Switching themes & multiple times at the same time

I always feel like people think my ocd isnt that bad because i switch themes so often, especially last year. Almost every month i got a new main theme, causing extreme anxiety and than a month later another theme got triggered and it replaces the old theme. On tv you mostly see people having one main theme for yeaaars. I used to have that too to in my first 7 years with OCD, after those 7 years, after I went to therapy, its now constantly switching... Does this mean something?

kiwibasket

Date posted: 1y

personally i think the reason ocd switches themes so much is because its desperately trying to make you anxious over SOMETHING, anything once you get over one thing its like "well now i have to find something else to make you anxious about" very tiring

MyLifeIsOCD

Date posted: 1y

Exactly!!! It feels like my brain NEEDS something to be extremly anxious about. But i wonder... how do other people recover from this? Because im so tired after doing constant exposures for years, only for my Ocd to make me anxious about something else :(

kiwibasket

Date posted: 1y

@We'reGoodEnough im not so sure myself, but i think that means you need to focus less on solving the individual obsessions and more about coping mechanisms for how ocd works in general like for instance, doing exposures for religious ocd isnt going to help much for somatic ocd coping with ocd as a whole is mostly about being okay with uncertainty so instead of trying to solve specific problems, any time you feel your ocd starting up, try to work on being okay with being uncertain and uncomfortable i still struggle with this though, its definitely not easy, but i wish you luck :)

Anonymous 25#

Date posted: 1y

Mine constantly switches too and now it’s back to the main theme I had for months it’s very annoying

MyLifeIsOCD

Date posted: 1y

🫂🫂😔😔🩵🩵 It really is annoying... it feels useless to work on that theme cause the exact moment Im happy its getting better, another theme comes up and I can start all over again

Anonymous 25#

Date posted: 1y

@We'reGoodEnough Which themes are you struggling with if you don’t mind me asking?

MyLifeIsOCD

Date posted: 1y

@Anonymous 25# At this moment: real event, moral ocd, somatic, pocd, contamination, money obsessions, extreme obsessions around food/eating & just not right. Which ones are you struggling with the most?

Anonymous 25#

Date posted: 1y

@We'reGoodEnough Ughhh ! My themes started all around harm - but suicidal ocd has been brutal for me. I had it for months, then it switched to sexual orientation/sexual thoughts, and real event ocd. Now it’s back to suicidal again. I had a breakdown earlier I’m just so sick of it

MyLifeIsOCD

Date posted: 1y

@Anonymous 25# Im so sorry to hear this ❤️❤️ its so tiring and hard to deal with this disease! Do you get support?

Anonymous 25#

Date posted: 1y

@We'reGoodEnough Yea I work with a therapist through NOCD but still tough

ExposingMyOCD

Date posted: 1y

Ocd always finds something to latch onto. No matter what. I just try to keep doing my exposures when this comes up. Sometimes it's tricky and I don't even realize I'm doing compulsions then when I do I instantly stop. My biggest one is googling to check things at least the compulsions are consistent which helps me recognize what's going on.

Pushingpissed

Date posted: 24w

Feeling “normal” again

Anyone else feel that when they aren’t experiencing a theme that their ocd is almost non existent. It almost makes me feel like I’ve been faking it, and also makes me feel ridiculous for obsessing over things. I feel sorry for myself :/ I know that my themes are valid and felt very real in the moment, but after I “get over” them I just can’t believe that I was obsessing over something that either wasn’t true or didn’t apply to me. I would also like to know how to prevent themes from reoccurring. Health, religion and existential OCD themes tend to take turns throughout my life, I just didn’t know that was it ocd. Trying to break the cycle.

Cody Fournier

User type: Therapist

Date posted: 20w

OCD switches themes

I was just thinking about how OCD tries to be tricky and switches themes on us!! The amount of times I have said to myself in the past, IF ONLY I HAD THE OLDER THEME I USE TO WORRY ABOUT BECAUSE THIS NEW ONE IS SO MUCH WORSE!!! Has anyone ever experienced this before? Once I started ERP therapy, I began to really start understanding what mental/physical compulsions I was doing to really keep my OCD alive! While I did this, I would also tap into my self-compassion bucket, even when it felt like it was dry at times, because it was SO easy to judge myself for because of the sheer presence of my thoughts. I would also have the most self-compassion for myself for those taboo intrusive thoughts that really felt so strong, ego-dystonic and real!!! My OCD would hop around from theme to theme and just when I thought I figured it out (compulsion) it would hop again and make me discouraged! I noticed for me that once I really understood my compulsions, it didn't matter when the theme switched as I could tackle it at its core. If I was able to stay steadfast and resist compulsions the best I could, I started to notice that my CONFIDENCE increased in the long run! I also noticed that some of the core fears were the same for different OCD subtypes. OCD treatment is hard BUT living with OCD is harder. I have experienced subtypes including Harm OCD, ROCD, Moral Scrupulosity, Sensorimotor, Contamination, Perfectionism/Just Right, Hit and Run, Magical Thinking, Real Event/False Memory. ERP therapy allowed me to really work on stopping these compulsions and switching from theme to theme. I was fed up with what OCD took from me and I needed to do something about it. I talked to an ERP therapist and it was one of the best decisions of my life. If you are struggling, keep pushing and get the help you deserve!! You got this!!!

Dreamydream

Date posted: 19w

Journey to recovery…

To the people who are in therapy and on their recovery journey when the ocd is tending to die down a bit is it normal for the ocd to keep switching themes until it fully dissipates? Has anyone experienced this?

Harm OCD

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Switching themes & multiple times at the same time

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