My OCD will keep me locked in on a negative thought from the past for weeks and then disappear for weeks and then keep me locked in again. Additionally, I will conquer the negative thought / overthinking cycle and spiral and think that it will be permanent, only for my OCD to bring back this negative overthinking and paranoid thought once again, even years later. How do I make permanent changes and improvements?
This has been happening to me also. It’s a never ending loop.
Hmmm first by accepting that it will come back and learning to dismiss it (not answering it in your head, not figuring it out) and just let it be there without interrupting you.
@RMO2023 I definitely agree this is a good method, but it is still so uncomfortable to have the thought lingering in my head. It feels so real even though deep down I know it’s not true (but of course my brain wants me to believe it is to seek reassurance)
@Anonymous Yeah... i wonder if that will ever go away... maybe yes or maybe not; but whatever it is, God will help me to handle it.
When an intrusive thought comes I can’t just say “that’s not true” and just move on. I always feel like I have to disprove the thought and be able to say it with confidence but the problem is that the ocd doesn’t allow me to feel and say it with confidence so I get stuck for hours or even days. How can I stop feeling like I need to do this?
I was doing fine with my schizophrenia ocd (fear of developing schizophrenia/psychosis), mostly because I was obsessing on something else for a bit, but something caused it to come back. I was at work yesterday and checked out a customer, he didn’t know English very well and was very quiet. However, when he was leaving, he said “thank you” loudly while walking out and I told him to have a good night, but since I couldn’t see his face nor his mouth move, I worried that I hallucinated the whole thing and he in reality didn’t say anything while he was leaving. The voice that said it sounded a bit different, however it could’ve just been since I had only heard him talk quietly before. I’m still wondering if I hallucinated this and it freaks me out, causing my ocd to make me believe I’m developing schizophrenia/psychosis or losing my mind again. I also always read that the difference between those with schizophrenia/psychosis is those with OCD have insight and know their thoughts are crazy, but then that leads me down a spiral if what if I DONT think those thoughts are crazy? What if I actually believe them and become delusional/lack insight? So a statement that would be helpful otherwise made it worse for me. One night I had a panic attack super bad because I couldn’t convince myself I didn’t believe I was in a dream and hallucinating. Any advice on beating these constant thoughts and how to cope with it? :/
Sometimes I notice my intrusive thoughts cause me to spiral and sometimes not. I've been practicing ERP for quite a while so it's a bit easier for me to not spiral. But I wonder why that happens. Does anyone else have it? Also I'm on medication idk if that plays a role.
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