Does anyone have any tips they can share as to what they do to prevent intrusive images from coming into their brain? Or when it happens how to cope?
You don’t need to prevent anything from coming into your brain. I know (cause a lot of mine take this form) that intrusive mental images or commands or statements can seem more scary than the more hypothetical “what ifs” but they’re no different. Don’t try and avoid or fight or prevent as this is a trademark compulsion. Instead, I like to either do nothing or give it a non-engagement response like “cool one dude!” “Love this one” “thanks for sharing man hope you come back!”. I know it seems scary and very weird to do this to mental images of even taboo stuff, but this is the treatment that works. Hope this helps. :)
Thank you! I'm going to try that! I have some scary images, so maybe this will help.... kind of making fun of them. I like it!
Our brain has built-in mechanism to clean up memory spaces, so it can reuse it. This process is not under our control like breathing or regulating heart beats. So it presents the thoughts to awareness to see if you develop any emotional reactions to it, whether negative or positive, and if you do it will keep bringing it again and again and again.... until you have no reaction to them. Just let the thoughts be, and go live your daily life.
Thanks! Yes...I just need to move along without engaging them.
Hi everyone, I wanted to reach out to see if anyone else has experienced something similar with OCD and intrusive thoughts. I’ve been struggling during moments of intimacy because intrusive thoughts, particularly ones related to POCD, feel so ‘sticky’—like they’re all I can picture. Even though I really want the thoughts to go away, they persist, and I’ve been trying not to avoid intimacy because of them. However, that makes me feel like I’m somehow ‘enjoying’ the thoughts or images, which I really dislike. It’s like my brain is playing this awful trick, and it’s leaving me feeling confused and gross. I guess I’m supposed to not let the thoughts bother me and continue as if nothing’s wrong, but I’m scared that by doing so, I’m almost training myself to get off to them or something. This fear makes it so hard to trust myself in those moments, and it’s been overwhelming. If anyone else has been through this, how do you handle it?
I struggle so bad with intrusive thoughts. They can be so bad that I'll cry because I KNOW that's not how I feel or want to do. (Too embarrassed to say what they're about) I'll constantly try to figure out why I have them, and constantly figure out what they mean, causing me to constantly circle around and around. I had to get on anxeity meds, which helped a little but the thoughts still happen. How do you help yourself with this? How do you know that you're just not some physcopath? 😅
So maybe the title wasn't the best to to put it but when you guys start having obsessive thoughts how do you stop them before it turns into compulsions and anxiety?
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