If I'm having constant anxiety and thoughts about hocd and tocd Does that mean they are true/they must be true if I have "proof/evidence", or I will manifest these things into happening? I just don't understand how I went my whole life not having thoughts like this now I am. Or maybe I have thought about these things and I've been in denial and now they are stronger because they are true

But the thing is all this proof and evidence and real event stuff from my past makes me believe that my thoughts are true and what I want /who I am deep down(which I don't want that to be true) and when I do erp by reading others stories who realized that they were gay/trans/etc., and I find that I can relate it really freaks me out. Also a lot of those people say they were having a lot of doubts, questioning, denial during the process of learning they were gay or Trans so that really worries me also

I really need to eat and do other self-care right now, but I will try to come back within the next couple days to explain more, and then talk about how it relates to you. For the meantime, here’s the basic principle to remember with OCD: thoughts are not the same as values or desires. Feelings are not the same as values and desires. “Evidence” you have of something you fear isn’t necessarily evidence of reality. Usually if you’re incredibly upset by thoughts and feelings that don’t align with what you know you want, and what you know your values are (or have been when you didn’t have these new feelings and thoughts), they are not true. It feels true and it looks true, but that doesn’t make it true. OCD takes the evidence that creates more distress and ignores the evidence that would calm you.

@ejsp Thank you so much for explaining this to me I really appreciate you taking the time to do that. I've been struggling trying to find some help and insight with this

@a01 Yeah, real event OCD is really difficult to parse out. I have had a lot of it. I’m not a therapist—I’ve just dealt with OCD since I was little, and done some therapy (I have more to do). So I don’t know the best way to talk about real event OCD.

@a01 One small exercise you can do is try to focus on anything else for a short amount of time—it can be minutes, it can be seconds even. The thoughts might still be there. The important thing is *trying* to turn your attention. There’s a technique used in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (which I learned in an intensive OCD therapy program) called “mindful redirection.” Basically you try to focus on a task, and when you realize you’ve lost focus, you gently turn back to the task.

@ejsp Thank you very much for this advice I will definitely try to use it. I've been in therapy still am but I can't seem to find a therapist who really specializes in ocd/intrusive thoughts and the therapists I do find, I can't afford them. This has been the most exhausting, debilitating, life sucking thing I've ever dealt with and it's robbing me from living my life

@a01 Look into Mark freeman and Ali Greymond and Michael J Greenberg on google