- Username
- Anonymous
- Date posted
- 3y ago
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.
This was so helpful! Thank you
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.
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😊
I don’t normally make posts like this but if anyone can relate or has advice so I don’t feel so alone I would appreciate it! I feel like crying and I’m so anxious. So I’ve been dealing with an ocd flare up since February. It started out as contamination and harm after I had a really bad experience on a edible. The contamination mostly centered around the fear of someone accidentally giving me an edible to someone putting it in my food or water. Then it went from there to my Brian going you know what’s worse than edibles? LSD. So then I obsessed over that and it’s been like that on and off. I’ve had an extremely hard time with it it’s been one of the worst themes I ever had. I don’t eat certain things. Especially sweets. I avoid them. I avoid taking medication Bc I’m scared. I limit myself. I’m horrible about opening water bottles and if it doesn’t open just right I won’t drink out of it. I know it’s crazy I know it’s untrue but the panic I feel traces back to that night. I don’t ever want to feel that out of control again it scared me so bad I got diagnosed with ptsd (to be fair I had a lot of unresolved trauma that caused my glass to overfill) well, I’ve been going to EMDR therapy it’s got my ptsd under control but the ocd is louder. My ocd is clawing to stay alive. I’ve started to have intrusive thoughts now about my boyfriend might slip something into my water even though ITS NOT TRUE. So then I panic because the thoughts are so irrational that I get scared like why would I ever think that about him???? But the intrusive thoughts are so jarring and I don’t want my ocd to focus on him now! I need advice! I’ve been prescribed pristiq but haven’t taken it Bc you guessed it.,.. I’m scared to! I can’t go on like this! The thoughts are so irrational it scares me even though the rational side of me knows it’s not true but I guess that’s ocd. We get scared of the thoughts even though we know it’s not true and I know it’s my brain trying to keep the ocd going. I know therapy must be working otherwise my theme subjects wouldn’t have changed so fast. I’m so tired of this.
So I’ve been in a pretty rough spiral/ocd spike for about a month now. I used to have this theme of being severely mentally ill or schizophrenic or psychotic and it went away for like 6 months and now it’s back full force. I have never hallucinated but I have this intense fear of what if I do. So with this theme I have these delusional thoughts that are just bizarre and I know how delusional they are but they feel so real and scary like I believe them. My body reacts by my stomach feeling uneasy and I’ll get a chill and just feel like I’m gonna be sick. Sometimes it doesn’t even have to be a thought per say.. it can just be a weird sensation or feeling and then I’ll become extremely anxious and borderline feel like I could panic. I can usually talk myself down from a full blown panic attack and but it’s just so distressing and I’m wondering if anyone else goes through this? I think it stems from a core fear of losing my family, ending up institutionalized away from my family and my family being devastated and judging me bc I “went crazy” please if anyone else can relate I’d appreciate any advice.
Does anyone else get the theme of fear of going crazy or into a psychosis ? I’ve been having that fear lately and it has been the worse ever. I’ve never had these thoughts before and I don’t know what triggered them that they won’t go way. I couldn’t eat for days from how scared I was of these thoughts. I keep having intrusive thoughts like what if you’re imagining it for example I was at TJ Maxx with my mom and I was looking for her and when I saw her a thought popped into my head like “what if that’s not her and your imagining it” it was so scary that I wanted to cry. Of course apart of me knows that’s not true but the thoughts keep popping up. I’m so scared and just want to be myself again. So if anyone has gone through this theme can you please tell me what helped you. I’ve also struggled with harm ocd, suicidal ocd and a lot of health anxiety. I can’t afford therapy so if yall have any recommendations on what helped your ocd please let me know. I’m so tired and feel so helpless. I want my life back.
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