- Username
- Waaahmo
- Date posted
- 4y ago
I get that you have a hard time with this! But I dont agree. Our obsessions can come true. For example I have found my stove on three times...but there were no fire... But the most important is that the treatment is the same. You have to learn to accept these emotions, it doesnt matter if you say they come true or not. I think a therapist can help you to find underlying fears also.
I'm sorry, i didn't mean to say that obsessions don't come true, it was just a specific example that the chance in the stove case is very small. I also know the goal of ocd is accepting the uncertainity instead of believing nothing will happen! Thanks for your insight, i also think i need to learn to accept the fears and my response to them coming true.
I've gone through periods of depersonalisation and the one thing which kept it going was being nervous of it happening. Increases anxiety which causes me to overthink and leads to it, so I can understand why that sort of exposures tend to make it happen. The first priority would be to cut out ruminating about it, which is that middle step where the anxiety leads you to choose to worry. Believe it or not, worrying is a choice, it's actually a mental compulsion, so when you feel that you want to worry because something has triggered the fear of it happening, refuse to scratch that itch. Notice that you want to dwell on it, and full on distract yourself with something else. At this point, worrying about depersonalisation is much more of a rumination compulsion than an effective exposure. Instead a good exposure would be to expose yourself to the kinds of things and situations which usually TRIGGER you to start worrying about depersonalisation, and when you feel that anxiety, instead of starting to think (ruminate) about it, do something else which takes your full attention. It'll be difficult to do because you're feeling the triggered anxiety, but you can get through it without dwelling on any thoughts that may pop up about depersonalisation. Notice that the thought happened, sure, but don't follow it down its rabbit hole. That's proper response prevention. It may also help to make some adjustments to how you see depersonalisation. It is weird, but not dangerous. Personally I like it now, it's a little bit psychadelic to suddenly see things from a different angle, it's an opportunity to think about interesting philosophical questions like the nature of self. That stuff doesn't need to be at all scary- I find it very freeing.
Hi, thank you a lot for your comment! I think you are right with exposure and and changing the response to DP. I think my case of DP (if it is DP) is different from the most common types, i hear from a lot of people having existential anxiety, but for me it's complete paralysis, and i can't find a way to enjoy it...however i'm trying to find ways to accept it and stop rejecting it so much. I can't lie but it's extremely difficult haha! Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.
I would approach this as similar to panic disorder, only instead of panic attacks, you're experiencing depersonalization. Like panic attacks, the depersonalization is intensely distressing sensation. However, not everyone who has panic attacks has panic disorder. Panic disorder is when someone becomes so afraid of having a panic attack that they avoid places they think the attacks might happen. Invariably, the attacks continue, so they avoid even more places and their world constricts around them. Avoiding triggers creates more triggers, in panic disorder, in PTSD, in OCD, etc. The treatment for panic disorder is learning to interpret the sensation in a less scary way. The sensations stay unpleasant, but when the narrative around them changes and avoidance stops, functioning improves and habituation can occur
Hi Katie, thank you a lot for your comment. What you write makes a lot of sense, i start to avoid anything that makes me scared to feel depersonalizated which creates more and more triggers, but i have no safety net in life, so i often think "i can't afford to get depersonalizated now, if i do, i'll be useless for who knows how long and noone will do the important tasks (like finding a therapist) for me." But depersonalization happens even when i don't feel scared, but i think my subconscious might be always on alert. It really helped to get some insight from other people, i'll try to work with this information and continue to look for professional help!
