I remember playing the would you rather game as a kid. I did it earlier when I felt the urge to give into a compulsion and it helped funnily enough through the erp. I don't know if this could help others but it surprised me how effective it was
So mines with morals and I had to lie today to benefit myself. I can pretty much cou t the amount of times I've lied in the last 3 years on one hand, including white lies. So I said to myself "would I rather tell the truth and fuck myself over drastically and feed the compulsion and my ocd or would I rather tell a little lie to help myself which most people would do in this situation when selling a car to a multi million pound company and resist the compulsion. Would I rather be less tight on my moral compass and be a bit more free from ocd or live in my ocd and continue to screw myself over
@Wolfram I always enjoy your posts, you are an interesting person . My point of view differs a little with you on this subject though. Example like being a little bit pregnant, a person is honest or they are not , cut and dry .
@777Q I get that but my morals are wound to an unhealthy standard, and this to me was a big thing. Therapy helped me unwind and untighten a bit. Opened me up to new insights and perspectives. Nobody is inherently evil or a Saint. We are complex and imperfect and that's OK. This took work for me to understand
@Wolfram You make interesting points. Very true no one is all good or all evil , everything and everyone it is a matter of degree . Here is my point though I try not to justify things too much though . Example a multi million dollar executive and at opposite end someone who cannot pay their car payment or mortgage a person is 15 cents short and they want to take the 15 cents from one person or the other . If you start justifying things you might say take it from the executive that they really don’t need it , but that is not fair or ethical, perhaps the person that can’t pay their bills is addicted to bad habits that is why they have no money, so why punish the business person who perhaps made good decisions with money .
@777Q It's haggling. They quoted me 3.7k initially and then offered 2.1k. I got them up to 2.5 with a sob story. They still make a profit, just not as much.
@777Q Also that seems like a lot of what ifs
@Wolfram I was using a similar story to the car example you mentioned earlier about a little white lie selling to car company, why tell a white lie was my point just because they have money .
@777Q I'm not justifying it. I know its hat I did is immoral and conflicts with me completely but I need to get out of this hole. Not every action defines who we are if we feel backed into a corner. I've been struggling to even live with the stress and felt suicidal when I was looking at all the damage ocd has done to my life and the sheer scale of the hole I'm trying to claw my way out of. I acknowledge this and I'll make sure it's not in vain. Like people kill animals for food, I'd rather them use all of the animal so no suffering goes to waste. So if this keeps me alive and reduces my suicidal ideology then so be it. It's a resource that provides an opportunity that I won't waste or be ungrateful for. When I'm better, I'll be able to pay it forward tenfold. Nothing can undo the damage I may or may not have caused. That's a variable I can't predict and I'm not going to ruminate about because it's out of my hands and whoever follows on from my choice, it's their choice and responsibility to look out for themselves too as I have. So I won't focus on stuff out of my control and all that possible outcomes because I'll never live, instead I'll focus on what I can do and can guarantee, and that's all the good I can do/offer once I'm on my feet. I live with this decision and I'm at peace with it. I can't navigate my present to my Intended future if I'm looking at my past. It's like trying to walk in a straight line while looking behind you, I'll trip up or bump into something. Gotta focus on my direction
@777Q Hey. I think I was justifying it a bit. Thank you for challenging me on this. This actually helped as almost admitting was avoidance and another compulsion of mine. I live when the compulsions tag team me 🤣
Like with your obsessions? Or just a silly game in general?
How did the game work with the ocd? Can you give an example
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.
Hi! I've been on my OCD healing journey for about half a year and I have seen a lot of success. I'm reaching out for advice, I am very willing to do exposures because I know the more I do them, the more I get better, but I struggle with the response prevention part. I don't know how to control my brain when it comes to facing the fears especially since most of my compulsions are mental. I can tell myself the typical things "I am okay with the uncertainty of this happening", etc. but its like my brain doesn't believe them. I've been stuck in this disconnect for a while and would love advice you have heard from a therapist or learned that has really help you.
If your mind purposely keeps fetching a repetitive word, and you’re afraid it will never go away, is the ERP therapy to STOP the mind from doing it? Or ALLOW the mind to do it, and not react? Also, is repeating a word in your head a mental compulsion? Or would that be the obsession? So then what’s the compulsion? Posting on here? Lol
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