- Date posted
- 6y
- Date posted
- 6y
I am sorry you are going through this. It sucks, it really does. It is hard. Many people here struggle with it too. I know this might seem as reassurance but take more as an insight, even though your amygdala might not let you process it. Here it is: "People who actually kill or plan on killing people are not overthinkers like you and me. They usually don't write on OCD forums and don't see their feelings as egodystonic the way you do". Now, having said that, how angry are you at your OCD? From the scale of 1 to 10? Do you want to know how you can punish your OCD good? By not giving into compulsions such as checking, ruminating, seeking reassurance and by making your goal just to go on this trip and enjoy it the best you can. I know your OCD is like: "You cannot be there enjoying life because you are such a bad person for having these thoughts". Then you go: "Watch me". You need to accept that those thoughts are "normal" junk farts from your brain and that 9 out of 10 people have them. Yes, the priest, the president, everyone. The difference between you and them? That you feed them with more thinking.
- Date posted
- 6y
If calming yourself isn’t working, try to increase your anxiety instead. Challenge your anxiety to get worse. Actually talk to it: “hey anxiety, is that all you’ve got? Breathing a little fast? I can breath faster. That bad thought? I can have a worse one; watch. Think that’s the worst case scenario? I bet I can come up with one way more horrible!” Your OCD is a bully and sometimes the only way to deal with a bully is to stand up to it and call its bluff.
- Date posted
- 6y
This really triggered me,please put a warning next time ?
- Date posted
- 6y
This go around with ocd has been more depressing than anxiety-inducing for me too. Keep your head high and enjoy your vacation as much as possible!!!!!
- Date posted
- 6y
I’m just trying to come back into reality. Ive been fighting off panic attacks all day . And the images of people being dead even my loved ones is messing with my head on top of that I am extremely tired and these thoughts are not letting me sleep. I leave for my flight tomorrow . And all my excitement is gone . I also keep thinking about everything about the human brain and our bodies and life . It’s stressing me out I can’t stop crying. I feel just not good at all . Trying really hard to calm myself down
- Date posted
- 6y
What if you give yourself some tiny space in your head to visualize many people from these group surrounding you and embracing you, even crying with you because we know how awful those panicky nights are. What if you did some belly breathing and focused your attention just a little on your heart beat. What if you could take a chance and use this as an opportunity to show your brain that your panic is "irrelevant" and that you are still going on vacation even with high anxiety. There are two options, either can be an awful painful experience that will only feed your OCD more or it can be an uncomfortable experience that will teach your OCD who is boss.
- Date posted
- 6y
@pureolife - That is great technique. I agree, actually the best one; however it is not for newbies, I guess. I got reported on this forum for suggesting it. ?
- Date posted
- 6y
I think it can be for newbies as long as you explain how/why to do it. You can’t just tell someone “your thoughts are all true!” and walk away without saying anything else. In this case, I’m explaining the technique (how to do it) and the goal (to challenge anxiety to ramp up, which is essentially calling its bluff.) It’s a proven technique for fighting panic attacks that I think anyone can use, but newbies need to know all that if they want to try it. Otherwise, what your saying is just another trigger for compulsions.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 25w
At first, it just started as harmless questions, curiously exploring the universe and what life and death mean as a human. Then it became an obsession about death and the afterlife. I’m a Catholic-turned-agnostic who recently took an interest in religion again, trying to redevelop a relationship with God without letting the fear of not being good enough and possibly going to Hell taking over me. Instead, my brain latched onto the possibility that there is no God, that there’s eternal nothingness after the short time we have here on earth and that everything means nothing. My love for my friends and family. My desire to achieve my goals, and to be happy for the people I love achieving theirs. I’m haunted by the feeling that it will all be for nothing, that I will never be reunited with those that I love, that the people I love who have passed on have ceased to exist and one day, so will I and everyone else. I can’t function now. I’ve made myself physically ill over this. I’ve lost my appetite. As someone who once took pride in how much love I have for my job as a daycare teacher, I come into work and feel numb. I go home and feel numb. I’ve obsessively started telling the people in my life how much I love and appreciate them because for the past three days, I’ve been sick thinking about how one day, either I’ll leave them or they’ll leave me. It feels like nothing matters. It feels like everything is in vain. I’ve tried so hard to reframe my mindset, to rewire my brain to not think that way. I’ve tried ERP techniques of allowing myself to sit with the discomfort that the fear brings. To try and desensitize myself to this fear. Nothing seems to work. I’m so lost. I’ve been this way for three days, with yesterday and today being worse than the day it started. It’s like the obsession is morphing into depression in a way. I’m scared I’ll never feel enjoyment in any form again. I don’t know what to do anymore.
