Does anyone else’s OCD operate in phases? For example I could be doing great with my OCD where for a random amount of time I don’t have many intrusive thoughts and if I do there’s no anxiety tied to them. But then they’ll start bombarding me for a random amount of time which can be 1 day to 1 week to 1 month and cause immense anxiety. Then rinse and repeat I’d love to know if y’all’s experiences are similar.
Same, and I’ve noticed it is so common for people’s OCD to come in waves which is bittersweet. On the one hand you can generally expect OCD episodes to eventually come when you aren’t currently in one which sucks but on the other you know that when it does you’ll end up coming out the other side because the cycle is so predictable, which is a wonderful thing to remember when in an episode
@CalicoCat Oh this is really helpful! The cycle is predictable therefore we can also predict we’ll come through it.
I’ve noticed this also. For me I have seen a massive increase in the intrusive thoughts correlating to a high level of stress. Also when I’m not keeping myself occupied throughout the day like working or trying to get out of my apartment. I still deal with them at work and other places, some days better or worse than other, but it’s definitely most active when I’m just trying to relax.
Yes definitely and I think it’s fairly common. When I’m in a period of having fewer intrusive thoughts I start to doubt myself and my struggles and think I’m making it all up.
Ok what is going on in the universe right now because I’ve just posted about this and have seen a number of other people also post about this! Yes, the past few weeks for me have been much more manageable, and then BAM, yesterday I had all these intrusive thoughts about my health and felt myself going into a complete spiral. It’s really the worst…
@emilytravelswild It’s also interesting because I heard this analogy that OCD is like a rubber band. Every time an intrusive thought enters our brains the tension builds, and by giving into the compulsion or ruminating, the rubber band snaps back releasing the tension for a short period of time. And the process repeats and repeats etc. But eventually if we keep pulling the rubber band and can ride out the tension, then eventually it breaks. So I think outside factors can tie into how we react to that tension and how easily we give into it. But the brain will always want to latch onto something new to obsess over, but if we train ourselves enough and equip ourselves with the tools of knowing how to combat it, then it no longer holds any power and we manage to break any and all of the rubber bands.
@Reed1995 I love that analogy! I’ve been really careful about not giving in to compulsions, though the rumination definitely sneaks in occasionally. Hoping my rubber band breaks soon! 🤞🏼
@emilytravelswild You and me both! Just have to take it day by day. Small steps, slow and steady wins the race!
Yeah I m going through this phase as well, feels like a rollercoaster
To the people who are in therapy and on their recovery journey when the ocd is tending to die down a bit is it normal for the ocd to keep switching themes until it fully dissipates? Has anyone experienced this?
Anyone else just have days where they feel more calm and don’t have as many intrusive thoughts? But then later at night time it just comes back so you only had relief even for a little bit 😞😞 I feel like even when I’m not having my OCD send me intrusive thoughts, I always have a feeling in my stomach that something is wrong/off or a sense of doom. I always just feel on edge and anxious as if my mind is always preparing itself for the next horrifying intrusive thought to torment me with ugh 🫠
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.
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