Any OCD questions about Obsession Themes? Just gonna have a new topic each day I guess ☺️

Thanks! I thought of doing a different OCD-themed quesstionaire each day/ever other day?

@JustRob Yessss

Harm/Suicidal OCD is the fear of ending/hurting oneself, with avoidance and reassurance and a bunch of other compulsions.

@JustRob Yes! And it brings on so much worry because I don’t want to do either!!

@MimiK Like I just get the urges to grab a knife or something and I feel resistance and it so freaks me out because that is NOT what I want to do.

@MimiK This is exactly my theme so I relate completely !!

@Evelyn4416 Oh my gosh! In this together.

@MimiK I gotcha! Try some mild exposures, I find for harm ocd, a recording saying “I like knives” to listen to is really mild but can really help so intrusive thoughts become boring :))

I do some mini ERP with myself by looking at pictures at the unpreffered gender, and I don’t let myself ruminate!

There can be a lot of reasons! Usually OCD targets something you want to be 100% certain about, your morals, and your values. If you value helping others, you may worry if you want to hurt them, like harm ocd. If you work at a children’s place, you may worry if you’re attracted to them- pocd. Intrusive thoughts can also trigger themes randomly due to connections in the brain, and your amygdala takes it as a threat, which could start a theme. If you want, you could tell me theme so I could answer it more personally? ☺️

@JustRob SOOCD

@wellwellwell Ah ok! SOOCD can be a really big tough monster- it makes us question the basics of ourselves.

1) you can tackle the main theme first, and then go down to the second, smaller one. For you, you could be like “who knows if life is pointless, who knows that because life is pointless, I may want to kill myself.” And kinda intertwine them! 2) ERP really early! And try not to analyze. OCD starts when your brain interprets a thought as a threat, so what are some ways that could happen? You ruminate and find a problem, you keep thinking about it, and you feel the need to find a direct answer- try to avoid these. Accept “maybe, maybe not” and continue on order for it not to blow up!

@JustRob Thanks this really helped :)

That’s great! Yep, you could do that as exposure, forcing intrusive thoughts and them coming naturally are still frightening in nature, so it’s ok to force them for ERP! 1) scrupulosity is moral or religious obsessions- which sounds about right! Remember, the categorization of the theme isn’t too important for recovery, though it’s nice to have people relate 2) Usually something like “ I have recovered, I know my truth, but I’m totally ok with uncertainty” as like a literal OCD mindset and a “I can push through it, I’ve been in recovery, I know how it goes” for a more general one! 3) Speed really depends on your brain- your consciousness can only do so much, but you have to let the working of your brain take place, which can take some time! To achieve that mindset, ya gotta have confidence in yourself, and trust yourself :)) ERP will let you be in recovery, and confidence and esteem will help you keep it, as I say! The more you focus on your exposures and responses, the more clear your truth will be, since it’s not shadowed by OCD- but you also have to accept uncertainty and be ok with not knowing, beck, sometimes I don’t know! But I always have a feeling- and I’m totally ok with whichever direction it takes me :)) You are exactly right! Haha I thought of Pokémon when you talked about powering up :)) again, trust between your brain and confidence that you will make it through is also really powerful to have! 4) Journaling is a really good skill to have for recovery- it helped me a lot! And remember not to crash through ERP- recovery takes times, and that’s totally ok! I really hope I answered your questions right! I love getting questions from you ❤️ and I hope your recovery comes soon! I really admire your dedication!

@JustRob Thanks so much So basicly keep going with ERP and take time to make my brain rewire for it. Good! :) I have problem Rob, and at the same time i have solution which mean i wanna start. So my ocd make stop doing my regular activity or something i value like being productive, working on my business, act with attitudes, keep doing ERP etc. Instead, bring me to distraction like wasting time on unnecessary talk, place, or other things that i not value for. I think is not have much benefits on me. Right now i really want to re-start my habits again instead go to much on distraction on unnecessary things for last few month. Any tips for that? I just wanna live my life and do what i value beside doing ERP, instead doing distraction or avoidance but it's hard coz i already habituate on bad habits recently. Maybe you can give me suggestion for that? ^_^ I wanna start here and now :)

@Sandy6 Yea I gotcha! As someone who had a compulsion of writing things down, I didn’t have a lot of my patterns down since I was always in my phone :)) - take it slow! Begin with fifteen min, then thirty, and up the amount! - treat yourself to a candy once you do them- so you’ll be motivated! - Check out the app Last- it keeps track of bad habits and the developers of the apps also have productivity stuff!

@JustRob Great tips Rob, I will make question again next time lol Yep, i will gradually keep doing what i am value for. Step by step : ) I always doing what people advice/answer to me (like you) if i prefer that advice is really useful. Love ❤️❤️❤️

@Sandy6 Thanks so much! I really think you’re gonna battle OCD- you seem like a strong fellow :)) Sending love ✨

On my own :))