I dont understand how we're supposed to ignore "intrusive thoughts", when they honestly feel so real. I mean, how am I supposed to just accept the thoughts, when my brain/body is telling me something IS wrong. It genuinely feels like something needs attending to & my thoughts dont come in the form of "what if", they come in the form of "something is wrong and you need to do something". How are you supposed to know if something needs to be done or not?? I dont get how we're supposed to dismiss fear when it's telling us to do something.

Everyone gets intrusive thought. For people without OCD, they pass right through and tge person forgets about it. But for people with OCD the intrusive thought gets stuck and we attach meaning to the intrusive thought. We believe it says something about us as people and our character. That is the real issue with intrusive thoughts. The way we react to them. Accepting the OCD thought does NOT mean you like or agree with the intrusive thought. Its simply acknowledging the thought is there. OCD is like a faulty alarm. It goes off when there actually isn't any danger. So when you have an intrusive thought, you respond by doing a compulsion. This basically tells your brain that the danger is real, so it gives you the same thought more frequently. So you end up getting still in this endless cycle. OCD thoughts feel real, but that doesn't mean they are. OCD thoughts all usually have a sense of urgency. This needs to be resolved or acted on RIGHT NOW. OCD targets the things and people you care about most. It knows your weaknesses, fears, and vulnerabilities and will use them against you. ERP is scary and hard. But it works. It can help you break the OCD cycle. I did nothing but give into my compulsions for over 30 years because I didn't know I had OCD. I thought OCD was just washing your hands alot and liking things neat and organized. I didn't have either. I have come a long way. You will have setbacks. You will have good days and bad days.

Ah there’s the rub…” How can you know for certain if something needs to be done or not?” This is a hard pill to swallow for ice sufferers, but once you learn to accept this, you’re on your way to recovery: Your need to know whether something needs to be done or not- is OCD! This is the problem right there. So how do you determine if its ocd or not? Well you don’t. I mean you could, but it will still be a guessing game. Yesterday, I was cooking something and it smelled like burnt plastic. When I was locked in battle with ocd in the past, I would have immediately started to panic, and all my thoughts would’ve become real. “What if I’m inhaling toxic fumes?” “What if I eat it and it poisons me?” I would’ve maybe even thrown up or/and had a panic attack. Yesterday I did none of that. The thoughts came up, but instead of trying to figure out if they were ocd or not, I just said “yea maybe it will happen. Maybe I’ll end up in the hospital, and get some free food and maybe there will be a pretty nurse who feels sorry for my dumb decisions.” “Maybe.” And then I went and ate the food. Then I noticed there was a strange metallic taste to the bread. And instead of worrying, I just didn’t eat the bread. I felt more clear because I wasn’t dictated on whether it would kill me or not, I just decided against eating the bread because it tasted bad. Am I going to die from it? Maybe, maybe not. But ocd didn’t win yesterday, and so to be honest it’s worth it to me. I think once you get through enough torture with ocd you start to accept you would rather have the thing happen to you then live the rest of your life with ocd; asking questions on forums, looking up reassurance articles, calling friends and parents asking, begging for help or certainty. Or you can just say “fuck it. Maybe it’s gonna kill me. It was a good life.” I’m not saying this is easy. It’s taken me a while , and sometimes I have relapses depending on how strong the ocd and the situational trigger is: but it works. And your life gets so much more exciting and feels so much more of an adventure, than a sterilized life.

I know it can seem totally counterintuitive. But the reason why they feel real is because you are giving your brain the message that they are. Every time you ritualize or stop in your tracks to analyze, avoid, or logic your way out of a thought, you are giving your brain the message that this thing warrants a response in the first place. Your brain takes that information in and identifies "okay, this person thought this thing was bad! i have to remember this and protect them from this for next time!" So your brain keeps a record of that information, making you more on edge for next time and more likely to give into even more rituals next time. You dismiss fear by doing the opposite of what your OCD wants you to do. Totally easier said than done but the only way out is through. :)

For me it’s trying to differentiate real thoughts and intrusive thoughts because of how real they can feel…/:

i think a lot of people have it wrong here... it is not about just accepting something might be wrong and moving on. it's about acknowledging that your brain is telling you something is wrong when there's actually no indication of immediate danger. your brain reacts this way because it works off of developed patterns, and OCD is one of those patterns that brains really enjoy. so the end goal is not really about forcing yourself to accept that something feels wrong; it's about teaching your brain a new pattern that is more realistic and helpful than OCD. part of that involves sitting with a fear in order to "teach" your brain that there really is no danger despite those signals going off.