- Date posted
- 4y ago
- Date posted
- 4y ago
Obviously was not hurt, at least not seriously, she can't even remember what you are talking about. This is OCD and your only chance to make progress is to stop analyzing about this case and just let it go. No more reassurance from others no discussing. You can win this fight. You will never reach the point where you got the feeling that you finally got an answer and get your inner peace. OCD will always give you this feeling: only this last answer I will be fine. But this will work, if at all, only in the short term. OCD is insatiable. You have to stop and leave the topic behind.
- Date posted
- 4y ago
Hey you should listen to Katie on this rather than reposting it a lot hoping for another answer. You upset her in the past with vague, guilt-ridden confessing and she didn't want to talk about it, you even recognise doing it then as a mistake. Yet you want to do the same thing again, and because your sister can't give you the reassurance you want, you want to ask your mother for it? If she said to you she didn't remember, chances are she said the same to your mother. You probably alarmed both of them by being vague and I doubt that trying to confess in more detail would be beneficial for anyone. You say it's about not wanting to hurt your sister, but this is clearly more about wanting to relieve your own suffering- which is understandable, but there is a distinction there and you need to notice it. If she remembers it when she's older, you can talk about it then, on her terms. And if she doesn't then there's nothing you can do about it. There's no way you can find out through any amount of analysis etc whether it had some traumatic impact on her. Leaving it alone is what is best for your sister's wellbeing, not to mention best for your OCD. Katie wasn't saying your intention is to harm her, but that your 'need' to confess and find out is not about looking out for her, it's about making you feel better, and in the process you can potentially harm her. You don't need to forgive yourself right now for the mountains of harm your OCD says you have done or might have done. Work on the OCD to end up in a position where you're able to integrate a more reasonable view of the issue, and then work on self compassion about whatever is left. I have literally been exactly where you are except that I *know for a fact* I screwed my sister up a bit, and she said she doesn't remember. I didn't have OCD about it at the time when I remembered it and apologised, so I was able to apologise in a way that is reasonable (not doing things like freaking out that she must hate me or piling all my guilt on her which would just alarm her or make her feel pressured). Mine still said she didn't remember. Whether she did or does or will do or not, I leave it up to her asto whether she wants to talk to me about it at any future point, and if she does, I'll again be apologetic without being self flagellating, as I can recognise my own youth etc just as much as I know she would recognise it, and I'll offer whatever amends would be appropriate considering all factors. Genuine accountability isn't about making yourself feel better or being certain that you didn't cause harm or hearing the magic words of forgiveness or even really about being forgiven by the other person or them not judging you. And it's not about desperation to be able to forgive yourself either. It's a wish to take responsibility *when and where it's appropriate and accurate* and for the other person to move forwards from it. Even if that means being disliked or judged or blamed. I've done "confessions" like the one you want to do and I've done meaningful accountable apology, I know the difference between them. You may have caused harm, yeah, it's possible. It's your OCD making that seem like the end of the world. The terror and extreme guilt you feel about that prospect isn't real life. Try to stop making your decisions on the basis that it is.
- Date posted
- 4y ago
Thank you, I needed to hear this. I will try and recognize what I did as something that is no longer in my hands, but in my sister's, because I have done all I could. I'm glad you didn't hold back in this, because this is what the truth is.
- Date posted
- 4y ago
You really seem to worry a lot. Maybe you should consider taking SSRI to calm down your ruminating a little. They push the rumination thoughts into the background if they work.
- Date posted
- 4y ago
can=can't
- Date posted
- 4y ago
Have you considered the harm you do to her by asking? This is a prime situation where you could accidentally create an inaccurate memory in her, that then causes her distress
- Date posted
- 4y ago
To be clear, you questioning her actively harms her as well as yourself
- Date posted
- 4y ago
@NOCD Advocate - Katie Yes, I have. That is why I dont want to bring it up to her again, I don't want her to develop a false memory but I cant think of any other way to forgive myself, i need to know shes okay
- Date posted
- 4y ago
@NOCD Advocate - Katie This is still true even if you did hurt her. You pressing her to recount a memory she doesn't want to discuss would be retraumatizing. Whether you did or didn't hurt her in the past, asking her now WILL hurt her in the present
- Date posted
- 4y ago
@worryqueen So you're going to find forgiveness by harming her?if that's your plan, it seems pretty clear that you're not really caring about her well-being, your driven by seeking relief for yourself
- Date posted
- 4y ago
@NOCD Advocate - Katie No, I dont want to harm her. Please dont assume that I do, I'm just saying that I dont know another way I can forgive myself. I dont plan on talking to her about it, but I'm trying to find another solution for this problem.
