Recovery. What are you confused about?

There is a lot of confusion with some aspects of recovery for a lot of people. I was there too and it's a struggle to know what's good and bad for ocd and why. It's an additional struggle putting it into practice as your brain doesn't trust the new info or perceptions at first. Can you please list or bullet point stuff that you see or hear about ocd that helps but don't know why or don't think you understand? I'm going to try make a detailed post on each one I can help with and maybe post resources such as YouTube videos. I want the misconceptions to be addressed. Ocd thrives on doubt. We shouldn't be doubting the information that will ultimately get us better. I'll post gradually over the week.

Username: Anonymous///Anonymous///

Date posted: 39w ago

Thank you for doing this!! Not sure if this is exactly what you’re looking for but the two biggest misconceptions I experience myself with OCD are: 1. Feeling like I derive pleasure from/enjoy my intrusive thoughts, then having overwhelming guilt/shame about it and questioning if it means the thought is true 2. As I’m continuing to heal, I’m not having as much chaos and anxiety when an intrusive thought happens, so my OCD tells me that I enjoyed the thought and it was just authentic to me bc it wasn’t accompanied by a panicked reaction

Username: Wolfram Wolfram

Date posted: 39w ago

Anything and everything is welcome. I'll add these to a to-do list. Thank you

Username: JengerJenger

Date posted: 39w ago

Not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for with your post, but for me, it took about a year of therapy to fully understand/accept that rumination is a compulsion (and my worst one). I've wasted months of my life engaging in thoughts that brought nothing but distress, trying to "solve" them away, when I should have been enjoying my wonderful family or career. Of course my therapist told me rumination is a compulsion and we identified it as one of my major ones early on, but it was (and still is) so hard to separate acute mental awareness (a thought or memory) from your brain's immediate, almost seamless mental reaction. Especially if you're an introspective type of person who's become used to "trusting your gut." For me, the transition from obsession to compulsion is one fast-moving snowball. I'd eventually realize I was ruminating after realizing I'd been stuck on the same troubling topic for hours or days, just getting more and more worked up, but often it wasn't until the rumination was no longer enough and triggered a secondary compulsion (fact checking/ reassurance seeking being my main "secondary" ones). Those were/are pretty easy to catch myself engaging in, but the initial compulsion (the overthinking) was almost embarrassingly hard to recognize as a compulsion. I still catch myself deep into it at times without even realizing. Pretty sure it will be a lifelong struggle, but tips on recognizing rumination and breaking rumination cycles would still be helpful for me and maybe others.

Username: Wolfram Wolfram

Date posted: 39w ago

I have a few. It was one of my biggest compulsions too. I'll post in the next few days

Username: 0823

Date posted: 5y ago

Hey guys I have some questions on OCD recovery. I just get confused on what to do, like some people say to distract yourself when the thoughts come in, others say to think it harder or on purpose or something. Are some forms of distraction better, like exercising and not forcing distraction. A thought can get stuck in my head for a while and I’m not really sure how to distract from it, do I just let it be there while doing something else like the exercising or drawing? I just need some advice. Any techniques you have for recovery will be much appreciated ? Thanks in advance!

Username: tttamme

Date posted: 5y ago

I want to get this off my chest... I'm not sure which OCD type I have. It started with fears of being gay but now I don't have as much gay thoughts (but still enormous amounts of anxiety, and no feelings for girls) but I'm doubting about recovery. I have been in treatment for two years but every time I fully decide to accept the OCD, then OCD finds a new way to doubt about this recovery tip. After OCD has latched a doubting thought about the recovery tip, it doesn't work any more and the more I try to use the tool (e.g. Notice the thoughts and return to present moment, meditation, mindfulness) the stronger the OCD gets. I try to remain positive but OCD pulls me into negativity. I feel like every thought I have is illogical and even the sentences I wrote here in the post feel like not real. I get so many questions in my head (that I know are OCD questions) but the more I try to resist answering them, the stronger they get. Basically like I want to recover but the more I want to come out of OCD the stronger it gets. I'm so confused and don't know what to do... I tried to confront the anxiety and I started liking the feeling but then OCD told me you hate the anxiety and it overtook me .. so so illogical and I'm really sick of it. 6 months of this back and forth between OCD and recovery and it's tiring me... Being so inadequate all the time and exhausted.. it seems like it's impossible to overcome the OCD when you just have no energy and you have the feeling as if you can't distinguish yourself from the thoughts. What to do when you are so overtaken by OCD and every decision you make, is actually OCD telling things in my head? Like my deciding part of my brain would be broken...

Username: Anonymous

Date posted: 4y ago

Hi guys, I've been suffering with POCD for quite a while now. Because I reached a point where I was ready to commit suicide due to the continuous stress, shame, guilt and (self)disgust caused by my OCD, I have recently decided to start therapy. I'm happy with this decision as I want to learn how to cope with my thoughts in a healthy, effective way. However, there is one thing that slows me down. There is always this thought/question running through my mind that makes me doubt more than anything about my values: 'do I actually want to recover from OCD?'. Whenever I ask myself this question and answer with 'yes, of course, there is no doubt in that!' I get a really strong feeling of me lying to myself and/or being in denial about whether I want these thoughts or not. I know it sounds confusing, and I apologise for that, but why do I feel that I don't want to recover from this bad, unhealthy state full with terrible thoughts, urges and sensations?! I would really like to know your opinions. Thank you so much for reading this. And I apologise if it's confusing. Take care x

POCD

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