Think the best thing that I could do for myself is to actively practice positive thinking. Good things did happen today. There's a lot that I'm thankful for. There's a lot that I'm grateful to have. There's opportunities that I'm happy that I have right now. I just have to hold onto those and not the negative thoughts or anything that makes me feel bad.
Now we're talking ... Every time OCD brings negative thoughts, you counter with positive and act on the positive.
It'll be hard but it's something I know that I have to do. I can't keep going about every single day like this. Even if bad things really did happen, which they did. They're in the past now. I just have to make it a routine to find the positive in every single day.
@BigGyro09 I am so happy for you. Welcome back š
I think it's a good approach to focus on the positive in life, as OCD sufferers tend to focus on the negative most of the time, well, imo. I think Dunkin2019! meant using it as a compulsion, as in using it as a direct response to an intrusion and not as trying to shift your general focus on the positive things in your life.
I see. That's a little hard too though because sitting with it can make me feel terrible. Like it did almost all day today. If I sit with it and the negative feelings don't go away, what do I do then?
@BigGyro09 That's a good question. For me, ERP worked very well regarding MTOCD and Harm OCD, but it's a different story regarding my sexual subtypes. Doing ERP against the above stated subtypes seemed to have calmed my OCD brain down in general and in sensu ERP for my sexual themes also works pretty well. But in vivo, I still fo compulsions. I mean, a few years ago it was impossible for me to be around kids, now we have arts and crafts / board game afternoons with a friend and her 9 year old. That's a huge progress for me. But in vivo ERP exercise in the presence of a child, or animal is still a no go for me. If I had a therapist specialised in OCD atm, I'd ask them, as I really also want to know. I had been told, that my body is physically incapable of holding up anxiety on a high level for a long time and that my anxiety will go down after a while, but I sometimes had extremely high anxiety for hours on end.
Counter acting with a positive thought is a compulsion. Itās okay to think positive but when a negative thought comes donāt do anything. Donāt try to overcome it with positivity but also donāt engage and create a negative space either. Just continue on
To be honest I'm not sure how it can be a compulsion. I don't feel like anything else works. Sitting with it hasn't really helped either.
@BigGyro09 If it makes you feel better it is a compulsion. You arenāt supposed to feel better. You are supposed to feel the anxiety or whatever feeling it gives you and just be with it. Over time you desensitize yourself. The more you try to counteract with positivity the more the thoughts will keep coming up.
@Dunkin2019! ERP is not meant to make us feel better? I strongly disagree. When ERP showed it's effectiveness the first time I was overjoined. The anxiety was followed by happiness and pride.
@ZoĆ«_84 I am in erp right now through NOCD. If you are doing something that makes you feel better after having an intrusive thought then it is a compulsion. Thatās the definition of a compulsion. Iām sorry if what I am saying offends you, Iām not saying we arenāt ever supposed to feel better but we are supposed to be feel better over time after not responding to an intrusive thought with any action whether that is physical or mental.
I think you need to refer to the definition of intrusive thoughts and compulsions. For a thought to be intrusive, it has to be negative and repetitive. For an action to be a compulsion, it has to be in reaction to the "negative" thoughts to ease its distress. Question, are positive thoughts distressing? Would the reaction to them be considered compulsions?
@hanysm@gmail.com I am not referring to the positive thought. I know the definition of an intrusive thought and a compulsion as I to suffer from ocd. But thank you for the recommendation!
@Dunkin2019! I don't feel offended and I have also been in NOCD therapy. ;) The thing is, if a positive feeling comes up all by itself, it is not a compulsion, like you said "If you are DOING something that makes you feel better." aka actively doing something. Besides, I only felt like this a few times after ERP took effect. Also, after suffering from OCD for 31 and years of fruitless in-patient and out-patient therapy, I really deserved to feel the high of "Gotcha!"
@Dunkin2019! I can understand where you're coming from with this, but it will confuses me. What am I supposed to do if the thoughts constantly bring me down if I just allow them? What if that's just not working?
@BigGyro09 It definitely feels like itās not working but it takes time and sometimes a lot of time. I have been stuck in a cycle for months before. I know itās hard and it feels almost wrong to not do anything but the way the brain is wired if we do anything with an intrusive thought it makes it important to our mind when it shouldnāt be
Iāve seen wayyyy too many negative posts on here (I totally get it)ā¦but can someone please share some positive experiences? Doesnāt have to be so grand, it could be just that you achieved a small goal with your ocd! I donāt want to continue feeling drowned by this debilitating disorder. I want to see what has helped some of you! So we can all encourage each other! š
I hope everyone is holding up okay! Iāve been seeing a lot of scared posts and whatnot lately, so I just wanted to make this post to remind ourselves to practice our uncertainty! I want to share a few response prevention lines that help me calm down! My thoughts do not define who I am. Maybe Iām a bad person, maybe Iām not, but I have a lot of things I need to do now. Iām going to practice not knowing for sure. I donāt have to solve this problem. I am choosing to sit with this uncomfortableness!
Yesterday I had a good day after I decided to not let any thought or feeling ruin my day. My intrusive thoughts and hyper awareness of consiousness/thinking was still there. But my day was more than okay. I even felt normal some moments of the day š¤ Letās do the same today. Lets live with the ocd instead of trying to escape it at all times.
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