Stacey353
- Date posted
- Yesterday
Advice for overcoming harm ocd?
Any advice would be appreciated!
TE1022TE1022
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- Yesterday
I’ve def had my rounds with harm ocd too. Any several other types. Just every terrible thought my brain can come up with, I mostly agree with the posts above but don’t think you have to have medicine to recover. OCD is 100% recoverable without meds. Meds are just a tool, that can be very beneficial, but you don’t have to use them. But just like the above stated, no matter how uncomfortable, you have to just let the thoughts be and live life according to your values. Thoughts are just thoughts, our actions determine our character. Another important aspect that’s helped me a ton is learning about ocd, how it operates, and the difference between thoughts vs thinking. We can’t control our thoughts, we can however control our thinking. So when a bad thought pops up. We decide how much attention it receives, and this is a skill you can develop, you learn to just let thoughts be and gently refocus on the present, and when you get good at this ocd will quiet down significantly. When we have a scary/ uncomfortable/ bad thought and we react in fear, or ruminate our brain recognizes that thought was important, and brings it back up because we assigned importance to it. This creates the ocd loop. We break that loop by becoming indifferent to those thoughts. And I know it’s very hard to do when the thoughts are disturbing and go against who we are, but that’s where the practice comes in. And after having 10000 terrible thoughts and nothing ever coming of them you learn the thoughts are harmless and it’s easy to just gently refocus away from them onto whatever you’re doing. That fear loop breaks and they come up less and lesss until eventually not at all. Or very seldomly
Stacey353Stacey353
- Date posted
- Yesterday
@TE1022 Thank you much for all this info you’re very smart st this! What do I do about the constant habit of self isolating it’s like it’s become a bad habit?
TE1022TE1022
- Date posted
- Yesterday
@Stacey353 That’s ERP in a nutshell, by isolating your proving to your brain that there’s danger to avoid. ERP handles this. My advice is to get with a therapists that specializes in ocd/erp. One on NOCD would be great for you I’m sure! It takes practice, and it’s incremental steps but you can def overcome this. The first step is telling yourself you can recover, and taking steps daily to reach your goal whatever that is. But just like the thoughts, we have to learn to sit with the discomfort to show ourselves the thoughts/ situations/ aren’t dangerous. Which is what ERP works to do. I’m no therapist, and they’d be much better at explaining this process, but that’s the gist. And you’re gonna have good days and bad days, but each day is a step closer to a better you!
Stacey353Stacey353
- Date posted
- Yesterday
@TE1022 Thank you so much
TE1022TE1022
- Date posted
- Yesterday
@Stacey353 No problem at all. It really helps me reinforce it to myself by helping others/ explaining
Stacey353Stacey353
- Date posted
- Yesterday
@TE1022 Aww
anabanana1anabanana1
- Date posted
- Yesterday
As with any type of OCD; the best way to treat it is via medication and therapy. Specifically ERP. I had harm OCD at the beginning and eventually it went away but pivoted into much more bizarre things. The only thing that stopped it was antipsychotic medication and I’m in IOP which will include ERP and DBT. If you are lucky to find a full package like that, make the best of it. But as a starter, OCD has to be starved in order for it to lose its power. Do not ruminate on the thoughts. If they come, no matter how uncomfortable they are, let them be. Don’t try to disprove or prove them (because you already know who you are, OCD thoughts are ego dynostic; opposite of who you are) focus on others things no matter what your mind is throwing at you. I find that’s what’s been weakening the loop for me.
Stacey353Stacey353
- Date posted
- Yesterday
@anabanana1 Thank you so much for the advice. I feel like I am just stuck in rumination and don’t know how to get rid of it :(
Stacey353Stacey353
- Date posted
- Yesterday
@anabanana1 And yes I take an antipsychotic too but it doesn’t seem to help. I’ve had this ocd for two years.
anabanana1anabanana1
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- Yesterday
@Stacey353 I’m sorry to hear that the medication is not working for you. OCD is ready debilitating enough as is, when the medication that’s supposed to be helping you isn’t, it’s really disheartening. Have you considered talking to your psychiatrist about switching to another medication? I am no expert here from doing a lot of digging at the time to understand this illness; I read that when your OCD is treatment resistance, it’s either antipsychotics or anafranil (the OG) that shuts things down. Especially when standard stuff like abilify or SSRIs aren’t working. I hope you find healing in your journey. And get the right experts on your side.
Stacey353Stacey353
- Date posted
- Yesterday
@anabanana1 Thank you so much. Yes I have talked to my Dr about switching meds and he has but it’s like nothing helps and I just shake from nervousness all the time and I’m miserable. I spend a lot of time in my bed because it’s like my safe spot.
anabanana1anabanana1
- Date posted
- Yesterday
@Stacey353 My bed was my safe spot is. Still is sometimes even though I’m 85% better. Definetly talk to your psychiatrist. Antipsychotics are not working for you and you deserve something that will. And I hope you find a good therapist that can help you. Remember you have a community behind you to support you. Don’t give up. These thoughts are just annoying glitches and there is hope to make them stop.
Stacey353Stacey353
- Date posted
- Yesterday
@anabanana1 Thank you so much you are the sweetest. Did you have harm ocd?
anabanana1anabanana1
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- Yesterday
@Stacey353 Oh yeah, I definitely did. Although my medication has significantly reduced the loop and I hardly get the thoughts anymore. I still have the memory of them which is equally painful. The worst part about it is that time I would get those intrusive thoughts they would give me a shot of adrenaline because of how demanding they felt. But I knew that it was part of the illness and that I had to just ignore it. OCD is a bully after all. And in fact in therapy, I still have not been brave enough to bring up the harm OCD. Maybe I will eventually but not yet. You are definitely not alone. One of the girls in my group therapy had harm ocd and it was very helpful for her to get to the root cause of it. And it was fear. That’s it. Just the fear of not being good enough or who she thought she was in her heart. Something like that. And in fact, OCD always has a deeper root cause that is usually not what we think. That’s why it’s so important to do talk therapy/ERP/DBT. It really opens your eyes.
Stacey353Stacey353
- Date posted
- Yesterday
@anabanana1 Yeah I had an erp specialist with NOCD but I didn’t talk to her about all my fears bc it scared me. I just talked to her about one of them. I self isolate a lot and I’m so sick of loving this way it’s just miserable and I don’t know what to do. I’m missing out on life and everything with my 8 year old son and it breaks my heart. Did you ever self isolate?
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