How many of you all struggle with free will. I have harm ocd and now I have been trying to find the answers to free will. My brain is telling me that I am pre wired to act these thoughts out and what’s the point of fighting this…ugh it’s so hard
The more you fight it the harder it gets let those thoughts and feelings ride they will pass
@Henry_26 This is so true!
Don't fight it there is no point you will be okay
I’m in a similar boat
Who do u mean free will? I have harm OCD, too
Sounds like HarmOCD. Don’t even look up freewill or try to rationalize with these thoughts.
I have ocd. Been diagnosed for close to 30 years. Dealt with harm ocd, sexual orientation, contamination, and some other themes. Right now I’m struggling with harm again. Been doing very poorly since April, when I switched careers. I’ve been fighting it this whole time. It feels so real, like I am definitely going to hurt those close to me. It is awful. Like my brain is telling me that I’m obviously going to hurt my family. Then when I sit with it, I start thinking that maybe this isn’t even ocd.
I would say this. OCD thoughts are disturbing because we hate them. Therefore, they are NOT YOUR THOUGHTS, but rather they are unwanted intrusive thoughts. Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz wrote a great book on this called Brain Lock. He says the first step is to act as an impartial spectator with our thoughts - meaning - take a step back from the thought and realize it is OCD and not you. For example - the thought “I love my mom or my best friend” is your thought. The thought “I want to harm someone” is scary and you are revolted by it. So it is OCD and not you, not “your will.” Your will is clearly to do no harm, which is why the thoughts bother you. If you truly wanted to harm, then you would be happy to have the thoughts and would go and act on them the first chance you got. The fact that you don’t like the thoughts and that you resist them show you that they are OCD. And the fact that you don’t act on them shows you that you do have a free will, and that OCD cannot somehow “overpower” that will. Our wills cannot be violated and overrun by OCD. Free will is often spoken of in Christianity. If you are a Christian, you may like my book, and can see more details at wagingwaragainstocd.com
Does anyone have harm OCD related to recent events? Like events that just happened or happened not long ago? I feel like my OCD is trying to find something bad/immoral I could have done in nearly every situation that I am experiencing, for example “Did you just do that?”. And I constantly want to check, ask people for reassurance, try to find a logic answer by going it though in my head,… It’s many different themes but all related to doing sth bad/immoral (e.g., touching someone inappropriately, pushing someone in front of a vehicle, putting something in a drink/food). Does anyone have the same? Or the other thing that I experienced recently is that I did something (a rather unimportant action, not harming anyone) and I go over and over it and ask myself “why did you do that? What does that say about you? Are you actually a weird person?” It feels like I draw “false conclusions” from a real event… I don’t know if that’s OCD though or not. Just wondering if anyone has experienced the same. Good luck to you all! We’re not alone in this! 😊
Hey guys- I don’t know if any of you with religion/spirituality ocd struggle with the “unacceptable thoughts” about like evil and stuff but I’m struggling.. it feels like I believe that I want the evil stuff because I had demon-like voices in my head as ahead where I went to talk to God when I was experiencing great distress and then these evil thoughts came in and I let them in and like “ok-ed” evil stuff. Especially because I felt so forced into my faith journey as a kid so it’s like that “feeling rejected -> rebellion thing) but I also know that but I also have such fond memories of feeling so close to God to leaning on Him for so many things. It’s so hard because 90% of my memories as a kid, I struggled with severe ocd and no one knew what it was or how debilitating it could be I’m trying the ERP with these thoughts but😭 have any of you gone through the same things? It’s so strong In my mind because I know there’s actual spiritual warfare so I feel like - pray for me guys
Does anyone imagine they are doing their harm thoughts during an action, making you feel like you acted on your thoughts? For example, someone gave me a hug and at the last second I imagined I was touching something I shouldn’t during the hug? I want to make it clear it’s something I have zero desire to do! But the problem is, I thought it on purpose and it makes me sick !! Obviously nothing happened but my mind is telling me that was me trying to do it. Even though it was physically impossible to do. Am I a monster or could this be OCD? I’m freaking out and don’t want to be here anymore. I feel like I’m the exception and that this isn’t OCD. I know I post about this stuff a lot but I’m struggling and don’t know what to do.
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