- Date posted
- 1y ago
How am I feeling…?
I’m feeling good when I don’t come in contact with items that ramp up my anxiety. But I’m still on guard for anything else my mind says is “dirty”.
I’m feeling good when I don’t come in contact with items that ramp up my anxiety. But I’m still on guard for anything else my mind says is “dirty”.
Thanks guys for your help and support. I just recently started here and haven’t booked anything yet with a therapist but listening to people’s stories, I’m considering it.
Hey, yep that’s the dreaded OCD showing it’s ugly head! It can feel exhausting can’t it. It’s important for you to know that it doesn’t have to be like this 😊 have you heard of ERP ? It’s the gold standard treatment for OCD. I’ll attach a great link that explains it a little further. ERP has given me freedom and allowed me to live again. I use to hate being close to others “just incase” they were “dirty” or “contaminated”! I wouldn’t fear that I would die or something bad would happen I just hated the thought of those “what ifs” feelings. ERP allowed me to sit with those anxieties, throw myself towards at them and expose myself to them. My therapist taught me to say to these thoughts “maybe you will be dirty and contaminated, maybe you won’t”. This sounded crazy when we first started but it works !! Exposing yourself to what brings you anxiety is key, start of with small Anxieties and working your way up. OCD is a doubting disorder so it will doubt anything it can. It’s around accepting that doubt, this then doesn’t give your OCD any power !! You’ve got this, you can do it, your strong and amazing friend !!! OCD journey stories to recovery- https://www.treatmyocd.com/my-ocd-journey 15 min consultation https://www.treatmyocd.com/calendar?src=homepage&_gl=1*dpgbx1*_gcl_aw*R0NMLjE2MzY2NTk5MTQuQ2p3S0NBaUFtN09NQmhBUUVpd0FydkdpM0QwaEhYczN1Q0ZabWhVRUF4RndaaDJoa3AxbTRnek9TRWQweUJ4U3pqeU1SRU9FNGVwZkFSb0NNY0VRQXZEX0J3RQ.. What is ERP https://www.treatmyocd.com/blog/what-is-exposure-and-response-prevention-therapy
Hey there, I know what you mean. I recently discovered that "keeping your guard up" so that you don't get triggered or in hope that you don't get triggered is a subtle compulsion. I remember saying saying to my therapist, I hope I don't get triggered, and her wise reply, "you should hope you DO get triggered, that way you can practice response prevention!" Sorry, I don't mean to sound like Debbie Downer :)
Feel guilty for not giving into compulsions like rumination and confessing? I feel guilt for having an intrusive thought, trying to shrug it off or just giving it a few seconds of thought and moving along. This sounds like improvement but I still struggle with the anxiety and the guilt. The shame. I’ll be okay and then I’ll remember I have OCD and my stomach will drop and I just want to curl up and cry.
This might contain triggering content, but I'm also wondering if others have dealt with this similar thought, and if so, how to deal with it? Overall, I've been doing so well these past few days. I'm able to eat again, which I hadn't been able to do because of how much anxiety I'd been experiencing. I'm spending time around loved ones and not just rotting in my room, and I've been able to wake up without immediately being bombarded by intrusive thoughts. When things first got really bad, I'd wake my mom up every night for reassurance, but I haven't done that in a while either. I'm really proud of myself, but there's still this nagging thought in my mind... While looking through others posts on here, hoping to find advice that'd fit my situation, I ended up making things worse. Someone mentioned how they had a fear that they'd purposely search for illegal content (related to POCD). I panicked, and "what ifs" flooded my thoughts. "What if the intrusive thoughts affect who I am as a person, and I do that?" I'm terrified that I'll search for those things, which I know means I wouldn't do it. But then, another person on here said they'd actually looked for those things, and that freaked me out even more. Does that mean it's possible for that to happen to me? I don't want to do that, but I keep having intrusive thoughts surrounding it. I've been doing so well these past few days. I'm just... stuck. I don't know what to do. I've spoken with other people who have the same fears, but how do I manage this? It's not something I've even thought about before seeing those posts. I've been practicing accepting the uncertainty, but I'm really struggling with this one. I hate this. This morning, I woke up, and the intrusive thoughts were back. It's just disheartening.
Like I'm not even scared I feel numb and ever since that night I've completely went down hill Idk what to do the feeling i felt this time genuily felt like i liked it and i didnt even have anxiety at that moment and now I'm panicking I really hope this is still OCD like I'm sorry if I'm still asking for reassurance but im really worried like it felt good in that moment I don't understand what's going on like I hope it was a false feeling and not something real.....like this has happened before but Idk 😭😭😭😭 I really don't know what to I don't want to turn into a p word I don't this I've been sleeping all day I still do compulsions a little to get rid of the thoughts but I've been getting sexual thoughts too and I don't want them but I feel like I do I don't understand I though I was getting better but I guess every time I get better everything gets worse..
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