- Username
- Terrie Browning
- User type
- Therapist
- Date posted
- 4y ago
I find separating triggers and thoughts easy enough, but separating obsessions from compulsions more difficult, especially when your compulsions are things like mental rumination.
Thank you for your input. It is much appreciated! I agree that the obsessive thought tends to run right into the compulsion. It’s hard to slow down enough to catch these things isn’t it!
For me at least, sometimes when you have mental compulsions, it almost feels like there is an “automatic transition” from obsession to compulsion. What I do is this, when that happens: 1) I first identify that I just did a mental compulsion (mental compulsions is when I purposely try to push my thoughts out of my head by reassuring myself, reviewing past events, etc) 2) then after I identify the mental compulsion, I accept the thought saying “maybe this (insert thought) is true, I’ll accept the uncertainty”. This gives me an opportunity to practice response prevention in the moment.
@NOCD Advocate - Stephen Smith By practicing response prevention after I did the compulsion, I look at this as a “retry”
I like the “retry”! Thank you for breaking that down too. That’s very helpful!
My compulsions are physical (i.e. touching the stove to ensure it's off). I already know hours in advance that I will start becoming anxious at a specific time of the day and will start doing compulsions. Once I start a compulsion, it is very difficult for me to stop because I know I'm letting my emotions overtake my logical thinking. I have to stop and think outloud, "What is it going to take for me to get this!" Then I panic and go back to doing the compulsion.
I've been through scary moments in the past and was able to get through it, so I'm asking myself why can't I get over this dumb fear !? The fear now is "being okay" with not doing any compulsions rather than the feared "worst case scenario" (stove causing a fire) because I already know the latter is highly unlikely.
I find my compulsions sometimes hard to identify too like maybe sometimes I don’t know if it is an obsession or a compulsion I don’t know if I am obsessing about a past event or if it is a compulsion to prove a point (that I am a terrible personn, a narcissist,...)
It makes a lot of sense. And sorry for the late reply. Thank you all for your posts, it’s super helpful for others to know they are not alone in these situations. I hear so often, how difficult it is to separate the trigger from the obsessive thought and to separate the compulsion from the obsessive thought. That’s why I call it a toxic cycle! It feeds itself. The self monitoring worksheet is very helpful. It breaks it down and possibly will help you to think differently about each part. I like to recommend that you listen to your body - when it starts to become uncomfortable, just that small flutter of worry, that is the obsessive thought. Sometimes it’s easier to think of the unwanted thought. The thought you are thinking that you don’t want to think but do not seem to have control over. Catch the thought and you can back track to the trigger. See a trained ERP therapist and they can help you do this. Once you have separated the trigger from the unwanted thought, image, urge it is much easier to see the behavior you are doing to distract, suppress, neutralize or make that though go away! Let me know what you think and thanks again for being here.
Hi bluegrass, I couldn’t pull that up but I can assure you there are lots of examples of the worksheet online, try therapistaid. You can find all kinds of workbooks etc. However, these tools are much more successful when you work with a professional that has been trained to do ERP. I shared a post about being a therapist for 20yrs. I’ve worked with many OCD clients using CBT and since joining NOCD I have been extensively trained to use ERP. My clients are more successful and obtained positive benefits - moments of peace from their obsessive thoughts came much quicker using ERP. I hope that is helpful!
Hi NOCD users, I wondered if anyone is having difficulty separating yourself from your symptoms? We talk about this often during therapy sessions and within the ERP program. I understand that when you are dealing with these strong obsessive/intrusive, unwanted thoughts and images, it feels like it is a part of you! It is not a part you like or want. So many clients have shared how much they wish they could stop and how it feels like the OCD obsessive thoughts and compulsions are taking over their lives. They don’t feel like themselves anymore. This creates quite a dichotomy because what they believe can be the opposite of what they are thinking. How confusing this must feel! To believe in something so strongly and have your mind be telling you that you are the opposite in your thoughts. It can make you question who are are! This isn’t good for your self esteem/self worth. How much you like yourself and how valuable you feel as a person. Decreasing OCD obsessive thinking and compulsive actions is going to make you feel better. Staying true to who you are, not allowing the OCD symptoms get in the way of who you are inside. Challenge yourself to separate your “self” - who you really are including all of your beliefs - separate that true person from your OCD symptoms - they are just a thought and they are not real or factual. Let us help you separate yourself from these OCD symptoms, let us help you separate your true self from the uncertain thoughts. They are just that, uncertain. Learn to be more comfortable in uncertainty. We here at NOCD understand the pain this gives you and can help you by teaching you the first line treatment skills of ERP! If that sounds familiar to you, I hope this suggestion will help.
WALL OF TEXT INCOMING (sorry)! Hello, I hope everyone is doing well and are managing their OCD symptoms well. I have a question concerning SO-OCD and ROCD. A little background first: I developed SO-OCD (have been to therapy here at NOCD and therapist says I meet criteria for OCD and SAD so far) I can't really pinpoint when exactly this developed, but it seemed to have happened when I got depressed, lost interest in sex, then convinced myself that I lost interest in sex because I must be gay despite the rational part of my brain knowing that I haven't desired to be with the same-sex before. It spiraled into heavy rumination, obsessive thoughts and then avoidance. My long-term relationship ended (got cheated on) and that sent me down even further. I've always had low self-esteem, but this killed any semblance I had left. I couldn't sleep, had persistent anxiety, and just felt like my brain exploded from the shock of it all. It's been around 2 years since this ramped up, and it has felt like absolute hell on earth. Lately, my SO-OCD seems to not be triggered so heavily (not getting as highly anxious of the thoughts, and have noticed the thoughts slowing down in overall frequency and have been able to dismiss them easier than before), but I think I have started taking a liking to a gal the past few months, but don't trust my sense of feelings anymore. Some examples: 1) I think I have felt butterflies? But not sure if it is or just anxiety. 2) I am terrified of getting intimate or sexual (fear of embarrassment, or perhaps my "member" not working when the time comes) despite thinking about getting intimate with this lady. 3) Doubting that I actually have feelings toward her (thinking that maybe I'm just trying to force the relationship because I don't want the OCD to be true). Has anyone dealt with this with similar themes? It feels like my SO-OCD has kind of merged with ROCD or transitioning from one to the other. I have a tendency now to expect arousal from every close interaction with a potential partner and if it doesn't happen (like if we give each other a hug after work) then I doubt my attraction despite having been aroused simply by touch previously. I know it sounds goofy, but I think about it every-single-time ("welp, i wasnt aroused that time. I must not be attracted to her!"). It's all a lot to handle when trying to navigate a potential relationship and fear I'll never overcome this intense anxiety to sex/intimacy. So I avoid getting too close or putting myself in situations where these things could occur. Thank you if you've made it this far. This was tough to put out there, but I'd love to hear others thoughts. Again, I hope all is well for everyone and stay strong out there.
I had my third session today, and my therapist and I are filling out my fear and response list. For some reason I'm having a hard time filling out compulsions and even some of the fear responses. It's like everything is so connected it's hard to separate it in my head. I've never tried to do this before. Also maybe I can explain the compulsions in a longer sentence but it's hard to use just one word. And most of my triggers cause a pretty high number of distress, but I need to find something with less anxiety to start the exposure therapy. Does anyone have advice on how to make this process easier, or just an example of how they filled this form out? Thanks.
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