- Date posted
- 2y
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?
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.
So, my brain brought up a question that really affected my worldview. I solved the obsession, and gained some good wisdom on that could be useful towards unconditional loving self acceptance. Maybe I was being OCD about recovery, and tried to find logical reasons for why progress is important no matter the outcome when I should've just embraced uncertainty. So now I have an answer to the Obsession. But this obsession took me to a pretty dark place. And I know OCD is just gonna throw and equally Bad one at me if I use this information to my benefit because it will essentially be reinforcing the OCD cycle. "Oh, he got the solution he needed to now I need to throw a new obsession at his way." So what do I do with the wisdom I gained from ruminating here? It's useful and practical information, so I don't want to throw it out. But I can't reinforce the ocd cycle.
Hi this is my first time posting on here. I wasn't sure if I should because I want to make sure I'm not seeking reassurance because I heard that makes ocd worse. I don't want to talk about what my ocd problem was, but basically I was really upset about a religious ocd problem that I know isn't true. I'm feeling a lot better about it now, but when it was bad I decided to try and get better on my own. I read about ERP therapy and how you're supposed to make a list of your ocd problems, from least distressing to most. So I wrote them down on two pieces of paper. At first I started with the simple ones, like looking for spiders before leaving the room. I have a tendency to look for spiders before leaving a room but lately I've been trying not to anymore. Then I decided to try and do one of the hard things. It was a religious ocd problem. I decided to start simple, and just write the problem down on a piece of paper. So I went downstairs and got some paper. But then I thought, oh no, my ocd is probably not going to like this. What do I do with the paper once I write it down? If I think what I wrote down is bad and going to upset God and I will go to hell, (even though I know logically it's not), my ocd is probably going to freak out if I throw away the paper. It probably won't calm down unless I erase it. So I just decided to not write it down on a paper, and just type it on my phone instead. So I did, I typed it on my phone. So, even though I didn't write anything down on the paper, now it feels like that peice of paper is bad. I feel like it's connected to the problem I was having, and I was so upset I called my mom crying asking her what to do. Eventually I decided to just put the paper back with the rest of the paper downstairs, but I'm still upset. I feel like I have to throw away all the paper downstairs, the pencil I was going to use to write down the problem, and the eraser I was going to use in case I needed to erase anything. It feels like if I use any of those items I will make God angry and go to hell. I know I shouldn't do this though, so I'm not going to. I don't know what to do with the papers where I wrote down my ocd problems. They are on my desk and I'm too afraid to move them. And if I put them in my desk I'm afraid they will get mixed up with other papers. I guess I can do whatever I want with them. I think I'll put them in a folder or binder and if I make any more ocd papers I can just put them in there. I'm just really confused on how to move forward. Right now, I'm too afraid to use the papers, pencil, or eraser for anything. I feel like I can't write on them, draw on them, or anything. It's even making me feel like I can't make digital art. It's making me feel like I can't do a lot of things. I guess what I have to do is just do whatever I want to, because I know the ocd isn't true and doesn't make sense.
I will preface by saying I am not diagnosed OCD, as I can't afford to see therapists or psychiatrists at this time. But given the things I've gone through, I'm pretty much convinced it's what I'm dealing with. I never really saw it coming. As a kid I always had health issues. Sick all the time, spent a lot of my very young years in and out of hospitals. In recent years as I've become an adult, health anxiety started creeping in. I spent my teenage years depressed, anxious and suicidal, both passively and actively. I engaged in self destructive behaviors in an attempt to end my life quicker. I left a toxic home environment and began my journey to improve my life, as I have a significant other that I want to stay on this planet for. I began lifting weights and exercising, eating better, and attempting to improve myself day by day. I didn't even realize it happening, but over time I started caring more and more about my health. Avoiding certain foods, making my diet stricter, and ensuring I did the right things. While it was good for my body in the short term, long term it seems it really affected my mental. As I started to feel better, I noticed that the times where I wasn't feeling 100% were very stressful. I'd start to worry about developing diseases. Diabetes, appendicitis, cancer, any number of rare and deadly diseases i could discover on Google. It got worse and worse as time went on. I'd spend money on things to test my body. glucose monitor, thermometer, supplements to ensure I was healthy. mental compulsions began (which i didn't know where compulsions at the time). Well, it all culminated at its peak in the last few months. Every minor bodily symptom, no matter how normal or common or frequent, became a life threatening warning. Constant googling, ruminating, checking and reassurance seeking, which at the time I didn't know was what I was doing. Then, at the end of May, I did get sick. And suddenly all of my obsessions and compulsions solidified themselves as real and premonitions that were true. I started spiraling. Avoiding social events, or anything that was outside of my room. Barely managing to go to work some days. Bringing my compulsions to work as well, sneaking them in when I could. Every day was anxiety riddled. I became exhausted. Sleeping for 10 hours, waking up still tired, coming home having no energy to do anything. It convinced me even more that I was getting sick again. I was getting suicidal again and contemplating it very often. I then noticed my Instagram feed getting filled more and more with OCD related posts and ads, I guess i was unconsciously finding and engaging with them. They described exactly what I was going through, and still am going through. I'm on day 4 of my recovery after learning some ways to help myself. I'm catching my thought patterns, learning to allow the uncertainty, and avoiding my avoidant tendencies. I removed the batteries from my compulsions and put them out of sight. I still am learning my mental compulsions and how to deal with them. I'm engaging with the things I would avoid now despite how I feel. I'm still riddled with anxiety and the OCD thoughts are very loud and frequent. But I'm feeling more in control and like I can handle the thoughts better. I'd love any advice people can give as well. I want my life back.
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