PLEASE HELP: The thoughts are getting worse

I know exactly how you're feeling. ♡ Like, word for word, I've felt the exact same way lately. Dissociating and feeling like your not in your body is so scary, but try to do grounding exercises that put you in the present and get you in reconnected with your body. Like the 5 things you can see, 4 things you can feel, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste is great. One of my counselors also taught me a grounding exercise with making tea, that could be used with any hot drink. When I make my tea, I try to focus on the experience, the sound as I stir with a spin and it clinks the cup, the way it smells. Sometimes I'll just sit on the ground and close my eyes and hold the warm cup in my hands, just feeling how it feels. It helps me feel reconnected with my body. There are plenty of other grounding techniques you can try. I know it's bad rn and it's getting worse, I am feeling the same, but you can overcome this. You don't have to act on your thoughts. And you don't want to; even by posting on here and saying how much that thinking you want to is bothering you shows that you don't actually want to. You are so strong. You can do this. ♡

If it's any help, when we sit with the anxiety without problem solving or any other compulsions ......the anxiety will ease..... anxiety works in a curve , it doesn't keep going up, as long as we don't do compulsions.....I know it can be scary and hard to stop, but ruminating just keeps it going and never helps for very long.

Doubting it's OCD is so common with this illness and I hope you are doing ERP for this with a therapist...... remember OCD will try everything to get you to do a compulsion......it will tell you, this one is different....and sure it can be different, but it attacks from different angles, just to get you to ruminate. Also, we can never be 100 per cent certain of anything, so trying to prove it's OCD is also pointless, but treat it as such and do the therapy, that will give you much more clarity.

Yeah I have had similar problems, but I'm slowly starting to see, it's just trying every way to get me ruminating, and it gets easier to not be fooled by it, as time goes on......it even tells me the therapist is wrong and my OCD is different to others, but the longer I stick with it, I am starting to see it's all just OCD trying to fool me.

Catlove9, always know you're not alone, there's a lot of us out there, going through what sometimes feels like hell, cause our OCD makes us think we're everything we fear, but there is real hope for all of us, and I think we should act like our fears aren't true....stick with the therapy and apply it to any new fears that come along instead of indulging our fears.....and focus on living the lives we want to live, despite the anxiety and the what is.....it does get easier with practice and time.....and it's easier than continuing to try, to use logic against OCD...which just doesn't work and keeps us unhappy. Life will get better again, after 50 years of OCD and multiple themes I'm starting to feel really positive for the future despite still working through my present difficulties.

Ah I'm so sorry you're feeling like this. You're a good person otherwise this stuff wouldn't bother you. I have often read that people with OCD are gentle, kind , loving people, but in some ways being so sensitive makes us prone to this illness. Stick with the ERP and remember any new fears that come up, are not things we should ruminate on, but need exposure therapy.....it really works, given time.....my themes have varied over time....in my teenage years I thought I was possessed, in my twenties it was fearing I was gay, my thirties, mostly fear of abusing my children, and forgetting I did it, that continued through my forties and in my fifties I was convinced I might have killed my Dad......there were many more, but a few false memory ones were particularly difficult.....I can see now that if I had therapy then, I wouldn't have had to lose so many years, but the future is what matters, I really hope you put your trust in the therapy, no matter what new fears come along.

Yeah I totally get that, some days I white knuckle it too. Then I sometimes give in and ruminate, but that always keeps it going.....the white knuckling will usually subside after a few days of not giving in, though. Yeah I would treat it as OCD, especially when you are not sure. I know how hard it is taking that chance, but with stopping the compulsions to ruminate and doing exposure therapy, things will really start to get better. 🙂

hey there, i see how you're struggling and feeling scared right now, especially when the thoughts seem to be worsening and reality feels like it's slipping away. 🙏 nobody should have to go through that alone. listen, have you ever heard of "unstuck"- it's an AI-powered therapy tool specifically for OCD (unstuckmyocd.com/try)? it's been a lifesaver for me this past month and might just help you too. 😊 a mate from this forum actually suggested it to me and honestly, i so wish i’d come across it sooner!