- Date posted
- 4y
- Date posted
- 4y
because you’re doing avoidance. that is what you’re not supposed to do. avoidance will only make the thoughts stronger since it’s a compulsion. disengage don’t avoid. disengaging means acknowledging the thoughts are there, not trying to get rid of them, but not trying to solve them or interact with them in any way. disengagement should be effortless (hard but effortless) meanwhile avoidance is effort.the thoughts are allowed to be there, you just cannot interact. this method helps so much.
- Date posted
- 4y
I'm very confused cause it's there all the time and I cannot be myself with the thought. I wake up every morning for over 10 days now and sometimes I'm just observing without doing anything. But its still there. I dont know how to disengage..its so hard
- Date posted
- 4y
@Obsessivelyeverafter Yeah, it can be difficult, I'm sure. But I understand what you're going through; I was like this for a really long time. Every day and all day I would think about the thought. When I went to sleep at night, I'd be thinking about the thought; and when I woke up, I felt like it was the same day as before -- every day I woke up I felt that way, so it felt like one loooong day that lasted for weeks on end. It's hard and stressful. Are you seeing a therapist? That really helps, I think. If you can't see a therapist, I'd suggest looking into some books about OCD; you could ask for help finding a book as a post and someone might help you find one. I haven't read any books myself, though. And watching videos might be able to help, too.
- Date posted
- 4y
@Obsessivelyeverafter i definitely agree. it’s super hard at first but it gets so much easier i swear
- Date posted
- 4y
@Anonymous Hey, thank you so much for sharing ! I have a therapist we try to find ways and exercises for 3 months now, but I was diagnosed recently by a psychiatrist. My therapist suggested to keep the thoughts in a journal but I feel it's getting worse because everyday I find something different that I need to be answered by my partner. So I m trying to find a different approach...
- Date posted
- 4y
@Obsessivelyeverafter Did you tell your therapist?
- Date posted
- 4y
@Obsessivelyeverafter Maybe you could ask them for help with pai's suggestion. But I'm not sure if different therapists have different ways they like to and/or are trained in helping tackle OCD
- Date posted
- 4y
@Obsessivelyeverafter Also, when you say partner, you are referring to the person your dating/married to, right? It seems that that is what everyone means when they say that, but I don't want to assume and be wrong! 😆
- Date posted
- 4y
@Anonymous Hey! I didn't tell him yet I will What's a pai? Yes I mean my ba!
- Date posted
- 4y
@Obsessivelyeverafter Boyfriend *** sorry
- Date posted
- 4y
@Obsessivelyeverafter I meant pai as in the other user here. You say you find something every day that needs answered by your partner; do you ask your partner? If so, you could be performing a compulsion. If not, and if writing in the journal still doesn't seem to help, you should definitely tell your therapist that. You might even be ruminating on the thoughts, which is another compulsion; one that takes place entirely in the mind. Either way, you should tell your therapist all that's going on, and try to be descriptive so they really get a grasp at what's happening.
- Date posted
- 4y
@Anonymous Yeah for a long time I was asking him and seeking for reassurance every 2-3 days. But i decided to stop that..its very hard. I should find a different way to cope with it with my therapist for sure..cause writing is not always helpful
- Date posted
- 4y
@Obsessivelyeverafter Remember to try to tell the therapist what's going on as descriptive as possible, in your writing and in your mind and other actions. You might just want to change how you write, and/or try to stop compulsions you aren't aware of (in your mind or physical compulsions). But if you or your therapist decide that you need to find a different way to cope, then I hope that you find the right thing to do.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 8w
Hey! This is my first post here and I’m not sure quite how to put it but I’d love to connect with people who have struggled with obsessive thought loops,? Sometimes I’ll think the same thought over and over for hours, days or even weeks every now and then. It can be a simple thought like about a painting i’m going to work on or it could be a thought about something horrible in my past. No matter the degree, the thought just plays over and over, sometimes it even carries to my dreams. It’s exhausting and I can hear a ‘second’ voice in my head begging it to stop but I have no control. This is actually the very first symptom of my OCD that I’ve ever experienced and it’s what made me realize that my thoughts are definitely unwanted and uncontrollable. I mean literally the same thought plays over and over. Like a song, but just a thought or memory. It can make me spiral horribly into magical and spiritual OCD and I’ve yet to find anyone to talk to about this. Thank you!
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 7w
Been doing ERP for a while now, and overall my OCD is leaps and bounds better than it used to be. I'm not in a crippling panic state anymore thank God. However, at this point I am just trying to figure out how other people with OCD manage their rumination and mentally replaying things in their head? A lot of times I don't even realize that I'm doing it, I will just be doing an activity such as yardwork and while I'm doing it, I will be mildly ruminating about a topic and just find it hard to avoid doing so. My therapist suggested setting a timer every so often to see where my mind is currently at and trying to redirect to something more appropriate (or do ERP exercises). Sometimes it just feels so noisy even though I'm not directly paying attention to it and it ends up being very distracting and affects my productivity. Overall, it's much better, honestly thought it was gone entirely, but OCD is attempting to relapse a little bit I've noticed. Thank you for your experiences and I hope you all have a safe Labor Day weekend!
- Date posted
- 29d
Does anyone else get the same scary thought over and over again all day? I wake up and it’s there, throughout the day while working it’s there, while driving it’s there. It’s like I’m never able to escape and like this stuff will never go away. I’m on 2 medications but feel like they just make things worse and don’t know what to do anymore.
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