God. My thoughts have always been the same people in the past. I can't finish a task right away for a minute by minute these thoughts appear and I'm arguing with them. God.

Both-- the thoughts cause the arguing

@beautifulmind Fair enough. I disagree, but I'm not going to try to explain why now unless you want me to. Instead, let me ask another question. which part do you choose , the thoughts or to argue with them?

@NOCD Advocate - Katie The arguing

@beautifulmind The arguing is the one I don't like, and also laughing from time to time due to the same thoughts --- it's always the same thoughts

@beautifulmind Allow me to lay out your personal OCD cycle as I understand it (and correct me if I'm wrong). First, you have an unwanted thought (obsession) Next, you experience some kind of distressing emotions Then, you argue with the thought (compulsion) Finally, you get temporary relief from the distress. Here's what your brain learned from that series of events: -unexpected and unwanted thoughts are threatening. They are BIG PROBLEMS. -distressing emotions and sensations are intolerable, you cannot come with them and need to make them go away as fast as possible -repetitive behaviors that interfere with my functioning can give me temporary relief Those three lessons together lead to: -more frequent unwanted thoughts (because your brain learned that they are dangerous, and brains watch out for danger, and if the brain is watching for reminders of unwanted thoughts, it will find them), -more intense distress (because it practiced not tolerating distress and because engaging in a compulsion proved to your brain that the perceived threat was valid) -more time consuming comoulsions and avoidance (because it seems like the only way to feel better, and because compulsions become give shorter and less satisfying relief each time we use them, so it takes more and more compulsions to achieve the temporary relief we crave) It's a cycle that repeats and repeats. We can't control unexpected thoughts. We can't control emotions. The only part of the cycle we can control is our actions. To short-circuit the OCD cycle, we need to focus on reducing and eliminating compulsions

@NOCD Advocate - Katie Wow. That was the best explanation I ever received since I did take therapy sessions twice but not an OCD expert, but I am now looking for one. Thank you so much for this! I understood myself better. That arguing with them is a form of compulsion, and my other one is also walking back and forth. So, what is the last message you can give me? Thank you for replying!!

@NOCD Advocate - Katie My compulsions have reduced drastically due to the lockdown, I used to doubt that what I was experiencing wasn't OCD too since there is no one to explain it to me clearer, I don't know if it is also a compulsion to listen to the same songs over and over? Thank you so much. I will get therapy soon. Thank you for validating what I feel

@beautifulmind Oh, I disagree that thoughts are a problem at all. Research shows that people without OCD have exactly the same type of random thoughts as people without OCD. They have sudden thoughts about swerving their cars off roads, how they could get sick from toilet seats, images of having sex with their mom, thoughts about the house burning down. All our intrusive thoughts and obsession are thoughts that people without OCD have too. The difference is how we interpret the thoughts, https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fimgv2-1-f.scribdassets.com%2Fimg%2Fdocument%2F224740338%2Foriginal%2F8e04dc942b%2F1596112594%3Fv%3D1&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.scribd.com%2Fdoc%2F224740338%2FCognitive-Distortions-in-Ocd&tbnid=rvTfsJ2kbZ-AfM&vet=12ahUKEwiog--l9bzrAhWGfK0KHQ9uBdkQMygAegUIARCiAQ..i&docid=z8oefH7fHmawDM&w=768&h=1024&q=cognitive%20distortion%20ocd&client=ms-android-samsung-gs-rev1&ved=2ahUKEwiog--l9bzrAhWGfK0KHQ9uBdkQMygAegUIARCiAQ the emotion they elicit, and the behaviors we respond to them with

@NOCD Advocate - Katie Thanks a lot!!!

@NOCD Advocate - Katie I can't explain myself to others that much but who can explain being there to validate you is a huge help :)