- Date posted
- 44w
Advice?
I’m having a big OCD relapse and would like to hear anyone’s tips on how to be present and healthily deal with these intrusive thoughts and the “need” to preform compulsions. Thank you!!
I’m having a big OCD relapse and would like to hear anyone’s tips on how to be present and healthily deal with these intrusive thoughts and the “need” to preform compulsions. Thank you!!
I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing a relapse. Focus on your breathing or use mindfulness techniques to bring your awareness to the present moment. Techniques like the "5-4-3-2-1" grounding exercise (identifying things you can see, hear, touch, smell, and taste) can help anchor you in the now. Instead of trying to fight your intrusive thoughts, acknowledge them without judgment. Understand that these thoughts do not define you and recognize they are part of OCD. When you feel the urge to perform a compulsion, try to delay it for a few minutes. Gradually increase this delay over time. This can help reduce the anxiety associated with the compulsion itself. Use cognitive restructuring to challenge irrational thoughts. Ask yourself what evidence you have for and against these thoughts and whether they are realistic. Find activities that you enjoy or that require your full attention, such as reading, drawing, exercising, or spending time with friends. Engaging your mind can distract you from intrusive thoughts. Resist the urge to avoid situations that trigger your anxiety or compulsions. Gradually facing these triggers can help diminish their power over time. Structure can provide a sense of stability. Try to maintain a daily routine that includes self-care activities. Remember to believe in yourself and your recovery. You can do it, just as you did before.
Thank you so so much for your kind words and advice!! This was very helpful🫶
You're welcome 🙂. Wish you a speedy recovery.
Use the SOS button. Take care of your body - sleep, nutrition, exercise. Learn basic mindfulness - stay grounded in the here and now. Sometimes when it's really hard I have to speak out loud to help myself be present in the moment - "now I'm brushing my teeth, I feel the taste in my mouth of toothpaste, now I walk out in the kitchen to make some tea..." Practice practice practice - and it takes time. We have to remknd ourselves that we have an disorder and we don't will fall for the tricks. Compulsions make it worse. Check Jenna Overbaugh on Insta - she is great.
Hi! I have Religious OCD, and have been recently needing some tips on how to deal with this painful disorder. I constantly feel like God is telling me to do certain things for example, “don’t go there,” or “don’t do this or else it will be against my plan for your life.” This causes me so much anxiety, and makes me question if I am doing the right things to live according to his will for my life. I’m constantly worried I’m disappointing Him. Also while praying I get thoughts in my head saying I should for example, add for religious practices to my routine. This also causes me stress because while dealing with this disorder, daily religious practices become very overwhelming. I’m worried that if I ignore these thoughts during my prayer, I am ignoring God. I have truly hit a limit where I don’t even know what to do, and am searching for some tips if anybody on here has any. Let’s overcome this OCD together. Thank you
I still do not have an OFFICIAL diagnosis (I dont have the means to do so) but given my symptoms, past and present in my life hugely suggest OCD is what I am dealing with. I cannot be 100 percent certain but after searching for answers and researching for a long time now, I am fairly certain and confident this is what I am struggling with. Given this step forward, I am making more effort into giving up compulsions. at the current moment I believe to be dealing with ROCD, as I have been having several intrusive thoughts that conflict with my relationship. For starters, recently over the past month or 2, I have been struggling with intrusive thoughts like not being over my ex, being attracted to someone else, losing feelings for my partner and not being in love, etc. I can consciously identify that I dont believe these thoughts to be true but it causes me so much distress and anxiety. It gets extremely unbearable some days, and I have leaned into 2 main compulsions. I have relied on thought checking and googling as my source of relief. At first the googling was genuinely to start finding answers; hence why I have made some of the discoveries I have about OCD including this site. But it developed into every time I was anxious, I would whip my phone out and start googling strictly to find an answer that would reassure me or calm me down. As for thought checking, it acted as a way to reaffirm my love for my girlfriend in my head when I have had the thoughts that collide with my relationship and how I feel about my girlfriend. It worked at first but developed into a compulsion where every time a bad thought got me worked up id either do my normal googling or Id think about that in my head to calm myself down. Over time these compulsions have gotten less and less affective and now when I do them it only gets me more anxious and desperate for reassurance (strengthening the cycle or whatever it is lol). I did some more research and finally have accepted the very real fact that I am going to have to sit in heavy anxiety and not give into compulsions for a while in order to treat this. I have to sit in the thoughts that make me feel all this hightened anxiety and distress without giving into compulsion. to be honest I am scared, the thoughts are more rampant than ever, but I am ready to commit to this. I dont think I am gonna be able to go cold turkey on my compulsions so I am ready for the reality I might relapse on the compulsions sometimes, But am gonna keep going until I can break these shackles OCD has on my life right now. I wanna ask, what is everyones methods they use to avoid giving into compulsion when the thoughts get loud? any advice is welcome :)
Anyone who struggles with real event, rumination, and guilt. Please please please tell me your tips and tricks and maybe some words of encouragement.❤️
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