Is anybody here that overcome existential thoughts ;

Thank you so much for your answer I absolutely love it and it kinda helped me calm down. My existential ocd started back in Feb/March and at the end of March it got worse and took on the whole “am I real” thing the day my grandpa passed away. Today has been so horrible with this because I keep thinking what if I’m not real or what if nothing around me is real, plus I keep thinking what if I’m not seeing what’s around me clear enough to know it’s real and it’s messing with my eyes. I’m so glad to here you moved on from it because it gives me hope this is temporary and it’ll pass as well. Did you do any specific exposure exercises to combat this? I’d love to know

@Evelyn4416 i am glad to hear my comment made you feel more hopeful, this disorder does a great job at making people feel lost and afraid. i also relate to you because when my uncle passed i suffered a really bad ocd spike so i am very sorry to hear that you’re going through this :( some things that really helped me was realizing that the more i gave my existential ocd time and focus, the stronger it got. i was obsessed with googling what happens when we die and what is the meaning of life and i tried to look for answers to ease my panic, but i never found answers so it would get worse and worse each day, i kept feeling more distant from everyone, until one day i realized that i was focusing so much on what didn’t exist than what actually existed and the only thing that exists is the present. we don’t need to worry about the unknown, all that matters and all that is real is the present because you’re experiencing it. the biggest thing is to stop trying to find answers and to look at the things around you and realize that you’re real and that you exist in this moment and all the anxiety inducing questions and thoughts your ocd throws at you don’t need to be taken so seriously. <3

@havinghope Yeah, my first bout of existential ocd came a little while after my grandma passed. She was the first person I was really close to that I lost. And you're right, it's just ocd, it's best to just focus on what's around you. It is real. It's hard to do, I used to spiral out really bad on these scary thoughts, but eventually they faded.

@Groovymama i am so sorry to hear that :( i am happy you are better now, it’s so hard to stop taking the ocd thoughts and questions seriously, but when you do, it makes such a difference. this disorder is the beast and you have to starve it by not giving it the reaction it wants.

No erp or medication;

@DimitrisH i practiced erp by confronting my existential thoughts but i didn’t give them the reaction it wanted, i didn’t panic and i didn’t google answers, i simply sat with the anxious thoughts until they faded and they lost meaning and my brain moved on. it was very hard at first, but after time, it works. your ocd is feeding off of the response you give it, if you give it no response, it eventually fades. i never took medication for my ocd, but i know it helps a lot of people. :)