- Username
- Anonymous
- Date posted
- 4y ago
It’s not you or anything to do with who you are. Your mind knows that that’s important to you and your OCD is using it to get to you. It isn’t you it’s your OCD.
Yeah I appreciate you saying that. Sometimes it’s hard to differentiate my mind from myself
This happens to me too. It’s because racism is so opposite of who I am, so my OCD attacks it. Since the thought of it is distressing, it continues to pop up. It doesn’t mean you have internalized racism. OCD is egodystonic. Thoughts are just randomness that your brain produces. YOU are the one who gets to decide which thoughts align with your values. Practice acceptance around having the word pop up in your head. Acceptance does not mean we like it or want it to be there, but that we are no longer fighting against it and trying to prove that it isn’t how we really feel. Over time, the less attention you pay to it the less your brain will send you the thought
The underlying fear here, I’m assuming, is that you’re a bad, racist person. Another way to approach this from an ERP standpoint would be to write a script talking about how you are racist, how that would make you feel, how it would affect your relationships with others, etc. Really dive deep into the root of the fear. Reread the script a few times a day, and sit with the anxiety that it produces without reassuring youself that you’re not racist. You’ve got this :) and not to give you reassurance- but I’m certain you’re not racist. If you were, you wouldn’t question the thoughts or find them distressing. Hope this helps!
I think everyone is a tiny bit racist because it's human nature to look for ourselves in everything and everyone. It's part of a survival mechanism. If you group with people who look like you do or act or think etc like you do, there's a better chance of protection and survival. I don't think we need to condemn this aspect. It sounds like you're very aware and your conscience and will know who you are and what you want. The rest of the thoughts are clutter. You don't have any bad racism inside you. You are taking things from the environment and media etc. and your mind is making stew with it all. It spits out ideas and words here and there. They mean nothing. It's not who you really are. You have proven who you are simply by saying that the thought is not one you agree with. It's your brain messing with you. Let it pass like a leaf on a river. It will soon stop when it realizes it has no power over you.
Lately I've been having intrusive racist thoughts and its driving me insane. I get triggered everytime my sister comes over (she says the n word a lot) and I get pissed off and yell at her but then the word will replay in my mind and I cant make it stop. I feel terrible. Every time i look at a poc now my brain will point out their race and keep telling me to look at their skin color as if it's something of importance. How do you treat this subset of ocd? I havent seen a lot of people with it :(
does anyone’s intrusive thoughts ever manifest and not being able to get rid of a certain word? Sometimes when I walk past a black person my brain just repeats the n word over and over and it’s really distressing because it’s the last thing I’d ever want to say
Racism OCD. Thinking I'm a bad person and feel ashamed around POC I know this is going to sound horrible, but I've recently started to worry when I'm around POC, like im an annoyance. I didn't start to worry like this until a few months ago. I don't know what's happened. I notice myself when I'm on a walk or out in public that I'll start to feel anxiety that I'm racist. Or maybe when I see a POC I automatically assume they think I'm racist? I know I'm white and part of the systemic racism problem & that I'm privileged to be a white man. I consider myself to be a Black Lives Matter/People of Color ally. I just don't know why I'm anxious. I'm pretty sure POC around me can tell as well. I don't know why my anxiety has picked up on this. Does anyone else struggle with this?
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