- Date posted
- 5y
- Date posted
- 5y
I love this explanation! Thank you!
- Date posted
- 5y
This helped me so much
- Date posted
- 5y
Really helpful info. Thank you.
- Date posted
- 5y
"pain should be confronted to be defeated" I like that. I need to hear this today.
- Date posted
- 5y
This is spot-on. If you were an alcoholic, you wouldn't continue to give yourself alcohol (i.e., perform compulsions). Resist and see the change :)
- Date posted
- 5y
Did you recover from OCD? You seem to have such a accurate perspective on this disorder.
- Date posted
- 5y
I just started my process. I had OCD most of my life, but was very comfortable with it, the recent world situation and personal issues got my subconscious mind to scare me so much, I had no choice but to change. I did all I could to learn and connect dots from all sources I found. I still keep on connecting the dots. Mind Over Matter. đ¤
- Date posted
- 5y
When you mention a lack of self love, this video popped up in my mind. I do agree that, at least for me, this might have happened due to a lack of self love. But your addiction analysis, having an addictive personality myself, seems to be a very plausible theory on ocd mechanisms. https://youtu.be/Q9yKaI0vLJs
- Date posted
- 5y
Hi, Lack of sufficient self love, is a common feature and repeating pattern for the great majority of anxiety conditions, which OCD is part of, so we are all here coming from the same place. All humans need to feel good, when it doesnt come naturaly by ourselves, we give this power over us to either a certain external factor, behaviour, or drug, to do it for us. Thats why addiction and OCD are usually cooccuring. They stem from the same root, the need to be loved, to feel good about ourselves.
- Date posted
- 5y
It does make a lot of sense. I knownit wont happen overnight, but when I do try to be kind and love myself, Im immediately flooded with guilt or intrusive thoughts.
- Date posted
- 5y
@luchalysol Happens to me to, and many others. Thats the subsconscious part of us sabotaging. Thats why we keep at it, until this door is unlocked. I think if we trace to the roots of addictions and OCD, both stem from insufficient self love. Kind of explaining why some peole get easily addicted to drugs and alcohol and others don't. All humans need to feel good, when it doesnt come naturaly by ourselves, we give this power over us to either a certain external factor, behaviour, or drug, to do it for us. Thats why I believe perhaps that OCD is not only about recovery, but rather acquiring a new mindset for a lifetime of correct and healthy self management, practicing everyday self love and relaxation.
- Date posted
- 5y
@DavidS I can see that. Ive always had somewhat of a fear of being a bad person. But it skyrocketed when I had what I now believe was an onset of cleanliness ocd. I was worried about having bad breath, almost suddenly, brushed my teeth multiple times a day. I started avoiding people because of it. I then became so insecure that I developed an aloofness and superiority complex to mask my insecurities which then led to me realizing I was wrong, feeling guilty and horrible. And now I have harm, moral, responsibility ocd, manifesting mostly as pure o.
- Date posted
- 5y
@luchalysol This is where the trap is. Guilt, shame, and thinking we are bad people is exactly where the subconscious mind pulls us towards- the Compulsion. The Reaction (Your part) to the Action (Subconscious mind/Unsolicited/Cravings/Obssessions). Determine you are not playing this game. You do not perform any Reaction thought feeling nor behaviour based on the on the Action of the subcondcious mind. You know way better how to feel happy and relaxed. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.madeofmillions.com/ocd/pure-ocd/amp
- Date posted
- 5y
Comment deleted by user
- Date posted
- 5y
Im working on it everyday. I want my life and the old me back. I hear stories from my chikdhood and I just cry cause idk what happened to me. Ive always felt a bit inadequate and unloved by many, but I was always cheerful. Now Im a shell of who I used to be. I dont want to be a bad person, I just want me back.
- Date posted
- 5y
I am glad this approach makes sense. I find it somehow simplifying the recovery and explaining how both challanges 'addiction' and 'ocd' are more similar than not. As Yoda said: one must unlearn what they have learned đ¤
- Date posted
- 5y
I donât agree at all. I am sorry but thatâs not what I feel. How can you be so sure? Like you beat OCD comparing it to a drug knowing that thousands of people are still trying to figure out a way out of it and trying to better understand its mechanisms. OCD is such a difficult and multifaceted problem that we need to be open mind. Imagine just for a second your theory doesnât hold up. It means you stuck in a world where you have zero chances to overcome your OCD because the way you see it is wrong. But of course u free to believe whatever u believe itâs true.
