- Date posted
- 5y
- Date posted
- 5y
Hmm. No such thing as a "feeling that you liked/enjoyed the thoughts". The idea that you liked/enjoyed the thoughts is a cognition (a thought). Not a feeling. Perhaps you have this idea and also feel anxiety about it. My guess is that your thought loop looks like this: 1. Either you get an intrusive thought or you deliberately imagine something in order to test your reaction 2. You check your physical and emotional reactions 3. You analyse those reactions and decide that they mean you liked or enjoyed the thoughts 4. This causes guilt, shame and mental conflict 5. You respond to those feelings by ruminating and looking for reassurance or answers My best recommendation is to stop deliberately imagining things, to stop checking your responses to thoughts and feelings, and to not ruminate when you feel guilt and shame. Instead of deliberately imagining something when you feel the urge to, you could instead identify what feelings are behind the urge (perhaps fear and anxiety), and let yourself feel those instead of trying to get rid of them by doing the compulsion of imagining. Instead of checking your physical and emotional responses to intrusive thoughts or imagined scenarios when you feel the urge to do so, you could instead take some deep breaths and try to allow the anxiety and guilt of not checking to happen, without checking to solve/get rid of the feelings. When you feel the urge to ruminate or ask for reassurance or look for answers, you could instead identify your feelings (perhaps fear, shame, anxiety, guilt or a vague sense of doom) and allow them to happen in your body without trying to get rid of them through worry or questioning what they mean or finding answers or asking other people to make you feel better. The bad thing about feelings is that sometimes they are irrational, over-the-top, intense or unpleasant. The good thing about them is that they can't actually hurt you, and when you let feelings happen, without attaching meanings to them which you need to solve, they actually pass through your body and eventually go away again. That's how you treat OCD :) Not by arguing, solving or resisting. Just by letting feelings happen rather than attaching thoughts to them. If you have already added a thought and a meaning to your feelings, then you can say "maybe that's true" and instead of continuing to think about it, just allow yourself to feel whatever anxiety or guilt it causes. It takes longer than 2 minutes to do that. Sometimes it takes hours. But a few hours spent just focusing on physically feeling unpleasant feelings without responding to them with thoughts, is a much better way to spend that time than to spend it looking for answers.
- Date posted
- 5y
Louw nice detail in your response
- Date posted
- 5y
But I actually feel that I like them, is a weird feeling, but I feel that. I will stop responding like you tell me, thank you so much for your help!!!!!
- Date posted
- 5y
You accept that feeling and move on
Be a part of the largest OCD Community
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond