- Date posted
- 6y
- Date posted
- 6y
The thought isn’t important and doing ERP won’t make it important. You expose yourself to the thought/fear to desensitize yourself. Right now, we think the thoughts are important already and with ERP we purposely trigger the thoughts while not giving them importance. So, if you have OCD about driving because you’re scared you might run someone over, you-drive, get the thought, feel the anxiety, don’t give the thought importance and do not react to it. It’s a mixture of both. Eventually, after doing this for so long, the thought will become unimportant and you’ll be desensitized. I do radical acceptance, so I’ll get the thought and just that I accept it. I accept the thought and I’m okay with it being there. I don’t give it any extra attention. When you do the exposure and then refuse to do a compulsion you are already telling your brain that it’s not important.
- Date posted
- 6y
I have “Pure O” which is still OCD but everything is mental. So when I get a thought my immediate reaction is to analyze it and ruminate on it. I have looked for reassurance online and just asking people if they think I’m a good person and stuff. But I just had to make it all stop, it’s not easy but it’s what I have to do. So when I get that urge to figure the thought out or to fix it or something, I stop myself from doing it. Like, I can’t stop myself from thinking and getting the thoughts but I definitely don’t let myself react to them. I’ll just say “maybe, but I don’t really care” and try to go on with my day. Ali Greymond on YouTube described it like this- the thought is a ball and when the ball is thrown to you, you have a choice to catch it and run with it(react to the thought and perform mental/physical compulsions) or you can just let it fall to your feet (you notice the thought but you don’t catch it or pick it up, you just leave it there). I don’t really do exposures, because I use my thoughts as exposures and I’m sort of exposed to my fear almost every day anyways. I accept it all- that I have OCD, that I may never recover, that the thoughts have a small possibility of being true, that uncertainty is all I have. I look at it like this tiny little thought that popped into my head didn’t mean a single thing except for the fact that I reacted to it. It still doesn’t mean anything, though. I’m no expert though and I have no idea if this makes any sense or helps you. That’s what I do though and I hope you can start doing it too.
- Date posted
- 6y
I was wondering this too! Which is better?
- Date posted
- 6y
There’s no “set” way to get better. Most of its trial and error. I use a form of ERP where I write out my intrusive thoughts and say “That’s interesting.”, teaching myself that the thoughts are unimportant. So long as you aren’t panicking and trying to perform compulsions when you do exposures, you’re mostly on the right track.
- Date posted
- 6y
What if the compulsions of the repetitive thoughts and reassurances?
- Date posted
- 6y
I had this same thought about CBT: am I not giving importance to thoughts that deserve only to be ignored? But then I get that ignoring thoughts, or trying to, doesn’t always work either. As TabbyKitty says, a lot of it is trial and error!
Related posts
- Date posted
- 24w
I’ve noticed that I’m somewhat happier also ignoring my thoughts than I am instead of doing compulsions (I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired atp) but I’ve heard you’re technically supposed to do erp rather than pushing under the rug. But idk if I have a thought I just refuse to think about it again and im fine even if I want to do compulsions
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 7w
I see a lot of posts and comments here along the lines of... "the thoughts/urges aren't you -- they're just OCD." Though this is often true and comforting, isn't this just a form of reassurance? The way to beat OCD is by accepting that the distressing thoughts MAY be true/real, a.k.a. "from you" or "not just OCD." By brushing distressing things off as "just OCD," you excuse the thoughts and therefore feel reassured. Obviously it is good to be aware of what OCD does to you and know when you're experiencing a spiral, but crediting all distressing thoughts to OCD is a way of finding certainty about them. What do you guys think of this? Am I right or wrong? This is just the way I think about it, but I see the "this is just OCD" thing so much on here and I often wonder if that is a form of reassurance.
- Date posted
- 7w
Hi - just for some context, I have OCD and ADHD. I hate bringing this up, but with these diagnoses, when intertwined, there is ALWAYS a thought. I never stop thinking. This is really hard, especially because I feel like I always need to be talking to someone. Whether it’s my friends or family, talking to people brings me down to earth from certain kinds of thought spirals. However, when I’m alone it is the hardest. When my friends don’t reply I have this compulsion to text again or I need to constantly check my notifications so that I have none left to check. But then to them or new people I talk to, this behavior probably comes across as overwhelming or too much. I’m trying to control it and use erp, but also, I have my moments where I’m just vunerable and give into the compulsion. It’s genuinely so embarassing and maybe not as big a deal as I’m making it out to be but, how do I manage? And how do I relax?
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