- Date posted
- 6y
- Date posted
- 6y
I’m with you blue stars. For nearly 6 years I have experienced some of the most horrible thoughts towards the ones that are closest to me and my OCD truly has attached itself to all the things in my life that I truly value. Family , friends , work and all other factors that have truly made my life a living hell. These days I’m happy to say that although the intrusive thoughts still occur I’m at a point where I really pay very little attention to them anymore and I seem to finally be able to recognize what is irrational and and what is rational in my mind. For nearly 20 years I have had severe anxiety disorder, depression and OCD which has crippled me and debilitated me in several occasions. The good news is 95 Percent of all people admit to having intrusive thoughts and the other 5% are full of shit!! When you let your thoughts be they will let you be !! Thoughts can not hurt us but our reactions to our thoughts is where the problem lies and the disorder becomes problematic. Fear is not real! The only place fear can exist is in our minds about the future, and in my case I have wasted the majority of my life fearing and worried sick over things that go through my mind . Yet the funny thing is not one thing that I have thought of , worried about or feared might happen has yet to come true !! Once everyone who struggles learns to accept their brain and not run from there thoughts they will finally start to find some peace of mind in their life. Curtis
- Date posted
- 6y
@Curtis Love this!!!! Your experience with this will help so many people. I believe our struggles can transform us into pictures of success and happiness if we move through them and don’t let them define us!!! So happy for this reality!
- Date posted
- 6y
@asdf So what’s helped me is to realize the event we are afraid of has nothing to do with that terrible gross feeling in our gut that comes with our OCD. If we separate the fear and realize the fear is not real and irrational, we can take control back from fear, which is often irrational. Does that make sense? Hope this helped
- Date posted
- 6y
im still working on thinking this way
- Date posted
- 6y
YOU ARE SO AMAZING FOR THIS! this literally inspires me and gives me more hope!
- Date posted
- 6y
@Bluestars first off that’s awesome to hear! And ?yesssssss this came through last night. It’s not the thought but any resistance, or fear of an emotional reaction (or the anticipation of one). For me it’s the integration aspect of this realization that’s helping, because it clicks, but it’s consistently integrating that in moments when a thought arises that is the practice for me right now. Thank you for sharing ☺️
- Date posted
- 6y
Bluestars- how do you take away the negative feelings attached when you think you may have done something awful in the past and just can’t remember? This one is very challenging for me, as I feel convinced that I really did such awful things..
- Date posted
- 6y
@ocdistheworst - What I think may help would be thinking that people you love and know wouldn’t do something bad - possibly could have done the same thing. In other words, you aren’t anxious about having done something bad - even though that is the reoccurring thought - you are rather feeling anxiety and guilt for another reason (or for no reason at all which is normal for everyone) and you are trying to rationalize it by putting it in something that is anxiety and guilt causing. Does that make sense? Hope this helps :)
- Date posted
- 6y
That makes a lot of sense and is very helpful!! Thank you so much for taking time to write back :-)
- Date posted
- 6y
You are so welcome! Here for you!!!
- Date posted
- 6y
How do we remove the negative attachment? It’s like my mind automatically assumes it’s a threat.
- Date posted
- 39w
Helpful
Related posts
- Date posted
- 25w
I’ve been thinking a lot about how OCD changes the way we see ourselves, but I recently realized that I am not my thoughts. Just because a thought pops up doesn’t mean it’s true or that it defines me. I’ve started learning how to see OCD for what it is—just a disorder trying to trick me—and I’ve become stronger in dealing with it. Has anyone else here had a similar realization? How do you handle these thoughts when they show up?
- Date posted
- 25w
Common posts on here are "i had a thought" "why am i thinking this" "what if" and these are all OCDs way of making you doubt yourself while taking you round and round in never ending circles at the same time. Regardless of the theme you are facing, there is no "figuring out" or "making sense" of a thought, because it isn't a real situation - it's a passing word or image or scenario without any meaning attached. You can't control your thoughts and the more you "don't want to have them" the more they will appear. For instance, tell yourself not to think about "apples", it will be the first thing that comes to your mind, because that's just how our minds work. Once you categorise a thought as "bad", every time it comes into your mind, your anxiety level will go up and this makes the thought seem real. Because if it "Feels" this bad, surely it must mean something or must have happened - But none of this is true. All we have to do is naturally notice thoughts as they come up, and rather than try to assess or ruminate over the content, we can almost shrug them off. It's the only way to accept thoughts as simply thoughts and nothing more. Anxiety drives the intense feeling and the more attention you give to thoughts, the more power they have over you. No random thought can change your real intentions. OCD is never ever satisfied, so the only way forward is to accept the uncertainty of never knowing "for sure" and to class the unwanted thought as irrelevant. OCD says "quick..bad thought..feels horrible.. what does it mean.. fix it". But in reality there is nothing bad here or nothing to be fixed, it's a false alarm. Once you learn to respond to a thought calmly by working on anxiety, it gets easier over time. It's your perception of your thoughts that needs to change, you believe they mean something about you, but random things pop into our heads all the time - both things we like and things we don't. OCD also latches onto what we care about most and it always comes with a feared consequence, so think about what yours is, e.g "what happens if my worst fear comes true" you can then practice imaginal exposure which is imagining your worst case scenario over and over until you become desensitised to it and no longer fear it - therapists use this technique in sessions. Everyone in the world has thoughts, the thoughts are not the issue, you just get more of what you focus on, up until the point that you can change your attitude towards the thought. If I asked you if you went upstairs today you would have an answer straight away, however if I asked you a question related to your OCD theme, your anxiety would increase and you would doubt yourself, because that's OCD doing the thinking for you. Once you give it less power it becomes a less significant part of your day. It's so easy to give into compulsions as they feel like a "quick fix".. but as I mentioned, ocd is never happy, which is why it wants us to continue to check and seek reassurance. Once you start reducing and gradually stopping compulsions, whether this is rumination, checking, or a physical action (whatever you falsely believe is "keeping you safe" from your feared consequence) you will see it's not necessary to do them, and that the time consuming little things you have taught yourself to do have no effect on what actually happens in real life. Thoughts prompt feelings and feelings prompt actions - meaning - thoughts cause anxiety and anxiety drives unnecessary actions. As a side note, I overcame contamination ocd (I was in a very very bad way and now the theme doesn't bother me anymore). I still have OCD and it can affect me slightly at times, but i can manage it in a way that it doesn't interfere with my day and without the need to carry out compulsions. Please practice, because I promise it helps, it's super scary at first and extremely difficult but the end result is worth it. ERP therapy is also very helpful.
- Date posted
- 18w
I hope everyone is doing well today, and for those of you who are struggling my thoughts and prayers are with you. Just know your moment of peace is coming soon. I think it’s important that we post / come on here every now and again even when we are not in a moment of pure panic and fear. Remember that we are not our thoughts as hard as it is to understand. Remember that OCD makes it feel “real” and that OCD will always make us think the most inappropriate things and the most inappropriate times. Remember that all humans, have thoughts that come and go and as hard as it can be to understand you are not alone in your thoughts that feel so unique. For me I get a lot of anxiety from thoughts I used to have , which of course makes them return in full throttle. The more I push them away the more they come back. And those thought makes new connections to those things in my life I value. OCD is a pain but it’s important that as much as you hate it you learn to be compassionate and understanding that it’s there to “help” you no matter how bad it does it job sometimes. Stay strong everyone
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