If compulsions are things you do to get short-term relief, how do you tell a coping mechanism apart from a compulsion? I just want to make myself feel better but I want it to be healthy coping not compulsive.
I also want to know. Hopefully someone can give us insight on that.
I feel like anything to temporarily relieve anxiety is a compulsion anything that u r doing to make yourself actually feel better is not. Like if you’re only doing it thinking it’ll make your anxiety go away it’s a compulsion. But if u r doing something to better yourself and make a change it’s not.
I'm not sure of the answer but I tend to use commonly known healthy coping standards for this judgement. Like if I'm concerned about physical health, healthly coping is what my Dr. says to do (generally eat healthy, wash hands, exercise, sleep, etc). If I start doing something more than i'd guess the average healthy human does (ex: researching for hours a week the perfect immune system diet) then I know I'm starting to get into a compulsive headspace. Especially if I can feel myself aggressively defending why im doing things differently. Another thing I've been experimenting with is practicing not making decisions before feeling any related distress through. So lets say Im working on a work project and Im struggling and need to figure out what to do next. Before im allowed to figure that out, I have to let myself feel the distress of the struggle through and only after come up with a plan. It makes it less likely that my next actions will be a compulsion and more likely a healthy way to manage a stressful situations.
@Anonymous Oo the feeling the distress before acting is something I haven’t thought of doing. One of my obsessions is needing my body to feel “just right” and before doing any tasks at home. Often that looks like getting in bed to reset and wrapping myself tightly so I don’t feel so anxious. Sensory input could be a coping mechanism… but I think I’ve made it a compulsion because I feel like I must do it to calm myself down. I get so behind with my responsibilities. Letting myself feel the distress and then choosing something more healthy sounds like it could help a lot! It’s so hard to sit with distress though.
@smilesplash Ohhh I like where you're going with this! Sensory input can be so challenging. Let me know how it goes if you remember. I tried it with audio sensory input this week out of curiosity. I was working and the neighbors were playing loud music. It got hard to focus and I could feel myself getting frazzled & upset. Instead of trying to fix it I was like what if I just be upset. Feel it through. All these thoughts came to mind about what the noise meant (not being completely focused, getting behind, my work identity being challenged, etc). I "maybe, maybe not-ed" them and I was back working before i knew it. Yea distress is a pain. Like literally so painful. We got this though. Little by little while our brains get used to it.
@Anonymous Sounds are hard— I am quick to reach for the noise cancelling headphones. But I’ll try this out for a bit! Yes, the distress is so painful… and we’ll be able to work through it!
After almost 2 decades of struggling with Pure OCD that was all-consuming, all day, every day, I'm finally in a spot where I can effectively manage this disorder. A big way I did this was realizing that compulsions NEVER help and they are NEVER the answer. It might feel like it's helping in the moment, but you're just giving power to the OCD and it WILL come back stronger. Sometimes (especially with Pure O), it can be hard to even tell if you're doing a compulsion. If you're not sure and think there is even a possibility that it could be, try to stop doing that immediately. The better you get at noticing your compulsions and stopping them quickly the better off you'll be in the long-term. It's definitely a tough and bumpy road, but if I was able to get there I'm sure anyone can. Just stick with it and it gets way easier.
Why did the compulsion/test people told me I did felt very wanted in the moment. But then I regret it now and afterwards. Still a compulsion, correct? It just didn't feel like a compulsion, but then again I don't know what those feel like
Often I listen to podcasts or audiobooks. Sometimes fiction, sometimes about ocd or anxiety. I did this before i got so consumed with ocd again. But no i am doubting myself if i do this to distract myself. I do it while doing chores or when I put on my make-up for example. And I have to admit it helps me to get distracted from my thoughts. How do you know when you do it to distract your thoughts (as a compulsion) or just because you like it? When do you know it is helpfull or not?
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