kodyisland
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 1y
rumination
any tips on how to stop ruminating would be greatly appreciated !!!
A23A23
- Date posted
- 1y
Google grounding techniques, they're like a mindful distraction. There's also things like labeling the ruminating and telling yourself "ok I'm ruminating." You can also look into cognitive defusion techniques https://www.treatmyocd.com/blog/cognitive-defusion-and-ocd-techniques-that-are-easy-to-try and practicing acceptance of uncertainty
kodyislandkodyisland
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 1y
@A23 it’s not even an uncertainty thing. it’s like continuously thinking about previous thoughts i’ve had. OR having a thought and then questioning it
A23A23
- Date posted
- 1y
@kodyisland I've yet to implement a consistent meditation practice, but meditation is essentially practicing letting thoughts come and go. I just googled a bit to fact check myself on the science and found this "Meditation and yoga have been shown to reduce anxiety, depression and stress, and to improve quality of life (Gotink et al. 2015; Lin et al. 2011)"
A23A23
- Date posted
- 1y
@kodyisland A basic strategy tho is to catch yourself when ruminating and then disengage. I've had weeks or even months where this was effective, but its not always easy
kodyislandkodyisland
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 1y
@A23 i find it’s easy for me to catch it but i don’t really know how to disengage from if
A23A23
- Date posted
- 1y
@kodyisland This might be something better to explore in therapy, but I could share some other things in hopes of it helping. There's a compulsion called mental reviewing, it's rumination pretty much. You could tell yourself "response prevention" messages like "that was the past, time to live in the present" When you're questioning your thoughts, an OCD therapist might ask what exactly you're questioning and see if you have a core fear associated with these thoughts. Its common for OCD to be about character or morality for instance, so someone could question a thought like "gosh, why did I have that thought? Am I a bad person?" But that's just one example, it can vary a lot. Also there's spiraling, so when ruminating it's easy to spiral into doubt, negativity, etc. The disengagement will take practice, can't say I'm there yet myself but therapy and different techniques can help
kodyislandkodyisland
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 1y
@A23 awesome thank you i’ll give it a try. i’m at the very beginning of my ERP journey so i haven’t gotten many tricks yet
A23A23
- Date posted
- 1y
@kodyisland Best of luck! Hope to progress alongside with you 😁
NotSoNewb82NotSoNewb82
- Date posted
- 1y
Distractions are good. I find that doing something new holds your attention better.
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fl5
- Date posted
- 21w
Tips for rumination with real event?
I've been doing well the past month in cutting down on compulsions and have been feeling better however, last night I had a set back that carried on into today. I had gotten very poor sleep (4ish hours) and then something triggered my memory. I think with the sudden anxiety spike and lack of sleep I didn't have the strength to ignore my compulsions. Last night and today I've realised I've gone back into rumination and mentally reviewing the event excessively again and comparing my situation to other people's, but most of the times that I start going down these rabbit holes I don't even realise I'm doing it? Also been fixating a bit on the fear that I've ruined my progress and that I will fall back into the deep end of it all again, that I have done so much work getting myself out of, although trying my best to not be too discouraged. Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with rumination more specifically?
chloeslogan3
- Date posted
- 16w
Real event OCD
Anyone who struggles with real event, rumination, and guilt. Please please please tell me your tips and tricks and maybe some words of encouragement.❤️
Anonymous
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 12w
How have others managed rumination/mental comps?
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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