for anyone suffering right now, here is some reminders that may ease the pain. 🌷 -you’re not your intrusive thoughts (no matter how ugly, disgusting, disturbing they are) -there will be better days so just keep going -thoughts don’t mean anything about your character (how you treat others, your spirit, your wants) -if you’ve had a horrible intrusive thought, i’ve probably had it. you’re not alone. -the reason we get attacked by horrible images, scenes, thoughts is because they’re labeled in our brains as threats. -there’s a difference between a “fear” and a “want”, people with pure o are usually fearful of their thoughts, they don’t want them. -lastly, take care of yourself, watch a movie, do some self care, get some well needed rest. 🍄you matter and you’re important, no matter what your intrusive thoughts tell you. 💐<3

i’ve had unwanted thoughts of others being creepy or secretly evil like family members and friends. they’re all in the same category of “fear”, i don’t want this to be true, so it’s a threat in my brain. then we ruminate and obsess because we feel guilty for thinking this way about a loved one. but it’s only intrusive, we didnt ask for it.

@hope That's exactly what's happening to me except for each person it has attacked, has stemmed from something. Like I took an action they did as suspicious even though when asking friends or my therapist they didn't find the action suspicious at all. I just took that and created a full blown scenario. Can you relate ?

@Anonymous i can relate, i think the reason we do this is because we do it to ourselves with intrusive thoughts and actions all the time. we hyper focus on little details and read between the lines when there’s nothing to be read. we so badly don’t want to be “creepy” we avoid any normal behavior that remotely resembles being “creepy” to our ocd. so for me my pure ocd would always say when someone in my family complimented me, they were being “weird” when really, they were just being nice. it’s because when i compliment someone, my intrusive thoughts will say i am being “weird”, it’s almost like a projection of our pure ocd dialogue. they’re not creepy, but our ocd is judging them the way it judges us. i hope this made sense. 😭

@hope That was literally put perfect. I actually never thought of it like that but that just made so much damn sense to me !!!!!! Wow . Thank you! What do you do personally to relieve yourself, I'm in therapy and on meds and thoughts are better but still there. It's hard to live this way ya know?

@Anonymous thank u! also i can relate, this disorder is painful, i am not in any therapy, i just watch chrissie hodges on youtube, i practice mindfulness everyday (sitting with uncomfortable intrusive thoughts and letting them pass on their own), i try not to avoid thoughts, if they’re there i’ll be like “ok that was intrusive” and try my best to move on. i always remember intrusive thoughts are “trigger thoughts” theyre built to get a reaction out of you. it’s like self sabotage in a way. but they’re not your actual wants or desires. my pure o will attack everyone i love and whoever is around me, i just have to sit with that uncomfortablity and ignore it. it’s hard, but i just practice everyday. :)

@hope I agree and love chrissie! I guess it's hard because there's always that little bit of doubt where i feel like maybe that was actually a threat and the reason I keep thinking and obsessing over the same thought is because it was my gut/ intuition trying to tell me something is off.. That's the biggest battle I struggle with. Like 80 percent know it's just ocd and completely false but then I'm like hey this keeps coming up maybe there's some truth to it.. Ugh 😩

@Anonymous there wouldnt be ocd without doubt. it’s built and fueled by doubt. that’s why it sticks with us forever because we can’t handle not knowing the truth or logic about it. my motto is: mindfulness is key, let it be and we will see. :) it’s all ocd playing it’s silly game “what if it happens?!” “what if the thought mean something about me?!” “what if i am a bad person?!” it’s all doubt, this disorder obsession about the doubt and guilt about the doubt. it’s a never ending cycle because we’ll never get an answer. so the only way out is just let the uncomfortableness of the doubt sit with you and just let it be. :) i am also glad we’re both chrissie fans, shes amazing.