- Date posted
- 4y
- Date posted
- 4y
I struggled with this for a long time. My best advice is to- Let it be. If you focus on your breath, that’s great! There’s nothing wrong with turning your attention to your breath or any other bodily sensations. That’s actually what meditation is all about. Focusing on sensations in your body- like breathing, heartbeat, the feeling of the floor on your feet, the smells in the room, doing complete body scans etc. You’re training your brain to be ok with these sensations and to accept any feelings you get while meditating. It’s not focusing on your breathing that you’re worried about. It’s your reaction to the focusing! It took me awhile to figure this out, but that’s all it is. Instead of acting negative when you realize your focusing on your breath, you just need to say “Ok I’m focusing on my breath right now” and don’t react to it. When you react to something you don’t like, you get anxiety and in turn you perform a compulsion to get rid of that anxiety and the cycle continues. Break the cycle.
- Date posted
- 4y
This is awesome info. I have struggle with these same issues and I really liked how you broke it down and gave me a different perspective to view things.
- Date posted
- 4y
That’s a great question! And I’ll try to answer it without confusing you lol. So through my journey of recovery, I’ve found ERP is beneficial for physical compulsions (hand washing, checking the stove multiple times to see if you turned it off, checking messages multiple times) When it comes to mental compulsions I’ve found that ACT (Acceptance Commitment Therapy) is beneficial. So for example- when I go to the gym and workout really hard like sprints and lifting heavy weights I notice that my heart rate goes through the roof and I start breathing heavy. I use to freak out and get thoughts like- “Is that normal for my heart and breath to be doing that?” “Am I going to have a heart attack or stroke?” “Is this actually damaging my heart?” “What if I have a panic attack right here at the gym and make a fool of myself in front of everybody?” With ACT I know now, that I simply don’t have to answer the question. All I do is observe my heart rate and breath. I guess you could say I did “expose” myself to a trigger, but I didn’t do it intentionally. You most certainly can expose yourself intentionally, but I find it counterproductive. It’s almost like putting that thought or fear in charge of your life. Because thoughts are like farts- they mean nothing. Farts are stomach digestion. Thoughts are brain digestion. I don’t judge thoughts that randomly come to me, just like I don’t judge farts that come out of my ass. You can sit down and intentionally focus on your breath while meditating. If you become anxious while doing that- like having thoughts “Will I notice my breath for the rest of my life?” What if I stop breathing?” Then in that instant you just let those questions be there- and don’t answer the questions! You don’t have to. Those thoughts are just thoughts. You have the choice to think about them if you want to or not. There’s a difference between thinking and having a thought! Thoughts you can not control. But thinking about that thought (such as ruminating- which is a compulsion) is something you can control. Just observe without judgment! Hopefully this makes sense lol. You can ask me more questions if you want!
- Date posted
- 4y
Hi outdoor man. This really is some great advice. I am taking notes here. Sorry for the late repsonse. I do have something I wanted to ask.. I don't know if you can relate as I feel the sensorimotor obsessions especially the breathing are also tied in with an existential theme for me. It is true that my worry is that I won't be able to stop focusing on it. But also my worry is how will my body know to carry on if I don't, how is this doing it by itself without me having to... Those kinds of thoughts. Logic doesn't help in the situation as we know it never does with ocd. But do you think it's worth using an exposure to these thoughts also with purely saying "I don't know". Would ACT apply here like you said with the example you gave. Thank You 🤩
- Date posted
- 4y
The short answer to your question is- Yes! ACT is really helpful with those thoughts you have. And I know exactly what you’re talking about, because I went through the exact same thoughts! Here’s the long answer to your question lol. This is called dismantling the hamster wheel in your head. So I’m going to give you an uncertainty. The uncertainty is- “What am I having for dinner tonight?” That’s an uncertainty. Now you have your hamster wheel, now put that uncertainty in the middle of the hamster wheel. Now you start spinning that hamster wheel by “thinking” what you’ll have for dinner and by playing out different scenarios right? “ should I do a home-cooked meal? Or should I just get fast food?“ “ maybe I’ll get fast food maybe it will be McDonald’s?