I feel like OCD has destroyed my brain relative to where I was before it. Headaches, worse memory, brain fog, mental fatigue, etc. How scary is that. Then I think "oh it's just 'cause you're worrying about that and it's temporary" Thing is, what happens when the temporary becomes the new normal? I hate this sh**
You’re so right that those symptoms can be experienced and they’re def valid 🙏 The good news is that this can be changed 👍 Right now your brain has a set path where you engage in compulsions in response to a trigger. These compulsions are giving you those frustrating bodily symptoms. But with ERP, you begin to create a whole new path in your brain when you resist doing compulsions in response to a trigger. When you consistently resist enough, that new path becomes your “default” and you’ll feel less of an urge to compulse over time. This is the process of neuroplasticity- you are physically rewiring your brain :) I encourage you to research its correlation with OCD. You don’t have brain damage, you just need to form new healthy habits of response prevention, to start feeling much better
It's been years though... Progressively worse. My issue with ERP for 'real event ocd' is it seems like I have to be delusional / lie to myself for it to work? Which is a direct contradiction with having integrity it seems. e.g. -- "that may or may not have happened" -- that just seems like self lying. The question isn't whether it did or didn't happen - it 100% did - the question is how do you get past it without lying to yourself? If something has been addressed and "dealt with," yet intrusive thoughts challenge that daily -- that's the part I'm having trouble with.
@Dude01 Understandable! ❤️🩹 A lot of times it does feel like things won’t get better because it’s been years. But I know that there’s people with OCD who didn’t get treatment until their 70’s and they still recovered 👍 Yes OCD is not curable but the symptoms of Ocd can definitely be minimized, no matter how long you’ve dealt with it. It’s just tougher to resist compulsions is all, when you’ve had a particular long-lasting obsession. For real event Ocd when something has happened, you don’t have to use “maybe maybe not” statements if you know the event happened. There’s a variety of response preventions that should be used and switched up so they don’t become compulsive. There’s agreeing with the thought, doing nothing, using humor, healthy distractions, mindfulness, etc. Maybe there could also possibly be an OCD obsession here with a fear of lying (by using “maybe, maybe not”) and a fear of not having integrity? (Not at all saying there definitely is, only that OCD likes to latch onto everything so I just wanted you to be aware). If you do have a fear of lying, it could be good to use saying “maybe, maybe not” as an exposure and then you sit either those icky feelings of not having integrity I encourage you to try out ERP with a licensed therapist if you have not already :)
@OneDayAtATimee - Thanks so much for the answer. I think my issue is that ERP seems to not be fool-proof way of getting over OCD? What I mean by that is it seems to have some negative side effects like someone losing their integrity etc., which is something I think is an important trait to have. "There’s a variety of response preventions that should be used and switched up so they don’t become compulsive. There’s agreeing with the thought, doing nothing, using humor, healthy distractions, mindfulness, etc." None of these seems to address the root cause of like "I did something bad in the past (for my case childhood mistakes), what does that make me as a person / how do I get over it." Would you say it has to do more with ending the compulsion but the obsession / thoughts remain "unsolved?" I guess I'm wondering how to "solve" the paradox of dealing with real events without losing apart of yourself (e.g. integrity, identity, etc)
@Dude01 - "There’s a variety of response preventions that should be used and switched up so they don’t become compulsive. There’s agreeing with the thought, doing nothing, using humor, healthy distractions, mindfulness, etc." The problem with this (for me) is that my brain knows better, consciously or sub consciously lol. Agree with the thought -- deadend. I'd say I'm lying to myself if it's not agreeable based on logic etc Doing nothing + distractions + mindfulness -- works for a bit but the "unsolved issue" eventually comes back to mind and still remains Humor -- just more diversion from the root issue I know my brain would just go "these are just diversion, these are tricks, it doesn't solve the obsession / theme" Would you say ERP is more about ending the compulsion but the obsession / intrusive thoughts / unresolved themes still remain?
I’ve been dealing with ocd my whole life, and just got diagnosed about a year ago. I feel my days becoming occupied with thoughts, urges, fears and worry that completely debilitate me. It’s getting to the point where i feel like it’s taking over my life. I don’t see this getting any better, even with the therapy and medication I’m on. I’m scared my life will be like this forever, I’m tired. My brain is tired of ruminating every second of every day from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep. I’m not sure how much longer I can go on like this.
i have been diagnosed with OCD & generalized anxiety disorder. for some reason, i’ve been very hyper aware of everything. like the way i talk, the way i see the world, how certain things sound/look/feel, and it’s very distressing. i feel like the hyper awareness makes me afraid of things? like for some reason, my mind attached to cartoons, and i was hyperfocusing on it, and got extremely scared, like scared of the cartoon for no reason? i’ve done this a lot, and i get scared i have psychosis or schizophrenia, or something that makes you afraid of things for no unknown reason. i feel so scared that this is my new normal…. im heartbroken. so many what if’s. did i just ruin my own life?? 💔
Can it? I've had it for 5 years, not just in the background, fully severe and acutely crippling. I can hardly go through life, my memory and cognition are very poor, I struggle with comprehension and have difficulty thinking clearly or having conversations to people about everyday things. Like I can only narrate my ocd thoughts in my head, regular thoughts take too much brain power to think about. I have very high anxiety and depressive feelings also. I'm just worried my brain is structurally changed from this ongoing traumatic experiencs and when I'm in my late 30s or 40s it's going to evolve into neurodegenerative diseases. I want to get a brain scan done and see if everything is alright. What kind of doctor or tests would show me that?
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