I can’t tell if I’m purposefully thinking about my unwanted thoughts, or if they’re truly intrusive. Could someone help explain the difference? I’m very confused. Also I keep telling myself if I don’t enjoy the thoughts then I’m okay and normal, but the anxiety behind the thoughts don’t stop. I need some clarification stat!!

Well sometimes intrusive thoughts happen so often like they are always there it gets confusing plus you could be doing mental checking such as “do I enjoy these thoughts?” Or what’s real and what’s not since ocd feels so real Your not alone though

I’ve wondered the exact same thing, and it’s just another way that our OCD tries to trick us.

I do mental checks constantly and I get urges to do terrible things and it makes the anxiety worse. I don’t know what to do when they happen. I try to tell myself “No, that’s terrible, stop thinking about that and relax”, but they eventually come back and are more persistent. I was struggling with HOCD for 6 months and now POCD has just started and I can’t stand to be around children even though I know I’m born to be a mother. These thoughts have genuinely ruined my life and all sense of happiness and I’m only in the early stages of this. I’m honestly terrified of myself.

I went through this as well it’s just another way for you to get sucked in don’t do it! Resist the urge to figure things out ❤️

I deal with HOCD and believe me, I’ve done the same thing so many times and attributed the desire to ‘check’ (a compulsion) to the desire to think the thoughts/want them. But that’s just the OCD (and the fact that people across themes have described the same feeling shows that it is). I think maybe when you tell yourself “no, that’s terrible, stop thinking about it...” it’s you resisting the thoughts. Instead, I find it helps to do a mini mindfulness/meditation, and sit in the thought and tell yourself “huh, maybe, but I’m going to keep doing what i’m doing and not worry about that thought”. Rather than giving the thought a negative reaction (“no, that’s terrible..”) or an overly positive one (“ya, I do like that”), giving it a neutral reaction tells your brain that the thought really does not matter, and that you are going to live by your values and by your own decisions, and not how your OCD tells you to live. Eventually the thoughts (or rather the anxiety and value that you give to them) will become fewer, and things will start to make sense again. I hope this helped a little bit!

That has helped a lot! This all has. Thank you all so much. I honestly don’t know where I’d be if it wasn’t for this app.