- Date posted
- 5y
- Date posted
- 5y
Ahh, been there. It's scary to feel so paranoid and getting what is basically delusions :( don't spend time ruminating and researching about whether you're psychotic. It won't help things. It's ok to not do that. My suggestion about the intrusive thoughts is to deliberately not imagine the thing your mind tells you. It's imagining it which makes it feel real and likely and causes you big awful spikes of adrenaline. You must be exhausted from it. But you don't have to imagine it. Sometimes OCD thoughts are literally in the thought of images right at the start, so they're a picture with meaning instead of a thought. If the picture is the first intrusion, the best thing to do is to take some deep breaths to bring your adrenaline back down and not try to solve the image. That means not telling yourself that there isn't a dead body, either. Try to treat the image as if it's a weird passing thing you don't care about, by not doing the things that you would do if you cared about it. You need to teach your brain that it isn't important so it learns there is no need to send you scary possibilities. If it's a thought not an image, the same stuff applies, except you can also choose to not imagine it. Imagining it is a compulsion which you're in the habit of doing because it makes things feel a bit more predictable. If you already know what might be behind that door, then discovering it there might shock you less- or that's the reasoning, anyway. You're going to have to try to accept a trade-off. You can have your mind back so long as you're willing to take the chance that something will happen that you aren't prepared for. And you're going to have to put your money where your mouth is: the cycle won't go away until you mindfully and deliberately choose not to scratch the itch which tells you to imagine it so that you're prepared. You're going to have to go into that bathroom unprepared, and discover for yourself that it's safe to not always be prepared. Instead of imagining when you feel the habitual urge to, you can concentrate on your breathing or put your attention back onto whatever you were physically doing when you got the urge. It's going to feel very wobbly and weird. But you can do it. For me, it helps to remind myself that if I found myself in a situation I hadn't prepared for, the reality is... I could handle it. Really. Sometimes in life we get caught off guard. I can spend my life planning for every worst case scenario and rehearsing things mentally to be the maximum amount of prepared, but I would be miserable. I wouldn't enjoy my life. My alternative, especially where it seems sensible and I can see that I'm not being rational with my OCD, is to take the risks to have a life worth living. You only have to take one step at a time and one risk at a time. You'll build confidence, it will get easier over time. You're stronger than you think. If something ever happened that you hadn't prepared yourself for, you could handle it. You have resources, family, friends, support, your intelligence, your experience, your wisdom, and are unlikely to ever truly have to handle an awful sudden situation all on your own. If you don't feel that you would have anyone, I can promise you that you would have me. Doesn't matter if they sent you to jail, I'd visit and write and listen if that's what you needed. If your whole family died, I'd be your friend. You don't need to always be prepared. We can cross bridges if and when we come to them. If there's a body in your shower one day, we'll deal with that eventuality. In the meantime, you're just getting a scary thought about it. You don't have to prevent it or be prepared for it. You can choose to not imagine. Give it a shot.
- Date posted
- 5y
This post was incredibly thoughtful and helpful. Thank you!
- Date posted
- 5y
Yes this truly was helpful. It made me smile and feel hope. Thank you so much
Be a part of the largest OCD Community
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond