- Date posted
- 5y
- Date posted
- 5y
One strategy I am learning in therapy right now is agreeing with your thoughts and accepting the uncertainty. For example “Maybe I do want to look like a man. Maybe I don’t. I’m going to keep going about my day and accept the uncertainty of not knowing for sure.” I thought my therapist was crazy when she first told me this technique because I have spent so much of my life trying to counter and say the opposite of the thoughts I am having and reassure myself that I do not feel that way. But my therapist said that is fighting with the ocd monster, and that’s an endless fight because it never ends and you will never come to a conclusion or answer. Another technique is agreeing to a worst possible scenario. For example when I have triggers related to physical illness or getting sick and I have a headache and I worry it’s something seriously wrong with me...I can say “I have a headache, I definitely have brain cancer.” And move on. It sounds awful, but I tried it several times and It has been working! I think sometimes saying it almost makes you realize how absurd the statement is. It also helped me come to the conclusion that I don’t know for sure and that’s okay. And if I do have brain cancer than I’ll deal with it. Basically living in the uncertainty!
- Date posted
- 5y
Yeah his is reassurance Maddy. Try thinking ‘I’m going to acknowledge this thought and let it go’ - for now it just has to be about successfully observing your thoughts and not reacting to them. Or you can also try this when you have a tocd thought: step 1 ‘this is an obsession/obsessive thought’ when your brain reacts to that, step 2: ‘I’m having this thought because I have a brain disorder called OCD, where my brain sends me false messages and signals’ and then tell yourself you’re going to refocus on whatever you’re doing. I’m ONLY JUST learning these types of behaviors now and it’s been almost a year and a half I’ve been dealing with this, but I’m noticing improvements, like I can go to work, get out of bed, function at least somewhat to what I was like before. You’re gonna be okay, it’s just constantly remembering this isn’t you it’s intrusive thoughts.
- Date posted
- 5y
thank you so much!! ?
- Date posted
- 5y
This*
- Date posted
- 5y
No problems. This is hard, but we got this❤️❤️
- Date posted
- 5y
thank you for the advice! ?
Related posts
- Date posted
- 25w
Don't panic, you're still the same girl, your OC gives you a lot of intrusive thoughts that aren't you and that disgust you and scare you and that you don't want and that you don't think are true, and your OC gives you the false feelings.Also, don't forget that whatever comes to mind, whatever intrusive thoughts you have and whatever you feel, is all yours.
- Date posted
- 21w
This is so extremely difficult, i’ve never experienced having thoughts of being a different gender. i’ve always been comfortable being a girl. i’ve always been a girly girl. this all started a couple months ago and it’s increasingly getting worse. i’ve had times where i didn’t like my body but i always thought i could just go to the gym and fix it, never did i think i wanted to be a man. ever since these thoughts started i hate looking at myself in the mirror, i hate looking at my body, i’m aware of my breasts all day everyday, i can’t look at pictures/ videos of myself. from the moment i wake up to the second i go to sleep i have these thoughts. i’m in a panic EVERYDAY. i don’t want to be trans but my thoughts are convincing me i do. i’ve never bat an eye when someone calls me a girl but now it’s like i’m aware of it which i hate. i hate that i’m having these thoughts & it’s convincing me that i want them & that i have to just come out and change. i want to be able to go back to being comfortable as a girl. this has left me feeling so hopeless and depressed, i can’t help but cry every day. has anyone else felt like their whole world was turned upside down?
- Date posted
- 20w
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.
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