Question: There has been an OCD “what if thought” that is a question within a question if that makes sense? It’s been very hard and frustrating when it pops up. The compulsion is to look up the what if question online, and there is fear and worry with that. It has been such a headache and scary! Any suggestions? I have OCD.
Yeah DON'T LOOK IT UP...seriously 🤣 it'll only feed the OCD loop
@YouWillSurvive But it “feels” so real and it tricks you
The uncertainty will disappear with experience. Imagine this, when you were a child learning to swim, you were probably terrified of sinking the first time you got into the pool right. The more you got used to being in the water the more you realised you would swim rather than sink! That’s a key part of recovery, learning that you can swim!
@Brad1991 True 👍I’m stuck in the “what if the what if is true.”? Therefore I feel the desire to look it up online. It feels real although the what if makes no sense
@Brad1991 What sucks though at least in my case is that when you expose yourself to a specific intrusive thought or fear such as drowning from swimming and you eventually conquer that fear, there’s an infinite amount of other intrusive thoughts waiting to replace it. It doesn’t matter what the topic of the day is or the specific intrusive thought, my brain is wired for compulsion and anxiety and will “feed” itself with some thought regardless of the theme of the thought.
@Tony Davies Ah the what if factor! What if can rule our lives if we let it. What if my thoughts are real? What if I can’t get better? What if I’m actually a bad person? What if I recover and it comes back? I’m having a good day, what if tomorrow is bad again? What if can also be a powerful tool to aid recovery. As Isaac Newton said, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Every negative what if, also has a positive! What if my thoughts aren’t real and this is just OCD playing tricks on me? What if I can get better, what might life look like then? What if I’m a good person which a horrible mental health condition, what might people think of me then? What if I can’t get find meaningful and lasting recovery with reduced symptoms? I’m having a good day, what if tomorrow is also good, or maybe even better? One of the things I use to do is to counterbalance every negative what if, with a positive one. The results were amazing.
@Present Tense Very true, any good con artist will try to trick you with multiple angles, when you know all the tricks, you can see right through them.
That’s OCD for you, it’s the ultimate con artist. It makes you believe that the worst thoughts are real. The only way to put an end to its big con is to sit with the anxiety, test it out. Slowly but surely your brain will realise that there is nothing to worry about and nothing bad will happen. I could sit here and tell you that, but you won’t believe me until you prove it to yourself. I know it’s scary because I’ve been there, but as my therapist used to say, “if it isn’t worth getting, it isn’t worth having!” Hope this helps.
@Brad1991 Definitely helps! Thx The uncertainty is still there but it’s good to have someone respond and understand
Hi! It’s pretty difficult for me to get the courage to post this but I’m really struggling to figure out if what I’m experiencing is OCD or Anxiety or neither. I think I have the “pure O” type of OCD where most of my compulsions take the form of ruminating and trying to figure out something all in my head. When I hear this talked about in forums or online the intrusive thoughts don’t really match mine- I worry often about things that seem more “grounded” if that makes sense. A common one for me is my own identity- i will spend long amounts of time stuck in my head trying to figure out my feelings (often sadness or other real emotions I have and patterns I have) and why I feel that way and what in my life caused that and how it’s impacting other things in my life. I also think often about which parts of my personality are the real me and which aren’t. Sometimes this takes the form of strictly ruminating and sometimes I have fake conversations with people I know. It’s intense and I feel I have to figure it out but with no specific intrusive thought that says something like “you have to figure this out or all of your loved ones will die” but it’s very intense. I think also often of all of the decisions I need to make in the future and how they’re going to affect those I love and care about as well as how much I’ll regret them. I imagine all of the ways I think my actions will emotionally hurt others and how to make the least harmful decision, but to me this feels like a valid concern but go over and over and never come to a conclusion. I often just get scared and never make any move because I don’t see an option that doesn’t hurt someone somehow. But again I’m having a hard time identifying the intrusive thought behind it. But I also don’t choose to think about these things most of the time. This is almost all decisions but especially big life decisions. It’s such a struggle because they are things I eventually do have to make decisions about. There is so much more to it that would take too long to explain but in general a lot of my fears revolve around pleasing others/ understanding others emotions to ensure they’re okay, my own identity and personality, and work/school performance. Someone mentioned OCD to me because in my head it feels like I have to solve these things and will go over and over them but I seriously can’t figure out if it’s anxiety, OCD, or none of the above. It’s all very disruptive to my life. I am never not thinking or not trying to figure something out and I feel as if I have no control over it Anyone have any insight?
! 4 years OCD ! Not giving up ! Thank you for being here! Hello Everyone! I got questions about OCD. It would help so much to get the answers. 1. How do i know if a fear is a real threat or an OCD threat? What is real and what not? 2. Doing exposure, its very scary and so loud. Does anyone know how to make it more comfortable or on what to do if you are doing exposure? 3. If im not doing a compulsion what OCD wants, how do i know if im really safe for the hour, day, week or any time? I want to say THANK YOU to all the people who are helping the people! Nocd is really one of the most best things the world have ever known. It can help people so much. You are real heroes.
What is the solution for ocd what if question?
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