Anyone else struggle with “maybe, maybe not”?

I know the solution is to always say “yeah that could be true, but I am choosing to live my life anyway.” However, I feel like my biggest issue is my brain always assuming that it is immediately true when I do that. Like if I say “maybe I’m attracted to teenagers, it’s possible,” then my brain INSTANTLY starts rationalizing that thought and defending it and being like “oh okay so you think this now and it makes sense because xyz, and now that’s who you are and your real desire is now and always will be teenagers.” I feel really alone in this area of feeling like my brain “accepting the thoughts” means my brain immediately accepts them as true. I obviously don’t want to think they’re true but I feel so stuck now.

OutstandingC...

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 8d

It takes practice, but you’re totally on the right path. It’s like meditation; you have to build up the skill in order to think that “maybe” thought without all the other thoughts that follow it. Try treating it like a meditation exercise. Think “maybe, it’s possible” and then notice all the other rationalizing and defending and searching for proof that follows. When you notice all of that coming up, calmly redirect your mind back to the “maybe.” If you do it every day, you’ll notice a huge difference in how you feel and also in your ability to redirect away from the unproductive ruminating. ERP is a skill/muscle that takes time to build. Keep at it!

mcocd

Date posted: 8d

Acceptance does not equal desire or wanting the thoughts. You wouldn’t fight them so hard or argue with them if you agreed with them. Arguing with them only makes your brain bring up fake evidence and made up examples to make you worry more. When you argue with these thoughts you are essentially telling your brain every time “this is an emergency, we need to think about this and figure this out”. Doing this hundreds of times just makes one more confused. It’s like pulling a fire alarm 200 times a day. The firemen would be exhausted too! Give yourself grace. Intrusive thoughts are intrusive. It will be okay’

‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎ㅤ

Date posted: 8d

I had a hard time with this phrase while dealing with a false memory. My brain honed in on 'maybe' and completely discarded 'maybe not'. I personally do not like that phrase at all. Don't let people convince you to continue using a phrase that truly doesn't work for you. ERP is tough, but it shouldn't make you spiral. There are many, many ways to practice ERP. It's not one size fits all.

Rae0fsun

Date posted: 8d

I just was talking to my therapist about this the other day and she suggested instead of "maybe, maybe not" that I use "I will deal with that if and when it happens." It feels a little less scary when dealing with taboo themes but still helps you sit with uncertainty.

issphra 🫶🏻

Date posted: 18w

Maybe this is obvious but I need some insight pls

There’s something that happens that keeps me stuck in a thought, it’s when I can see some part of myself agreeing with or relating to it in some way. That’s when the doubt creeps in. If I can understand *why* the thought is there, doesn’t that mean it’s not just random? Doesn’t that mean it actually reflects something about me? For example **(TMI/TW)**: I had the thought, *“I wonder what other people’s kinks are (including friends, family, even teenagers).”* And then I caught myself thinking, *“Well, I guess that could be interesting information… maybe I wouldn’t even stop someone from sharing it with me. Does that mean I actually want to know? Wait—does that make me perverted or incestuous for even having this curiosity?”* The same thing has happened with other thoughts, like wondering what someone’s privates might look like. I recognize that, on some level, that could be interesting—but does that mean the thought is truly mine? Maybe the answer is super obvious and I just can’t see through my OCD smoke. This was a bit embarrassing for me to write 🥲, but can anyone provide some insight?

eb123456789

Date posted: 14w

Relief followed by questioning that relief

Does anyone else experience a moment of clarity where you feel strong relief that the intrusive thought isn’t true, only to then immediately start questioning if you’ve only convinced yourself that because you don’t want the thought to be true? I’m pretty confident it would take some crazy mental gymnastics to actually successfully convince myself I didn’t do something that I deep down knew I did, but every time I resist the compulsions and try to sit with the uncertainty or tell myself to think about what is logical, I usually briefly know that this probably didn’t happen but am unable to move on out of fear I’m just in denial and have convinced myself of that.

Anonymous

Date posted: 12w

I can’t tell anything real anymore

This situation just happened and I can definitely remember how it went but my brain is telling me otherwise and I know you guys said to sit with the uncertainty but what if the intrusive thought is so bad like disgusting, I can’t sit with that. Maybe it’s false memory but this just happened. I don’t even know how to live with this

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Anyone else struggle with “maybe, maybe not”?

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