Am I avoiding intrusive thoughts or effectively managing my anxiety?

Is this avoidance?

So I’m going through a little bit of a rough patch. I did an ERP exercise yesterday and it went good but I still feel like my mind is everywhere all at once, all these awful thoughts nagging at me but sometimes especially today it’s like there just noise in my head so I’m letting the anxiety be there but as soon as I have an intrusive thought I’m like ya no I’m not listening to that or thinking about that today and I continue on with my day, I’m not sure if that’s ok or if that’s avoidance because I’m not thinking about the thought if that makes sense but then in the same breath if I’m thinking on it and be like ok I’ll let the thought be there and see how I feel in my body is that not checking and rumination? Almost like I’m checking to see if that topic still makes me anxious?

Username: httpethttpet

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 35w ago

I think you might be pushing away the thought when you say “I’m not thinking about that today” . I would instead not say anything and just move on with your day. Not engaging is ERP at its best!

Username: Michie Michie

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 35w ago

@httpet Perfect thank you!! I haven’t been seeing my therapist lately so I sometimes need a refresher of just letting intrusive thoughts be background noise throughout my day

Username: httpethttpet

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 35w ago

@Michie Yea dw I struggle with it too sometimes, it’s all part of the learning and healing process

Username: Michie Michie

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 35w ago

@httpet Thank you for your help! 🫶🏼

Username: ivrecivrec

Date posted: 35w ago

I think that saying “no I’m not thinking about that today” is not really avoidance but can give the thought some power to get you to notice it more. My favorite is “ya whatever” treating it like a pesty thing. What has helped me too is when a trigger gives you the whoosh of anxiety sometimes even without an intrusive thought, I try and respond with “there’s that false alarm”. Calling things what they are really helps. Sounds like you are working the ERP program well tweaking it to work for you as you go.

Username: Michie Michie

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 35w ago

@ivrec Thank you that’s very true! Just not engaging and letting my body feel the anxiety is important!

Username: Wolfram Wolfram

Date posted: 35w ago

Acknowledge and move on to something else, not with the intention to move away from the thought but because you want to move towards something else. The intention behind the directional change in your focus really makes the difference.

Username: scottyboy

Date posted: 5y ago

Anxiety and Not wanting to feel feelings Since I started ERP and resisting rumination and rituals and controlling things I’ve noticed I have extra mental real estate. I’m not as consumed by my thoughts but my baseline anxiety is like 6/10 always. It’s pretty high. My brain keeps checking in and saying “you shouldn’t feel this way! This isn’t right! Google depersonalization! Google spacing out and brain fog!” But I know that’s OCDs game. So I just sit with the anxiety and try to move on with my day. Interestingly, once I strip away all of the rumination, compulsions and rituals all I’m left with is my own uncomfortable feelings that I don’t like. This leads me to conclude that ocd is just a way for me to try and control how I feel. I always wanna feel good and relaxed. Everyone does but that’s an unrealistic goal. Has anyone else come across this before?

Username: ocdguy101

Date posted: 5y ago

What I have noticed is that when I try to use positive thinking and challenge my thoughts I feel better but then I end up avoiding intense bad thoughts. Those thoughts bubble up and then I cannot calm down unless I use ERP. Then I feel sad because thats all I can think about. How can I balance this?

Harm OCD

Username: Anonymous

Date posted: 2y ago

ERP question

So I’m starting therapy this week but I’ve been trying to use ERP myself, my main compulsion is rumination which I wasn’t even aware was a compulsion. I’m trying to do ERP but when I focus on observing the thought it goes, I dunno if I’m 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 I’m finding it too easy to ignore the thought?

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Am I avoiding intrusive thoughts or effectively managing my anxiety?

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