- Username
- Anonymous
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 3y ago
hi! i don’t get anxiety anymore with my thoughts. it’s frustrating because with anxiety i say to myself “okay i know i have ocd that’s why i’m so worried” but now without the anxiety i always question well is it actually ocd?? but i just learned to sit with the uncertainty once you really learn how to do it the less and less you will care about whether the thoughts are real are not. ocd is so frustrating, you aren’t alone❤️❤️
Very nice it’s hard tho cause somtime I feel like this isn’t real if know what I mean
YEA I did the same thing and like ruminating has been harder to determine if I am or not because of the less anxiety.
love the encouragement here, too - and yes, this is called the backdoor spike. once you recover or start to recover from ocd, it's common and typical for you to have thoughts like "what does this mean about me now that i'm not worried as much? does this mean i don't care? does that mean i really am a bad person, and it was good to have those thoughts?" ocd is tricky but you're calling its tricks out before it has a chance to take hold. AWESOME!
@Gabe445 - OCD can make it hard to tell - very rarely do we know yep 100% this is OCD and i don't need to worry about it! Usually there is some creeping feeling that this feels like a true emergency. The recovery process comes when you can still take that leap of faith and commit yourself to the ERP/process.
@Anonymous - Rumination is tricky for a lot of people. You aren't alone. Keep on keepin on!
It is definitely weird to sit with uncertainty. Think of it like if you were working a new muscle for the first time - if you go to the gym and start lifting weights, it'll feel weird... your body will kind of be in shock for a few days. But when you start to make those muscles stronger and stronger, you'll get into a groove and it won't feel as strange. You're doing a great thing for your mental health and for your recovery by sitting with that uncertainty. Great work.
I feel I’ve been having no anxiety lately too and just being uncertain but it feels weird to be uncertain but I feel like where getting better slowly
Yea it feels like getting better slowly. I kinda have into ruminating a little but still not responding as much
Recovery can definitely feel weird for a lot of people. After all, your brain is no longer preoccupied with the things that it used to be preoccupied with - so it's kind of like .. okay, what do we do now!? I find it helpful to make sure that I'm really engaging in my values. Whether that's family, health, hobbies - engaging in my hobbies and making sure that I'm living a values driven life helps me keep the recovery process moving along.
@Anonymous - Way to go!
@NOCD Therapist - Jenna O. Thank you so much! Yes definitely my brain is trying to figure things out haha. That's really good advice thank you!
This has been my experience recently. I have also found my brain jumping to one theme when another isn’t bothering me as strongly. We got this!
This is a huge sign of improvement! Awesome! That sneaky bouncing from theme to theme can knock people off their feet potentially but you're right - you've got this
@NOCD Therapist - Jenna O. 🥺 you made my day. I start ERP tomorrow. Thank you!!
I’ve got to the point with my OCD where I don’t really have compulsions anymore, just a few intrusive thoughts which I’ve learnt to deal with quite well now. But my main thing is anxiety about getting anxious (which obviously makes me become anxious?)or being the way I used to be. Has anyone else experienced this?
Ironically. Becoming desensitized to my intrusive thoughts sometimes frightens me. The security of knowing I had such intense anxiety when I had violent/bad/scary intrusive thoughts comforted me because it made me realize I didn’t want them and found them bad. If I’m not reacting to them, I’ve convinced myself that I think it’s okay and maybe deep down I am a bad person? Does anyone else relate to this? My anxiety has felt better lately toward my intrusive thoughts as I am trying to give them no value (that and probably my lexapro lol) but is what I’m feeling normal at all or can anyone relate?
So if as soon as you think of something you get an anxiety feeling in your chest but it’s not an unbearable feeling or feeling of great distress/angst but as soon as I think of that thought I get this anxious feeling in my chest does that mean I don’t like the thought but have gotten use to it so the anxiety isn’t really bad? Like can you get anxiety but but be so use to it that it doesn’t alarm you or come off really strong that you hate the anxious feeling? Because many times throughout the day I have a thought and I get this ‘mild anxious feeling’ but it kinda hits as soon as I ruminate …does that mean I don’t like the thoughts? I have been believing I’m bad and when I tested myself on an intrusive thought (it’s been bothering me a lot it’s about smothering someone😞) it felt so vivid but felt like ‘I liked the feeling of doing that when I imagined it’ I have been obsessing over it thinking I’m actually bad now and have sick desires, but the fact that as soon as I have the thought I get like an instant mild anxiousness in my chest does that mean I am uncomfortable/hate the thoughts but I have gotten use to them so my emotional response isn’t flaring up like it use to? Also why does it feel like I’m desperate to think about these thoughts but at the same time don’t want to think about them I don’t know what to do
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