Hey guys do you have a problem with figuring out what kind of therapy to do for your ocd? I’m suffering from ROCD and I have divided opinion on how should I approach it because my therapist says that I should rationalize my thoughts and on the other hand everything I see elsewhere is that you shouldn’t pay attention to your ocd thoughts but my therapist says that by ignoring them that’s why they come back because you’re just oppressing them. Does anyone have similar issue?

Trying to rationalise them is basically asking for reassurance and feeding it in my unprofessional opinion. You don’t ignore the thought, just don’t react to it. They will come back, but you just don’t react with fear and your brain will send less of them?

I wish that too, but last Thursday I had my biggest meltdown yet. Was self harming, screaming into a pillow, I wanted to die. Every single day this happened Then I listened to Ali Greymonds methods of dealing with the thoughts and I’ve been ‘stable’ ever since. Thoughts don’t get to me as much, I don’t ruminate as much. Went from 10/10 to about 7/10 (which is a big leap from no hope to 30% of my life back)

I hope things get better for you too! I’d maybe get a second opinion? Because not all therapists are good. Everywhere says don’t look for reassurance. I tried rationalising my thoughts for a month and it made me worse (don’t want to advise in case it’s wrong) I’d just make sure the therapist knows about OCD :) It feels better to go from 0 hope to 30% hope haha! Keep updated on this post!

I also went to a therapist for a little bit that advised rationalizing my thoughts and labeling them as OCD thoughts (writing down the ‘OCD’ thought and then writing down a rational thought beside it) but I agree with Lewis in that I found it made me ruminate more and perform a checking compulsion constantly. Also, separating ‘OCD thoughts’ from ‘regular thoughts’ made me label the thoughts as not necessarily my own and led to some intense depersonalization and pushed me more into black and white thinking:( Now i’m finding that I just write down my most repetitive/intrusive thoughts at the end of each day and just leave it at that: eventually I’m able to see that regardless of whether they are ‘rational’ or not, they are repetitive and therefore intrusive so I shouldn’t give too much meaning to them. I hope that makes sense!

What do you mean rationalize them? Like try to think rationally about them?

I’m not an expert, and don’t really know what helps in the long term. But as m.a.d said, say if your thought is “what if I did this 4 years ago” Then the rational thought would be “Well it happened so long ago, what’s the point in worrying” To everyone who doesn’t have OCD that’s enough...but to us we are like “BUT what if it does?!” If you have the thought you can label it in your head as an OCD thought, or say “Yeah sure, whatever I’m this horrible person” then get on with your day. The compulsion would to be to get reassurance and try convince yourself you’re not a bad person. Sorry for the long paragraph, hope it makes sense haha!

No worries! Keep us updated!

Well yeah that’s exactly my thinking, too. I just wish there was some sort of magic pill taking it all away in a day ?

Ugh, I can only imagine how that must feel? Yeah, I have discovered her recently and I have been listening to her but I was conflicted about what to do since my latest therapy with my therapist. It’s like I don’t know who should I listen to you know ? Great job on your progress and overcoming your fears? it takes a lot to go from zero to 30% I hope you continue your progress and find a relief, I wish that to all of us struggling...

@Lewis will do, thanks for the support. I’m going to talk to her next time I see her. She’s definitely one of the best I can find in my city and she suffered from ocd too so I think I just have to explain it a bit better to her my questioning? @m.a.d. Yes, that’s exactly it, like keeping some sort of journal and writing down why those thoughts(ocd thoughts) aren’t real. Thanks for your response it’s been really helpful ? @pluto yes, like trying to see a rational picture beyond the ocd thought, and also everything i just wrote in response to @m.a.d. up here ?

@Lewis yeah, it totally makes sense and thank you so much for engaging in a conversation with me ?