How intrusive thoughts really work? When you get a "bad thought" you usually try to cancel it with a positive word, sentence, because you feel anxious about it and try to make the anxiety go away, but that is just temporary and bad in the long run. They will return stronger and stronger everytime they rise back up, don't let your guard down! The most effective way to deal with is to acknowledge that they are here and ignore them, embrace the feeling of anxiety. It will go away and won't get any worse than this, it gets lowered by the process called habituation. Don't let it scare you! It might be frightening but it is for your own good and you can do this, you will be better. While ignoring the bad thoughts that arise, you can practice mindfulness or do what you enjoy the most!

Remember thoughts are just thoughts, feelings are just feelings. We generally cannot control our thoughts or feelings, and even groinal responses. No matter how much you want to, they just happen and they 100% happen more when you’re worried about them happening, instead except it. Say “that’s just my silly thoughts again” or whatever it may be, say oh it’s just that silly thing again. Don’t try to work it out, don’t try to ignore it, allow them to come but don’t solve them. Just expect that they’re there . The best advise I was ever told is OCD is like a drunk person, they start to say silly things such as “omg I’m such a silly person” or “Ong you’re so great you’re the strongest person alive” you don’t actually believe what they say because they’re speaking nonsense, but you most likely will reply with “oh yes you’re right” because you’re trying to just please them, but it doesn’t mean you agree with them. You’re just trying to “shut them up” basically. For example if you kept saying “no I’m not” “not that’s not true” “no don’t be silly” the drunk person would carry on saying “no yes you are” etc etc… this is the same with ocd, the more you try to argue with it and say “no this isn’t true” the more it’ll say “yes it is” however if you just say “yes okay you’re right” (even tho it’s not) it’ll start to show ocd that you aren’t picking a fight anymore, you’re just excepting it and it’ll start to get easier. Trust me you aren’t alone in this. Ocd is scary. But you can do this. Some other techniques that have helped me massively is this… When you’re getting these unwanted thoughts etc, name 5 things you can see around you, 2 things you can smell or 2 things you like the smell of, 3 things you can hear and 5 things you can feel, such as touch your hair etc and describe how it feels, etc. this is a way of just distracting yourself. It’s a very good technique for ocd and I went from getting 20 showed a day due to my ocd down to 3 showers a day…. From using this. It works!!! Or take deep breaths that also helps people You aren’t a bad person, you’re just suffering with ocd and that doesn’t make you a bad person

When you get an intrusive thought and intentionally try to ignore it and act as if it doesn't exist, you only validate it's existence. This is a common issue when learning how to deal with them

My brain will not stop with the intrusive thoughts. I keep going through my little mantra in my head how I won't do the things I am thinking and how I hate my thoughts. I am trying to watch YouTube and tell myself just to avoid it and not let the thoughts bother me. I know my thoughts are false because I hate thinking these things but I just feel like I am losing this battle. Any tips?