- Date posted
- 5y
Nothing in what I wrote changes the approaches currently offered, but perhaps it will help find new approaches. Have you noticed how drug addicts that went through rehabe tend to mention how many days, weeks, months, years they are drug-free? What they actually say is, yes they do get thoughts, but they don't act upon it. Same here, yes thoughts can come unsolicited but what counts is our response, or actually lack of it.
- Date posted
- 5y
@DavidS Iâm a recovering addict and totally agree with you
- Date posted
- 5y
@Kat2244 Prop to you for recovering from an addiction. That must take a lot of strength and dedication.
- Date posted
- 5y
@Kat2244 Thank you Kat2244 I hope it will help gain new coping skills for recovery, and maybe one day the scientific communities will find new ways to assist.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 21w
So i am dealing with my third relapse of ocd and this time the theme is paranormal. So you can imagine how distressing it is. My ocd creates image intrusive thoughts and even gets scared and doubts normal eye vision things. But i am learning through it. But here are some things i have learned and learning : 1. Don't try to runaway from triggers : one thing i have learnt is that we may think that if we runaway from triggers our ocd thoughts will stop, its a big no, it will never because in ocd anything and everything can be a trigger. So even if you think that sitting in your room and not going out will help you, i will say for sometime but then again ocd will come up with new fear. Now i know it will create anxiety but don't runaway from your triggers it is indirectly feeding your loop. 2. Also i would say that try to ignore these thoughts and image intrusive thoughts. No matter how much they come try to shift your focus on something else. Something that gives you happiness like try to think about your dream job and what will happen if you get it, daydreaming a bit is necessary to ignore these negative thoughts, think of your family and friends, your crush, your love maybe. And after few minutes when you shift your focus towards other thoughts and things you will eventually realise that these negative thoughts lose their importance. I know it is extremely tough to shift your focus but you need to do it. Think about your hopeful future, imagine yourself being happy. 3. Ocd brings in a lot of anxiety which leads to brain fog and anxiety and anxiety can create fake sensations, visions and beliefs. It can even cause fake smell also, so whenever ocd brings in the thought that what if i saw something, or what if i listened to something, what if i smelled something just say that anxiety creates fake sensations and it is scientifically proven. Also due to anxiety we become hypersensitive so our senses become more active they tend to notice things more easily. Like being hypersensitive means you will notice normal sounds more, peripheral vision illusions more certain smells more. And it is fine, our body is in hyper alert mode so it will. 4. Even when you start feeling a bit fine and bit okay don't expect that ocd will fade away immediately. It won't fade away immediately, it will take time, your hyper sensitive and anxious brain will take time to normalise things. It may take month or something. And in this moment you will get intrusive thoughts, maybe more weird or bizzarre images or thoughts. Because the brain had gotten into the habit of negative thinking, worrying and anxiety so yeah there will be moments when it will doubt many things, when it will bring extreme intrusive thoughts, try your best to not ruminate over it. 5. I have realised that we ocd sufferers have one thing in common we are very creative people, we love art and expression. And our minds have the habit of constantly think something. I have noticed that my ocd relapses only when my mind is empty, like when it has nothing else to think about, when i am idle and and my life is lonely with no external stimulation. So try to find a purpose and give direction to yourself that's it. Ocd increases when serotonin and dopamine decrease so try to maintain your serotonin and dopamine levels by having healthy diet, investing it into something you like maybe writing, art, music, acting anything you like. You can start a blog or a page or write a book about your ocd journey. 6. Lastly i would say that accept it that yes my brain is a bit more anxious, and it is fine. Also everyone is fighting a battle inside them, we are suffering from our thoughts, some are dealing with something else, and don't try to seek much reassurance or give attention to ocd thoughts, just let it be there and shift your focus. Think about how there are much important things in your life. And ocd happens when we are very scaredy like the ones who get scared easily, so try to win over your fears, win over it. It picks up our greatest fears and feeds on it. Win over these fears that's it. At the end i would say yes the fight is very tough, even though i have understood so many things about it, yet many days i go through the depression, i go through the anxiety, i go through the sadness, and there are days when i just sleep a lot to escape these thoughts and this fear because paranormal ocd is very draining. But i am learning through it and yes one day we all will defeat it. Keep learning, keep fighting, keep growing, stay strong. Ocd is just our mind trying to pull itself inwards away from the external world. Get into the external world, face the real life and real issues, ocd thoughts are imaginary and not real issues.
