I’m really struggling right now. I’m having intrusive thoughts around a real event. My family thinks I’m being ridiculous and can’t understand why i can’t let it go. I keep ruminating on “what if”. I don’t want to say what’s bothering me because that’s reassurance seeking. So instead I’ll give an example of the type of thinking that bothers me… It’s illegal to run a red light. I went through a yellow light that turned red. How soon did it turn red? Was I in the intersection before the turn? What if I get a ticket mailed to my house and we can’t afford the insurance hike on our monthly payment. What if that leads to not being able to have 2 cars and one of us loses our job and then we can’t afford to take care of our family on 1 income? I’m sure from that example you can see how distressing this type of thinking is. It’s a real event, I’m responsible, I’ll ruin everything, etc, etc. I think like this no matter how improbable the scenario is. To me, with OCD nothing seems improbable, but I can see the irrationality about it. My compulsion is rumination on the event, researching online, confession, explain myself, and ask if I’ll get in trouble. Does anyone else deal with this type of OCD or anxiety related thinking?

I think the best way to tackle it is “one up” the OCD thinking. Yup I’m going to lose both cars, won’t even have a bike, I’ll have to walk everywhere, that’s it the end of life as we know it. I almost make it as a joke in my head and instead of fighting the thoughts. There’s a couple of great OCD pages on Instagram

I know my thoughts on what is and isn't reassurance isn't the best, but I would think you could tell what the situation is without asking for reassurance. I think of reassurance seeking as asking, "Am I alright? Will I really get in trouble?" On the other hand, I think simply stating, "I'm worried about my obsession that I might get in trouble," isn't necessarily reassurance seeking. If you think that it is reassurance seeking, definitely don't do it -- this is just my thoughts. Also, you could point out that you're not seeking for or want reassurance, you're just explaining what you're worried about. But if I'm wrong, I'd like to be corrected so I don't mess myself up or anyone else.

I’m still stuck on it… OCD and anxiety really suck.

Yeah. I keep ruminating even when I don’t want to. When I’m not ruminating it’s like this depressing background noise that sucks the joy out of what I’m doing.

Yes. I’ve been owning with a therapist for years doing ERP and such, but some months are better than others.

*working