Having sexual ocd intrusive thoughts has been a lifelong challenge. Becoming a married man and parent has been a tough challenge and great blessing having ocd factoring in relationships. I know we arent our thoughts but whay happens when i have those same intrusive ocd thoughts and worries pop up in my dreams. Is the same principle applicable? Its just thoughts means nothing.
yea i dream with my intrusive thoughts a lot i used to ruminate it on it for awhile but since it means nothing i don’t worry abt it anymore :)
I had a dream like that last night. It would have really bothered me at one time. But just acknowledging it happened and moving on without ruminating on what it means allowed me to hardly think about it until now. Like other dreams, its power just kind of fades away.
I totally get how challenging the sexual intrusive thoughts. Even just thinking about it now, trying to put it into words and how they feel so real and wanted, it’s so frustrating! I’ve had them pop up in my dreams too but I think we place too much meaning in our dreams. I find when I’m worrying about one of my ocd themes more than normal thatswhen I have more dreams related to it than when I’m not and I rarely, if ever dream about it
Realizing I was going to have dreams about what I obsess about all day helped me be less anxious when I had a dream related to a theme
In short answer- yes! Our dreams are filled with all sorts of things, so it only makes sense that sometimes we will have dreams about our intrusive thoughts. So what do we do? ERP! We can't control our dreams, just like we can't control our thoughts. What we can do is choose how to respond to it. The first time it happened to me I was a little alarmed at first, but then realized if I'm dreaming about it then that means it's probably something I should tackle with some ERP. I had a few more dreams after that, but they were much less intense and easier to move past (sort of like our intrusive thoughts!). Don't let it fool you, even in our dreams we are STILL not our OCD!
so you know how the more you have an intrusive thought, the more likely it is to show up in your dreams? well coming from someone who is atheist/agnostic and is skeptical on some holistic/spiritual takes on things, i am having a difficult time wondering why my intrusive thoughts are showing up in my dreams the way they do. once i wake up, whether it’s right afterwards or later in the day, i’ll remember the part of my dream that is totally fueled by an intrusive thought. unfortunately it’s not pleasant and very upsetting. so, how do any of you deal with this? i get worried and wonder if it has something to do with my subconscious trying to tell me something/having a spiritual meaning or a higher power trying to tell me something. these are super common ocd subtypes too so i know it’s that. i just struggle sometimes with the rumination.
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