- Username
- ocdillustrated
- Date posted
- 4y ago
Powerful pic
Thanks ? it's one of my favorite drawings I've done
Thank you for sharing Kate. This is awesome and very helpful. ?
This is a great comparison! Makes a lot of sense!
So true! So hard to do though.
What about urges that urge you to do something you know you don't wanna do. I've been going though a struggle in my life right now and my ocd has been spiking bc of it. Basically my OCD is giving me this acute anxiety telling me I should groom myself a certain way that I do NOT want to do. The urge to groom and change myself to reduce the anxiety is so strong and I've never really felt it this strong before. Idk why my ocd choose grooming myself but I'm so scared right now that a. If I dont groom my anxiety is going to stay until I do the compulsive grooming and B. If I do this compulsion that will mean ocd has more control Over me and makes me do stuff, that scares me. I cant tell you how helpless I feel right now. Any help or insight would be gladly appreciated.
You can start by figuring out which part is the bait (obsession) and which is the hook (compulsion)
I'm surprised that a Canadian psychologist could trigger my obsessive loop.
The obsession bait I would say is the thought of constant anxiety never leaving until I groom and the hook is the compulsive grooming.
But something deeper than that it's probably causing the anxiety around grooming in the first place. Like "if I don't groom myself this way, my colleagues will think I'm incompetent." Just a random example to show you want I mean. Anxiety can't be the cause, but only a symptom.
@? ilshid I thought about what you said but I do believe in anxiety bc I have anxiety about getting anxiety if that makes sense.
A familiar thing for me too. I've been doing daily erp-exercises with this app for a fair month now. I've already noticed a positive difference! But yes, ocd seems to come in very many different forms. Sometimes just feeling starts like something is generally wrong and you have to figure it out. And there's a fine line between worrying about something and ocd'ing about it. : ) Luckily you can always do exposures if you notice that you are really just ocd'ing about something!
It’s a strange occurrence, like a chipping away at your brain. It just wants you to compulse and you’ve simply got to ignore it and not obey by its command. Even if you can feel what the compulsion is. It’s bizarre how OCD differentiates your mind from the normalities of a normal, standard brain of an everyday human being. It’s not a nice thing to have OCD & anxiety, it can be debilitating if you let it get to you.
That’s true!! I always wash my clothes,laptop,iphone....,I can’t control myself ,so tried of terrible intrusive thoughts.
Have you given the four-step method a go?
@JoshJRS93 No,how to do it?thank you
@Elsa3849 Four R’s: 1) RELABEL Recognise that the intrusive thought and urges are the result of OCD 2) REATTRIBUTE Realise that the intensity and intrusiveness of the thought or urge is caused by OCD; and it is probably related to a chemical imbalance within your brain. 3) REFOCUS Work around the OCD thoughts by focusing your attention on something else, at least for a few minutes: Do another behaviour. 4) REVALUE Do not take the OCD thought at face value. It is not significant in itself. Courtesy of Jeffrey M. Schwartz
@Elsa3849 This is what I do: I tell myself it is OCD, it is not me, followed by: it is a chemical imbalance in my brain which causes an urge for me to compulse. Then I allow my mind to be the way it is and then I focus on another task, by saying: I will now continue to do (fill in the blank) whatever it is you choose to do. Then after minutes, hours have past I revalue the whole situation.
@JoshJRS93 It’s not easy job..I’ll try it. Thank you so much for your sharing above?
@Elsa3849 Having OCD isn’t easy and it requires commitment and persistence to either beat, or learn to cope with it. You’ll be fine if you have the willpower. If you develop the tools to handle it you’ll overcome everything else life throws at you.
@JoshJRS93 Could you clarify what you mean by “refocus”?
Or it is OCD, it is not me. It is a chemical imbalance in my brain. Allow the thought to be there and do whatever you want. Then when you’re ready revalue the OCD whenever...
Ok,keep fighting ???get my life back?
@Elsa3849 Give the OCD room, it’s pointless fighting it and avoiding it, that’s how it wins. When there’s nothing up against it, what does it have to fight against or chase if you avoid it? This isn’t conflict with another person where you would maybe have those two options to deal with, this is disorder in your mind, and the way to combat it is to accept it and not act on it. Let it be.
@JoshJRS93 all the fake feelings seem so real,it’s so tough to accept it and not act on it. ???Thank you for your kind reply???
Saying “it’s not me, it’s my OCD” while good for separating you from the thoughts, quickly becomes a compulsion to lower anxiety and you’re giving the thoughts inherent value by labeling certain thoughts as “OCD” and other thoughts as “real”. It quickly becomes compulsive analysis of which thoughts to believe or not believe and you won’t get anywhere. The truth is you have a variety of thoughts. By disowning thoughts as “oh no that’s not me. That’s my ocd”, you’re already labeling the thought as a threat, trying to remove uncertainty and ironically reinforcing its occurrence. More on this here: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.intrusivethoughts.org/blog/oh-controversy-thats-not-thats-ocd//amp
Although this could be true from one persons perspective to another person, I believe rooted down there’s a feeling of difference between an OCD thought and a rational thought. You can feel OCD, it’s an urge. A standard thought is water to a ducks back, it slides away without the need to stick.
@JoshJRS93 trying to find that “rooted down” place or being aware of it is just a feeling, not a fact. All you’re doing is just trying to avoid uncertainty over the ocd topic. it shouldn’t matter wether a thought is “ocd” or not. Not accepting that all thoughts you have are a product of your brain is kind of denial of the reality. Accepting all thoughts doesn’t mean accepting they’re true, just accepting you have a brain capable of anything and not everything needs to be analyzed as true or false: thats OCD.
@evkrey If there is an urge to compulse, yes it is a feeling, and then yes it also a fact. If you were to ask a sufferer of OCD what it is that makes them compulse I can guarantee they will say that there is an urging feeling within that makes them do it, it doesn’t just happen capriciously.
The four-step method has been proven to work for a huge majority of sufferers of OCD.
I love this. I feel like I probably get a new obsession every year or so. Right now it’s the primaries...
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