To the people who are in therapy and on their recovery journey when the ocd is tending to die down a bit is it normal for the ocd to keep switching themes until it fully dissipates? Has anyone experienced this?
Yeah sort of, I’m in my relapse but yeah it just tries to find new things to scare you and if it doesn’t then your brain calms down
@Ericseal18 I’m also in a relapse /: haven’t had this for 8 years
@Dreamydream Is it one thought or how it for you?
@Ericseal18 Nooo i relapsed with harm ocd and it was really intense the last few weeks with a million different thoughts, scenarios, anxiety, urges. It was towards others/ loved ones pretty intensely then this last week it switched toward myself and now it’s switching to more disturbing sexual thoughts and a mix of just everything now but they feel less intense now so idk if that means it’s subsiding soon?? Wbu?
@Dreamydream So me personally I have one main thought to “kill mom” and things that surround it. A lot of it I think deeply is just anxiety and what not but yeah just that thought I think.
@Ericseal18 When this relapse first started my harm OCD was mainly based towards my mom too When did u start ur relapse and how ru feeling now?
@Dreamydream I have a problem already with repetitive noises and the thought seems to be the same
Like mid January it was definitely a lot worse then but I just can’t stand it being in my head 24/7
@Ericseal18 Is it making you feel like not like yourself like u kinda just feel off and weird?
@Dreamydream Yes, 24/7
@Ericseal18 Wonder when we will feel like ourselves again /:
@Dreamydream Idk man I just try to be patient and focus on the day to day things because time is precious
@Ericseal18 Ur right sorry
@Dreamydream No your good brother! Just be patient with your thoughts and you got it. If you felt like yourself before it’s possible again.
@Ericseal18 True (: how long has it been before ur relapse?
@Dreamydream It went away for like 5 months or something
before you read this, its long and kind of all over the place so I apologize in advance for any confusion!! sorry if it sounds like I'm being pushy and if you don't feel comfy answering this you do not have to answer. so, about the thoughts about other people minus the sexual ones, is it making you think of physical AND emotional ways to hurt somebody or is it one or the other? I think identifying that difference might help you a little bit coming up with things you could try to do to counteract the thoughts and drive them out. I don't know if that's how you handle your but it helps me with non-OCD related things too so it might work well for you. if you didn't mean for this post to be a way for you to find new skills, I do apologize for misinterpreting it and maybe coming off the wrong way. if you posted this for other people with specific harm OCD to share with you, I apologize if I made you feel bad, or anything negative that wasn't my intention. if you don't feel comfortable sharing more with me that is perfectly fine. I'll still be here to listen to what you're comfortable with me knowing. I wish you the absolute best of luck with your journey through this. If you want me to pray for you I will. if you don't want me to, I'll respect your wishes. if me talking about this sort of stuff makes you uncomfortable (which is perfectly fine, I don't blame you) please let me know so I can delete this and if you want it rewritten, I can do that too. if you think there is anything I can do to help just let me know what that is and I'll do everything I can to make that happen. Sorry about making my message long I could summarize it if I wrote too much. if it's hard to understand what I'm saying since there's so much to read, I get it, I can talk about too many things and still not get my point across. I'll do whatever I can to help you through this. I care about what you're going through right now and your feelings matter to me. I am so proud of you for reaching out for help because that is a huge step in the right direction. You are so strong for being able to share about your relapse and that just shows that you may be relapsing, but you were able to reach out for help in crisis. even though it may not seem like a big thing (if your thoughts are also directed toward negative self-talk to make you feel like you aren't getting better, I'm sorry if I'm wrong), but it really truly is so huge because you spoke up about how you're struggling to get help, and you didn't act on the thoughts! I apologize for how dang long this is I tried to shorten it as best as I could. I wish you the best of luck through this and anything else you ever go through. You got this and you can get through this. It might not feel that way now, but it gets better. I believe in you. I will be here if you want to talk. Best of luck my friend (what are your pronouns btw? or are you okay with it if I call you queen or king? I don't want to assume, and I like referring to people like that sometimes bc it might make them feel better. If you don't feel comfortable with that that's okay. if there's something you'd rather be called like.) I also have dad jokes that are stupid to the point they're funny and just jokes I can tell if that is something that helps you <3
Anyone else feel that when they aren’t experiencing a theme that their ocd is almost non existent. It almost makes me feel like I’ve been faking it, and also makes me feel ridiculous for obsessing over things. I feel sorry for myself :/ I know that my themes are valid and felt very real in the moment, but after I “get over” them I just can’t believe that I was obsessing over something that either wasn’t true or didn’t apply to me. I would also like to know how to prevent themes from reoccurring. Health, religion and existential OCD themes tend to take turns throughout my life, I just didn’t know that was it ocd. Trying to break the cycle.
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!!!
So I’ve noticed that my OCD has calmed down, I’m getting less intrusive thoughts but I feel more uncertain than ever. Is this normal for recovery?
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