You know how everything says “you can’t stop your thoughts”, but then everything also says “don’t ruminate or analyze or mentally check” and I’m like is that not all thinking??? How do I stop myself from thinking but also not stop myself from thinking??? I can’t tell what’s intentional thinking and what’s not! I’d like to sue my brain.

I totally get that, it’s just a lot of times I don’t know how to stop it. Also, do you ever think something when you’re trying to “figure it out” and that thought is distressing so it kinda becomes an intrusive thought? If that makes sense?

@MegB I have the same problem, Im finally gonna get professional help. So I hope they have some better answers. Not sure if I understood the last thing you said. What helps me is that I DO other stuff. Im often like "WAIT life/bf/anything, I just have to THINK" and then I stop everything to just DO thinking. But if I dont let myself sit down (i cant stand up!) but keep going, keep doing whatever it is quite hard to DO thinking. If that makes sense.

@asdfghj I find it’s just as easy to ruminate while doing other things. The only way I can stop is if someone starts talking to me and even then it’s like pulling teeth for me to actually become engaged in the conversation cause I’m so distressed. What I meant by the last thing is ruminating is not a pleasant experience for me, so sometimes I’ll be trying to figure out the OG problem and I think of something that makes the distress worse. So, let’s say it’s ROCD and I’m ruminating trying to figure things out and I think of something factual like idk “my boyfriend does this thing I don’t like” and then I’m more distressed because “oh no my boyfriend does this thing I don’t like this must mean he’s not good for me and I’m going to break up with him” and then I keep thinking of that one thing he does that I don’t like and it comes up a lot in my thoughts from then on. That still might not make sense, but I tried 🤷‍♀️.

@MegB So if we actively think something then we cant ruminate. So if we think "maybe it means he isnt good for me, maybe he is good for me, maybe he isnt" on and on and on and on. Maybe that could help us not trying to figure it out. Saw someone post this article about how to stop ruminating. A lot of the time I think it feels impossible because a part of me believes its important and I make up excuses like "this time its important" to keep doing it.

Oh that’s interesting. Thanks for sharing!

@MegB Anytime!! Hope this helps!

It’s awful! Mental compulsions are like a minefield. Physical (or noticeable or whatever you want to call them) compulsions are like okay so we just don’t touch the phone. Obviously, still very hard to do, but at least you know exactly what not to do!