Anyone struggling with existential ocd ?
Hey how are you all doing ? I’m looking for people who has struggled with existential ocd bc I feel this theme is not very common and very hard ( at least for me ) so anyway if you would like to exchange about it don’t hesitate ! I’m looking for support bc god I hate this theme
I dealt with it a bit. I’ve had intrusive thoughts like “what if nothing is real, what if everyone is fake” stuff like that. These thoughts also caused me to experience depersonalization and derealization. Honestly the best thing you can do with this theme is to socialize and get out into the world.
@Mikecicle I feel you ! I had the same intrusive thoughts sometimes it focus on a specific person. I have intrusive thoughts like : what if my boyfriend is not real ? It really stresses me out when I have these thoughts but I’m trying not to engage with it. If my brain want to think that I let it think that but I have to admit that it is annoying specially when I’m with my boyfriend and my brain convince me that he’s not real… deep down I know it’s bullshit but you know OCD
I struggle with this too, and I gotta second the "go outside" sentiment. It kinda functions as an "opposite action" to force me out of my head.
I have this right now, HAHAHA idk what to do anymore bruh
@Anonymous Sending love 🫶🏼
Ive dealt with this theme before! My best piece of advice honestly with what helped me get over it was just to stop playing ball with OCDs questions and accept that I would never ever get the answers! I would use non engagement responses like: “Yep can’t wait to never figure it out!” “Can’t wait to never ever know the meaning of life (or literally whatever’s being thrown at you by OCD)” “ I don’t need to figure this out” Eventually OCD will get bored of throwing you these unanswerable questions! Hope this helps :)
“I don’t need to figure this out” I felt my insides drop out after reading this! I need it on a billboard across the street from my house
@ScuderiaAlpha Thank you ! What would you do if your intrusive thoughts focus on your boyfriend I have intrusive thoughts like what if he’s not real… it’s very annoying specially when I’m with him. But yes I try not to engage with my thoughts but it still feel really real
@melissaaa I know how real and urgent it can feel don’t worry! My advice here would be to apply the exact same principle. And it’s gonna sound very bizarre 🤣 but: “Maybe he is real and maybe he’s not, I don’t need to figure that out and I’ll continue enjoying spending time with him despite my thoughts” “Cool one OCD, you’re getting real creative!” “Ahh this thought again that is just awesome man hope you come back!”. I had this exact thought targeting my family members when I dealt with existential OCD, so I know weird it is. But honestly, when I stopped engaging with OCD’s questions, very quickly did it get bored of firing this existential stuff off. Hope this helps! :)
@ScuderiaAlpha Im glad I’m not the only one who had this weird thought 😅😅😂 I know it doesn’t make sense but you know OCD and I’m gonna try to do that next time this though pops up thank you very much 🫶🏼 I was wondering how long does it took you to get out of the loop? I’m having a relapse with this theme but it’s been like a month now and idk why I thought I would get out of it faster 😅 I have moments/ days where I barely have OCD and days where I feel like I’m back at square one it’s very annoying
@melissaaa It was a while back so I can’t exactly remember, but I do remember that to beat it I stayed very committed to not replying to my intrusive thoughts. Even if they would happen literally constantly as they did to start with, I would commit to not trying to “figure anything out”. I do remember though, that whilst it did linger for a bit, I did see quite quick improvement from doing so.
@ScuderiaAlpha Thank you very much 🙃🙃 hope I’ll feel better soon stay well !
I’m pretty positive I experience it too. Sometimes I fall so deep into a depression and wonder what the point of any of this is. I can’t find a good explanation. I just see humans abusing and murdering other humans and I don’t understand the point of any of this. I’m a mother, but sometimes I wish I had never had kids because I’m scared for them.
@uncoolsby I also have a hard time differentiating what is real or not.
@uncoolsby Sending love 🫶🏼
@melissaaa Sending love your way as well. 🩵
Late to the party but this is a big one for me, def what triggered my last few flares — questioning if I am real or people are real or if I will forget everyone or they’ll forget me, etc. Who knows!! But I do know that at the very least I like these fake people I’m meeting, so I’ll take it.
I try to read philosophy etc to figure it out but it leads me only to more isolation and despond. I thought Stoicism had the answers but I think it may have only confirmed my negativity and hopelessness.
@Damion The important thing to remember here is that OCD won’t ever let you come up with a definitive answer for any obsession. There has never been anyone with OCD who has done enough research and compulsions and gone “Ah Ha! That’s it I’ve found the complete certain answer and OCD won’t bother me anymore!” It will just throw doubts into that. I’m sorry to say but every text you read to try and figure out life questions and every time you ruminate to try and figure it out, it just makes the problem worse. I had this theme and I know it can feel hopeless, but if you stop trying to answer OCDs questions, the alarm will eventually shut off and OCD will stop throwing you these intrusive thoughts about existential stuff.
Hi. Does anyone out there have Suicide OCD? If so, I’d love to chat. It’s a new theme for me and extremely scary. Just would like to talk to someone who is experienced with it. Thanks!
Is anyone experiencing existential OCD as well?
Don’t see many people with existential OCD posting on here. I have bad existential (am I real, are the people around me real, am I in some kind of Truman show/matrix world etc.). With existential I think reassurance from other people is basically impossible because we understand that you can never know if the world is real, and I think that’s why doing something even like posting on this forum for support can feel unhelpful and meaningless. But maybe that can be a good exposure for us, like by allowing this forum to mean something we will fight against our OCD? Idk just a thought. Also these thoughts are just so scary that talking to people about them can seem very scary. Like how do you tell somebody you think they might not be real? I avoided talking to anybody about this for years until recently because I thought I was going crazy (I have some schiz-ocd as well) after this thought came to me after an LSD trip. Wondering if anybody relates to this, and maybe we can get some more existential posts in this forum as I think it’s under-talked about, and it’s something that probably will get worse as a society with all the dystopian tech themes in movies and stuff. Also how have you been doing ERP exposures? I’m just starting
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