- Date posted
- 20w
I keep thinking about life and death and all that stuff and it’s making me so upset. I keep thinking about how one day im probably going to be old and on my death bed or something and my whole life will be nothing but a memory and im so scared for that day. i wont have my parents and my younger siblings wont have any of us. time feels like its moving too fast like i feel every second pass and think about how i can never get that moment back and i cant slow down time or go back or even just pause it because its always going and theres nothing i can do about it. And then i start thinking about whats after death and get even more scared because if heaven is real then what is eternity? wont i get bored of doing the same things… forever? and if its not real then what happens is it just nothing? because thats even more scary i don’t want to be nothing because that also means the people i love will be nothing and i wont be able to be with them. And if it’s not that then is it reincarnation? will i have to do this all over again? will the souls of the people i love be with me in their new forms? is the sun “God” because the planets revolve around it and the stars are all of the passed souls? what does it feel like to be a star? will i even just know i died? i have so many questions and the fact that none have an answer and i just have to wait to find out drives me insane. i try to remind myself everyone before me and everyone after me will experience death and loss at one point in their life and that I’m not alone but it doesn’t help. nothing helps. ive had “episodes” like this before when i was around 10-14 about once a year always around May-June which is the month my great grandmother died and June is my birth month which i hate because yk… time passing and aging which i assume is why i always get worse around that time. i was able to kind of ignore or turn it off the past like 3 years but this month its just too much i cant even deal with it. maybe because I’m turning 18? idk but its been bothering me so much and its all i can think about. Even when i seem fine the thoughts are always in there somewhere and some days they’re easier to ignore and others it feels impossible. I just wish I was like those people who can just turn their thoughts off if they don’t like them. My mom says she can do that if she thinks about how her mom died or something she can tell herself she doesn’t want to think about that and just… turn it off?? and thats so shocking to me because i’ve begged a god I don’t even know if I believe in to stop my thoughts and she can just turn them off herself? I don’t have another therapy appointment until next week I wish I could talk to them everyday so it could work faster but instead i’m on here. So if anyone has any advice PLEASE give it to me. I’m so tired it’s making me not enjoy anything in life because it makes me feel like theres no point in anything but I want to feel normal and I want to enjoy things. Sorry for writing so much just had to get this out there. Also i’m not trying to seek reassurance btw I just wanna know how other people coped with this or similar issues😭
- Date posted
- 13w
I have been nervous about flying since I am going on a trip tomorrow and the thought of turbulence has unnerved me but I have been doing ok with that thought and slowly getting used to it. I have been looking at videos and articles explaining turbulence and what it is and why it happens and I have been feeling better about it. I go to bed and I am definitely tired. I am at that stage where I am falling asleep but still awake and all of a sudden I get a random anxiety hit feeling and a accompanying thought of "I wanna die!". I immediately wake up like I was just fighting for my life and I keep repeating the thoughts over and over wondering if that's what I want or something. I sort of calm down and try to sleep but now I am getting random thoughts from tv shows, music lyrics, and scenes from said shows playing in a random order. Feels like I am losing it and I can't focus. I am afraid I am having some psychosis or something which increases my anxiety. Any help or insight would be appreciated. I have had Suicidal OCD thoughts before but this one sort of hit different since I was partially asleep.
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