- Date posted
- 4y
- Date posted
- 4y
Hey, I’ve experienced what you’re talking about for a few years now. What I do to help ground myself is find something to touch; cold, hot, textured, anything that will bring your senses back down from dissociation or derealization. I also recite derealization mantras I’ve found on YouTube. The dream-like state you’re feeling is from the overload of adrenaline, so do something stress relieving: watch something funny and familiar, cry with a friend or to yourself, go outside into the breeze, or do something physical. Take some deep breaths to help calm down the heart rate and bring the adrenaline back. And just remember: you’re not crazy, and you’re not going through psychosis or having delusions. That’s the OCD talking! I experienced derealization for a year straight with no break, and thought there was no end, but there absolutely is. Be kind to yourself, and when you feel inclined to check who you are, who your family is, etc., just remember that it is not you in charge, but your OCD that’s trying to get a reaction out of you. Get good sleep, make sure you’re moving and busy, and no abundance of caffeine and no drugs. It took patience and time, but eventually I trained myself to not escape into derealization or depersonalization when I was stressed out, which at least kept me more realistic and comfortable.
- Date posted
- 4y
This was so helpful! Thank you
- Date posted
- 4y
I had that ocd 16 years ago it was so scary because I had thoughts about being delusional and having schizophrenia I would make myself think bizarre things and think what if I'm delusional I would doubt if I was sane. What helped me was people who are truly delusional and crazy they don't realize it and they don't fear it like we do they really do believe thier delusion. This also really helped me sometimes I would jump to another ocd theme and I would not be scared of being delusional anymore because I was focused on another ocd theme. If I were really delusional it wouldn't stop just because lol.. And finally knowing that it was just ocd messing with me so I just ignored it until it went away😊
- Date posted
- 4y
I'll add up this : don't ever forget that OCD-related people are way more "normal" than "normal people" no matter the theme of OCD. The big difference is that we think far more than common people so as a matter of fact we develop far more thoughts than common people it's all logical. The truth is, everything we experience daily as OCD-related people is experienced by everybody except that we max out our thoughts and feeling by as already said the fact that we think A LOT and it's also due to our oversensitiveness that lead us toward anxiety.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 23w
I’ve never been diagnosed with OCD, but I relate so much to what people here are going through. I used to think it was just anxiety, and I felt like I could handle that. But lately I’ve been spiraling—constantly afraid that what I’m feeling is something worse, like psychosis or losing control of my mind. I feel so detached and scared, and I just want peace again. I have anxiety doing the smallest things, like the thought of waking up everyday and even eating give me straight up panic. I am afraid all the time, it’s paralyzing. And a lot of people say someone with psychosis wouldn’t worry that they’re in it, but then I convince myself I’ve been in it this whole time, and haven’t known, and that maybe I’ve been doing weird stuff. Idk. I also get really scared of labels. Even the idea of OCD makes me feel like I’ll never get better or like I’ll be stuck like this forever. I just want to be okay. If anyone has felt this way—confused, overwhelmed, or scared of what’s happening in their mind—I’d really appreciate any support or encouragement.
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 19w
Hi guys! I had really bad harm ocd about 2 years ago and I went through therapy and eventually got really good at handling it when it would pop up. The other day, I was scrolling on TikTok and came across a girl talking about a guy who was presenting a lot of schizophrenic symptoms but no one paid attention and got him help, he was having a lot of delusions, hallucinating, thinking everyone was out to get him, thought he was Jesus and his dad was the president and ended up doing horrific things. The day after that, I was dealing with some work drama and had the thought of “what if all my coworkers are against me and trying to get me fired”. That really stressed me out, cause I don’t normally think about them like that and I went down a rabbit hole of thinking that was the beginning of me developing schizophrenia, ended up googling stuff all night, taking tests, crying and seeking reassurance. I had a thought the other day “your dad is the president”, this one didn’t stress me out as bad as I knew it was just the video I had seen and it was an intrusive thought about it, and I also didn’t believe it. Today I was with some friends and I got a prize at a place we went and it said “lonely” on it. I do have my moments of feeling lonely and this week has been specifically trying so I had a thought like “oh someone’s out to get me cause I got this”. I know this isn’t logical and it wouldn’t make sense to just randomly get it if someone was truly after me and it was just a stupid prize at a random place, anyone could’ve gotten it. Im just struggling a lot with schizophrenic OCD and thinking I’m in the pre stages of it. In my good moments, I don’t think I am at all and it was all just sparked from the video I watched but in my bad moments, these thoughts feel real!! They really stress me out and make me feel like I’m going to lose my mind causing me to lose my job/ end up in a psych hospital/ never live a normal life/ end up alone, never see me my loved ones/ hurt my loved ones. I just want to feel normal and not like I’m about to lose my mind and everything I care about. Please help!!! Anyone else going through something similar and can help me get through this!
- Date posted
- 19w
Hi! It’s pretty difficult for me to get the courage to post this but I’m really struggling to figure out if what I’m experiencing is OCD or Anxiety or neither. I think I have the “pure O” type of OCD where most of my compulsions take the form of ruminating and trying to figure out something all in my head. When I hear this talked about in forums or online the intrusive thoughts don’t really match mine- I worry often about things that seem more “grounded” if that makes sense. A common one for me is my own identity- i will spend long amounts of time stuck in my head trying to figure out my feelings (often sadness or other real emotions I have and patterns I have) and why I feel that way and what in my life caused that and how it’s impacting other things in my life. I also think often about which parts of my personality are the real me and which aren’t. Sometimes this takes the form of strictly ruminating and sometimes I have fake conversations with people I know. It’s intense and I feel I have to figure it out but with no specific intrusive thought that says something like “you have to figure this out or all of your loved ones will die” but it’s very intense. I think also often of all of the decisions I need to make in the future and how they’re going to affect those I love and care about as well as how much I’ll regret them. I imagine all of the ways I think my actions will emotionally hurt others and how to make the least harmful decision, but to me this feels like a valid concern but go over and over and never come to a conclusion. I often just get scared and never make any move because I don’t see an option that doesn’t hurt someone somehow. But again I’m having a hard time identifying the intrusive thought behind it. But I also don’t choose to think about these things most of the time. This is almost all decisions but especially big life decisions. It’s such a struggle because they are things I eventually do have to make decisions about. There is so much more to it that would take too long to explain but in general a lot of my fears revolve around pleasing others/ understanding others emotions to ensure they’re okay, my own identity and personality, and work/school performance. Someone mentioned OCD to me because in my head it feels like I have to solve these things and will go over and over them but I seriously can’t figure out if it’s anxiety, OCD, or none of the above. It’s all very disruptive to my life. I am never not thinking or not trying to figure something out and I feel as if I have no control over it Anyone have any insight?
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