OCD can feel exhausting and confusing for many reasons. One of these reasons is the duality of how we experience OCD: We might be fully aware that the compulsion we're doing won’t “solve” anything or that it’s only feeding the OCD “loop,” but the intense feelings of danger, uncertainty, and distress can make it hard to resist. How does the duality of OCD show up for you?
I appreciated this post!💜 During a big symptom spike, I still struggle with the duality of knowing what I’m feeling and thinking is irrational, but feeling like my brain is “flooded” in that moment to the point of paralysis. “Uh oh. I’m overloaded. What do I do? Would that be a compulsion or avoidance? Etc.” When OCD spikes really bad, everything feels urgent and I struggle to untangle all the thoughts and feelings swarming me all at once. I’m untangling compulsions one at a time though, and have made huge progress in the last few weeks! So I’m very hopeful I can tackle this rare but difficult issue soon. 🌞 good luck out there everyone!!
@j vv You’ve got this! You are stronger than your OCD! 💕
It just makes me really tired and confused, the duality is frustrating. I've noticed people getting upset about being told to "let it just be there"...which is terrifying. I wish there was more depth and information on what to do to REALLY let the terrifying, horrific, and extremely painful thoughts, feelings and sensations be there.
@YouWillSurvive You start small. You practice on stuff that is only mildly scary and slowly work your way up until you are able to do it with even the most scary thoughts.
@YouWillSurvive Exposure Response Prevention therapy teaches us to confront our obsessions and sit with the discomfort we feel around them. Then, we learn to resist the urge to do compulsions. It's customized for each person and their unique needs, but here's how ERP generally works: After asking you about your specific symptoms, a trained therapist who specializes in OCD creates your ERP therapy plan. Based on that, you'll work together to rank your fears or triggers based on how stressful they seem—this way, you can gain coping skills gradually without getting overwhelmed. Hope that helps!
it convinces me that to keep myself safe, it has to make me feel unsafe at all times or ready for something to happen even when there is no imminent danger. like keeping me stressed is somehow going to stop the bad thing from happening
@moon027097 I experience something very similar! I also have “time urgency” where I feel like I have to rush through the day, so it is a double whammy of feeling like I’m sprinting away from tigers all day in order to beat the clock. Hang in there!💜
This is honestly very helpful for me since I’m still trying to figure out what to do with my OCD symptoms. (Please don’t judge😞)
@Ch@rlie144 You’ve got this! 💕
I know what I have to do when the triggers trigger and the compulsions start up but I don't refer to the techniques I've learned to help it I convince myself that acting on the compulsion is what needs to be done...like my mind tells me "not this one, this one needs you to do something about it...this might be the one thought that becomes real and you could do something about it to prevent it. I'd remember what I read about associations with words that trigger me and giving them a different meaning to help but the anxious feelings presents the thought that this isn't one of those OCD moments it's not the time for combat you know what you need to do which is the compulsion. Yet I keep reading, learning and trying.
This isn’t always true; people who have OCD with poor insight can believe that compulsive behaviors do help. I still struggle with this.
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