JON2147512
- Date posted
- 4y
hyperactivebrainhyperactiveb...
- Date posted
- 4y
Your right, googling used to be my number 1 compulsion. I was consumed by my desperate need for reassurance and I couldn't stop doing it even though I knew that this was pointless. Sometimes I would find something that gave me relief or even made me feel good for a few days, but the doubts came back and forced me to look for more, to check everything on the internet to make sure I would be ok. It was terrible, I didn't understand what was happening, why I suddenly needed this so bad. It made everything worse. I am so glad that I almost never do this anymore now. It improved my life tremendously. Also, blocking sites like reddit or quora from my devices also was a blessing.
JON2147512JON2147512
- Date posted
- 4y
Ugh, Reddit is the worst. Talk about giving your OCD ideas lol. And the worst is when you’ve googled so much that you’ve already seen everything and the reassurance doesn’t do anything anymore. I’m glad you were able to cut it out. I’m still working on it, but it’s definitely not as bad as it used to be. I lived on google when it first started.
hyperactivebrainhyperactiveb...
- Date posted
- 4y
@JON2147512 Yeah, reddit is even worse than google, when I was having a rough time with SO-OCD, you can image how much triggering stuff I found there that made me feel like everything will fall apart. At least I read about the NOCD App in reddit for the first time, but that was about the only good thing that came of it. It is hard to entirely resist googling if you're triggered by something and the urge is really strong. Be kind to yourself if it does not always work and just try to stop or delay ("If the urge is still as strong in two days, them I will go on Google" - you probably will have forgotten what even felt so urgent) as soon as you notice what you are doing.
JON2147512JON2147512
- Date posted
- 4y
@Shoeshifter Exactly. You realize that you are looking for a certainty that can’t be found on google. If anything google will make you more uncertain about everything, even things your common sense knows is true.
ColinColin
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 4y
I keep the image of a Google results page filled with purple links (meaning I’ve clicked every one of them, probably several times each) in my head, so when I’m tempted to Google a symptom, I can remind myself “there’s no info you’re going to find that you don’t already have - sit with the fear, it will pass.”
hyperactivebrainhyperactiveb...
- Date posted
- 4y
Uuugh, I remember the purple links, been there, too! It is hard to resist if the urge is so strong but it is the only way out
Evelyn4416Evelyn4416
- Date posted
- 4y
Yup! Keeps you trapped in the cycle.
JON2147512JON2147512
- Date posted
- 4y
I swear if I never googled I would have had maybe 3 or 4 OCD themes tops. Because of google I’ve cycled through about 20
hyperactivebrainhyperactiveb...
- Date posted
- 4y
Also I decided to stay away from social media during my PMS, because I know I am more vulnerable to triggers during this time of the month, so if you know you are heading towards a stressful time period of any kind where it is likely your ocd is going to be more active, it might be a good thing to try to minimize the risk to get sucked back into the cycle by staying away from what you know can make it worse. of course you cannot and should not prevent or avoid every triggering situation, I am just talking about social media because this can turn from a trigger to a compulsion in almost a second and suck you back into obsessing.
Fighter1Fighter1
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 4y
I know I need to stop
JON2147512JON2147512
- Date posted
- 4y
Maybe every time you google draw a tick mark on a piece of paper. I might start doing the same.
hyperactivebrainhyperactiveb...
- Date posted
- 4y
@JON2147512 Tracking the time you spend googling and ruminating might also help? And trying to slowly reduce this time day by day until you come down to zero
JON2147512JON2147512
- Date posted
- 4y
@Shoeshifter Yes, tracking the time helps me tremendously as long as I maintain discipline and actually do it.
hyperactivebrainhyperactiveb...
- Date posted
- 4y
@JON2147512 Yeah, I also struggle with keeping up the discipline, especially when I am doing good and only ruminate for a few minutes a day or so, I don't track it because it also helps me to shift my focus away from OCD and to real life but it would surely be good to keep it up even if I don't ruminate a lot..
JON2147512JON2147512
- Date posted
- 4y
@Shoeshifter Yeah I do the same. One thing I did was set reminders on my phone every 3 hours. That way I could forget about OCD and still remember to track. Or you could get someone to remind you and hold you accountable
Related posts
Knickatknite
- Date posted
- 22w
OCD Relapse
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lilylove0
- Date posted
- 21w
Should i delete google and safari?
I have a bad obsession with googling EVERYTHING and I mean things like health issues I’m constantly looking things up on google everyday , it don’t matter if I just got bit by a mosquito I’ll google it to make sure it nothing bad will happen to me or if the mosquito bite looks okay and etc , I’ve noticed my OCD symptoms bad here recently and looking up every health condition on google is one of them .
lexalove63
- Date posted
- 17w
Googling for reassurance
This might be super specific, but something I struggle with is feeling the need to consistently look up things for reassurance. I feel the need to look up the same things over and over again just to make sure. Example: googling what to do in serious situations like a car crash, if someone’s having a heart attack, seizure, etc. I’m (soon to be) a healthcare professional and I feel like I know these things like the back of my hand. I feel like if I ever get to these (extremely unlikely) situations, I won’t know what to do. I feel the need to constantly reassure myself the proper protocol for situations that will probably NEVER happen. Anytime I think of this possibility, I can’t help but become trapped in a spiral of googling what to do. It’s come to a point that I’ve started noting down what to do over and over again if these situations happen. I really just want to know if anyone relates.
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