Tony Davies
- Date posted
- 20w
Question
Why is it that you beat one OCD think, but another OCD thing comes up related to it, but the same theme?
User11123User11123
- Date posted
- 20w
OCD is smart as hell. I liken it to playing whack a mole - when you knock it out in one place, it readjusts and tries to pop up somewhere else. As long as we are aware of it, we can be ready for it and know that the new thought is just ocd trying to get at us from any angle it can. The good news is, the more we knock it down, it will eventually start to get slower at popping back up.
Tony DaviesTony Davies
- Date posted
- 20w
@User11123 So can you say it’s fair to say that if we don’t give into compulsive behavior and or compulsions we don’t have to wack down more?
Tony DaviesTony Davies
- Date posted
- 20w
@User11123 What do you mean by knocking it down
Mrcino 1408Mrcino 1408
- Date posted
- 20w
@Tony Davies He meant not answering!
Tony DaviesTony Davies
- Date posted
- 20w
@Mrcino 1408 Ok so don’t look up or check?
Mrcino 1408Mrcino 1408
- Date posted
- 20w
@Tony Davies If i give you an answer it means you checked
Mrcino 1408Mrcino 1408
- Date posted
- 20w
@Tony Davies Look i will say no problem Yes that means NO CHECKING but tommorow or in 10 seconds o 2 minutes when it comes again Come here and read Dont answer Dont answer🥰
User11123User11123
- Date posted
- 20w
Then try not to look it up - if it’s too hard to stop completely, try to delay it to start. Tell yourself that you can look it up, but you have to wait 20 minutes before you can. Gradually increase the length of time you wait, until it’s “I can look it up tomorrow” and eventually “I can look it up next week” - ultimately culminating in not looking it up at all.
abbyb81abbyb81
- Date posted
- 20w
I like to picture it in my head as a video game I really like where there is me, the player fighting off the enemy, the OCD popping up. An example I could give is like going into a Minecraft cave and fighting the mobs off while you're looking for diamonds. Picture finding the diamonds as the end result of "fighting off" the intrusive thoughts. I think some people might not find is as helpful since I'm on the younger side. Another thing you could do it is draw something or find an image you think suits the "attitude" of your OCD and give it a name. I think of it like how in The Conjuring 2 they can't beat the evil thing without controlling it through its name. You could name your OCD and when you feel it coming up call it by that name. I like to tell it "You are in MY head, so I have control in here" or something like "You are a part of me, but you do not have control over me" These are things I find helpful, and from what I can tell you look like an adult so my examples may not work but you can edit them in so many ways to fit you better or take parts of each and combine them. I hope these help you with your OCD and I hope you have a good rest of your day. Good luck friend <3
Mrcino 1408Mrcino 1408
- Date posted
- 20w
Awesome analogy with calling it names, 🥰
abbyb81abbyb81
- Date posted
- 19w
@Mrcino 1408 Thanks 🫶🏻
User11123User11123
- Date posted
- 20w
Exactly. By knocking it down, I mean by fighting the compulsions. The more you fight the compulsions, and resist the ocd behavior, the more it trains your brain to stop asking you to do the behavior. So yes- the more you resist the compulsions that come up, the easier it becomes, and the less ocd will pop up each time.
Tony DaviesTony Davies
- Date posted
- 20w
@User11123 I see, for me it is looking it up and OCD keeps coming up with more questions
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Cody Fournier
- User type
- Therapist
- Date posted
- 23w
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jwall2.0
- Date posted
- 17w
OCD during Healing
Does anyone who has gotten better/healed with OCD ever experience that their thoughts and urges get more difficult as you get better. I feel like I am getting better at handling certain things but I feel like now newer themes and such get more difficult as I progress. I was curious if this is kind of the process to getting better. Weirdly, like it makes sense the closer you are to getting better thoughts become worst and stronger since you are doing better. Just need to keep on pushing and doing what I have been. Let me know, would love to hear your guys thoughts and feedback
garren0712
- Date posted
- 11w
Can anyone else relate to this?
my OCD is doing what it does best and it’s randomly selecting themes. Once I’m not scared or react to one it bounces to another. And then i temporarily forget all of my coping skills for that theme. Rn it’s fixating on the time I had a panic attack and it’s trying to make me have one again
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