Hi, so I’ve recently found out that asking for reassurance isn’t a good way to help OCD (that’s understandable), and I was wondering to what extent is reassurance bad? Eg, reassuring yourself that things will be okay, or that some of the things you obsess over are untrue and aren’t helpful things to think about? I probably sound a little stupid so apologies! I’m just unsure as to what is healthy and what is not! (Sorry if this is confusing, I have just splatted my thoughts down!)

NOCD

User type: Staff

Date posted: 7y

You don't sound stupid at all.. this is a very important topic. Here's a great article on seeking reassurance for OCD. Hopefully some other people can give their input on this too! https://ocdla.com/reassurance-seeking-ocd-anxiety-1952

PetShopBoysrock

Date posted: 7y

Think about this way: everytime you seek reassurance, you are temporarily reducing your anxiety and making the “OCD beast” grow stronger. So while it may help you feel better in the short term, all you are doing is completing the OCD cycle. Soon enough, another obsession/thought/trigger will occur and you’ll be desperately needing that anxiety-reducing reassurance once again. What if you can’t get reassurance at that time, then what are you going to do? It’s so important to learn how to face fears on your own, deal with the anxiety on your own, and accept the uncertainty/doubt that comes with it. This is how you can really recover and start living life regardless of the OCD being there or not.

Lizzie

Date posted: 7y

My psychologists told me to use “self talk” which is a form of self reassurance. I’m confused too!

Brookenoel

Date posted: 7y

You’re fine dear! Reassurance is a big compulsion of mine and many others. A lot of times the ones like reassurance and rumination don’t seem like compulsions but sadly they are. In a sense a little reassurance can go a long way with ocd, I think the occasional “it’s all okay” while having an anxiety attack is normal and natural, especially if it’s a bad one, but if it’s stuff like “no I love my partner, no I’m not gay” etc. those are what you could call the “bad” ones. If that makes sense

Mjs110160

Date posted: 7y

Many psychologists who don’t understand OCD make it worse

Mjs110160

Date posted: 7y

Reassurance can make your ocd grow really severe

sierra6

Date posted: 21w

Why no reassurance?

Hello! I just got diagnosed with OCD a week ago and joined the app today to find a sense of community. Since my understanding of treatment is minimal at this point, I'm confused why everything on here tells us not to seek or give reassurance? If someone could explain the reasoning behind that it would be greatly appreciated, as I want to make sure I'm not only watching out for it in my personal life but also using this app appropriately.

Ok_Paint758

Date posted: 20w

Is telling myself "it's just ocd" a compulsion?

When I was a child, before I knew this was OCD, I struggled with constant "magical thinking" compulsions (don't step on the crack or mom's back will actually break, etc). When I later learned this was OCD, it almost immediately solved it. Any time I got a magical thought, I would say to myself "that's just an OCD thought. ignore it." and it just stopped coming! Like seriously it fixed the magical thinking stuff forever. But of course the OCD has resurfaced in other ways. So naturally, I've tried to use the same strategy since I had so much success with it previously. But I wonder sometimes if telling myself "that's just OCD" is almost functioning as a reassurance compulsion? I hate how meta this gets. For example, I have ROCD that comes and goes. So sometimes I'll get a thought like "what if i'm still in love with my ex?" and then I'll tell myself "that's obviously just an ROCD thought" and will feel relief, almost like reassurance. But it comes back. So is telling myself that it's OCD a reassurance compulsion ?? It's just so weird because it worked so perfectly as a kid with the magical thinking thing.

Sistersofmer...

Date posted: 15w

Reassurance Seeking

I told my OCD group about NOCD and one of the members brought up that this app, despite its intent to create a safe community for sharing OCD experiences could potentially be used for reassurance seeking, thus contributing to compulsions. I’ve noticed some posts about people venting and asking for reassurance and I wonder the same thing.

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