Is it okay to use "I am" statements when intrusive thoughts come up? I'm afraid of telling myself the wrong things and it becoming a compulsion. If anyone has advice, I'd appreciate it! 🤍
In a positive way? Moderately and carefully :) (but contradicting your OCD is compulsive so try to avoid that (ex. “I’m a good person” (if your ocd is telling you you’re not), “I am not ____” (if your OCD is telling you you are)) I tend to tell myself “ugh I’m fine bruh” so that’s not as much reassurance. It’s dismissive, but not in an avoidance way. I saw comments on TikTok about favorite phrases to use against their OCD lol and they’re not I am statements but they’re helpful in my opinion. One of them was “omg b*tch be normal,” another “thanks Kanye,” and “ugh girl it’s not that deep, refocus” The thing with these is the anxiety doesn’t really go away, it’s more of a reminder that it’s just OCD like always. You might feel a bit of relief in remembering that and that’s okay. I think you might be able to tell if it’s becoming a compulsive habit (repeated multiple use). Remember you can also use sarcasm or just change the “I am” statements up so it’s not just one looping phrase :) Btw, I try to direct these replies at the urge to ruminate or confess or check more than the actual thought. Also the phrase “I’m safe” I was advised to use when I was having a panic attack but not repeatedly. Only as a one time (maybe one snooze lol) reminder. I hope this helps!
This is definitely helpful. Thank you! I think what I intended to do might've turned into a compulsion, so I'm glad I made this post asking for advice lol When I'm spiraling, I easily forget all the tools I've learned to manage my OCD because I'm just so busy panicking and thinking, "No, but this time it's real!" 🌚 I'm going to bookmark this so I can come back to it if I forget. Thank you so, so much, girl 🫶🏻🫶🏻 I hope you've been doing okay this past week!
Although "I am" statements are a great tool to help build self-esteem outside of OCD, we actually discourage use of any coping skills when having intrusive thoughts as they become, as you said, compulsions. Reassurance of any kind is a compulsion. The goal is to say "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not, I don't know." Or, "thoughts are just thoughts." Learning to lean in to the uncertainty is the goal :)
Thank you for letting me know. This applies to real event OCD, too? That's one of my main struggles right now is past mistakes or regrets. It's been a lot more difficult for me to use non-engagement responses with this theme for whatever reason.
It’s fine, in my opinion. No one knows you better than yourself, be confident you know yourself, my fav thing to say is ‘I am okay, I am safe, I know I am a good person and my actions and thoughts don’t define me’
Thank you 🫶🏻🫶🏻
I'm not sure exactly what you are referring to, but I tend to take a positive perspective on maybe, maybe not. For example, I would said, "I don't think I am, but maybe." "I don't think that will happen, but maybe." "I think I'm a honest person, but maybe I'm a liar", etc. I got way too depressed with the maybe, maybe not stuff. Couldn't do it. So I find this positive, but still uncertain. My counselor said it worked because it was still uncertainty.
I like that take! Maybe, maybe not freaks me out a bit. I know that's kind of the point, but... 😭 Anyway, I will definitely be using those. Thank you so, so much for the advice! 🤍
When an intrusive thought comes I can’t just say “that’s not true” and just move on. I always feel like I have to disprove the thought and be able to say it with confidence but the problem is that the ocd doesn’t allow me to feel and say it with confidence so I get stuck for hours or even days. How can I stop feeling like I need to do this?
This might contain triggering content, but I'm also wondering if others have dealt with this similar thought, and if so, how to deal with it? Overall, I've been doing so well these past few days. I'm able to eat again, which I hadn't been able to do because of how much anxiety I'd been experiencing. I'm spending time around loved ones and not just rotting in my room, and I've been able to wake up without immediately being bombarded by intrusive thoughts. When things first got really bad, I'd wake my mom up every night for reassurance, but I haven't done that in a while either. I'm really proud of myself, but there's still this nagging thought in my mind... While looking through others posts on here, hoping to find advice that'd fit my situation, I ended up making things worse. Someone mentioned how they had a fear that they'd purposely search for illegal content (related to POCD). I panicked, and "what ifs" flooded my thoughts. "What if the intrusive thoughts affect who I am as a person, and I do that?" I'm terrified that I'll search for those things, which I know means I wouldn't do it. But then, another person on here said they'd actually looked for those things, and that freaked me out even more. Does that mean it's possible for that to happen to me? I don't want to do that, but I keep having intrusive thoughts surrounding it. I've been doing so well these past few days. I'm just... stuck. I don't know what to do. I've spoken with other people who have the same fears, but how do I manage this? It's not something I've even thought about before seeing those posts. I've been practicing accepting the uncertainty, but I'm really struggling with this one. I hate this. This morning, I woke up, and the intrusive thoughts were back. It's just disheartening.
I’m having a big OCD relapse and would like to hear anyone’s tips on how to be present and healthily deal with these intrusive thoughts and the “need” to preform compulsions. Thank you!!
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