Do thoughts die down over time?

Shit how long that take lol been doing erp for 3 months

Yeah erp wasn’t really that hard for me but I like my NOCD therapist and she has helped me just in regards to ocd. It’s definitely more about me accepting them as thoughts which has been really hard. Slowly but surely I’m learning to accept them

Mine are harm thoughts so in the beginning lots of reassurance seeking and googling and ruminations. Now I’ve cut back on googling and reassurance seeking but ruminating still gets me and not understanding why I have this condition like it’s not fair type of shit lol

@Dre83 That is me all the time too. It’s the ruminating part of like why is this a thing? I never had thoughts like that before... and why now? Stuff like that and makes you question who you are and why you can’t just let go of the thoughts/images? I am stuck on that too for like 4 weeks since it started. Why it’s even something I can’t seem to figure out which I guess is part of it all. I just think that I guess I’ll never really know why the thoughts/images started but now how do I move on from it? And that’s the hard part. Accepting it as just a thought is really hard for whatever reason. I can do that with any other thought I guess but it’s hard for these types. I just keep telling myself it doesn’t mean anything and the reason why we keep thinking about why they happened or why it’s unfair and all of this, I think is because it is bothersome to us and opposite of what we ever thought of or who we are. Not sure if that makes sense to you?

@Anonymous Makes total sense and I 100% agree with everything you said

@Dre83 How long have you been dealing with this?

@Anonymous 8 months got ocd at the age of 36 talk about blowing my spot up and life throwing me a curve ball lol

@Dre83 I’m the same age this just started for me a month ago.

@Dre83 I don’t know but for me the thoughts/images started either due to the medication I was on temporarily for anxiety/insomnia and I haven’t been able to forget it or it was due to being in high stress high anxiety or combination of both either way, I have had a hard time figuring out what it even was or where it came from. I just learned about all of this stuff just like 2 weeks ago that this can be OCD and that we have a hard time unsticking from the thoughts. It’s all just really all new to me too. Anything that has helped you at all through the 8 months? Also, have you been doing therapy with one of these therapists?

@Anonymous Yeah the thing that will best help me and I’m still working on it is that these are just thoughts and I have to accept that I have this condition. It’s been hard to accept because I want answers as to why myself. Yeah, I have a therapist through NOCD and a regular therapist where I live. Exercise and running has helped me manage the stress of having this condition. Running is like mental floss as I use it as a form of meditation personality

Mine either! I’ve been asking... they have had anxiety. I think something I just learned was that it’s also just a type of anxiety disorder. Have you ever dealt with anxiety disorders at all?

@Anonymous No I have this is a first for everything for me lol life was really good before all this smacked me in the face lol I think I’m slowly getting back there. Journaling also helps me and tracking my good and bad days so I can see and prove to myself that the therapy and tools I’ve learned are working

@Dre83 Wow, yeah it is really so surprising and makes you doubt who you are that’s what has been troubling to me the most. I don’t like doing this much inward thinking all the time and how can you be stuck on thinking about thinking for this long you know? I don’t know that I’ve ever thought this much before, but I think it’s because it’s so distressing that it makes you want to figure it out. I thought I was going crazy. I’m sure you have too. I’m glad journaling has helped. I just started therapy haven’t really gotten many tools yet. Other than trying to realize they are just thoughts. I was really really upset with the fact that they might mean something but I’m starting to learn that they don’t. And that we can think of anything but it doesn’t mean it will happen you know? I just thought since mine were images that it meant I was seeing things that would happen. It’s been really sad. If you have any helpful tools that have helped you feel free to share

@Dre83 What tools have u learned. Another late one to the party 35

@avh202021 I’ve been trying to learn as much as possible about all of this to help myself out of it as best as I can.podcasts, articles, this website etc. I’m sure you all have too. Sometimes though, I think well is that a compulsion, trying to learn to get better? I think I’ve always thought a lot and have always analyzed things a lot so maybe it’s just that we are big thinkers more so than the average person? I also have wondered wait is this OCD though? Because it just came out of nowhere one Sunday 4 weeks ago. So strange. I was dealing with a lot of stress and anxiety for weeks before that though and on a medicine so I don’t know. Definitely dealt with anxiety in the past.. it’s good to know that I’m not the only one this just literally popped up out of nowhere. I always say I literally never had thoughts/images like that before

@Anonymous Yeah I have had mental images too! So yeah I think one thing I’ve learned is just because we have a part moment in our day due to ocd doesn’t mean our whole day is bad. Also for me I have harm ocd and it targets my family so when ocd tells me something I press through and enjoy my family even when having the thoughts to show ocd I’m in control. And then practicing mindfulness is helpful to do that we stay in the present because ocd likes to live in the past or the future.

@Anonymous Your not alone, and they are obviously all traits of ocd. I’m with you where it can feel real. But everyone has the same story. Therapy helps I find, I’m just trying to find out if he’s doing what I want him to do. I think in a way it’s your brain trying to protect us in a weird kind of way. Stupid brain!

@Dre83 I had harm images as well towards mine which is literally to me the worst thing it seems and then I noticed they were images and thoughts towards all different things and I think for me it was worried they meant something and not understanding what was happening or that I was that type of person. It was all a lot to figure out when you don’t know what it is. I think if you start to understand thoughts more then it’s a little easier to deal with.

@Anonymous Yeah I totally get what you mean. I’m definitely in the process of understanding thoughts. Been a process for sure and I’m looking to see how I can grow from all of this as well

@Dre83 Ive been trying to wonder about that too is how we might be better people through this or stronger mentally maybe? I have already noticed that I’ve been thinking ok but if I conquer these thoughts will I be always ruminating about all things? I don’t know it’s a weird thing. When yours began had you been under stress or anything ? Or just began?

@Anonymous Well not sure I could have been under stress as I found out 3 months before that my wife cheated on me 10 yrs ago when we was engaged one night when I got really high after not smoking weed for like15 yrs and having a bad reaction to it and also my wife tried to commit suicide 8 months prior to my nightmare about stabbing here. I also found a knife when I came into the house to find her body but she didn’t us a knife she took pills so it’s probably a multitude of things for me lol sorry long response

@Dre83 It’s ok wow. I’m so sorry you went through all of that. It seems a bit understandable though that your mind could worry a lot due to that I don’t know how it couldn’t.

@Anonymous Thank you. Been one hell of a year for me that’s for sure. And yeah mind worry about a lot but it’s getting better