My ocd keeps telling me to Google CP to make sure there is nothing scary and check there is also nothing scary and illegal on Google Images, I don’t want to see any CP I just what to make sure Google is safe and there is nothing to be afraid of on there it’s driving me crazy I don’t know what to do anymore help
Surly Google would keep us safe from that kind of thing
OCD is trying to get you to do a compulsion......you will never be able to do enough compulsions to satisfy OCD for long. You need to do ERP on these thoughts.......that will take away their power over you
@Garrett Maguire Hey thank you for your reply what ERP can I do for this?! I’m going crazy I’m so scared of the Internet and Google
Well I'd say working with a therapist is best but depending on how bad the anxiety is......we don't want to do too much too quickly......if it was me I would sit a write in a copy " Maybe there is CP in my google images " and take the anxiety it produces without doing any safety behaviours.......I would write it repeatedly till my anxiety drops by half. Then leave it and do it the same time tomorrow.
@Garrett Maguire The anxiety is so bad I’m currently working with a therapist and on antidepressants, I’m just so scared what if it means something about me what if I loose control one day feel like it’s pushing me so much
@Garrett Maguire I’ve put parental controls on my phone and added a password on safari so it takes more time and stops me I know this could be avoidance but I’m just so scared
Well I hope the therapist is using ERP to treat you as it's the gold standard for treating OCD. Ordinary talk therapies in my experience, don't help much with OCD. You need to stop checking, I know it's scary but seeking any reassurance is just giving the thoughts value and making things worse. You need to combine the ERP with stopping the compulsions.....allow the thoughts to be there without answering them/ without trying to solve them.
Remember "What ifs" are OCD intrusive thoughts......we don't try to solve them....ERP deals with them from a different perspective.
@Garrett Maguire Thank you that’s really helpful! I’ll defo try the wiring things down and repeating them until they don’t scare me
Good but be careful not to do any compulsions/ safety behaviours while doing the erp
@Garrett Maguire Hey Garrett, what would you say are compulsions/ safety behaviours?
Well when you write " maybe....." don't try to say "no it's not true" or any other thoughts to counteract the anxiety.....we want to allow the anxiety.....sit with it and watch it slowly go down.
You want to stop your normal denial responses to these thoughts......allowing uncertainty.....it doesn't mean you are accepting the thoughts as true or untrue,
@Garrett Maguire Thank you so I guess I shoukd my have a password on Google or block Google images website so I can’t use it
@Anonymous *shouldn’t
Yes, they would be safety behaviours, as would checking your Google images be reassurance
@Garrett Maguire Thank you Garrett all really helpful
No worries, glad to be of any help. 🙂
i really struggle with anxiety because on my OCD (not professionally diagnosed but i’ve been experiencing a lot of symptoms for many years that’s it’s safe to assume i have it). the only way to relieve my stress is to google. But google never gave me proper answers or i just ended up more anxious than to begin with. Instead i started using chat gpt as a quick was to get reassurance. i feel bad using it tho because i know it’s just a compulsion to go and seek reassurance to calm my anxiety but if i dont atleast google something i end up spiralling anyways. it feels like no matter what i do ill be anxious .
I’m having hitman ocd thoughts and I feel like I’m gunna google how to hire a hitman UGH so it feels like I’m gunna type that and I can’t use google so as erp I’m using google but this is fucked
‼️Sexual Content‼️ I have a new fear that I have a paraphiliac disorder and google says that people who do have these disorders experience distress about them which scares me so bad because I feel distressed about the potential of having one so isn’t that like the same thing? I’m scared that I already have one, and the distress I’m experiencing isn’t OCD but instead a side effect of being paraphiliac. I hate this Also what’s even worse is that I don’t even feel that anxious. Like yes I am anxious but not as much as I feel like I should be and I’m relatively calm. I feel like I should be more anxious for it to be OCD and I should be more anxious when faced with the threat of being paraphiliac and even though I am anxious, it’s no where near as bad as it should be or has been in the past. What does that say about me? (I don’t want reassurance, all I want is advice to help me cope through OCD spikes) I’m so scared. I don’t want any of this. I don’t want to do paraphiliac things I don’t want to do anything that they do because those things make me uncomfortable but I feel like that’s what someone with a paraphiliac disorder would say. I am so f*cked
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