If you suffer from taboo themes, and deal with groinal responses… Do you feel they have disappeared? Do you still notice them? For myself, they have become so engrained/automatic , so while i do not get “anxious” by them anymore i still can clock them & it can feel discouraging … What are your experiences?
They’re not present most of the time but they’re still around and pop up during stressful times. You’re not going to 100% get rid of intrusive thoughts, feelings, and images. Everyone deals with them.
@Nica Gahhh im in such a foreign place with my ocd currently. Im 31 and ive dealt with it my whole life. Ive often had months of flare ups and years of NOTHING . For some reason the recent flare i had has kept me in the ocd loop for a Year now. Its just very confusing because on one hand, im used to having to deal with this but then on the other its sticking a lot longer than im used to? It feels constant like background noise. So while im not anxious about the theme or sensations im constantly aware of them… sometimes they drag me down, sometimes they dont but i guess im trying to hear other peoples experience because i feel like if i was truly “over it” they wouldnt ever drag me down… does this make sense 🤣
@Nica This is very true my main issue with my ocd is the “groinal response” the thoughts and images I’ve learned to kinda put to the side but I’m mostly always focused on that tingling/false arousal feeling
@ThatOCDDude Same , almost like somatic ocd
I mean I still get anxious by them and don’t want them but I don’t break out into full panic attacks anymore. I kinda just have the feeling a try to move on
@ThatOCDDude Right there with ya , i just get like annoyed/upset about them 💩 so im curious if this is just what it will forever be , or if im doing something wrong in order to truly get over them
@Anonymous I’m trying to figure it out also, i had bad checking compulsions before and I’ve now tried to ignore it such as checking for increased blood flow down there or arousal. I just got diagnosed at 26. It all hit me really hard like 8 months ago out of the blue
Nope, they haven't disappeared. Although I've already accepted the fact that I am going to have to live with these thoughts my entire life. It was actually one of the first things my therapist mentioned to me -that there is no magical wand that can make our OCD go away-. Despite how annoying and irritating my OCD can become, I've learned, (and am still learning new ways), how to deal with the thoughts and tone down the anxiety/stress that might be caused from my OCD. Like others below have said, I sometimes might still get a little anxious or upset, but I am 90% of the time able to deal with it and smack my OCD right back. In the times where I mentally stumble or happen to exacerbate my stress, I am at least able to calm myself down and remind myself of what I learned in therapy. Prior to therapy, I would just spiral and keep spiraling, dealing with constant stress headaches and anxiety nearly everyday. Anyways, that's just my own experience :) I am still learning and don't consider myself "fully recovered"; I actually have an OCD Conqueror tag but am hesitant to wear it. I've definitely made big progress with therapy though!
I was at a point I didn’t got them anymore, I worked that on therapy about exposing to that feeling and not tried to analize it. I had a relapse and then they came back for a while, and now even if I’m still not at my best, I haven’t feel them. Really weird haha So idk it’s something I don’t understand that much. But I remember having groinal responses since I was young, for example, if I got to the doctor and they need to check my body, if I had to change clothes in front of someone, even when I was alone just in my underwear haha So I think it’s pretty normal for ocd sufferers, and I think it doesn’t necessarily means something.
Anyone else read about "groinal response" and "arousal non-concordance"? Basically anyone can feel a slight "twinge" of arousal at a random time, but for people with OCD, they immediately latch onto it and think it MEANS something about them. This is how many cases of HOCD, POCD, BOCD, etc begin, I'd imagine. I can have felt something one time 3 years ago and nothing since then, but still be worried it "means" something about me. Or, sometimes that first incident causes repeated intrusive thoughts every time you come in contact with that thing, so it become a self fulfilling prophesy. I can be doing fine for weeks and then suddenly start worrying about one of these again. Anyone else have any experiences similar?
How have you guys dealt with your stickiest / most long lasting theme? For me this is HOCD; I had other themes popping up in the last few months but I was able to get past them quite quickly with acceptance and a sort of shrugging manner, like ‘the probability of this happening isn’t enough for me to waste my time obsessing over’. However HOCD has always been different, it was what started my ocd and what I obsessed over for a year before discovering I had this disorder, and it often feels like when I decide not to obsess over it, I’m just sweeping the issue under the rug and not thinking about it. I’m better with a lot of the triggers but the big ones, like ‘comphet’ and my relationship nerves, are so hard to ignore. A part of me is always saying ‘you’re just ignoring this, you shouldn’t be!’. This is always been the theme where I find it so hard to distance myself from the content and look at it from an ocd perspective because when something relates to your identity say, I find it harder to ignore than obsessions about health or existentialism for example.
I think my OCD theme would be easier to handle if it were just thoughts or images. But when you deal with urges, arousal nonconcordance, groinals and false attraction or “wanting” feelings I just can’t handle it. How do you even help stop arousal non concordance? I just can’t deal with this being in my life forever.
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