- Date posted
- 2y
Attaching intrusive thoughts to objects
I will have a sexually intrusive thought while eating a granola bar for example, and I can't throw the wrapper away because I feel like that thought will be "stuck" with it forever. And these thoughts do not fit with my values whatsoever. So I hold onto it until I throw it away and make sure I am not having any intrusive thoughts while throwing it away. Same thing goes if I have an intrusive thought when I throw literally anything away, I will literally take it out of the trash and throw it away later taking very cautious actions to make sure I do not have that thought while throwing it away. I mean it sounds ridiculous now that I am writing this out, but I know OCD likes to make something not very logical mean something to you. I do not know what to do. Should I just throw it away despite what I am thinking? It is really hard for me to do and it makes me extremely anxious because I know I will never see that thing again most likely. I fear if I throw something away while having an intrusive thought, in the future if I throw away the same thing I’ll think about “oh remember when you threw this away last time and you had an intrusive thought about X and it’s gone forever and you can’t change it or fix it”. I also get these thoughts while eating and drinking, and have to keep taking sips/bites of food until I don’t have the thought, but now that I’m stuck in this cycle, every time I eat I get these thoughts. I’m not sure what to do. If anyone has any advice to help me progress through this OCD it would be greatly appreciated. I have had success in the past with Self-ERP and no longer suffer from counting OCD and am a lot better from my perfectionism OCD, but the intrusive thoughts associated with throwing stuff away is so disturbing to me and it’s so hard for me to let it go. But, now every time I throw something away that thought comes back so OCD is doing it’s thing and coming back stronger. Thanks in advance for any help, I appreciate it greatly.