- Date posted
- 6y
- Date posted
- 6y
@survival5050 Avoidance is a compulsion, so yes, evading her is a compulsion. Talking to her is probably one trigger. I’m sure certain circumstances, events, topics of conversation, etc. trigger you more than others. If you’re not sure if a thought is OCD, treat it as such. There’s no harm in treating a harmless thought as OCD, but there’s plenty of harm in treating an intrusive thought like it’s not, especially when your response is a compulsion. Check out this piece on ROCD: https://ocdla.com/rocd-relationship-ocd-myth-of-the-one-3665
- Date posted
- 6y
Sounds like ROCD to me. If it wasn’t, you’d simply feel disinterested or even bored at the topic but able to handle that feeling pretty easily.
- Date posted
- 6y
This is great, thanks!
- Date posted
- 6y
How do i identify a trigger and a compulsion? sometimes after a lot of time it starts to feel like a normal thing to do
- Date posted
- 6y
Trigger is something that increases your anxiety (I touching a doorknob that's filled with germs), compulsion is what you do to make yourself feel better (i.e. washing your hands)
- Date posted
- 6y
The more times you wash your hands after touching a doorknob, the more you're telling your brain that this is something to be fearful of, continuing the OCD cycle
- Date posted
- 6y
In my experience i started obsessing about being gay, it was a much stronger anxiety than with the other anxieties but it was easier to identify: i had a thought about a man naked i just had to think about that image for a couple of minutes, so it was easier to overcome (i only get a couple of unwanted thoughts and feelings every once in a while) but with my relationship is different sometimes is hard to identify if it is ocd or i simply don't love her, so talking to her is my trigger and evading her is my compulsion?
- Date posted
- 6y
Now started beinging afraid of ending with no friends because of ocd, and im seeing some patterns
- Date posted
- 6y
Exactly whenever she talks about love and sex or marriage i start shaking like diesel engine
Related posts
- Date posted
- 21w
I had just posted a summary of ERP for a group member, and I thought it might be useful for everybody. Here it is below (with a little extra added)…. ERP therapy is researched-based. Most other therapies don’t work. There have been people who have been literally stuck in their houses (from their OCD) who gained their lives back through ERP therapy. NOCD does ERP therapy exclusively. You can find it in other places too, but you have to ask around. There are two tenants of ERP therapy: The first one has to do with the repetitive thoughts inside our heads. These thoughts are actually defined as “obsessions”. You are not supposed to do anything with the obsessions. You are supposed to let them run through your head freely, without trying to fix them or stop them. Imagine a tree planted by a river. The leaves fall off and float down the river. You can see the leaves falling, but you don’t try to stop them or pick them up. You don’t try to fix them. You just let them float away. This is really important to do with your obsessive thoughts. The more you try to fight them off, the worse they get. I used to have blasphemous sentences running in my head 24/7. I felt like I had to put a “not” next to each sentence in order to “fix” it. But this just took hours of my time every day, and it was very scary, because I was worried that if I messed up, that I would go to hell. It was very freeing to learn later that I could just let those sentences run freely through my head without trying to fix them. The second part of ERP therapy is all about “denying your compulsions.” Every time OCD tells you that if you don’t do things a certain way that something really bad will happen, that is a compulsion. Once you recognize what your compulsions are, ERP therapy will have you practice stopping doing all of those things. For some people, that will mean stopping washing their hands or touching lights switches or, in my case, putting “fixing” words in their head. Compulsions are safety behaviors. During ERP therapy, you will practice stopping engaging with safety behaviors. All this is very hard to do and scary, so during therapy you will be given tools to help you deal with the fear. Often ERP therapy will take people from being non-functional to functional. I highly recommend it. ————————————————- PITFALL #1: After you have been doing ERP for a while and become somewhat successful, the OCD will try subtle little tricks to bring you down again. The first one is to tell you that your thoughts are REAL and not OCD, and therefore you can’t apply ERP therapy. Don’t fall for this trick! All thoughts are just thoughts. They are all meaningless. Don’t try to figure out what is real and what is OCD. Just treat all thoughts with ERP therapy. PITFALL #2: The second pitfall is that OCD will tell you that you can’t move forward unless you have absolute certainty that you will be safe. Hate to tell you this, folks, but there is no certainty in life. You will never know for SURE that you or your loved ones will be “safe” from the OCD rules. Therefore, you have to move forward in the uncertainty. It’s hard, but it gets easier with time and practice. We got this, guys !!!!!!
- Date posted
- 16w
It could be possible to treat a severe scrupulosity OCD without taking medication and asking guidance from the psychiatrist? I can't afford for professional consultation 🥹. Can anybody give me some advices on how to deal with these intrusive thoughts? 🙏
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 13w
These treatments are not designed for OCD sufferers because they treat OCD like a logic disorder when OCD is very far from that. Hence why, many patients do not recover with these treatments. ⭐️ Talk therapy involves doing a lot of compulsions like rumination, reassurance-seeking, trying to figure out your thoughts, Etc. ⭐️ Similarly, standard ICBT also involves compulsions such as arguing with your thoughts. For example, if you have POCD, your therapist might say “you know you’re not p*do so just ignore the thoughts.” This is reassurance and can turn into another compulsion called thought-blocking. ‼️A reputable therapist here (Tracie Ibrahim) has told us in a support group that ICBT isn’t even evidence-based (even though people claim that it is) ⭐️ Beware of Instagram “coaches” who want your money and say they specialize in a very specific subtype of OCD (ex. relationship OCD). A good ERP therapist would know that all OCD subtypes are treated the same way so the subtype shouldn’t matter. An ERP therapist should be knowledgeable in all of them because all OCD is just OCD. One of the only things that may differ is the type of exposures you have to do. ⭐️ Also, I suggest you do not use drugs & alcohol as a crutch. You will struggle with your OCD without those, which can possibly lead to addictions. Those substances can even increase your OCD symptoms. ❤️ What I do recommend for OCD recovery: ERP therapy, behavioral activation, ACT, mindfulness, self-compassion, OCD community support, healthy distractions, bonding time with family and friends, and healthy lifestyle habits. These habits include healthy eating (try to stay away from processed foods), going out on nature walks, consistent sleep, and consistent exercise. Let me know in the comments below if you have any extra tips for what’s been helping you through your OCD journey👇
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