How to Manage OCD and Depression

Question: Given the differences of OCD and depression, how do you balance not seeking reassurance with comfort from others that you will be ok? Context: Hi all, I’ve recently found it challenging to manage both OCD and depression because I feel they require different strategies. I’m feeling managing OCD requires you to not seek reassurance, but at the same time, depression seems like you need someone to just tell you “it’s going to be ok.” Recently, I’ve been trying to not seek reassurance, but I feel that I’m not able to make the best decisions that way, and the weight of those led to a longer depression which includes intrusive thoughts that are hard to manage. I describe the relationship as a Venn Diagram, but OCD is on the top and depression is at the bottom, and the intersection is the threshold/breaking point that can lead to longer depression. Any advice from experience or perspectives that people can offer? I appreciate it.

Anonymous

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 1y

I’ve never dealt with both depression and OCD symptoms at the same time, though I experienced some depression a long time ago before I knew what OCD even was. To me the reassurance seeking associated with OCD that is important to refrain from is the kind that is seeking to alleviate fear quickly. That kind of fearful feeling about something and needing someone to reassure me is different from how I used to feel when I was feeling more depressed. That to me felt more like just feeling really heavy and down and sad and kind of underwater. I feel like if you’re feeling that way and just like want a hug or some basic comfort or something, and it’s not based in trying to make fear go away, that sounds to me like it wouldn’t necessarily reinforce OCD like behaviors. Ultimately though you just have to experiment and see how things work for you :) I’ve seen for myself that if I refrain from reassurance seeking it’s really hard and sucks at first but over time I get less fearful about things, but then if I start doing even a little bit of reassurance seeking, the fear starts to come back again. So it does take a bit of persistence. I hope you feel okay soon :)

srp21d

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 1y

Personally, I think the difference is the context of the reassuring. If you come to a friend/family member and tell them you’re struggling with a specific obsession and ask them “is it going to be okay?” then that’s reassurance seeking and something we want to avoid, but if you’re just generally down/depressed not looking for specific reassurance towards an obsession and just need a hug and to hear that at this moment everything is okay then to me that’s not reassurance seeking that would be feeding the OCD. Perhaps if you’re looking for a different supportive phrase from a friend/family member that doesn’t sound so much like reassurance seeking you could ask them to say something like “I am always here to support you” or “you’re never alone, we’ll get through this”.

Lovemycats02

Date posted: 20w

About reassurance?

I’ve heard it’s not good to seek reassurance or give it because it lowers your tolerance to uncertainty. But how do I avoid seeking reassurance when my thoughts and doubts are so bad, I genuinely just don’t know anymore if I’m a bad person or if it’s just OCD? I know I’m supposed to sit with the uncertainty, but how can I do that when the uncertainty has me unable to trust my own brain? Especially when the OCD is real event and POCD? How can I not seek reassurance when I feel so alone and so abnormal and just don’t wanna feel that way anymore? In turn, I see so many people on here struggling so bad and my heart breaks for them. How can I give advice to towers without giving them reassurance and hurting them in the long run?

baukje

Date posted: 19w

Tips for meta-ocd

I am having a real hard time with meta-ocd and thoughts about feeling depressed and be like this forever. Or the thought I never feel normal again or never feel connected to normal life things and normal people. The intrusive thoughts are here like the whole day and they are all about my mental health. And I obsess about how I feel and what I feel with everything I do. It’s so hard to explain. If someone- a therapist or someone who dealt with this has tips or word of encouragement right now, that would me great. I feel like everything I want to learn myself about ocd and coming to this forum also is a bit compulsive. It is so confusing 🫤

truetrev

Date posted: 8w

Generic advice

I see a lot of “general” advice on here from people who have conquered their OCD, and i dont often find that advice helpful. How do i identify compulsion when OCD is bad? Its a whirlwind. Nothing makes sense. I’m pretty sure i have something in addition to OCD but modern science is not good enough yet to let me know. At times like this I need medication. I am weening off Zoloft to try Clomipramine or maybe Vyvanse. I’ve been on Zoloft for 6+ years so decreasing is causing quite an uptick in symptoms. I feel very impulsive lately, i say and post things i dont mean to and it causes interpersonal issues and doesn’t represent who i really am. Is it impulsion or compulsion? I’ve asked this before and only got textbook answers, not personal anecdotes (what im looking for). What does ADHD and RSD feel like? I think i have both ADHD and OCD, even though scientific models show these having opposite activity in the same areas of the brain, leading one to wonder: how can someone have both conditions simultaneously? Science contradicts this but also acknowledges a large population of people who have comorbid OCD and ADHD.

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How to Manage OCD and Depression

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