- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 1y
progress/compulsions
how to not develop the mindset that if you slip up and do a compulsion you are set back in your progress and all of your hard work is gone?
how to not develop the mindset that if you slip up and do a compulsion you are set back in your progress and all of your hard work is gone?
A slip up is a way to know what not to do next time. Your awareness is good that’s how you know work isn’t gone because you acknowledged it now the step is to not do that compulsion next time and remember if you give into one for a minute or five minutes or more you can always STOP and walk away.
I think it is good to accept the possibility of slipping up or even getting to the older states because then there is no pressure on yourself. Trying too hard creates resistence and therefore generates more problem. Just accept it as a journey that is one step back two steps forward. Also once you've gotten to this level, you know you can get there again.:)
it’s like when i fix one thing a new fixation comes along. how can i prevent this from happening? how do i keep my progress intact instead of making progress in one thing and going back on another?
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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