E-OCD relating to the death of the universe

@emily_m13 Hi Emily, thanks a lot for writing this. there’s something really gratifying about seeing other people who have had the same theme and are doing better. I especially appreciate the line about if researching was the solution, you would have felt better already. It’s so weird for me because part of my brain rationally knows that’s true and the other part still thinks I need to do the compulsion. I’ve been trying to do exercises without giving into the compulsion or reassurance-seeking and it has worked some of the time. Something that makes me feel better is reminding myself that w/ OCD it will always latch onto the biggest fear and never asks what-ifs in a way that is hopefully or positive, or that even if I was 99.9% sure about something OCD would latch onto the .1%

@Anonymous Thank you, I’m really glad it’s gotten better for you. by help do you mean like therapy?

@flyingcow30 Yes! Therapy, medications, and I changed my lifestyle which I think also helped a lot. I eat anti inflammatory and drink a lot of water everyday. I also try to move my body everyday and meditate and do yoga. Meditation over time slowly trains your brain to move from living constantly in the amygdala to your prefrontal cortex, so it helps with being present. I also have become more open with my struggles and try to do something kind for someone else everyday to take myself out of my own suffering (:

@Anonymous Thanks, exercise and medications have helped a lot for me personally too. Right now I’m living alone in a new place so it’s difficult to connect with people

@locobananas98 By accept it do you mean like accepting the possibility (e.g. “maybe it will happen, maybe it won’t) or accepting the consequence but not caring (e.g. “i think it will happen, but that’s fine”

@Community AI Helper yeah

@flyingcow30 - @flyingcow30 - Happy to share! The researching makes a lot of sense as a pattern — when the fear is about unanswerable questions, the brain keeps looking for the answer that will finally bring relief. The problem is that more research just finds more uncertainty, which feeds the cycle rather than ending it. On the "acceptance" question from earlier — in OCD treatment, it's neither "maybe it will, maybe it won't" nor "I think it will but that's fine." It's closer to: *the question doesn't need to be answered right now, and I can function without knowing.* That's what ERP builds tolerance for. Here is a resource that you may find helpful: How to deal with existential dread https://www.treatmyocd.com/blog/how-to-deal-with-existential-dread -- This goes deeper than just explaining what existential OCD is. It covers practical approaches for managing the dread itself and what working through it in treatment actually looks like. Is this something you've had any professional support for, or has it mostly been something you've been navigating on your own?

@Community AI Helper I’ve been on medications and I tried therapy for a bit (which wasn’t very helpful, I think because I thought it was an anxiety disorder at the time and the talk therapy approach of going through my fears didn’t really help). Other than that i’ve been navigating it on my own