- Date posted
- 2y
Healthy talk
How do you talk to your OCD intrusive thoughts on a productive way? I can’t help but be scared by them, which I know just reinforces the cycle. What has worked for you?
How do you talk to your OCD intrusive thoughts on a productive way? I can’t help but be scared by them, which I know just reinforces the cycle. What has worked for you?
- Act Like You Like it Say things that indicate you actually like what OCD is telling you to fear. Fake smile, laugh, take on relaxed body posture. - Utilize Mindfulness Bring yourself fully into the present. Describe the exposure task. Name your fears and emotions. -Label & Abandon Label the ritual as something OCD and fear want you to do. It is your choice not to do them. Do anything but the ritual! Take a walk, watch T.V., or even pick your nose! -Sit With It Ultimately, response prevention is about doing nothing-- refusing to engage in the behavior OCD wants you to. The more distress you feel, the faster your body and brain will begin to habituate. Teach Your Brain These fears and obsessions have no purpose or value! Ask yourself if these thoughts are really serving you in the long run, or if they are strengthening OCD. - Opposite Action Do the opposite of what your fear tells you. When it says to avoid, instead, approach! This is what counselors call the healing paradox. -Delay or Postpone Delay doing compulsions or rituals that OCD tells you to do. Wait 5 minutes and up to multiple days! -Undo It Do a behavior or think a thought that goes against your compulsions. Examples are, thinking of something unlucky or touching something dirty after washing hands. -Act Like You Don't Care Say things that indicate an attitude of indifference. It's okay to feel like you're acting! -Use Your Supports Ask family, friends, or loved ones for words of encouragement. Avoid reassurance! -Add to OCD Shock your bully into submission by agreeing with it. “I am a bad person, thank you! I think I’ll be an even worse person tomorrow!" You do not actually have to believe these, you are simply facing your bully. -Shock Your OCD Shock your fear by digging even deeper and exposing yourself to more feared stimuli. Think, "I'll show you not to mess with me!" -Make It Ridiculous Make fun of OCD! Say your obsessive thoughts out loud in a funny or really slow voice -Reward Yourself Reward yourself whenever you do an exposure and don't engage in compulsions or rituals! -R.I.D.E. It Out Rename the thought: "This is OCD, not me." Insist that YOU are in charge. Defy OCD. Do the opposite. Enjoy your success--> "I did it, and I can do it again." -Breathe Take a moment to do some box breathing to activate your parasympathetic nervous system. 5-5-7 -Accept Separate feelings of shame and guilt from the fact that you have intrusive thoughts and fears. Accept the process and your efforts. It's okay to make mistakes. -Meditate Bring yourself into an attitude of detached observation. Focus on your breathing. -Commit to Uncertainty When OCD & fear tell you to figure something out, commit to being uncertain. Say to yourself, "Maybe, maybe not..." -Name Your Stregnths Without reassuring yourself, name your unchangeable qualities. "I am brave. I can do hard things. I am strong."
@Anon113444422 I love your list
@Anon113444422 Thankyou, I copy and pasted it in my notes 🖤
@Sp1999 I’m here for you brother keep posted I will keep commenting to check up go easy on yourself
@Anon113444422 I’m struggling man really bad , with everything , I don’t wanna be here no more bro
@Sp1999 Bro don’t be hard on yourself I know it’s tough but you have to understand that with every hardship comes ease God wouldn’t put you through this if he knew you weren’t capable of dealing with it I know your pain believe me I feel your pain I really do bro you have to stay strong and know that your brain is NOT you your brain doesn’t know your morals and values I want you to watch this YouTube channel that explains what your going through I’ll send the link
@Sp1999 Bro watch these guys videos he really helped me when times were tough your strong brother and I know you will get to the light at the end of the tunnel I’m here for you bo
@Anon113444422 Bro*
@Sp1999 Let me know how you go after watching the video
@Anon113444422 I appreciate you brother honestly I really do, I will check it out now !
@Anon113444422 Anytime brother I do this because I know how it feels to feel so alone through this I had no one to talk to no one to understand me I’m trying to do my best to give to everyone the help that I wanted when I was down because of these themes I advise you do the same for others you will feel very good about yourself keep your head up and I’m here if you need anything brother ✌️
@Sp1999 I saw a post about going and finding oneself and then searched up what it meant and then read something about an identity crisis and now I have anxiety
@Anon113444422 I need help bro
It will be hard but I know you can do it bro 😎 we’re all here for you
I’ll give you a list my therapist gave me
I’ve been stuck in this cycle for the last month or two and am not sure how to get out of it. Basically, I will work on ignoring the thoughts and not responding or engaging plus limiting/completely eliminating compulsions. After a week or two of constant work, the amount of intrusive thoughts in a day goes down. The anxiety each thought causes also goes down with some, but not all, thoughts passing without notice like they would for a normal person. The thoughts that do stick cause anxiety and make me want to ruminate or do other compulsions but I make sure to limit them. After a bit, I’m in a pretty good head space. This is usually when it goes down hill. I’ll start to question if I even have ocd because some of the thoughts (once again not all) pass without notice. The difficulty resisting compulsions goes down and so does the anxiety, only increasing the questioning. I spend a while questioning if I’ve ever had ocd in the first place and then something sets me off or the questioning itself becomes a trigger and I get stuck back into the same ocd cycle with constant rumination, anxiety, and other compulsions. This lasts for a week or two before I know I need to stop and try and work hard to get back to ignoring the thoughts. And the cycle just restarts over and over again. Does anyone have any tips to stop this from happening? It’s really harming my recovery as every few weeks I dive back into the same negative place I was.
I’ve been really struggling lately with identifying whether I feel a certain way about a situation or people around me or if I’m having intrusive thoughts. Lately, I’ve noticed talking it out with a friend is my first line of defense, sometimes just verbalizing those thoughts can help me hear what I’m saying, and actually start to process how I feel. I do get caught up in making the right decision after that, and it weighs on me heavily, and this is when I struggle to take action or become distant with others that’re in said situation. I try to do more grounding techniques and things that make me happy, I tend to try to focus on something like work or household chores and then relax with a good Gordon Ramsey show hehehe, but I still sit with that confusion of whether this is how I feel? What if it’s just an intrusive thought? What if I’m making the wrong decision or what if I don’t have grounds to feel the way I think I am feeling. This is when talking it out helps for me, but I still always have that inkling that I’m making the wrong decision regardless of what I choose. Does anyone have any coping skills suggestions to aid in this sort of struggle? I feel like it can be quite common to be stuck in those mental gymnastics with your ocd and I’m really curious what you guys do to help process these feelings yourself. I tend to spend time with my pets, watch a show, call a friend, but I’m curious if maybe there’s a recommendation that would work for me that I haven’t tried : ) thank you all for listening!! This is my first community post hehehe
Been doing ERP for a while now, and overall my OCD is leaps and bounds better than it used to be. I'm not in a crippling panic state anymore thank God. However, at this point I am just trying to figure out how other people with OCD manage their rumination and mentally replaying things in their head? A lot of times I don't even realize that I'm doing it, I will just be doing an activity such as yardwork and while I'm doing it, I will be mildly ruminating about a topic and just find it hard to avoid doing so. My therapist suggested setting a timer every so often to see where my mind is currently at and trying to redirect to something more appropriate (or do ERP exercises). Sometimes it just feels so noisy even though I'm not directly paying attention to it and it ends up being very distracting and affects my productivity. Overall, it's much better, honestly thought it was gone entirely, but OCD is attempting to relapse a little bit I've noticed. Thank you for your experiences and I hope you all have a safe Labor Day weekend!
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