- Date posted
- 4y
- Date posted
- 4y
Before you do anything, I would take a moment to reflect on your self-talk. Telling yourself that you need to “suck it up,” isn’t conducive to recovering. It’s just discounting your struggle as something you’re doing wrong, when it isn’t. This type of thinking will naturally cause you to do even more compulsions in response to the feeling of pain. Try a gentler approach if you can. Instead of punishing yourself for the impulsive habits you have, why not reflect on them without judgement? You could begin journaling each day (sounds like it won’t work, but it’s helped me), practicing mindfulness techniques when you feel yourself about to do something unhealthy, I like the 5-4-3-2-1 game. When I feel an urge to do a compulsion, I stop and focus on my breath. Afterward, I name 5 things I see, 4 things I hear, 3 things I feel, 2 things I smell, and I visualize my #1 safe place in my mind. Give yourself grace when you’re not able to cope with these difficult feelings. Give yourself realistic expectations and remember that recovery is not linear- you will have setbacks, you will do impulsive things sometimes, what’s most important is what goals you’re working toward in the long run.
- Date posted
- 4y
Thank you so much. It's really hard to get in the right mindset and just start, as i often just want to scream in pain or sleep. But i'll try my best to do these things you suggested!
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 4y
I LOVE the 5-4-3-2-1 game it’s so helpful!
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 4y
Instead maybe try meditation that might help you calm down but not give way to compultions
- Date posted
- 4y
I have a suggestion, you said “ when OCD triggers an anger/panic attack, I often feel so out of control that I either contact others, shovel food down my belly or break things.“ wouldn’t you consider those compulsions? If doing these things make you feel better when you have anxiety or a panic attack I consider this coping-which is a compulsion. And I would suggest to cut out all compulsions when dealing with anything that causes distress.
- Date posted
- 4y
Oh, i never thought of it that way....maybe because doing this never helped. But i'll definitely try to hold back on it more, as i don't want to do these things anyway.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 22w
What would I do for ERP if my OCD says because I didn’t do something correctly or remember something I will have panic attacks that don’t end?
- Date posted
- 13w
Can harm ocd give you thoughts like when you’re in front of a trigger “why don’t you do it” and sometimes I either freeze don’t know what to do with myself and then an urge to throw the item away. Is this something else? And sometimes I get thoughts like “what if I’m lying to myself” and “do you think you’re lying to yourself”
- Date posted
- 12w
I still do not have an OFFICIAL diagnosis (I dont have the means to do so) but given my symptoms, past and present in my life hugely suggest OCD is what I am dealing with. I cannot be 100 percent certain but after searching for answers and researching for a long time now, I am fairly certain and confident this is what I am struggling with. Given this step forward, I am making more effort into giving up compulsions. at the current moment I believe to be dealing with ROCD, as I have been having several intrusive thoughts that conflict with my relationship. For starters, recently over the past month or 2, I have been struggling with intrusive thoughts like not being over my ex, being attracted to someone else, losing feelings for my partner and not being in love, etc. I can consciously identify that I dont believe these thoughts to be true but it causes me so much distress and anxiety. It gets extremely unbearable some days, and I have leaned into 2 main compulsions. I have relied on thought checking and googling as my source of relief. At first the googling was genuinely to start finding answers; hence why I have made some of the discoveries I have about OCD including this site. But it developed into every time I was anxious, I would whip my phone out and start googling strictly to find an answer that would reassure me or calm me down. As for thought checking, it acted as a way to reaffirm my love for my girlfriend in my head when I have had the thoughts that collide with my relationship and how I feel about my girlfriend. It worked at first but developed into a compulsion where every time a bad thought got me worked up id either do my normal googling or Id think about that in my head to calm myself down. Over time these compulsions have gotten less and less affective and now when I do them it only gets me more anxious and desperate for reassurance (strengthening the cycle or whatever it is lol). I did some more research and finally have accepted the very real fact that I am going to have to sit in heavy anxiety and not give into compulsions for a while in order to treat this. I have to sit in the thoughts that make me feel all this hightened anxiety and distress without giving into compulsion. to be honest I am scared, the thoughts are more rampant than ever, but I am ready to commit to this. I dont think I am gonna be able to go cold turkey on my compulsions so I am ready for the reality I might relapse on the compulsions sometimes, But am gonna keep going until I can break these shackles OCD has on my life right now. I wanna ask, what is everyones methods they use to avoid giving into compulsion when the thoughts get loud? any advice is welcome :)
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