- Date posted
- 4y
- Date posted
- 4y
Basically, the danger signal you get from a thought is reinforced by the compulsion. Because you answer the danger signal with a compulsion, the brain gets the signal that the threat is actually real, and therefore, needs to be something you’re on alert for. So, it starts looking for that threat everywhere. And guess what? It finds what it wants to find. You also get a little dopamine hit when you do the compulsion, your brain rewards you for soothing it about being in danger. When you stop the compulsion, the brain instead learns it sent a false alarm. It doesn’t have to look out for something that isn’t a threat.
- Date posted
- 4y
Thanks Carl that makes a lot of sense and also explains why Ocd starts to create more scenarios and fears after I got over one obesession. When I manage to stop compulsions I actually notice that things start to clear up after some time however I cling on that feeling of clarity so much that I always get sucked back in. Stupid I know. I‘m trying to be extra careful atm to reduce my compulsions as best as I can.
- Date posted
- 4y
Because if you’re doing certain things to get a particular feeling, you’re likely gonna get what you’re looking for. If you constantly check for attraction for the same or opp gender, you’re going to get it bc you went looking for it
- Date posted
- 4y
Thanks for answering:) yeah makes sense it‘s like the more I check the more undesired feelings I get and the harder it gets to feel my actual feelings of attraction and Love to my boyfriend. OCD is so weird because when I‘m feeling better I just don’t understand how the hell it has the power to do this to me. And I also noticed that happens with other themes. For example when I worry that I‘m a narcissist and lack empathy I actually have a hard time to recall feelings of empathy. It‘s so crazy what our brains are capable of
Related posts
- Date posted
- 20w
When I reassure myself that I no I would never do that, I don’t believe it & when I’ve been using the same reassurance for a while it doesn’t work the same way as it use to?
- Date posted
- 20w
I’ve been stuck in this cycle for the last month or two and am not sure how to get out of it. Basically, I will work on ignoring the thoughts and not responding or engaging plus limiting/completely eliminating compulsions. After a week or two of constant work, the amount of intrusive thoughts in a day goes down. The anxiety each thought causes also goes down with some, but not all, thoughts passing without notice like they would for a normal person. The thoughts that do stick cause anxiety and make me want to ruminate or do other compulsions but I make sure to limit them. After a bit, I’m in a pretty good head space. This is usually when it goes down hill. I’ll start to question if I even have ocd because some of the thoughts (once again not all) pass without notice. The difficulty resisting compulsions goes down and so does the anxiety, only increasing the questioning. I spend a while questioning if I’ve ever had ocd in the first place and then something sets me off or the questioning itself becomes a trigger and I get stuck back into the same ocd cycle with constant rumination, anxiety, and other compulsions. This lasts for a week or two before I know I need to stop and try and work hard to get back to ignoring the thoughts. And the cycle just restarts over and over again. Does anyone have any tips to stop this from happening? It’s really harming my recovery as every few weeks I dive back into the same negative place I was.
- Date posted
- 17w
It is not the thoughts or urges that scare me anymore. It is the way I feel like I’ve absorbed the compulsions into my identity :( I am doing them so automatically that it feels like I am choosing them freely and they’re me. and because of that, it feels like I AM the OCD now, not just someone with OCD. I think I’m just deeply trapped in a loop. I was trying to survive unbearable fear so I started scanning. Then I started pre-scanning. Then checking if I pre-scanned. Then I check how I feel during all that. I run to beat my OCD to the “punchline” (intrusive thought, urge, sensation) because I’m so scared all the time. So scared that I don’t even feel it anymore. I feel numb and all that’s left is this jittery residue and numbness. Now it’s all tangled together in a huge knot. I feel so extremely lost. I think this may just be meta OCD, but I’ve never ever felt so gone before :( I’m really scared.
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