hi! I really need someone to help out right now. I would appreciate it so much. Thanks:) I know this is kind of long, but please help me out and read it. please help confirm for me that the symptoms im experiencing are just extreme existential OCD, depersonalization, and anxiety. it would make me feel a lot better. 7-8 months ago a traumatic event led me to experience severe depersonalization. ive had OCD for as long as i can remember basically, but it’s become a lot worse from this. i am a very big overthinker, so i tend to over analyze a lot of the things going on around me, my perception of everything, my thoughts, etc. it’s gotten so bad because of the depersonalization that i at times really can’t function anymore. one day, all i’ll be able to think about is the irrational fear that i somehow am going to die and there’s something terribly wrong with my brain, like cancer or something. then the next, i’ll be freaking out, worrying that im gonna go crazy. like this is some kind of early onset schizophrenia. i start doing research and i start obsessing over each and every thought i have, everything i see, etc. then i’ll be paranoid about my family, worrying that none of them are real and they’re imposters or something. i know it’s irrational. i recognize that and don’t genuinely believe it. but the fact that this thought worries me concerns me even more because it leads me to believe im going crazy. i am having existential crises regularly. like, all the time. it’s actually ridiculous. i’ll be reading a book and i start contemplating the English language and how it came to be, and then language altogether, and then how humans were able to create and understand language, and then how they were able to sound it out, how sound exists altogether, and so on. lol. like what the hell? a few days ago i was looking out of my bedroom window, and all the sudden had the intrusive thought come into my head, “what if this is just a simulation and what you see outside of your window is merely a two dimensional image?” and then i almost had a full on panic attack. anyways, those are some examples. i’m so worried. i feel like i have no control over what freaks me out anymore. i feel like i have no control of my brain altogether. i don’t want to go crazy. i don’t want to feel like im stuck in a dream anymore. im so scared. somebody please help me. i live my life in fear, worrying about everything i perceive. im exhausted. i can’t tell anyone because i don’t want them to worry, or think that im going crazy. that’ll only reinforce my fears.
Have any of you been stuck in what feels like an OCD loop? It’s like being held hostage by OCD. It’s like everything becomes a trigger. Like there isn’t a part of the day where I’m not having intrusive thoughts because it’s the only thing my brain can think about. So every conversation I’m thinking of horrible things I could say, every time I pet my dog think of things I could do to hurt her, anytime I drive I think of hitting pedestrians, every time I’m alone I think of ways I could hurt myself. It honestly feels like my brains on fire I’m starting to think I might have some kind of destructive brain tumour because I can’t comprehend how this can all be mental illness. It’s the ‘urge’ I can’t deal with it feels so real. I’ve had mental illness and likely OCD my whole life but nothing has ever made me feel as scared and hopeless as this. I’ve been having horrible migraine attacks daily for months and I think the trigger is the stress and anxiety these thoughts cause. I feel like I can never rest. It’s like my head is caught in a vice and my eye sight is constant flashes and static. Blood tests normal and two eye tests back normal. I can barely work as my whole job is computer based. I don’t even know how I would begin to do ERP because it feels like I’d have to tackle EVERYTHING about being alive! I also don’t think I have any compulsions. If I do none of them provide any relief so it’s basically just me feeling like I’m going insane every single day since October. It’s impossible to relax when my brain thinks we’re either going to die of a brain tumour or going insane and hurting myself against my will or doing something to someone else that would mean I would have to kill myself. My brain honestly believes it’s inevitable I won’t be along for much longer and it’s petrifying. I don’t know how to get better until I can reset my body to get out of this cycle. How am I supposed to move forward when my brain and body is in constant fight and flight? Does anybody relate? My brain doesn’t even believe this is OCD anymore… I guess this is reassurance but I’m having such a terrible time.
I have ROCD and I doing ERP with my NOCD therapist, her approach is to do imaginary ERP (writing stuff down and read it etc.) But I won't get triggered by stuff like that. PLEASE, does anyone else have any other examples or Ideas of kinds of exposures I could do? Here are some details: So my core fears are: "What if it's not OCD but really no love" What if you hurt her What if you never get rid of the stuff What if you just try convincing yourself you love her. So it always works like this: Trigger builds up "naturally" (due to stress, or life changes or if I spend a lot of time with my girlfriend) OCD comes crashing down on me with a massive doubt like "what if you really don't love her and it's no OCD" I try to stand the affliction and stick with my point of view and don't question it (That I love her and it's just OCD) I give in (I am not really doing much, it's more like a light switch in my head that OCD switches from standing my point to be unsure and in question about if I love her) So the thing is, I tried to analyze the shit out of this stuff and recreate situations but I have a really hard time triggering myself, it just won't work. Furthermore I think I might have ADHD cause I am literally ALWAYS distracted, so it's really hard for me to focus. On the other hand, when I WAIT for OCD to come fucking naturaly, it's so overwhelming and I fail. PLEASE HELP ME. My therapist seems to doesn't have a real solution for it.
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