- Date posted
- 6y
- Date posted
- 6y
Accepting the uncertainty is accepting your thoughts have a possibility of being true. That we don’t know 100%. That we can’t know anything 100%. Its hard and it will make you more anxious at first, but it will get easier.
- Date posted
- 6y
So you're not accepting the thoughts as your true beliefs, you are accepting that the thoughts are there big difference
- Date posted
- 6y
@E-T everyone feels that way about their obsessions. People who are frightened of hurting people, people who are frightened they’re in the wrong relationship. Everyone, including me when I first started, goes “What? That can’t be right! I don’t want to accept that.” But we have to accept that we don’t know 100%. We cannot walk into anywhere and go “I absolutely WILL NOT wet myself/ get germs on my hands/ say the wrong thing” Its the search for certainty that’s tying you in knots here, not the obsession. ALL obsessions are the same, regardless of content.
- Date posted
- 6y
Good discussion here?
- Date posted
- 6y
Thanks you guys! So I'm thinking it'll help me to reframe it like "I accept the uncertainty that my intrusive thoughts are giving me" (because my intrusive thoughts mostly involve tacking on something terrible to a real memory rather than a feeling I'll do something in the future, so just flat out saying I accept uncertainty makes me doubt my memory even further sometimes, if that makes sense).
- Date posted
- 6y
I think what I'm gathering from the discussion is that accepting the uncertainty doesn't mean accepting that it will happen (and trust me I was confused too because it sounded counterintuitive but I think that's the nature of ERP). What it means is that your OCD is intensely afraid that it MIGHT (or MIGHT have) happen(ed), so you need to expose your mind to that uncertainty (and actively resist compulsions, whether they're mental or physical) to become less afraid of that POSSIBILITY so it is no longer an obsession.
- Date posted
- 6y
@TabbyKitty thanks for your advice :-). It’s something I’m really gonna have to get my head around as admitting I can’t be 100% certain I’m not gonna wet myself seems terrifying. I completely see how the need for 100% certainty hasnt helped but that “what if” surely is that not fuelled by the uncertainty in the first place..? I’m really confused or perhaps a little brain locked at the moment
- Date posted
- 6y
I too am confused as my ocd manifests as a fear of wetting myself. The idea of accepting this may happen seems completely the wrong way to go about things...
- Date posted
- 6y
But maybe @TabbyKitty and @Wes could explain better than I could
- Date posted
- 6y
Shoot I deal with that thought too but I didn’t know it could be OCD.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 13w
I need tips on how to really accept the uncertainty the ocd causes, even if it feels so bad like I might get in trouble for something , do I wanna be okay with that?
- Date posted
- 9w
Hi All, just wondering if anyone here has any tips with dealing with uncertainty? My OCD centres on my being worried that I have committed a crime and can’t remember doing so, I was out last weekend and my mind is telling me I attacked somebody as I got an intrusive thought to do so when passing them in a bar, my therapist says I need to sit with the uncertainty that maybe I did and maybe I didn’t and have to be ok with that But if the answer is yes then how can I be ok with committing a crime and going to jail??, it’s affecting my relationship and I’m going on holiday on Friday and I’m worried it will ruin that, any tips would be greatly appreciated.
- Date posted
- 7w
I've been told a lot that in order to get better, we need to tolerate uncertainty, which yea I get that and I'm trying every day more and more to reach that point!! But I've also been told that we need to tolerate uncertainty AND "our worst fears becoming true". Like how does that work, especially with POCD, OCD about a///ault, SA and all of that? Like that is really difficult for me and I don't really understand how I'm supposed to just shrug stuff like that off
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