So I realized that now that I don't get as much anxiety when I get intrusive thoughts it's hard to determine if I actually am them or which are intrusive thoughts. But I think that I was using the signal my brain gives me with the intrusive thoughts as reassurance. I seemed the anxiety even tho I hated it. So this is a weird sit with uncertainty.

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!

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!

Thank you so much

Loooove the encouragement here! <3

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!!