Just bombarded with the guilt of past mistakes. Not knowing the outcome of things makes it worse. Seeing things/signs that are associated with the real event I obsess about everyday. I see it in tv, you tube, songs and everything. It's so scary how it's everywhere
I was 3 days into my real event OCD thinking that OCD only dealt with what ifs and not what is or what was. I came across this post on reddit where this guy said something beautiful: Helpful tips for those out there with real event ocd. 1. Life is not black and white, at all. OCD loves to make you feel as if there are only two extremes but it is so wrong. There is always grey. The vast majority of mistakes are in a grey area, rarely ever fully on a "terrible" scale. 2. You can still be a good person who has made mistakes, what matters most is who you *are now*. 3. It feels so real and so scary, you feel as if you're the exception and this is not OCD because the event really happened. But it is wrong. It *is* OCD. Don't let it trick you. 4. Real event OCD *loves* to make mountains out of mole hills. So many times people can do a mistake and they will truly believe they have done worse than a murderer and therefore they are a criminal. This couldn't be further from the truth. The chances are almost 100% that what you did is *not* as serious as you think. 5. Telling your OCD "maybe I did. maybe I didn't. who cares?" is very helpful when dealing with any theme of OCD, but especially real event. It craves certainty so badly and when you refuse to give it to it, it causes so much discomfort. Learn to sit with it and within a bit, this theme will pass too. 6. You do not need to confess this to anyone. Confessing is a form of compulsion and only adds fuel to the OCD fire. I know you feel as if you *have* to say or else you're a fraud or a liar, but it is not true. Others do not need to know. 7. False memories are very common in this theme of OCD. They can happen for an event that really happened and make it seem as if something happened during said event that actually did not. Try the same talk with this as well; "maybe I did. maybe I didn't. who cares?". Another rule of thumb is if you have to try so hard to figure out if it happened or not, chances are it did not. 8. Real event can also happen with non mistakes as well. Did you do something you regret? Something embarrassing? Something childish? Real event OCD can and will latch onto that and make it seem more important than it really is. 9. Real event OCD is by far in my opinion one of the hardest themes to cope with and beat because as said, it focuses on something that truly happened. This causes extreme grief to the sufferer and sometimes can even lead to suicidal thoughts because they fear they're too horrible to even live. 10. Try to avoid reassurance seeking on it. Very often you will want to find out if what happened was as serious as you think or if you're worried for nothing. This sadly will never help but only make things worse. This includes avoiding googling and asking others for their opinions. Don't do it. In conclusion, you will be okay. This will pass.
This post is nice and all, but I don't see how this helps REOCD ultimately. What's the ACTUAL solution? That there is no solution? Or just to be intentionally delusional about stuff (i.e. "maybe it did maybe it didn't)
Just came out of a dark cycle with real event ocd. Can I suggest a post for you to read?
I appreciate that. My thing is that I don't know the outcome and it was almost 3 decades ago. So my mind is telling me that outcome is the worst possible outcome in that scenario. And I
I appreciate that. My thing is that I don't know the outcome and it was almost 3 decades ago. So my mind is telling me that outcome is the worst possible outcome in that scenario. And then I see all the signs everywhere point to the worst possible scenario and that freaks me out.
I haven't gotten therapy yet but I am from the future and I'd recommend getting therapy SOONER rather than later. It'll just keep going and get worse. Also magnesium helped me, but at the same time you don't want to take too much.
My ocd latches on to past mistakes. i fear that God is formulating a situation to “give me what i deserve.” I will string together completely unrelated events into the predictors/indicators that my ‘judgement day’ is near and all my wrongdoings will be exposed for everyone to see and my life will be ruined by finally getting the punishment i deserve. I fear that God is going to use someone who is out to get me, wants revenge, hates me, etc, to carry this out. The associated compulsion is that i keep track of my mistakes and practice arguments for defending myself so that when the time comes im ready for anything. I also punish myself with guilt so that i can “get ahead” on any bad feelings that i would experience on my judgement day. It’s all so exhausting. Does anyone relate? Does anyone have a similar existence? Would love to hear about others’ experiences. Thank you for reading.
Hey guys, for the past three months I’ve been obsessing over a mistake I made about 6 months ago, I constantly have panic attacks and wake up in fight or flight mode I have convinced myself that someone is gonna find me somehow and punish me. I have endlessly looked up reassurance that what I did wouldn’t get me in trouble or something, I have filled up 5 different ChatGPT chats and it tells me it’s 100% certain nothing will happen. But then I convince myself well everyone says not to trust it and then I just spiral again. The point is I’m just scared, I’ve convinced myself this isn’t OCD because it’s something I actually did wrong. I can’t stop looking for reassurance because that’s the only thing that makes me feel safe anymore. Everyone tells me, just say maybe, maybe not, but my brain has convinced me the stakes are too high. I’m too scared and I don’t know what to do.
With real event OCD, I don’t know if any of you feel this way, but do you ever feel that the past event(s) that you ruminate about or constantly obsess about are gonna come up in your future and just absolutely ruin you, that’s how I’ve been feeling for months, it just feels like impending doom, and I hate having to even think that my future would be ruined by what I did as a teenager, and I did some dumb things, that I regret so deeply, I just can’t stop thinking about that.
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond
