Reading articles on suicide

Hello all, does anyone else understand this. I can be reading something on social media or news source and hear about a woman who killed herself and it becomes a huge trigger for me. I get so upset I try to know more info about the how and why of the story thinking omg what if I did that or became like that person. It gets my mind going whenever I come across these articles and I have to convince myself I’m ok and this isn’t my life but I get so upset and sends me spiraling.. Can anyone relate to this? How do you cope with it? I know I’m okay and wouldn’t do that but the what if aspect scares me 😢

Username: mseb10mseb10

Date posted: 33w ago

I relate to you 100%. Anything suicide or suicide related is a major trigger for me because it makes me spiral and my biggest compulsion is constantly reassuring myself that I would never do it or compare my life to the life of the person who committed suicide to make sure there are no similarities. I won’t lie it’s easily one of the hardest OCD themes to resist because it’s like the most dangerous thing in my mind (what’s more dangerous than the thought of my death?). So for now I try to practice any and all non-engagement strategies that I use for my other OCD themes and it does help for the most part. But yeah I’m right there with you it’s something that I’m planning to do exposures for very soon so I’ll definitely make some posts in the future about that experience. Best of luck to you - you’re not alone in this!

Username: Schoolie93Schoolie93

Date posted: 33w ago

@mseb10 Thank you ! Yes it’s a tough one , I’m just starting ERP with this one. Do you ever say “what if” I got this bad. That’s supposed to be a flag that we are okay by worrying about our biggest fear.

Username: Hopefloats227Hopefloats227

Date posted: 33w ago

Yes. Not related to that theme but other themes in the news. I’ve used the articles as ERP and read it over and over and sat with the anxiety and uncertainty. It’s hard. It’s just about rewiring your brain not to take these things and signal as a threat.

Username: Schoolie93Schoolie93

Date posted: 33w ago

@Hopefloats227 Ok I bet it makes you uncomfortable of course I feel like I can’t breathe when I get this anxious ughhh

Username: Hopefloats227Hopefloats227

Date posted: 33w ago

@Schoolie93 Very hard. It’s what made my OCD spiral 🌀

Username: Sophie7007

Date posted: 5y ago

Harm OCD help please! There’s been two news stories recently (one where I went to uni) where the boyfriend in a couple has killed the girl, possibly following a fight. Both cases are uni students, really similar lifestyles to me and it’s like, what if I do that? It’s really triggered my harm OCD like I’m desperate to know what happened, why it happened and how people can kill each other just like that because I’m so scared I’m going to do that one day. Does anyone else do that? The first case we know it was a ‘jealous rage’ that led him to kill her, but everyone gets jealous right? So how can that lead someone to kill another person? Thanks in advance :(

Username: Sophie7007

Date posted: 5y ago

I, like many others, don’t experience one type of intrusive thought, but am currently having suicidal OCD type thoughts. But these are the ones where I find it the hardest to work out if they’re actually my thoughts or just intrusive thoughts. They come if I’m reading an article about someone who’s committed suicide or if there’s a Tweet about it for e.g. and it’s like ‘that will be you one day’ or ‘I know I’m probably going to end up doing that.’ Sometimes I get worried about it and try to tell myself I won’t but then at other times, I just sort of accept it like, well if it’s going to happen it will. Can anyone relate? Thanks

Username: kbell

Date posted: 1y ago

Stories of Mental breaks

Is anyone else triggered by stories of people who have a mental break? My biggest fear 😭. I know we should expose our fears and sit with uncertainty. I struggled to expose and move forward.. I'll read the same tragic story over and over...obsessively worrying it'll happen to me.

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