OCD Causes Brain Damage IMO

OCD causes burnout, brain fog, chronic stress, high cortisol, heart palpitations, etc. This is not good for your brain or body. No one can tell me I'm better off mentally/cognitively than I was before OCD. Other than "being more thorough," I feel like everything is worse... Sense of self Emotionally numb Worse memory Mental fatigue Burnout from OCD Creativity Hopelessness If you're replaying thoughts 10,000 times.... it's gonna have an effect over time. "it's temporary" "it's reversible" "it's just OCD" Ok that's nice and all but what about if it's already been normalized and the neurological damage has already been done? This is the most demoralizing thing I've ever experienced in life. It ruins life. It destroys your outlook on the future. You can't fkn escape it. Doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, or what life situation you're in -- It's a curse. The fact that this even exists as a mental possibility should piss everyone off. Maybe you guys haven't reached this point yet. Maybe I'm speaking from the future - if your patterns continue for years. Or maybe I'm a special case. Or maybe it's overreacting. Does it really matter though if either way the impact is real + consistent for years? Neurologically, I feel like I'm on the other side of "the damage is already done." I'm just burnt out at this point and I feel the neurological damage. It's like if someone had their life and then got in a car accident and became paralyzed. There was "life before the accident, and life after." It is 2 different lives. Before OCD I was more vibrant, energy, hopeful, better outlook on the future. After? Bitter, pissed, demoralized, worse cognitively. Dealing with OCD as the headache it is is one thing, dealing with the neurological effects of it is almost as bad if not worse in my opinion.

User9000

Date posted: 19h

OMG yes I was diagnosed with GAD, panic disorder, and OCD. Because of the constant anxiety and fear, I do believe it monopolizes a lot of my cognitive power. I do believe in the power of mindfulness as a potent anchor to bring the brain to center. Keep yourself grounded by focusing on something external. Let the intrusive thoughts wash over like observing a leaf floating down the river. Look at the thought with disregard and disinterest. Basically, a shrug, and a "meh!" The more you do this, the quieter it will get, the more control you will get back. In our brains, the smoke detector is going off for no reason and if we give in to it by arguing with it, or trying to alleviate it with compulsions, it thinks.."YES! I WIN! I am gonna keep bullying ya!" So, like they say to do if someone toxic wants your attention, you grey rock them? Grey rock your thoughts! Yeah easier said than done, I know, but mindset is everything. If you know you can win, you will. OCD is insidious and it shapeshifts but it has nothing on us. We can silence it and diminish its power! We got this!

Dude01

Date posted: 1h

Thanks for the tips. Yeah I feel like that works / can work for every other theme except real event OCD. That's the 1 theme I can't shake and not sure how ERP fixes it. 'Cause it's not like some made-up thing it's things that actually happened and it's constantly trying to "deal" with it or contextualize it or say it was "dealt with," but then it's the constant challenges to that. When the answer is to just let it sit there and not "deal" with it, that doesn't seem to give me peace of mind either. Then again, I haven't tried ERP yet so maybe my mind can be changed.

Anonymous

Date posted: 18h

I feel this to my core!! Most demoralizing thing to ever happen to me. Makes me have little hope my life will ever be truly enjoyable again. I once was happy and a few sticky thoughts and I can never go back!! Hopefully ERP will help and I will have a miracle happen

Dude01

Date posted: 1h

Yep, same. I'm clinging to a sliver of hope for some future ERP fix or some way it can be eventually fixed or that I just have tunnel vision or something.

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