My magical thinking ocd has been really bad. It’s a bit newer of a theme it’s been showing up and getting worse for about a year. Since it’s a bit newer I’m not great at handling it. What’s worked for you?
Well, I'd need to know more about your intrusions in order to make ERP suggestions.
@Zoë_84 One of my bigger themes is numbers. Certain numbers are safe and others aren’t. Some mean different things. I have one number that when it shows up my ocd thinks that something will end or die. It’s trauma based. I’ve tried to talk about this on ocd forums before and only got “it’s not a number” reply which isn’t helpful. I also worry that my dreams and nightmares could come true. Or that if I think something (like an intrusive thought) it could come true.
@Idontknowausername Okay, thanks. Well, I suffer from MTOCD as well and ERP helped me massively. As an ERP exercise, you could just count, without living out "unsafe" numbers. You could also write a all the numbers you deem "unsafe" down repeatedly. By what you said, there's one number that's the worst for you, I wouldn't start with that one. Maybe you could start with making a list of all the "unsafe" numbers and then rate them. Afterwards, I would start ERP with the numbers, that scare you the least. Regarding the fear, that a thought could come true, I totally feel you, I struggles with that for ages, now after doing ERP on it, that fear pops up about twice a months and is gone within a couple of minutes.
@Zoë_84 Thank you for your helpful and thought out comment! Writing it down and just counting sounds like a really good idea. And yeah I have a handful of numbers that are bad but there’s one that’s the absolute worst, like genuinely makes my heart race if I see it. So yeah I gotta start slow. And yeah, with the fear of thoughts coming true, I’ve always had a twinge of it. But I have a couple spiritual friends that believe in manifesting. And “don’t speak it into the universe” type of ideas. I’ve kinda had to say like hey, ya know you do you but if I get into the mindset that what I think is what will happen I’ll get stuck in my head about it. And worry that all the bad things that happen to me must be because I thought it. I also have a fear that people just being my friend or being around me will have a negative impact on their life. Like my bad luck is contagious. Idk. Ocd doesn’t make sense lol.
@Idontknowausername Regarding the fear that intrusive thoughts could come true, I think a reality check could help, like: If our thoughts could cause things to happen, everyone who buys a lottery ticket would win the jackpot. But the chances of winning the jackpot are 1 in 300,000,000.
@Zoë_84 Yeah, it definitely isn’t logical and with the intrusive thoughts I can usually shrug it off. Still unnerving when it does happen. But the idea that our thoughts influence the real world doesn’t really make sense or else we’d be in constant chaos. Which we kinda are but I think it’d be worse lol.
@Idontknowausername Exactly. When my MTOCD pops up, it still sometimes feels like as if impossible things can happen, it's really annoying.
Hi! I've been on my OCD healing journey for about half a year and I have seen a lot of success. I'm reaching out for advice, I am very willing to do exposures because I know the more I do them, the more I get better, but I struggle with the response prevention part. I don't know how to control my brain when it comes to facing the fears especially since most of my compulsions are mental. I can tell myself the typical things "I am okay with the uncertainty of this happening", etc. but its like my brain doesn't believe them. I've been stuck in this disconnect for a while and would love advice you have heard from a therapist or learned that has really help you.
I was just thinking about how OCD tries to be tricky and switches themes on us!! The amount of times I have said to myself in the past, IF ONLY I HAD THE OLDER THEME I USE TO WORRY ABOUT BECAUSE THIS NEW ONE IS SO MUCH WORSE!!! Has anyone ever experienced this before? Once I started ERP therapy, I began to really start understanding what mental/physical compulsions I was doing to really keep my OCD alive! While I did this, I would also tap into my self-compassion bucket, even when it felt like it was dry at times, because it was SO easy to judge myself for because of the sheer presence of my thoughts. I would also have the most self-compassion for myself for those taboo intrusive thoughts that really felt so strong, ego-dystonic and real!!! My OCD would hop around from theme to theme and just when I thought I figured it out (compulsion) it would hop again and make me discouraged! I noticed for me that once I really understood my compulsions, it didn't matter when the theme switched as I could tackle it at its core. If I was able to stay steadfast and resist compulsions the best I could, I started to notice that my CONFIDENCE increased in the long run! I also noticed that some of the core fears were the same for different OCD subtypes. OCD treatment is hard BUT living with OCD is harder. I have experienced subtypes including Harm OCD, ROCD, Moral Scrupulosity, Sensorimotor, Contamination, Perfectionism/Just Right, Hit and Run, Magical Thinking, Real Event/False Memory. ERP therapy allowed me to really work on stopping these compulsions and switching from theme to theme. I was fed up with what OCD took from me and I needed to do something about it. I talked to an ERP therapist and it was one of the best decisions of my life. If you are struggling, keep pushing and get the help you deserve!! You got this!!!
Been struggling with existential OCD lately. Very hard to describe the thoughts/feelings, but it is a constant feeling of being stuck in my head. Like what is consciousness and where do I think from? Like I think it’s OCD, maybe it is maybe it isn’t. But if it is, what would be good ERP exercises? Just existing (lol)? And what would be my response prevention? I’m not even sure what mental compulsions I may be doing.
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