- Date posted
- 1y
Ocd
Is the best way for getting over OCD to ignore the intrusive thoughts? Most of my compulsions are in my head and it’s hard to ignore when they’re very distressing and you don’t agree with them at all!
Is the best way for getting over OCD to ignore the intrusive thoughts? Most of my compulsions are in my head and it’s hard to ignore when they’re very distressing and you don’t agree with them at all!
I'd recommend reading the book "brain lock" for this, it's very helpful. in a nutshell, it's about recognizing those thoughts are OCD and not real, and then focusing on doing another activity (work, hobby, etc) to switch gears
It’s kinda about incrementally learning to tolerate them. You might with 30 seconds of sitting with the anxiety inducing thought without making any compulsion, just breathing. Then one minute, 2,3 etc etc. by hundreds of baby steps you climb the mountain. You’ll then be at more liberty to recognise that your emotions can be deceiving and you’ll be able to make logical judgments about things rather than being emotionally paralysed. Hope this helps, you’ll be in my Prayers.
Thank you 🙏
I don’t know how to deal with the thoughts that come and barely gone. Usually, the brain often remembers and forgets things. People with OCD however struggle with trying to forget the intrusive thoughts because of the imbalance trying to convey what is real and if the thoughts in your head will come true. Just for the past few days, I was having fun and suddenly hit with a wave of obsessive thoughts and making me stuck with nowhere to go.
When I was a child, before I knew this was OCD, I struggled with constant "magical thinking" compulsions (don't step on the crack or mom's back will actually break, etc). When I later learned this was OCD, it almost immediately solved it. Any time I got a magical thought, I would say to myself "that's just an OCD thought. ignore it." and it just stopped coming! Like seriously it fixed the magical thinking stuff forever. But of course the OCD has resurfaced in other ways. So naturally, I've tried to use the same strategy since I had so much success with it previously. But I wonder sometimes if telling myself "that's just OCD" is almost functioning as a reassurance compulsion? I hate how meta this gets. For example, I have ROCD that comes and goes. So sometimes I'll get a thought like "what if i'm still in love with my ex?" and then I'll tell myself "that's obviously just an ROCD thought" and will feel relief, almost like reassurance. But it comes back. So is telling myself that it's OCD a reassurance compulsion ?? It's just so weird because it worked so perfectly as a kid with the magical thinking thing.
so I need to get back into ERP, but it’s so hard to manage these thoughts and learn to deal with them. like I swear my mind has to make everything about it. Like every time I clean my room, my mind’s like yup make sure it’s clean so when your parents find you, or something so stupid like if I get a headache, my mind convinces me that I like the pain and that that’s why I get my thoughts because I actually want to do it. It’s so exhausting. Because I know I would never want to take my life and I treasure my life so why does it do it to me? It’s hard to comprehend the fact of these thoughts too because I don’t know many people with this exact theme. It’s such a scary feeling. And I’m constantly questioning whether I have actual depression or if it’s just my OCD. Yes I have been diagnosed with suicidal OCD, but my mind still tries to convince me otherwise. I just don’t know how to let these just sit and pass without panicking.
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