- Date posted
- 5y
- Date posted
- 5y
I have times when I feel like I’m looking through glass, like I’m not all the way here. This is not per say my struggle with OCD but just thought I’d share.
- Date posted
- 5y
Ooohhh yeah, you’re not alone. This was a main theme of my childhood OCD. I still have other forms but I was eventually able to pull out of the existential dread by accepting I may never know the “truth”, so I may as well enjoy the ride of life while I’m here. Don’t know if this helps, but it can get better! Hope you find peace.
- Date posted
- 5y
Now that I do have! Just constantly trying to understand the world, and trying to find incentive to for it when I don’t know everything I feel I need to know. It leaves me mainly depressed and feeling without purpose.
- Date posted
- 5y
@jspaw Yes, it does help. It’s just so hard to accept uncertainty, but it’s also the only way to break free. The worst part is feeling like everyone else “knows” they and everything else exist with certainty, and like I’m the only one who doesn’t. The truth is, other people just accept uncertainty whether they know it or not and assume they and everything else exist. I can’t imagine having this theme as a child. :( I even question logic and whether there are even concepts since this theme has me question everything. Any more tips are appreicated. Doing ERP, but it’s hard.
- Date posted
- 5y
I get it, I always want specific, solid answers. I’m trying to accept that the world is full of uncertainty.
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- 5y
This happens a lot when I dissociate. Those thoughts also cause me to dissociate lol
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- 5y
*appreciated
- Date posted
- 5y
I’m having a hard time with uncertainty in other areas, so I totally get it. I also used to feel annoyed by people who weren’t concerned about reality, it seemed so easy for them! I think a lot of people just take life at face value and don’t bother to think about it much. When existential worries come back, I just try to concentrate on what I like about life, and thank the universe for giving me any positive experiences at all. Even little things, the taste of coffee, sunshine, rollercoasters, etc... I don’t know how or why I get to experience them, but I do!
- Date posted
- 5y
I feel like a nut job for doubting whether we are ACTUALLY experiencing anything. I’m so ashamed.
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- 5y
I hear you and have totally been there. Hang in there and try to enjoy what you can. 💗
- Date posted
- 5y
@jspaw Thank you, friend. It’s so hard when I try to prove I am thinking and existing, and then to realize no proof will ever be enough for OCD. It will never stop. The only thing I can do is tell myself it isn’t worth wasting a possibly real life. The stakes are too high.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 20w
My OCD has bounced around to a lot of different topics but my current spiral has been focused on existential dread - I have a lot of intrusive thoughts about my loved ones dying and not existing and about my own death and not existing anymore. OCD is trying to get me to find certainty in what happens after we die… and unfortunately I will NEVER be able to find certainty around this. This spiral started after the death of my beloved cat and then the almost death of my dog a week later. I think OCD attached to this idea that everyone and everything I love is going to die and I need to prepare myself for it and somehow KNOW what happens when someone dies. It’s panic inducing and really hard for me to sit with vs other OCD themes Ive had related to health, moral/hyper responsibility, etc. Anyone have this type of obsession around death of loved ones and how did you combat the intrusive thoughts and deal with the mental compulsions (rumination, avoidance, etc)?
- Date posted
- 15w
Hello lovely community, I’m curious if anyone else has dealt with existential OCD, especially with a fear of life having no meaning. My biggest compulsion is doing something meaningful and checking if I feel different, like happy or elated or fulfilled, which usually leads me to feel the opposite. How do I prevent compulsions that are so automatic? Even if I’m just making jokes or hanging out with friends, I’ll automatically check how I’m feeling. I worry often that my OCD will get “worse” and become unmanageable. I’ll often check my emotions or thoughts or feelings to see how my OCD is in that moment, to see if its getting worse or better, which leads me to constantly be on high alert and very aware of my thoughts and feelings. I’ll also avoid doing things I love or overindulge to check my emotions. Any advice would be appreciated :)
- Date posted
- 14w
Hi everyone, this is my first post on the forum, and honestly, it’s one I wanted to use to reach out and feel a little bit less alone, and possibly ask some advice to people who have been where I currently am! I have gone through a few OCD themes over the years, including harm OCD, POCD, moral scrupulosity and a few other smaller themes, but in the last year I’ve really hit Existential OCD hard, as I’ve managed to accept and move past all my old themes. It started out quite “normal” for Existential OCD; Solipsism fears, Simulation fears, am I even real, what even is real kinda stuff, that I’ve often come across when looking at other people’s experiences. I’ve done a lot of work to move past these themes and have had a good level of success. But recently, and this is what I really wanted to reach out and see if anybody else has experienced something similar; I’ve found that I’ve started experiencing fears around more physics based things, I was freaked out by the fact we are made up of atoms and how can we be us if we are a load of little floating items, I was freaked out by things like multiverse theory, black holes and many many more physics based concepts. I’ve been struggling to move past these as, as my brain keeps reminding me, they are real, proven concepts as opposed to things like simulation theory which, maybe is, maybe isn’t. Has anyone else been down this road after the “normal” existential topics? And could you share some insight into how you might have moved past these particular fears that are more grounded in real concepts as opposed to more philosophical ideas? Thanks guys!
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