I know this sounds bad but sometimes I think what if I’m not strong enough or capable enough to have a happy life bc of my ocd & I’m scared I’ll suffer everyday of my life because I was symptom free for 10 months but cut back on my meds & relapsed. I’m scared I just want a snow glob to look in to see if it’s worth fighting

Carl cornett can I ask you a question on ocd thought management? When we have an intrusive thought (or more commonly for me, intrusive feelings or sensations), should we identify it as ocd, then disregard it by throwing it in the "not true" bucket, and focus on something else? Or is saying "its just ocd" and throwing it in the trash and focusing on something else thought suppression and a comlulsion because we are reassuring ourselves its not true? Im very confused on this and I hope you can help! You're recovered from ocd right?

@Dianaaa I think it depends. If you’re responding with “it’s just OCD” to provide relief from the thoughts or to reassure yourself, that’s compulsive. But if you’re just using that to be mindfully aware, I don’t think that’s an issue. The line is thin there, though. Personally, I don’t try to say it’s OCD or not. I just practice not reacting at all. There’s a difference between distraction and redirecting, too. Again, if you’re doing something—like scrolling through your phone—to avoid the negative or unpleasant experience of OCD, then that’s avoidance or suppression. If you’re just acknowledging that you’re triggered, but choosing to focus your attention on something else and it doesn’t matter if the thought is there, then that’s just redirecting. I have graduated from ERP therapy, but recovery is something you do every day! It’s a lifestyle.

Yes. I still experience intrusive thoughts and unpleasant emotions, they just don’t necessarily have the ability to derail me or spiral. Some of my thoughts have almost completely gone away, too. I haven’t had many harm thoughts for almost a year despite having them constantly for a decade.

@NOCD Advocate - Carl Cornett What do you do specifically for ocd intrusive thoughts and ocd intrusive feelings and sensations? Do you say: this may or may not be true, or do you dismiss them as ocd thoughts and disregard them as ocd thoughts?

@Dianaaa I just practice not giving them attention unless I’m actively performing an exposure exercise, in which case the intention is to focus on it while not doing compulsions. The principles of mindfulness help with this considerably. Often, we’re not even aware we’re thinking and instead are just bouncing around from thought to thought. Meditation has helped me cultivate this ability.

@NOCD Advocate - Carl Cornett Thank you for responding so often. The other advocates I barely see on here! I think I get what I've been doing wrong. I've been making myself have exposures constantly, i.e following posts about it on social media, laying weapons out so they are available to me, (harm ocd), and I think I've been overwhelming myself doing exposures all day long and no compulsions. I think thats why my anxiety is so high.

@Dianaaa Well, you have to consider the quality of the exercise along with the length of time. If you’re able to maintain your focus, then sure, you can do more of it. For me, personally, I focused on really being immersed in it during the exposure for 1-2 hours. Then the rest of the time I focused on being present, or doing activities I valued (going for walks, playing guitar, reading books, watching something new or interesting, speaking to loved ones/friends). I think many of the activities you’re doing are valuable. And your anxiety being high isn’t a bad thing, per se! It’s how you’re managing that anxiety (are you being present with the unpleasant feelings without doing compulsions?) Lastly, you don’t have to do recovery work perfectly. You just want to try and accomplish something small each day. Even if that was one second of fewer compulsions per day, that’s success. You can get paralyzed by thinking of the big picture that you miss the small details that make up the whole.

@NOCD Advocate - Carl Cornett For me my trigger is ocd. Its a trigger in my head which gets me pretty stuck. because I am worried ocd itself will get worse and will cause me to hurt myself or kill myself (I have self harm ocd theme). So every ocd thought which is alot of the day, triggers me and I get worried whether or not im dealing with it right or am doing compulsions, which compulsions will make me get worse to where what if I may actually hurt myself etc. (Self harm theme). Any ideas for exposures? because im triggered alottt of the day since its in my mind

@Dianaaa Thank you for your help by the way!

@Dianaaa Exposures are very specific to the individual, and I’d defer to a specialist in this situation so they could create those exposures with you.