- Username
- Freemeofocd
- Date posted
- 4y ago
by trying to prevent the thoughts you are increasing the fear and anxiety that comes with them. pushing thoughts away doesnt work for long, cos we always end up thinking about what we don't want to think about. the goal is to let thoughts flow by, without reacting to them or figuring out what they could mean.
I appreciate your response
But why do I feel like I CAN control my thoughts? Like for example I was bathing my daughter and I was attempting* to practice erp. This is one of my triggers. I went to wash her and had the thought like “this is your chance to wash her and get any weird urges out of your system” - normally, If I had this thought I would then avoid washing her. A compulsion. This time,I fought the compulsion and I continued washing her, but then I had more thoughts, that I didn’t try to fight and I continued washing her regardless. Now I feel like the thoughts motivated my actions or influenced them. I feel like I Purposely brought on bad thoughts because I was “taking advantage” of the situation.
People cannot control what thoughts pop into their head. Thinking about killing my grandmother, or my cat, having sex with the baby next door, sinning etc... it can pop into my head anytime. I cant help it. No one can. Feeling guilty for something you cant control seems hard. This reminds me of my obsession about "If I think wrong thoughts I am a bad person". Maybe the idea that you should control your toughts is an obsession?
Sounds like progress to me! Well done for not giving in to your compulsions. 🖖 Figuring out if you control your thoughts, may it be another compulsion?
Does anyone ever experience their mind TELLING them to think about something that you have the capability to obsess over? And I’m able to resist thinking about it, but it’s like there’s a continuous OCD voice in my head saying “think about X.” And sometimes I wonder if I make things worse by not thinking about it, but I also don’t want to listen to OCD’s demands
Is the best way for getting over OCD to ignore the intrusive thoughts? Most of my compulsions are in my head and it’s hard to ignore when they’re very distressing and you don’t agree with them at all!
I couldnt word it before but now i can so i write it down. I always feel like im avoiding and now i know why, because people say dont go there, dont think about the thoughts, just notice it then focus on somethinh else. And for me when i try to not go there i feel like ik avoiding cause the urge of thinking about it is so strong that i have to fight to not go there and it becomes a fight then my mind sees that im having a problem so it gets worse. And then when i try to ignore or shift my attention it becomes an avoidance like its just too much power on trying to not focus on it. Also i start to say i dont want to think about this cause i know its ocd and ita bad for me but it gets worse and worse and then i feel like nothing helps cause i still avoid even if i try to do what i should do... any advice?
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