- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 6y
I’ve also got the excessive checking OCD for the exact same reasons. I started taking meds in May after fighting it for so long and I’m glad I did. I find the anxiety around my compulsions (checking) have lessened significantly. Also I have learned to try to incorporate mindfulness when checking. In other words be 100% in the moment and confident in your checking. “I am locking the door, I am turning the key and listening to it lock, I am taking the key out, etc”. You get the idea. Be 100% in the present which is difficult for us who are always worrying about what “might” happen if we didn’t check it that hundredth time. Hope that helps. :)
Thanks! I tried meds but didn’t like the side effects. If things get worse I might try them again. I do some self talk while I do the process but maybe I’ll try to be mindful like you are doing. Thanks again.
Hi and welcome! What has your therapist said about it? If coping methods actually keep us from getting better, have you considered setting a limit to the checking, and just leaving the house after you’ve hit that limit regardless of how you feel? Then, once you feel comfortable, reduce that limit even lower? Our seeking comfort might feel good, but it’s also okay to feel discomfort, and in sitting with that discomfort, we can realize that we have locked the door, we have turned off the stove, put dog has enough water for the day, we have washed our hands enough, and we’re okay!
Hi, thanks for the reply. meditation was one suggestion. Another was setting a time limit and leaving no matter what. I am a teacher and I was doing well with that before the school year started. Last week, I tired the timer and things got worse. I am going to try to drive better this week with it.
Replace “dog” with “cat” and I could have written that. It’s been a long process of waves of OCD since I was a kid but now that I’m an adult and live on my own, the checking can get bad. However, we recently upped the dose on my meds and it does seem to be helping a little.
Thanks for the responses! I actually was doing some ERP before I went back to work. It helped some but without normal stressors like work I was doing better. Now that I’m back, There is an uptick the time and challenge it takes to get out. That being said today was a better day.
I do the same thing and one of the things I do to help myself is pay attention when I am checking and say to myself as I check I trust myself in my head and then leave.
And, as one of the rules of the community states, this is not a suggestion to do this without you and your therapist agreeing on it! Good luck!
It’s tough to leave, because that’s the whole point of the compulsions: they really do make you feel better right there and then once you complete the ritual, but they’re only keeping the obsession around. A therapist I saw did mention that, with ERP, it will get worse, because you’re literally exposing yourself to the triggers that cause the obsessive thoughts you’re trying to get rid of, but it’s the only way, aside from medication. What would your therapist think about you trying when you have a vacation so that you have time to focus on it without it getting in the way of work? No matter what, you’re not alone in this, we’re all on the same path and I’m by no means an expert on compulsion avoidance!
I have pure ocd i think , i always gotta make sure i do certain things like tap things , light switches on n off , shut things few times and re open them till it feels right . Walk in a room go back out and back in out in in till my mind is right Its exhausting
I’m new to the app and wanting to know who else experiences this form of ocd. Some background I was a therapist for over 10 years now I am out of the clinical space. So I have background knowledge of ocd but never knew much about relationship ocd. I realized over the last several years with my now fiancé, that I have a hard time just letting go in general, whether that’s an argument or statement or feeling. I want to be able to just accept things at face value and move on (and talk later if my partner is ready as needed). But when conflict arises I can’t disengage till there is a clear resolution. It’s causing serious strife as he can feel trapped and it escalates the argument. I am reading more and this sounds like relationship OCD. Anyone else experience this? Curious on what others have done to work on this for themselves. I do have a therapist but we are not doing work in this area yet as I am realizing this is an actual concern.
Hi all, I’m brand new to this app. I’ve never had any mental disorders. I’ve never been diagnosed or even suspected that I had some kind of issue going on. But recently my partner gently pointed out to me that I’ve developed some weird tendencies that are progressively getting worse. I’m getting overly anxious about the smallest of things. Every time he leaves for work, I stare at the tracker on my phone until he gets through his 25 minute commute because I’m convinced there will be a wreck. I’m terrified that someone is constantly taking pictures of me through my windows and even feel like people can see through my (solid) blinds at night. Every time I hear someone in the hallway of my apartment complex I stare out the peephole because I’m convinced they’re going to break in, even if it’s a neighbor that I recognize. I check myself for lumps in my body every morning and every night, and my partner too, even though neither of us have any scary medical history. I unplug everything with a cord every night before I go to bed because I’m terrified that something is faulty and my apartment will catch on fire. I am constantly afraid of being sued by people I don’t know even though the worst thing I’ve ever done is gotten a speeding ticket. I have dreams that people are sending me threatening mail and it stops me from opening my actual mail. There are so many more, I could go on forever. Writing it all down, I know it’s stupid. I just don’t know if feeling this way is normal. There are people out there that have actual stressors and here I am working myself up a million times a day over nothing. Do normal people feel like this? I thought it was normal.
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