Anonymous
- Date posted
- 6y
FrancisFrancis
- Date posted
- 6y
That’s a good question. I feel like it must have been absolute hell on earth to have OCD before people knew what it was. I can’t imagine the pain of having a mental disorder before they were widely understood in society. I’m sure that also influenced how people experienced OCD. It’s a great comfort to know that many other people experience the disease and that you are not alone...
08230823
- Date posted
- 6y
I read that when there was the big aids outbreak people with OCD had themes about catching it. I think it definitely has to do with the context and what is happening around us. LGBTQ+ is huge right now so it’s a common OCD theme. The media is showing a lot of harm and pedophilia/sex trafficking news and that’s a common theme too. There are always so many articles about how this and that is bad for you, and contamination is super common too. I do believe that it has to do with the world around us.
AnonymousAnonymous
- Date posted
- 6y
Have you read The Man Who Couldn’t Stop by David Adam? He developed obsessions around AIDS around the time of the epidemic I think. My themes primarily center around perfectionism. I never felt truly accepted by my dad and never felt I could please him so this makes sense for me. And I did well in school and had pressure put on me to achieve great things and what not.
AnonymousAnonymous
- Date posted
- 6y
Thank you! My dad doesn’t talk to me right now, unfortunately. And I told him about my OCD in the past but he wasn’t too understanding (even though I think he might have OCD himself). When I told him he later sent me a bunch of “I’m so OCD” memes and criticized me for not laughing with him and would tell me to snap out of it when he caught me obsessing. :( He does care but just doesn’t handle it rightly. The last time he spoke with me he just kind of wrote me off.
08230823
- Date posted
- 6y
No I haven’t, but I’ll look it up! That definitely makes sense. I was in an abusive relationship and was forced to act a certain way and I was pretty much taught that it was just the right way to act or something so I still like aim for that I think. My main obsessions are contamination, breathing type obsessions, and POCD. The POCD has gotten a ton better though, and I’m grateful for that because it is the hardest for me to handle! I hope you’re telling OCD to back off because you are amazing the way you are! I’m sorry about the way things are with your dad, have you tried bringing it up with him or do you think it’s purely OCD?
Related posts
Cody Fournier
- User type
- Therapist
- Date posted
- 25w
OCD switches themes
I was just thinking about how OCD tries to be tricky and switches themes on us!! The amount of times I have said to myself in the past, IF ONLY I HAD THE OLDER THEME I USE TO WORRY ABOUT BECAUSE THIS NEW ONE IS SO MUCH WORSE!!! Has anyone ever experienced this before? Once I started ERP therapy, I began to really start understanding what mental/physical compulsions I was doing to really keep my OCD alive! While I did this, I would also tap into my self-compassion bucket, even when it felt like it was dry at times, because it was SO easy to judge myself for because of the sheer presence of my thoughts. I would also have the most self-compassion for myself for those taboo intrusive thoughts that really felt so strong, ego-dystonic and real!!! My OCD would hop around from theme to theme and just when I thought I figured it out (compulsion) it would hop again and make me discouraged! I noticed for me that once I really understood my compulsions, it didn't matter when the theme switched as I could tackle it at its core. If I was able to stay steadfast and resist compulsions the best I could, I started to notice that my CONFIDENCE increased in the long run! I also noticed that some of the core fears were the same for different OCD subtypes. OCD treatment is hard BUT living with OCD is harder. I have experienced subtypes including Harm OCD, ROCD, Moral Scrupulosity, Sensorimotor, Contamination, Perfectionism/Just Right, Hit and Run, Magical Thinking, Real Event/False Memory. ERP therapy allowed me to really work on stopping these compulsions and switching from theme to theme. I was fed up with what OCD took from me and I needed to do something about it. I talked to an ERP therapist and it was one of the best decisions of my life. If you are struggling, keep pushing and get the help you deserve!! You got this!!!
Dude01
- Date posted
- 24w
It's about the Themes, you can't convince me otherwise
"The themes don't matter, it's the OCD that's the real culprit!" I don't buy that. How's that? I didn't have this crap until the real event themes came along. I wasn't born with OCD, I didn't have it from a young age, etc. This was learned, this was real event theme triggered, this was a bad habit that kept on on going and never died, the frequency just picked up and now it's a daily hell. This wasn't happening before the actual themes. Which makes sense. It's a result of being "stuck" in a cycle of guilt, shame, and constant cognitive challenges to "deal" with past deeds. I've very skeptical of any future solution. The fact that there doesn't seem to be any permanent solution for real event OCD is defeating and depressing. I don't know how people "beat OCD" without some level of delusion mindset or baked out of their mind in medication. Doesn't seem to be a holistic or real solution to this. Just more of the same hellish routines. I'm just very pessimistic, it's been years. Where is the hope. Sick of being stuck like this.
Tony Davies
- Date posted
- 22w
Question
Why is it that you beat one OCD think, but another OCD thing comes up related to it, but the same theme?
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