ROCD

@anonanon5 Right! Like they may not even notice the thought in the first place?!

@Mk3 - Yeah totally! We have like tens of thousands of thoughts per day, so it's totally normal to have a weird thought and not even notice. I think people who don't have OCD probably do that all the time.

@anonanon5 Yes mine are more like mean thoughts about my partners appearance but yes

@Mk3 - Yeah, I'm sure non-ocd people have those stray thoughts as well. They just brush them off and move on.

@anonanon5 Or don’t notice at all ! Because they’re not really important

@djflorio Yes!!!! Even if someone has my mean thought I feel like if they don’t have ocd they may not even notice it the first time they have it!

@djflorio My new concern is- what if people WITHOUT ocd also fixate/notice this thought?

@Mk3 Sometimes they do. Anyone can fixate on a thought and enter the cycle of compulsions/anxiety. That just tends to happen much, much more easily and intensely with OCD.

@djflorio So sometimes the fixation is caused by ocd ? I’m just confused on if my issue is even ocd then if everyone can get fixated on thoughts like this

@Mk3 - OCD describes the tendency to fall into a pattern of intrusive thoughts, anxiety, and compulsions, to the point that it significantly disrupts your life. That last part is important. The truth is that everyone gets intrusive thoughts from time-to-time. Everyone has the potential to do compulsions to some degree. Those things aren't unique to OCD. What is unique to OCD is the very strong reaction to distressing thoughts, and the excessive need for certainty. It's been shown that people with OCD have overactive "error-detection" regions in the brain, which basically means we have extremely sensitive alarm systems. In other words, we find it much harder to "let go" of distressing thoughts. The point I'm trying to get at is that it doesn't matter if what you're experiencing is "OCD or not" because that's not really what OCD is; it's not specific, individual thoughts or reactions. It's the bigger-picture; the overall tendency to get stuck in the loop. Think of it like this: some parts of the world are more likely to get hurricanes than other parts. Likewise, people with OCD are more likely to get caught in the intrusive thought/compulsion loop.

@djflorio So people without ocd would have easier time letting go of thoughts. Therefore they probably wouldn’t fixate on them either then. But it’s possible that they can of course. And If they do- maybe they would be triggered by the same things that I am. Which is concerning because I thought I shouldn’t be triggered by these things. But then again they probably shouldn’t be triggered by them either whether ocd is involved for them or not. So maybe I just don’t need to think at all about all these thoughts. And I see what you’re saying. I have been diagnosed with ocd. And I’m always told to “zoom out.” But then I worry if it’s not ocd, then do I need to confess the thought? The worry never ends. And from what I’ve learned- ocd can be involved in individual thoughts

@djflorio How do we know if we should be fixated on a thought then?

@Mk3 - There’s no thought that needs fixation. All thoughts, whether they are intrusive, pleasant, scary, true, false, or whatever, are produced by the same parts of the brain. Our brains have regions that make up what's called the "default mode network," which is constantly churning out thoughts at a subconscious level, pretty much all the time. It does this as a way to try to make sense of the world around it. These are the thoughts that you "tune in" to when you sit around thinking about yourself or what will happen to you in the future. The vast majority of these thoughts are, for all intents and purposes, random and nonsensical. They aren't relevant to any present situation, desire, or belief. They are just noise that is influenced by words you've heard in the past, and your current environment. As an oversimplified example, say you look at a needle. Looking at the needle may trigger memories of the word "sharp," or "pain," which causes a chain reaction that eventually leads to a random thought of you stabbing a friend. That thought of stabbing your friend literally means nothing about you. It has nothing to do with what you do or don't actually desire. It just popped up due to conditions beyond your control. This is true for every thought, for every person. If you don't pay much attention to that thought, or don't care about it, it'll flicker in and out just like the other tens of thousands of thoughts going through your brain. However, if you assign meaning to that thought, and worry about what it means about "you," then what you're doing is priming the brain to be on alert for that thought, and anything related to it. Suddenly it's been "marked" as a dangerous thing that requires attention. You will then notice any random thought that has to do with stabbing your friend. This is how intrusive thoughts are born. Think of it like standing in the middle of a crowded party with hundreds of conversations happening at the same time. You might catch random bits and words of conversations, and if you don't care about those conversations, you won't listen. Now let's say you really don't want to talk about politics. Ironically, you'll end up noticing any word that even remotely reminds you of politics. The more anxious you are about talking politics, the more it will seem like people are talking about it, because it will become all you notice. Like I said, this sort of thing can happen to anyone. For those with OCD, however, it's significantly more likely, and significantly more difficult to break out of the "loop." The more attention we give these distressing thoughts, the more we'll notice any thoughts about the same topic, which is why we have these different OCD "themes."

@djflorio So people with ocd are way more likely to fixate on thoughts essentially? Thank you for this explanation! I guess it relates to my ROCD theme because I have the thought "my partner looks ugly" and fixate on that, then it happens more, then I have similar but different thoughts. It never ends. So in my case, I guess it's safe to say this is happening to me because of my OCD. Because I'm so fixated, I get triggered by random things my partner says or random stuff online that makes me feel like I should be distressed over this thought. But I think that's due to the unnecessary fixation that I have on these thoughts. Would you agree? So from my understanding, People can get fixated on thoughts for different reasons (like OCD etc) but fixation is never needed. Instead, we should be able to brush these thoughts off not even getting triggered by random things in the first place.

@Mk3 - Yes that's basically it :) 1: No thoughts "require" fixation or worry, because they're all just thoughts. 2: Thoughts become repetitive and intrusive when we become preoccupied with them, or fixated on them due to any number of reasons. 3: People with OCD are much more likely to fixate on thoughts due to an overactive "alarm system" in the brain, and thus more likely to experience intrusive thoughts. At the end of the day, that's really all there is to it. And yes, the actual thought "my partner looks ugly" has no inherit meaning or weight behind it. It's just a thought. But since the presence of this thought bothers you, you become preoccupied with it and anything related to it. Any worrying, ruminating, checking, or researching you do regarding the thought only serves to fuel the cycle. Again, it doesn't even matter if this is related to OCD or not, all that matters is that you're preoccupied with the thought. You're just much more likely to be stuck in this cycle if you have OCD.

@djflorio Yes!! But because I have OCD, that’s why I’m so fixated on these thoughts (in my case)

@Mk3 If you've been diagnosed with OCD then yeah, that's most likely why you're fixating. I don't know you and I'm not a therapist so I can't say one way or another 😅 Regardless, I wish you all the best 🙂

@djflorio Thank you. I think I need to remember that people without ocd may not even notice these thoughts/fixate on them!

@Anonymous Well I’m saying even if they’re true. They might not even notice them

@Mk3 Im worried about this. AND IF ALL THIS IS TRUE? A mean, how they foundoud what is ocd and that really we are not these bad thought?