- Date posted
- 1y ago
Mental review
I’m finding it very difficult to resist mental review – because your mind just wanders to it. Does anybody have any tips on how they do it?
I’m finding it very difficult to resist mental review – because your mind just wanders to it. Does anybody have any tips on how they do it?
Repeat to yourself it’s just a thought or try doing maybe later
I also deal with this often . I have Pure O among other sub-types of OCD . One of my main things is excessive mental review . One helpful thought I think of is the main point of the Brain Lock book by Dr Schwartz . 1- recognize it is OCD 2 - a chemical imbalance 3 -do something else 4- doesn’t really matter . Two sub-steps 1- anticipate it will return 2- accept it . At times I will write the particular mental review items on a paper to help me mentally process of but overall this isn’t always helpful because I can write too much a novel , LOL and read over too much to make “ just right “ or update or correct .
Ugh this is such a a mood. I spent 7 hours on an email reply that ended up as 4 sentences because of that. I'll have to check out that book lol
My field heavily relied on refined analytical skills so my OCD is tangled up with my curiosity and skills. So my compulsions have practically free reign in my mind because I can't resist all of them. I don't have answers for you, cause I'm still trying to figure out balance myself. You're not alone in this though. Far from
Relies*
one thing i notice is if it’s just thoughts that pop in, letting those pass and observing them is fine and encouraged with ocd. it’s when we start to attach meaning to those thoughts while we have them- that’s the trap. so if it’s reviewing a conversation, if you casually have memories about it and it passes through even in the form of intrusive thoughts, it’s best not to avoid those. once you start reviewing to answer a question (for example did i say the wrong thing here or did that person make a face while i said that) then it’s becoming a compulsion to answer and get rid of the discomfort from the thoughts. just noticing when you’re doing that and making a conscious effort to observe rather than judge the thought is an amazing step in the right direction!
Does anyone like go through waves. Your mind is super silent maybe a couple of thoughts but you are able to brush it off? But then out of nowhere your mind just starts rushing with every thought? If so, how do you cope with this? It drains me.
When you get a stuck thought in your mind, as stupid or untrue as it may be, how do any of you block them out, or try to at least? It’s like my mind has another voice telling me making up the stupidest things?
I cannot for the life of me stop ruminating or checking how I feel about thoughts or focusing on thoughts or creating more thoughts. I feel like I’m losing my mind. I want to scream. I try not to ruminate about the thoughts, but trying not to just makes me think about them more. I try not to check, but somehow, I still check. I want to let a thought sit in the background, but the more I try not to focus on it, the more I end up focusing on it. I don’t want the thought to expand because that feels like engaging with it, but I can’t just stop it from expanding. It feels impossible. People keep saying I’m in control of my compulsions, and maybe that’s true for the physical ones. But when it comes to the mental compulsions, I swear I have no control. It feels like I’m missing something that everyone else seems to have, like there’s some tool they’re using that I don’t have. Controlling mental compulsions has never felt possible for me. I’m starting to fear them. And every time someone says I’m in control and can just choose not to do them, I end up beating myself up even more when they happen. Or when I *choose* I guess. I don’t know anymore. If this is my fault, if I’m responsible for this, then what does that make me? I feel like a monster. I am at my wits’ end. How am I supposed to control mental compulsions when it feels like they control me? I freak out when they happen. They don’t bring me relief, they just make me panic. I want it to stop so bad.
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