- Date posted
- 1y
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What does an OCD episode look like?
What does an OCD episode look like?
For me having anxiety attacks, ruminating, overwhelming guilt (sometimes), excessive worrying. Basically feeling so overwhelmed
They hit different. Sometimes I'll isolate and try to hide from the feelings. No activity, no talking to anyone, no doing anything really. I basically regress back to a cacoon like state. Other times for some reason I'll nervously pace in circles like a dog chasing his tail. I've been doing this ever since I was a kid. I do this when I'm overwhelmed with feelings of shame/guilt. I either avoid or run in circles 😅
@Insert Clever Username I definitely isolate myself as well. I have extreme difficulty showing vulnerability so I get it.
For me, I get panic attacks and anxiety attacks. They often occur when I process a highly distressing thought, and my brain starts to catastrophise. I can instantly tell when they are going to happen and I can handle them but they are awful, actually had one today 😞. Isolating is a common thing I do when they happen - and ruminating in silence about whether or not my fear would happen and what that would mean for me…
@Bee. I fully relate to this. Had 2 episodes the past two days and they were horrible. Hope you feel better ❤️🩹
@v333 Thank you so much, I’m sorry you experienced that too - OCD episodes are the worst… Hope you also feel better ❤️
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I asked this question cuz I wasn’t sure if what I was having was an OCD episode. I thought they had to be solely related to doing compulsions, but after relating to all your responses I can definitely consider what I experience as OCD episodes.
These are some of my experiences with some theatrical flare to better depict how it feels. I decided to share this because when I saw this community I suddenly felt less alone in more human. Lovecraftian door Lurker: I don’t know the subtypes so I’ll just be talking about my relationship with OCD. OCD! that lonely woman in the ocean singing your praise's, sure she’ll love you forever! Of course she isn’t a siren planning on dragging you to the depths and tearing you to shreds. OCD! that haunting whisper in the wind calling you to fly! fly! OCD! that Lovecraftian abomination chanting at you from behind a locked door. Banging demanding you bow to it’s will. For me it latches on to my trauma and PTSD circling them like some demented teacup ride. A daily occurance for me is recalling the day I died when I was like 6 i remeber each detail of the day the kids i met the activtes we particapated in, the heat. The height of the slide before i plummeted to my death. This day consumes my life. “Thud thud!” I ask my parents about it often they tell me it never happened i tell them they weren’t there. Each time they lie and say I’ve never told them. My boyfriend whom I’ve been with for three years hears the story offten and often deals with me asking him if he’s seen me ask my parents. “Thud Thud” Each time he says yes and I asked how they responded “like you’ve never told them.” I constantly become afraid that my boyfreind will drown because he can’t swim. “Thud! Thud!” and because he can’t swim that the car will go off the road into some body of water and he will die. ”Thud! Thud!” I feel the water filling my lungs turning them into fire, the fear of reaching out my hands with no aid. “THUD! THUD! And he will die alone too and there’s nothing you can do to stop it! THUD THUD!” I scream that same fire fueling my rage my tears running down my face like gasoline igniting the thought spiral further burning deeper into my self hatred. I scream again banging my hands on my head. Wish and hoping it will shut up the thoughts.“why? Why?! WHY!” Sobbing until I’m nothing but a puddle. . . Ya know a few months ago I was depressed the thoughts became too much, so I wanted to get high. I thought it would make them stop “Thud! Thud!” So I took a gummy it was unpackage, from a friend of a friend so now the word dog, in reference to a person is a permit part of my vocabulary. And I have memories from being in a comma because it turned out to be DMT and my 6 hour trip end up feeling like 6 months of HELL. The ocd thoughts that i usually see, in a flash became so real that i just cried for hour terrified i was stabbing my eyes out dead and this was my purgatory for leaving the church. ”Thud! THUD!” I stopped using my favorite water bottle after that. Before the incident The bottle up against the wall with the straw to the side of the wall because the thought that would repeat in my head would be that because of my clumsiness I would trip and fall onto the straw and it would stab my eye out and kill me. I had this thought often I kept look up what to do if you accidently get something stab/stuck in your eye. “Thud! Thud!”
What irritates me the most is that during intimacy with my husband, it happens that OCD puts an image and scene in my head, my sister or someone for whom my OCD is attached and it's literally as if that intimacy is happening with that person, and it seems real that I can and it's exciting! I'm working on ERP during that, but it's still hard to digest... I don't know if it's the same for you?
I haven't been able to read about experiences similar to mine when it comes to my perfectionism OCD so I was wondering if anyone had any "uncommon" experiences.
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond