- Username
- mermaidmoon
- Date posted
- 5y ago
My username comes from my experience with Hit and Run OCD. This is actually a very common Harm OCD thought. The sensation to hit pedestrians is actually an intrusive mental urge. Urges can feel real but is is the combination of feeling out of control and horror associated that lets you know it is OCD talking. I have done extensive ERP on this and the best things I did was watching YouTube videos where there is a person vs auto accident. Remember this urge is just another intrusive experience and is just like a mental fart ?; let it pass and do not analyze.
Driving OCD falls under "false memory OCD". Most people with OCD have had false memory OCD at one point, and the only way to overcome it is to do ERP. You can't avoid driving so you have to confront the OCD thoughts. You have to just let the thoughts sit in your mind when they come to you but just don't consciously react to them or analyse them. No analysing the car journey either.
But do I accept the OCD thoughts as true and convince myself I hit someone or do I label them as OCD and just feel anxious
I totally get this!!! This happens to me ALL the time. You’re not alone.
You don't accept the OCD thoughts as true, you don't accept them at all. You just allow them to sit in your mind without acknowledging them. Don't consciously respond to the thoughts with fear and don't analyse them or the car journey to try figure out if the thoughts are true. You have to rewire your brains response to these thoughts, and the best way to teach your brain is to show it that nothing is wrong by behaving as if there is nothing wrong. Having anxiety is fine as that comes on autopilot, but analysing and powering the thoughts up with conscious fear is a choice and you have to choose not to.
I am having a really hard time figuring out how to address my obsessions and compulsions using ERP. It's actually turned into a main OCD theme of mine and it's terrifying. No reassurance please. I've never had an OCD theme so severe and last so long. This "theme" has been going on for 5 years now & has been the hardest to manage out of any OCD themes in the past and I've had many: Harm, Sexual, Just Right, Symmetry, False Memories, Scrupulosity, etc. I just wanted to put this out there because it's hard to function with these distressing, intrusive thoughts around therapy and how to do it racing inside me.
I need a different perspective on this. I feel like I'm being run through the ringer. I'm doing what I can to avoid reassurance and not avoid triggers but I get triggered every day. I'm trying so hard to sit with the panic and the horror but it's so hard. It gets to the point I feel physically sick. Is there anything that I can do to help with this? I feel alone. I don't feel strong, I feel like a punching bag. Why is this so hard to master? I really want to know it gets easier. I've been suffering from POCD that has evolved and gotten worse and worse over the past eight months that has been torturing me multiple times on a daily basis and I feel like I'm drowning. I want to run away and hide because my life feel like it's seconds from being ruined. Please, please tell me this gets easier. That this ERP therapy will stop making me feel like I'm dying. The small moments of victory feel so brief only for me to get hit with another wave. There is so much uncertainty over such a horrific thing I feel ill. I feel afraid to be alone with my mind. Please if anyone out there can please give me tips on how to handle ERP. One moment I think I'm finally beating this thing and the next it's got me pinned and I'm terrified my life will be ruined. I want my peace back, I need help and I'm doing everything I can to resist compulsions but I feel so alone and dirty and disgusting. Please help me. Thank you for any advice 💕
Does anyone here experience hit and run ocd? If so, do you mind sharing any tips on how to deal with it? I’m struggling! I can’t drive anywhere without it creeping up on me, I try not to drive around for reassurance but I always do and it definitely doesn’t help! I spend the rest of the night trying to remember every detail of my driving and I’m always checking the news I hate it ughhhhh
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