Advice needed.
I'm getting over my health ocd once and for all but it's getting replaced by an extrem fear of developing new Obsessions. What are ways to deal with the fear of new Obsessions and compulsions?
Hey, in the book by J. Grayson which is called "freedom from obsessive-compulsove disorder" is a exercise which might help you. It's called downward arrow tool. You basically write down your feared event starting with the idea "one day I might have a new obsession". Then you go further step by step, like a time line. When I have obsessions I might geht anxious, when I get anxious I might feel tremendous amount of stress, when I feel tremendous amounts of stress I might harm myself...." It is important to go more extreme with every new point until you are at the worst possible outcome. Then you add the ritual you use against these intrusive thoughts (e.g. checking, rumination). You also write down the function (analysing to feel safe, preventative). Finally you write down your cognitive distortion (e.g. black and white thinking, inflated responsibility, intolerance of uncertainty....), Your feared consequences (being anxious forever maybe?), And what giving up you rituals would mean....the purpose of this exercise is NOT to show you that your fears are untrue or to make your anxiety smaller. The purpose is to see your fears on paper and develop a script for yourself. OCD recovery is all about exposure. We have to expose ourselves to the worst possible outcome and embrace the uncertainty. It might feel unnatural at first but writing things down has a really big impact on your mind and how to structure your thoughts. Hope this helps :)
Also those are just examples for answers for each bullet point. I don't know you or your fears so of course fill in whatever fits you.
@ROCDmensch Danke für diesen tipp, werde es zeitnah ausprobieren.
@ROCDmensch thank you so so much for posting this!! it’s very helpful & I’ll definitely be looking into this book to help🩵
Same exact way you managed health OCD obsessions. Do the exposure work. Play it out. “What if I develop new obsessions? I may or may not develop new obsessions.” Then live with the uncertainty.
This is a very helpful exercise, thanks for posting!
https://www.treatmyocd.com/blog/obsessing-about-obsessing-is-this-really-ocd?utm_source=braze&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=brand_meta_ocd_080123 Good read from our friends at NOCD. Also I suggest handling it the way you did your health ocd just modified wording. My themes changed a lot when I was in recovery. My therapist said to apply the same tools. "Maybe I will get a new obsession maybe I won't." You have all the tools already. :) Another of my favs is to mock it. "Yeah ocd I will get a new obsession it'll be over do aliens wear shoes so let's start with that. What kinda shoes, toes no tos "etc.
Ich freue mich auf Erfolgsgeschichten viel Glück!
@Will86 Danke.
Existential/philosophical obsessions? Anyone dealt with this before? I literally feel like I’m getting better with it and boom I get triggered by something I read unintentionally on the internet or talks with others, movies or tv and I feel like I’m back to square one with a new existential obsession that I feel like I need to solve. I just am so frustrated I’m trying to go about this in the right way I’m trying but I just don’t know how to go about it right. My ocd has taken many forms and everytime it’s one I wish for the other it’s so wierd. Like right now I rather be dealing with my health obsessions then this. But if it’s not one it’s the others it’s like I’m addicted to ocd and juggle obsessions. I just want peace but idk what to do. Does anyone else feel like they conquer one obsession and a new one pops up? I feel like I constantly am in a loop I look at old notebooks and realize I’ve been jumping around the same obsessions for over 3 years. Insanity. I would love to hear what has helped you guys and what I you think I should do?
I’ve been struggling with OCD since middle school. Over the years I’ve had many different obsessions such as POCD, Harm OCD, and now Health Concern OCD. For the last 6 months my newest obsession has been thinking that I am having a heart attack. I constantly body check, google symptoms, ask others for reassurance. I live at my university which is a little bit far from home. This causes me to have to call my mom in the middle of the night every time I have a panic attack over this. My roommates a nursing major so she always offers to take my blood pressure which helps, but still I don’t enjoy living like this. I always feel bad bothering others, and constantly feel like a nuisance. If anyone else with these worries and obsessions can let me know new ways to cope with it that would be amazing:) I just started my switch from lexapro to prozac for my OCD and I’m hopefully starting ERP/CBT soon but any tips on how to help this would be amazing.
ERP has been crazy helpful recently, and I'm making a lot of progress. But now that I've mostly dealt with my main theme, I feel like my OCD is trying to pick at every little thing day to day. Does anyone have any advice for dealing with this?
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