like just traded one dogma for another in the form of OCD. Not intentionally, of course, but the thought patterns that led me to spend so many months terrified of hell and eternal punishment seem to rear their ugly heads when it comes to OCD and the punishment I feel I “deserve.” Has anyone else experienced this? Is the ex-Christian to OCD pipeline real?
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