“ Nah, maybe I should get Burger King?” “ you know what, I should do a home cooked meal, it’s healthier for me.” “ I can’t eat carbs though, I gotta stay thin. I care too much about what people think about me.” I wonder if this food is safe to eat?” You happily spin that wheel. I did this for more than 10 years. And I still catch myself doing it sometimes. There’s nothing irrational about thinking about what you were going to have for dinner tonight. But you have to realize that you just built a hamster wheel and made it spin. And those were not bad or intrusive thoughts, they were just regular thoughts. And that uncertainty in the middle of your wheel eventually resolves itself right? You eventually settle on a meal eat it and then it’s done. But you already built that wheel and ruminated on what you were going to have for dinner. You took out the uncertainty out of the middle of the wheel, but that hamster wheel is still there. Your brain knows that you like running around that wheel. Your brain really wanted to solve that uncertainty, so now your brain is going to throw something else at you that you are uncertain about. And this time, it’s going to be even more troublesome and more complex. “Do I even exist?” “What if I don’t pay attention to my breathing anymore, and I just stop breathing? “Will my body know to keep breathing?” Eventually your brain comes up with uncertainties and questions that you can’t even answer! Your brain doesn’t know the difference between what am I having for dinner tonight? Or If I’m going to notice my breath for the rest of my life? They are both just uncertainties. But for the uncertainty about what I’m having for dinner you happily spin that wheel. Your brain says “Oh you like getting certainty, so I’ll Think of another uncertainty for you and then the cycle continues. So if you want to change those big uncertainties, you have to start being a detective and find out what those small uncertainties you encounter each day in your life are. Dismantle the hamster wheel! And you will start to find out that those big uncertainties and worries in your life are all just thoughts. They’re just thoughts that you reacted to and now you want to solve them. But you don’t have to solve them! You don’t have to answer the questions in your head!
- Date posted
- 4y
Again such an amazing repsonse. Thanks for taking so much time to try and explain to me what is going on here. Making me wonder if I need therapy now knowing all this 😂 no I think it could be helpful having someone to help you stay on track and monitor progress etc. I love the compassion to the what you having for tea question. This is good stuff I am noting some of this down for when I need to practice. Which at the moment is every day. Thank You 🤩 I will definitely keep you posted on here later down the line when I have made some progress. Hope You are doing well yourself ☺️
- Date posted
- 4y
You are very welcome! I’m all good here! Been in recovery for awhile now, sure I have hard days sometimes, but it’s part of the process. I did things the wrong way for soooo long. We are literally re-wiring our brains! You can ask me anything at anytime. I have this app specifically to help fellow warriors! I’ve been through therapy for OCD and GAD so I’ve had almost every experience and every intrusive thought lol. One last thing I wanted to add is- Live by your values. If you don’t know what your values are, then make a list of the things you value. I’m not talking about your car, house, fancy things. Those are just possessions. The things that you truly value. They’re most likely- Family, Friends, Health, Nature, Job, Schooling, Writing, Music, A pet. Etc. Your values will be your compass when things get tough. Your brain is always going to throw uncertainties at you- but if you follow your compass, everything will improve in your life from a mental health perspective. “What am I having for dinner?” My response is usually along the lines of- “I don’t know, but hopefully something that is home cooked and healthy for my body.” And that’s all. I try not to spin that wheel anymore. “What time should I go to bed?” My response- “A time where I feel rested, so I can concentrate at work.” “Will I lose my job and end up in the streets, die alone?” Response- “I don’t know, but I’m doing the best I can today, so I can get done and go home to my family” “Will I notice my breath for the rest of my life and it will just cripple me?” Response- “I don’t know” “Hey it’s nice out and I’ve been wanting to take the dog for a hike, think I’ll do that” If you tackle the SMALL uncertainties first- the big ones become much easier! Let me know how your progress goes!
- Date posted
- 4y
Comparison* not compassion 😀
- Date posted
- 4y
That is amazing how you use your recovery to help others. I can't think of anything better! 💖 I think I was definitely doing the ERP wrong for a while too, so glad you responded as I am keeping these words of wisdom to help me with other intrusive thoughts I am getting. Realising I just don't have to answer these questions. I never realised how much of my day is spent fulfilling certain questions that I feel need answering Right now! I love the values thing too. I do have a good list in mind and I feel I have neglected a big one for fear it being a bit selfish... That would be music for me. I used to play various instruments but felt a lot of guilt spending my time on this... Lots of responsibility ocd coming in for me too. I now know this is something I want to bring back into my life as it means so much to me. Thank You again 🙏😇 Speak soon and I'm so glad to hear you have come through with such progress yourself. The hard work pays off 💪
- Date posted
- 4y
No problem! Keep me updated on your journey! And yes it’s a lot of hard work, I mean a lot of hard work lol. But like you said, it all pays off! 😊
- Date posted
- 4y
That's amazing advise, thank you so much for sharing that with me. I am curious to know if you used the way you have described with to say "I am focusing on the breath" as an erp tool for yourself. If so how often did you do it? I am wondering if I should be bringing on deliberate attention focus to it in order for it to eventually not be as bad and eventually at a point I don't avoid it. Thank You!
