I lately noticed that when I'm feeling anxious, I start telling myself: "Let the thoughts be there, just concentrate on what you're doing, do nothing to make it go away". The problem is that I keep repeating this dialogue in my mind, and I'm checking if I'm still very anxious or not. I think it's a compulsion but... how do I stop it? I get lost in the process šµāš«
Donāt check to see if youāre anxious. If you feel the anxiety then just breath and say āthis feeling will pass soonā. And then continue with your day, I try to repeat to myself āmaybe maybe notā or any other RPM to myself through out the day to try to engrave it in my head
It could be, i cant really say for sure - interestingly there is even Meta OCD so OCD about what is and is not OCD. I think of acceptance of uncertainty and professional help is key
Observe, describe and then participate in whatever task youāre doing! If youāre trying not to focus on something, then youāre going to end up doing just that. Distract yourself by putting all your mental energy into the task at hand and your anxiety will subside
Thank you, I'll try! It's very hard especially during lessons at university, it's like listening to the professor and to my thoughts at the same time, it's kind of exhausting :')
I started to tell myself āleave it aloneā every time I got a thought to remind myself not to engage and just leave it there but now I say it in my head when I anticipate a thought or even think about my situation at all. Iām kind of saying it to myself a lot now and I think it might have turned into a compulsion on accident but Iām not sure?
Lately Iāve had a pretty weird coping mechanism, whenever I feel overwhelmed by the anxiety my intrusive thoughts bring me, Iām imagining myself in therapy with my psychologist. Sheās not even speaking or anything, Iām the only one having a monologue on how I feel about those thoughts. Is this a compulsion? Or I am just compensating for something, or even just a very imaginative person tbh?
So Iām starting therapy this week but Iāve been trying to use ERP myself, my main compulsion is rumination which I wasnāt even aware was a compulsion. Iām trying to do ERP but when I focus on observing the thought it goes, I dunno if Iām focusing too much on actually how to follow ERP or is this normal? I feel like I might be subconsciously blocking thoughts because I know how bad it is when I go down the rabbit hole, but then I also worry that the anxiety goes too quickly and that Iām finding it too easy to ignore the thought?
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