- Date posted
- 6y
- Date posted
- 6y
Same. I had this and was able to get over it by not googling. However with contamination ocd. I’m soooo repulsed that I can’t apply the technique. It’s really hard
- Date posted
- 6y
I’ve had this very badly. E.g spending 3+ hours a night obsessively googling symptoms, at one point. To be honest, I think I had to go through that to finally realize that a) it actually wasn’t decreasing my anxiety, and b) that I will NEVER reach a point of certainty due to the very nature of this illness. I tried to get into the habit of asking myself, “is what I’m doing right now helping or harming me, in the long run?” as soon as I can recognize that I’m slipping into ruminations.
- Date posted
- 6y
It’s so hard to stop. It’s almost like being addicted to a drug and knowing that if you’d just give in once, you’d feel a little better. I’m struggling pretty hard with this lately, but I’m getting better at it.
- Date posted
- 6y
Yeah it’s awful. I just gave in now to a 20-30 minute google session :( It’s so hard to just ignore a new physical “symptom” that you’ve never felt before.
- Date posted
- 6y
A part of me wants to block google on my phone so I *can’t* do it, but then I’m not really learning anything by forcing it, I guess... ?
- Date posted
- 6y
@InfiniteLoop Something my therapist recommended is to do “data collection” on your compulsions (googling). Meaning to write down in a spreadsheet whenever you give in to a compulsion, what triggered it, for how long you do the rituals, and what rituals you do. For me, doing this diligently and then actually being able to see that I was spending 3 hours a night googling things and that lo and behold the next day I STILL felt just as awful kinda helped to put things into perspective a bit after doing the data collection for 4-5 days.
- Date posted
- 6y
@orangey That’s a great idea! I think I’ll try that
- Date posted
- 6y
@InfiniteLoop Awesome, let us know how it goes.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 19w
I have a bad obsession with googling EVERYTHING and I mean things like health issues I’m constantly looking things up on google everyday , it don’t matter if I just got bit by a mosquito I’ll google it to make sure it nothing bad will happen to me or if the mosquito bite looks okay and etc , I’ve noticed my OCD symptoms bad here recently and looking up every health condition on google is one of them .
- Date posted
- 14w
This might be super specific, but something I struggle with is feeling the need to consistently look up things for reassurance. I feel the need to look up the same things over and over again just to make sure. Example: googling what to do in serious situations like a car crash, if someone’s having a heart attack, seizure, etc. I’m (soon to be) a healthcare professional and I feel like I know these things like the back of my hand. I feel like if I ever get to these (extremely unlikely) situations, I won’t know what to do. I feel the need to constantly reassure myself the proper protocol for situations that will probably NEVER happen. Anytime I think of this possibility, I can’t help but become trapped in a spiral of googling what to do. It’s come to a point that I’ve started noting down what to do over and over again if these situations happen. I really just want to know if anyone relates.
- Date posted
- 13w
I’ve had physical compulsions on and off throughout my life. And rumination while not physical comes right along with it. Recently my brain has latched on to reassurance seeking. And it makes work horrible. I constantly feel the need to seek reassurance or validation from my boss or my coworkers or friends. I feel constantly judged and hyper analyze everything someone says to me or every interaction I have. I go home after work and run over all the times I spoke to or interacted with someone that day and I’m critical of how I presented myself, how I was perceived, what I said or didn’t say. I then go back the next day not only wanting to seek reassurance but also thinking I need to over explain myself to prevent any kind of damaging misunderstanding or miscommunication that would make them think poorly of me. Is this a common thing? It’s been the worst thing to go through as of late, my checking and things has gone down but this mental stuff is a whole new beast. How do you guys handle this kind of thing at work or at school?
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