- Date posted
- 4y ago
@worryqueen If you assume it's OCD, what is the long term solution? I'm pretty sure you already know, you just don't like the answer (which is understandable, because the answer feels pretty awful)
- Date posted
- 4y ago
@NOCD Advocate - Katie What do you think the answer is? Acceptance or forgiveness?
- Date posted
- 4y ago
@worryqueen Acceptance that you might've harmed her and then moving on with life. The more you do normal life things, the more you demonstrate to your brain that this issue isn't as big a deal asit feels right now
- Date posted
- 4y ago
This is not ought to be reassurance but as know the nature of OCD i'm quite sure that this was a minor incident. Nothing to discuss further. Furthermore in the case you simply can't resist asking her, tell her that this is an OCD driven question and deep in your heart also know that this a silly and unnecessary question. This will help your sister to see this nagging of you in the right context and is nothing to take serious so she is less likely to take harm from this. Still you should consider taking SSRI.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 18w ago
I am really worried that I may have SA'ed my little sister. When we were very young, and I mean, really, really young, I was 5 I think. I used to kiss my sister, because I was curious and my mom caught us and she told me not to do it again and I didn't. But when I was about 11 she felt on my lap and I liked the sensation so I tried to rub myself against her. I tried to take my life because of this, I did therapy and everyone, including my sister, told me that I was just a child, and my sister admitted to having done similar things and she said "Would you blame me?" and I said no because she was a child and barely understood what was happening. My therapist said that I mimicked adult behaviors when I kissed her but she was so young, like barely 4 years old and I feel sick to my stomach and I just want to die.
- Date posted
- 10w ago
(20f) I have been dealing with severe OCD symptoms for as long as I can remember. I recently got diagnosed about a year ago, and even though I know that these thoughts are probably my ocd, I still cant shake them. Growing up I was always very sexually curious. I was sheltered from a lot of things, as I went to a private school and things like sexuality and sex were never talked about. I remember doing some weird sexual things growing up (never affecting another person), looking up taboo sexual things, etc. I always seemed to become aroused no matter what the situation was, even if I just saw someone getting changed. I have no recollection of being SA'd, so i'm wondering where this all came from? Was I just curious and wanted to experiment and try different things? Or am I really a pervert, pedophile, etc. I have all these thoughts racing through my head and it's killing me. Everything I did as a kid I look back on and am disgusted, as those don't align with my views at all today. I never thought growing up thinking these things were wrong, or actually realize what they were until I got older. I'd like to think it was just my curiosity, but i'm not sure. What if i'm in denial and actually do like these things? I just need to know if theres something wrong w me, I cant keep going on like this. Could really use some advice.
- Date posted
- 10w ago
Any advice? I just got triggered by false memory OCD. There is no indicator or memory of me doing anything bad, only the what if. So how can I deal with uncertainty because if I did do the false memory it would go against my morals?? Not something extremely unforgivable just like not ideal and against my morals… I don’t know if it happened. I have no memory of my false memory happen only the “what if” which is enough to scare me FOR CONTEXT: I was in the mental hospital when I was 16, and made a few friends. Some just a grade below me, so 14-15. I remember bringing up in convo someone I met previously at the mental hospital earlier in that year a different time I was hospitalized , to which a boy responded he knew her, and they did (seggsual) stuff at their school. The girl I was talking about at that time was 14. So im assuming the boy was 14 as well. 13 and up is together in the hospital, so he couldn’t be younger than 13. I have no memories of him flirting with me or me flirting with him. Or anything bad happening. Literally just “what if”.. or what if he wasn’t 14 but 13 and u said something inappropriate or flirted with him. I will never be able to know what happened and I’m sick thinking about this. 13 and 16 is NOT WITHIN MY MORALS. I am worried because the only inappropriate I guess convo had is when he was telling me what happened between him and that girl I knew. I also remember him having a bulge down there and it freaked me out and made me feel weird at the time because I noticed it. (At this time I was already diagnosed with OCD and experienced POCD) I try to tell myself maybe maybe not. But the what if it did happen makes me feel like a p33do, and me thinking it didn’t happen doesn’t satisfy me because I don’t have 100 percent certainty
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