Methods to stop believing ocd thoughts

Hi all. Looking for advice and/or methods that people use to bring themselves away from believing their OCD thoughts and feelings. I’m suffering from HOCD (or at least that’s what I hope it is). I have an ocd therapist that has diagnosed this. I’ve been suffering for 8 or so of the last 10 years. A barrier that I’ve struggled with is believing the ocd thoughts and feelings. It’s like deep down I believe them. As such, it’s become a real barrier to treatment. How do people practice not believing the thoughts and feelings? Even when they feel convinced it must be true? What strategy do people use? Is it just trust in the process? Fake it till you make it?

Username: blazedblazed

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 1y ago

When it comes to intrusive thoughts or feelings, I’ll assume it’s OCD and try not to engage with it. Trying not to believe in the thoughts and feelings would be like self-reassurance imo. My OCD feels real rn too, but I remind myself that thoughts and feelings aren’t facts. I let them tell me whatever it wants and observe them from a distance. Don’t fight or push them away bc that makes it stronger.

Username: gp gp

Date posted: 1y ago

@blazed Great advice - thank you mate :)

Username: AndAroAndAro

Date posted: 1y ago

Fake it til you make it will only get you so far. It's like bottling up your problems and hoping they'll stay put. They won't. The most important part of ERP is to find a way to face the stress of those thoughts, of confronting that barrier. For me, I let myself believe those thoughts are true for just a few minutes a day, and let the stress engulf me rather than trying to avoid it. After those few minutes, I use coping mechanisms to feel, process, calm, and understand all my physical and emotional reactions. If I get this much stress from an obsessive thought, it's because I don't believe it. And facing that stress rather than letting it drag me down makes me strong enough to know my beliefs and values.

Username: gp gp

Date posted: 1y ago

@AndAro Great advice thanks. So you essentially let yourself believe the thoughts and feelings are real, use mindfulness to accept everything that comes with that (panic, fear, anxiety). What coping mechanisms have you found work best for you? My psych basically says behave in a healthy way, meaning anything that isn’t influenced by the anxiety.

Username: AndAroAndAro

Date posted: 1y ago

@gp My coping mechanisms have a lot of crossover with self care. Cup of tea, long shower, new music, deep breathing, yoga, drawing/coloring, aromatherapy, grounding, etc. One unique one I do is writing stories about my anxious and intrusive thoughts in order to let them go. I've written very detailed and sometimes grotesque short stories about these thoughts. When I reread them, I realize how repulsive they are and am able to properly push them away after processing them.

Username: IamtheonewhooverthinksIamtheonewho...

Date posted: 1y ago

@gp Yes.. you play with the ocd .. so what if you’re gay or bi.. but ask yourself this question.. what do you feel when you’re not in your head? Do you feel yourself? Do you feel free? When the chemical balance is right for the moment do you still find attraction to what you like? If so than there’s your answer . Ocd plays on doubts and major fears.. they’re irrational as all fuck.. but for me when I’m not hyper fixated on doubting my sexual orientation or doubting my relationship doubting my love for my kids or gf I’m as happy as I can be.. I’m attracted to what I love I love who I love I’m happy with who I am I know who I am.. and that there is you’re true self .. you play with the thoughts like in a sense who actually gives a shit if you like same sex or opposite sex .. it does not matter .. you believe this I swear you’ll start to feel yourself again and find the spiral you were just in has been forgotten ..

Username: NicaNica

Date posted: 1y ago

ERP therapy, ERP scripting, mindfulness practice, meditation… lots of options.

Username: gp gp

Date posted: 1y ago

@Nica Thanks! Can you elaborate what ERP scripting is? I get this confused with imaginary exposure and am not sure what ERP scripting actually is?

Username: NicaNica

Date posted: 1y ago

@gp ERP scripting: https://www.shalanicely.com/aha-moments/erp-scripting-for-ocd/

Username: NicaNica

Date posted: 1y ago

@gp You can also try something similar, regarding swearing at your intrusive thoughts as a script: https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/beyond-the-doubt/201711/the-hidden-power-of-swearing-at-your-ocd

Username: gp gp

Date posted: 1y ago

@Nica Thanks Nica - this is great. So essentially, it’s like a full blown version of ‘maybe/maybe not’ designed to distance yourself from the intrusive thoughts/feelings, whilst also allowing time to pass without compulsions. Is that about right you think?

Username: Anonymouse

Date posted: 5y ago

10% of the reason we suffer is because of thoughts. 90% is because of our reaction to it. To fight OCD, we have to change our beliefs of our fears. OCD takes our worst fear and turns it against us. We need to lose our fear. We need to stop believing that our thoughts are significant or they show our true feelings which cannot be more untrue. Tell yourself it is okay if you harm your love ones because it is not you but your ocd making you do it. Tell yourself it is okay if you feel attracted to your own gender, you will just focus on the opposite sex even if you feel attracted to your own gender. Change your mentality if you want to escape the madness.

Username: gp

Date posted: 1y ago

How to stop believing the narrative SOOCD creates?

Question - my mind uses any trigger to prove I am gay. My mind kind of auto defaults to the ‘worst case scenario’. I’m kind of stuck in this mindset that I ‘believe it’, and if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be suffering from the ongoing anxiety. Do others have a similar feeling? Concern? Experience? I’ve been battling what I think is SOOCD since I was about 25/26. Literally overnight it felt like my brain broke. Infatuated by a new GF, woke up. Had the thought “you feel nothing for her”. Obsessive worry, figuring out why. Led to “you are gay”. I’ve been diagnosed twice by two seperate therapists, but as we know, it’s hard to believe you have ocd. Ultimately, I’ve never thought of men in a romantic way until my brain broke. I still don’t think I do, but I can’t stop being sick with anxiety that I have changed or that I’m lying to myself?

Username: gp

Date posted: 51w ago

SOOCD - real or not?

I’m in a really bad panic at the moment re my ocd. I’m trying so hard to accept the thoughts/feelings and accept how real and true it all feels, despite the panic and anxiety. I read somewhere that you can clearly tell the difference between a thought about your sexuality being true vs an ocd thought. It said if the thoughts/feelings/narrative makes you feel panic, anxiety and dread, like you don’t want the thoughts, then it’s ocd. If they make you feel warm, content and normal, then they’re likely not ocd. Is that how people and psychologists differentiate? My situation is that I’m a 36 year old male that never questioned or had to question my sexuality until one day at 26, I had the question pop up “are you gay”. Since then, it’s like I don’t know who I am anymore. Questioning, checking, anxious 24/7, wanting to escape myself. Help :(

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