- Date posted
- 6y
- Date posted
- 6y
Yeah, the avoidance is getting pretty bad for me too. I’d stopped taking walks for a while and recently started again, and the thought hit me that maybe I will have to compulse in some way. So I almost felt like avoiding it completely. But today I went for a long walk, with some bad stumbles on the way, but felt better in general.
- Date posted
- 6y
Yes! It’s like it grows exponentially, attaching itself not only to concepts, but also to situations, places, time of the day. I can’t stand one cafe now just because I had an OCD episode there. I’m trying not to avoid anything, but it’s exhausting:(
- Date posted
- 6y
Haha! Yeah I agree, when I feel normal it gives me this positive confidence which helps against the OCD. Recently I’m also doing Buteyko breathing too, which seems to be helping relieve anxiety. Accoring to some practitioners symptoms of OCD can be completely gone after 6 months of doing the breathing.
- Date posted
- 6y
Yes. OCD will indeed latch onto anything you care about most in life. However, avoiding situations, people, and places that you have triggers built within will only hurt or hinder you in the long run. It’s one of those things in OCD like any exposure: Initially, you are bringing on the anxiety. You are welcoming it. Only with the sole goal to weaken the pathway or thought process in your brain every time. I struggled and still struggle with HOCD. Through practice and working with a specialist and facing the fear, I took what was bothering me 98% of the time and weakened those thoughts to honestly below 10%. An amazing feeling. Just to put it in perspective, that took about a year and a half. And that was my strongest OCD content I have ever experienced. Remember, the content is irrelevant. I’m here to tell you all through experience that OCD will morph and latch onto things that you may never see coming. So rather than attacking what the content is year to year, go after the core of OCD.
- Date posted
- 6y
Thanks a lot for sharing Ty! I’m envious of your success. If I may ask, can you give a simple example of how you went about the treatment for your HOCD. Even though I don’t have a lot of HOCD at the moment, I’m very scared to get treatment for it. I’m finally calling to book a meeting with a psychiatrist tomorrow, so would be good to know something.
- Date posted
- 6y
I’ve recently started to take walks too! Allegedly, that should help with anxiety. But right now it’s just an exercise in willpower and ‘being normal’ for me, which helps already. I’m using this app for counting steps and everything. I’ve noticed that being busy and acting normal makes a huge difference for ocd. But when I’m too tired to go on or when I have a head cold, I get lots of free time and OCD is like missed me?
- Date posted
- 6y
Yes all the time
- Date posted
- 6y
Wow great insight @Ty94. The ‘welcoming anxiety’ part sounds powerful. I’ve used this approach out of spite when I was having intrusive dreams. I was so sick of them that I actually said to myself some evening: okay bring it on dreams! Let’s see the worst you can do! I dare you! And of course the dreams happened at some point, and I was like: it’s the best you can do?? So my attitude totally changed and now I don’t get these dreams, or maybe I still get them, but don’t remember them since they are not disturbing me anymore. But to tell the truth I felt totally confident that dreams don’t mean anything to begin with, and with other concepts of HOCD I am not so sure.
- Date posted
- 6y
Ejgh, That’s awesome that you are seeking treatment. I’m telling you man, you will reap the benefits. Just go in very open minded is all I can tell you. Don’t be afraid. Dig deep and talk about what is really going on. OCD is real and if you have a specialist working with you, nothing you tell them will be new news. Like all OCD themes, HOCD is hard to talk about (especially for a man I think haha, no offense ladies). But I’ll tell you one thing, I did my homework and studying on OCD along with the practice, CBT, exposure therapy, etc. So, I encourage you to learn up on what you deal with, in a way for me I use that as a form of exposure/facing the fear. Remember, OCD is so much more than the content it presents in each of us. It’s a mental disorder. Goodluck, and keep updated on here ✊?
- Date posted
- 6y
Scaredbunny, Hell yeah. Sometimes the best thing to say to this stuff is bring it. That’s interesting, I’ve never really dealt with the dreams part of OCD.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 24w
I have been really battling with my SO OCD, and I’ve recently started to have a ton of wins!!! I’m really excited about it, but as I’ve noticed myself not engaging as much… different things have popped up. Now im obsessed with people’s perception on me, and them looking at me and thinking by how I walk, how I talk, what I wear, how I move… that I am gay? And am so convinced everyone thinks that and “knows something that I don’t”. Is that typical with OCD? If so, any ERP advice on how to overcome these thoughts?
- Date posted
- 23w
Does anyone ever feel like you know you have OCD, but at the same time you think it might actually be you connecting to a higher consciousness or vibration that is trying to control your decisions so that the outcome does not turn out bad kind of like the butterfly effect. It drives me crazy because I know I’m conscious that it’s OCD but at the same time I overthink and feel like it might be a higher power trying to warn me that I’m not doing something right, like example; if I flip the trash can lid a couple more times it’s going to pervert something bad from happening and that why I’m sensing I’m not doing it right, because if I spent a little more time there and if I would have left earlier the outcome would’ve been different. Or say I just fight through it and choose to ignore it, but then I’ll carry that negativity/worry of not feeling like I did it right and will project it out into existence because the thought won’t leave my head and in a way your seeking it out into existence since you keep thinking about it, kind of like an affirmation?
- Date posted
- 22w
I was diagnosed with OCD around the age of 6, subtype- contamination primarily. It calmed down as I got older and I assumed it had gone away, but also didn’t realize it can show up in other ways, and it still had been effecting me which I know now. I’m not 31 and I’ve been in therapy for a year and it’s helped a lot, although I sometimes get thoughts that what if some of the stuff I’m dealing with isn’t ocd and I’m exaggerating. I feel like thoughts will feel sticky and I’ll do certain compulsions but then the thought eventually vanishes if I do it a few times which makes me think maybe it’s not OCD since other people/friends I know would probably do the exact same thing. Not sure if I’m making sense, but I guess my question is if that thought comes up with anyone else? Just being unsure if something you’re doing actually is ocd or not.
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