- Date posted
- 4y
- Date posted
- 4y
You don't necessarily need to expose yourself to things all the time. What I am suggesting is trying to allow yourself to be anxious without diving deeper into the thought of "does my lack of anxiety mean something". Try not to reassure yourself or analyze it. Just let the thought of anxiety about not having anxiety be, and eventually it will go away naturally and will bother you less in the future
- Date posted
- 4y
Just curious bc I’m spiraling, were you married before or after ocd?
- Date posted
- 4y
You will get though this intrusive thought just as you did the last one. It takes time for our brains to switch the default neural network from one that triggers a fear response to one that doesn't.
- Date posted
- 4y
Yea but i dont know if i need to intentionally expose myself when i gave hardcore to the max. Cause i know ocd is living with uncertainty
- Date posted
- 4y
But i didnt experience anxiety like i fid before to the fears i tried to expose myself to
- Date posted
- 4y
Yeah the stress behind the lack of anxiety is an intrusive thoughts itself
- Date posted
- 4y
Whats intrusive about it
- Date posted
- 4y
It's bothering you.
- Date posted
- 4y
Yea it is. Because im not sure if i need to feel the anxiety so i can practice repsone prevention. Or when i need to do erp and practice uncertainty. When is it appropriate. 24/7? I just dont want to do it like i did it before because i tried as hard as i could but i had no response. No anxiety. I went into so much detail. I dont want to ruminate because i feel like thats what i might be doing. Trying to see if i can get the anxiety i used to have so i can practice response prevention. If i expose myself and think ablut the crazy stuff i might go crazy
- Date posted
- 4y
But what im struggling is doing erp expsures so i can practice response prevention. Because i dont get the intrusive thoughts as i used to. And i dont want to keep exposing myself on purpose because of rumination to see if itll cUse anxiety
Related posts
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 12w
I used to get caught in a loop with existential thoughts very frequently. Every question made my stomach drop: (TW: existential questions) … … ... "Why does anything exist at all? What will death be like? Is anything even real? Is there any meaning to this? Is the universe infinitely big, and if not, what's beyond it? Are there multiverses? Has the universe been around forever? Will the universe end for good, or will it keep going forever? What is forever like? What even IS reality?" It would get so overwhelming that I remember lying on the floor in a fetal position for hours because I felt like there was no escape. I spent most of my days reading articles and watching videos about theoretical astrophysics and philosophy in a desperate attempt to "figure it all out." Of course that only made me more anxious, raised more questions, and kept me trapped in the cycle. Things started to improve once I learned to turn TOWARD reality, rather than away from it, and ERP really helped me do that. I learned that these questions weren't the problem. I learned that I can actually handle the anxiety that arises when exposed to these ideas and concepts. I don't have to figure anything out to make the anxiety go away; it arises and passes away on its own. Ironically, bringing myself into the present moment and becoming more aware of reality helped me escape the cycle of existential dread. Because of that, this topic no longer takes over my life. If I'm triggered by something I see, hear, or think, I may still feel a little twang of anxiety, but then it just goes away. "Maybe, maybe not" has been the single most useful phrase of my life. Do you ever get trapped in a cycle of existential questions? Are you worried that the ERP approach would be too scary to handle? If so, I'm happy to give my advice.
- Date posted
- 10w
I need tips on how to really accept the uncertainty the ocd causes, even if it feels so bad like I might get in trouble for something , do I wanna be okay with that?
- Date posted
- 26d
I've been told a lot that in order to get better, we need to tolerate uncertainty, which yea I get that and I'm trying every day more and more to reach that point!! But I've also been told that we need to tolerate uncertainty AND "our worst fears becoming true". Like how does that work, especially with POCD, OCD about a///ault, SA and all of that? Like that is really difficult for me and I don't really understand how I'm supposed to just shrug stuff like that off
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