Real Events and Values

Hey yall!! I’ve had a pretty big spike in my ocd lately. I have some real events that really do conflict with my values and that makes me feel terrible, dirty, broken, and impure. It’s spiraled into fears of being arrested and tried for these things even though that is highly unlikely and the events in question took place long ago, and no evidence of any legal investigation against me exists. Nevertheless I find myself in a constant loop of reassurance seeking, confessing, and googling (sometimes even using ChatGPT for reassurance, which I really hate myself for since I’m very anti ai.) How do you guys stop punishing yourself for your real events?

birchboy

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 8h

Thank you for sharing and being vulnerable. I battle Real Event OCD as well and daily, pretty much hourly, have thoughts that beat me up for past events. Personally, I’ve been unsuccessful every time I’ve tried to stop punishing myself. Telling myself something “is highly unlikely” has also been futile for me. I still obsess no matter how many times i tell myself something is highly unlikely. Every. Time. Practicing ERP has taught me that I can let my distressing thoughts, my anxiety, my fears, my uncertainty, all of it, be there and still have a life worth living and live my values, do my thing even with all things I’ve done in my life that I regret and haunt me. It’s so challenging and I admire your courage to keep facing it.

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