This may not work for everyone but I’ve started to find being mean to my intrusive thoughts helps honestly. “That’s fucking dumb” “No normal person would worry about this” “If this happened to my friend they wouldn’t think they’re horrible so why should i?” I’ve been in treatment for almost a year so I also do the “maybe, maybe not” but sometimes my fears are so insanely stupid.
Whenever my OCD insists on me to do a compulsion I respond with “if it bothers you go do it yourself, Im too lazy to do it” 😂
I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with this! 😄 It's absolutely wonderful that you're progressing into stages of recovery where you have so much insight and accurate self-reflection. Since you really can see that the fears are idiotic now, you don't need to react with trepidation and caution. As long as we don't let a particular phrase/response turn into a regular compulsion, it can be empowering. I'm a few years into recovery and I sometimes react with "That's unbelievably stupid, OCD. I'm not even gonna reply!" or: "For real OCD? You think X is scary? Lol, no normal person thinks X is scary!" Likewise, I've even seen some OCD coaches and therapists advocate for using humour/sarcasm. You refuse to show any fear to the OCD and literally laugh off the intrusive thoughts. You kind of need nerves of steel, but it's also very satisfying 😄 If it says "You're going to stab your mum", you can say to it "LOL, yeah, and I'll stab my dad too afterwards". If it says "That object is contaminated with HIV", you can say to it "Definitely - it's probably got ebola and tetanus too!" And then totally ignore it. The OCD isn't sure what to do with these responses and often backs down 😄
I told my therapist one time I sometimes wished I could spray my OCD with a water bottle and then make it sit in the corner and face the wall and she said great that’s a great visualization do that and it’s now one of my go-tos when I’m able to do it and if the thoughts come back I mentally yell at it “no I said corner!” and it’s weird but it works haha
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