Related posts
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 21w
Have been struggling with somatic breathing ocd. I start feeling like I can’t breathe and start feeling faint. I have a performance this weekend and my biggest fear is that I won’t be able to sing. I worry that I’m not gonna be able to perform cause it also causes a wave of fear and I’m scared I’m gonna feel too faint where I’m gonna have to go run off stage. I start hyperventilating and I don’t know how to stop it. My mind just makes me aware and then I eventually start hyperventilating. Any tips? I’ve tried just acknowledging it but it hasn’t helped the hyperventilating much. Any tips please? I have to go on stage for tech in 50 mins
- Date posted
- 20w
Does anyone know how to get rid of these thoughts? I have to manually breathe almost every second of everyday and it's getting tiresome and I can't stop thinking about no matter what the distractions are.
- Date posted
- 17w
So I’m 16 years old, currently going through my sophomore year of highschool. I’ve recently quit nicotine and weed after chronic use for about 4 years (has affected my development extremely). I quit because I wanted a better life for myself because I knew that I was using nicotine and weed for short term happiness and long term made me very depressed about this life. I was also experiencing trouble concentrating on simple tasks and what I wanted to do currently in my life. Which was learning about life and having more knowledge about life in general so i could feel more comfortable and happy in the future. So I quit nicotine I thought I was going to be able to overcome it and be more comfortable with myself knowing that I’m not in a constant loop of short term happiness, long term making me less happy overall. Although I have quit nicotine and haven’t touched it in about 3 weeks I expected to have some major withdrawals because I’m still in adolescence and used nicotine about everyday for 4 years. Sorry I’m rambling about this but through those years of always suppressing my anxiety with nicotine when anything came up that triggered it. I started noticing that on vacation in very stressful moments like at the airport and there were people around me when using the bathroom I felt as though it was nearly impossible to go but after sometime I eventually went and shrugged it off. Now that I’ve quit though I’m my 4th week it’s almost like my brain really latched onto that fear of not being able to go around people publicly (paruresis shy bladder syndrome) and that’s also what addiction does to you I’ve acknowledged. But when I started coming home from school I started thinking about not being able to pee more and more to the point i haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since which now every time i feel a slight trigger of having to use the bathroom i start obsessing over it like everything I would try and do that i usually do my brain would draw me away from it and go back to the fear of not being able to go which created a lot of anxiety and thoughts like “would if im not able to stop going” which made me think about it more and more I would just wake up with that thought in my head each day to the point where i was really thinking about killing my self because I thought i would have such a better life without nicotine and weed but ultimately made me feel like i was going crazy and I really wanted to go back to vaping and weed but i knew that this was the cycle of addiction and that i may have a more underlying problem here i need to overcome somatic ocd. I haven’t been diagnosed with it yet and I know a lot of people go through a cycle of self diagnosing. But as I’ve slowly started to mentally figure out ways to get through this obsession over peeing and fight it, it’s like my brain is now trying to look for a new bodily sensation to obsess over. My breathing. I noticed this as well while using that sometimes I would think about my breathing a little bit to much for example saying to myself am I breathing right should I breath this certain way would if I can’t stop thinking about it. But as I was thinking about that I just hit my vape talked to my brother about it and just slept it off. Now that I don’t have a vape I’ve had to go through these expierences but with it feeling more real and not really having something to run to, to suppress like my vape. I’m writing this today as I feel better to myself talking about it and opening up about it as I’m trying to not respond to this fear with anxiety and go throughout my days ignoring these obsessive thoughts leading to extreme anxiety that I don’t have anything to suppress it with anymore besides my own mental. Maybe someone here will have some more knowledge about it than I do and can give me some advice to try to keep me more motivated to deal with this ocd I feel as though I’m having so I don’t end up in a dark place. Thank you.
Be a part of the largest OCD Community
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond