Cheers to being human

Great to hear! You must have much experience and wisdom to share with others both with and without OCD. 💪🏻 pretty awesome

So happy for you! I read your bio and i’m going through the same harm OCD as you that was triggered by watching scary movies and psychological thrillers and i went months hating myself and wanting to not be alive and being consumed by scary thoughts of killing. i started therapy 2 months ago and it’s gotten a bit better but i feel myself really wanting the thoughts to go away and wishing i could go back to before i had them (which i know doesn’t help), do you have any advice on how u stopped the harm OCD? its so horrible i wouldn’t wish it on ANYONE. Thank you and im so happy for you, so inspirational❤️

Hello! This beast is ferocious! I hope you start to feel some sense of "normalcy" soon. 3 main exposures work for me. 1. Imaginational scripts of worst case scenarios and reading them over and over for a set period of time (I usually set a timer for 5 minutes and work around there either going up to 10 or down to 1 minute depending on how im feeling) and allow the discomfort to be there without trying ti control it with your mind! 2. Setting a timer for 1-10 minutes and letting myself ruminate and ruminate but instead of just in my mind, I record it out loud on my phone any thought that pops into my head for that set time, then as soon as the timer stops I do something productive. So plan ahead of time what you are going to do right after that timer ends, go for shower, clean the dishes, something along those lines. 3. Journaling for a set amount of time any thought that comes in mind mind and again do something productive after the timer ends. It is so important to just allow yourself to exist in this horrible feeling. You can't fight it, you cant wish for something different, you can't talk yourself down. I find that eventually when my mind has been exhausted of thoughts over weeks or months, I like succumb to it, meaning, I just accept it for what the experience is to me. And you must never give up on doing the work. I hope this all makes sense. It also helps when I put on pieces of paper around my house (not in a compulsive way, but in a reminder way) response prevention quotes, to remind myself how to talk to myself when these thoughts come up. Like, "I may not like what my brain is thinking up, but I am okay and am choosing to go about my day anyway." Or "I don't know what I am or am not cable of, but I'm going to make decisions one step at a time." Or "OCD you are a bully, but welcome to my mind anyway!" Please reach out to me for more talking if you ever feel like it.

I have been triggered many times throughout my life and most times it's a full on relapse and a full on recovery. Crazy how it can be so different person to person

Cheers! It definitely is a journey where you learn so much about OCD and yourself. Never forget how far you've come!