Can any of you guys give me tips on how to stop thinking about ocd itself? Cuz i catch myself thinking all the time about how to get better and what to do and what is the perfect way to get better. Looks like i am stuck in a loop. Any tips on what to do? Am i even allowed to think about anything ocd related?
Hey! Sorry to hear you’re dealing with this. These types of thought loops are something I struggle with too. So first things first: You’re obsessing about having OCD & ruminating on how to “fix it” or “make it go away”. OCD is thriving on the fact that you feel compelled to figure out whether or not this is permanent for you. This is where the stickiness happens. I find that a good ERP tip is to first, welcome the thought and try to create some space between yourself and the thought. It should sound something like this: “Hello, OCD! I see you’re here and that you’re trying to tell me a story. It sounds like you want me to know that I have OCD and you’re wondering if it will ever improve. It also seems like you’re worried that this might last forever and you want me to give you certainty that it may or may not be permanent.” Once you’ve done this, you need to say out loud or to yourself, “This is OCD trying to trap me in a loop of resolving these questions.” Next you move to engaging your RPM’s for this. RPM’s can be: - “I don’t need to figure this out right now.” - “Maybe I will always feel this way.” - “I may never know for certain whether I’ll get better.” - “I love this uncertainty. I can be uncertain about this all day long!I’m so good at handling this uncertainty & I hope OCD gives me lots more practice at handling my uncertainty!” Finally, during the ERP, practice the following: 1.) Allowing the thoughts to be there while resisting rumination. 2.) Allowing the uncertainty to exist without seeking reassurance. 3.) Resist urges to problem solve. 4.) *THE MOST IMPORTANT — Resist urges to “check” whether or not the OCD is still there or if it’s improved. (This is where you get your power back) Repeat this exposure multiple times a day until the distress and/or urges to resolve it reduce naturally, because it will. Hope this helps! Good luck friend. 🙂 YOU CAN DO IT!!!
@al01 Thank you so much!
Yeah, this is something that sometimes sends mind into the loop what seems the horrible dead end. "I need to search more strategies to cope with OCD" leads to reading about this, then this reminds OCD evoking anxiety, - so you become tense, waiting the moment anxiety will hit. Of course it hits, and then you do not read about OCD. And then the mind begins to blame you " why aren't you reading about OCD, - you're sabotaging yourself, so it means that you're choosing the suffering, you lazy one". And so on.
@Telescopus So i should not read anything about it? Cuz i think i already know everything about coping with it and how to deal with it. It’s just my mind always telling me that i am doing something wrong. Or my strategy is wrong. Or when i refocus it tells that i ignored the thought and so i shouldn’t ignore it i should acknowledge it first. And these thoughts are driving me crazy.
@mikiuz - well, sorry maybe I didn't clarified it too much - but what I wrote earlier this was basically about how it happens in my case. And what you wrote now - I think that this is OCD trying to get into mind by "back door", sabotaging an attempts to find a coping way with it. But then it means that these ways may be the ways that are actually right - since OCD tries to sabotage them. I've read somewhere that OCD is ALWAYS lying and this phrase helps sometimes for me to try instead of avoiding something. Yeah, it gets really difficult sometimes, but well, coping is not a simple game, as we all know here.
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