- Date posted
- 9w
The subject of OCD matters to the sufferer because it feels like confirmation that they are fundamentally unlovable and unwantedâas if even existence itself doesnât want them. They feel like an error, carrying a deep sense of guilt and shame, as if they were inherently wrong. They suffer from low self-esteem and a deep internalized shame, because long ago, they were fragmented and learned a pattern of fundamental distrustâespecially self-distrust. But the real trouble doesnât come from the content of the most vile or taboo thoughts. It comes from the fact that the sufferer lacks self-love. Thatâs why, when you begin to walk the road to recovery, youâre taught unconditional self-acceptanceâbecause thatâs what all sufferers of OCD have in common: if you arenât 100% sure, if there isnât absolute certainty, the doubt will continue to attack you and your core values. It will make you doubt everythingâeven your own aversion to the thoughts. You have to relearn how to trust yourselfânot because you accept that you might become a murderer somedayâbut because you enter a deep state of acceptance about who you truly are. Itâs not about becoming a monster at all. Itâs about making peace with what lies at the root of the fear. Making peace with the guilt. With the shame. Making peace with yourself and the person you fear you might be. Because that fear is not rooted in reality. Itâs not rooted in any true desire to act. Itâs rooted in your identityâspecifically, in what might threaten it. Thatâs what confirms the belief that you are fundamentally wrong. And OCD fuels that belief by using intrusive taboo thoughts to attack your very sense of self. But then I wonder: letâs say, for example, someone fears being or becoming a sexually dangerous personâhow could that person practice unconditional self-acceptance? I would never accept myself if I were to harm anyoneâthe thought alone makes me want to cry. I know itâs not about whether or not someone acts on the thought. Itâs about the core fear underneath it. So how do you accept yourself when the thoughtsâand the feelings around themâfeel so completely unacceptable ?
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 8w
These treatments are not designed for OCD sufferers because they treat OCD like a logic disorder when OCD is very far from that. Hence why, many patients do not recover with these treatments. âď¸ Talk therapy involves doing a lot of compulsions like rumination, reassurance-seeking, trying to figure out your thoughts, Etc. âď¸ Similarly, standard ICBT also involves compulsions such as arguing with your thoughts. For example, if you have POCD, your therapist might say âyou know youâre not p*do so just ignore the thoughts.â This is reassurance and can turn into another compulsion called thought-blocking. âźď¸A reputable therapist here (Tracie Ibrahim) has told us in a support group that ICBT isnât even evidence-based (even though people claim that it is) âď¸ Beware of Instagram âcoachesâ who want your money and say they specialize in a very specific subtype of OCD (ex. relationship OCD). A good ERP therapist would know that all OCD subtypes are treated the same way so the subtype shouldnât matter. An ERP therapist should be knowledgeable in all of them because all OCD is just OCD. One of the only things that may differ is the type of exposures you have to do. âď¸ Also, I suggest you do not use drugs & alcohol as a crutch. You will struggle with your OCD without those, which can possibly lead to addictions. Those substances can even increase your OCD symptoms. â¤ď¸ What I do recommend for OCD recovery: ERP therapy, behavioral activation, ACT, mindfulness, self-compassion, OCD community support, healthy distractions, bonding time with family and friends, and healthy lifestyle habits. These habits include healthy eating (try to stay away from processed foods), going out on nature walks, consistent sleep, and consistent exercise. Let me know in the comments below if you have any extra tips for whatâs been helping you through your OCD journeyđ
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