The OCD formula/Anxiety Formula. I discovered that most people's anxiety followed a very similar pattern, the anxieties them selves differed greatly, but they all contained the same variables. When these variables exist the chance for anxiety and or OCD to take over exist. Emotional Attachment+Uncertainty+Precedent= Anxiety Let me explain: 1. Emotional Attachments: It has to be something you care about, and or have deep emotional feelings toward. If you don't care about it, you really don't find yourself worrying too much about it. The reason you worry about intrusive thoughts in the first place is because they are attacking something you care deeply about, or else you would just dismiss them. 2. Uncertainty: Your situation/thought has to have some form of uncertainty. If you know exactly what will happen, you also tend to not worry. 3. Precedent: Now this in my opinion is one that isn't talked about much. Your thought and or situation has to have some real precedent and or real world application. All you anxious thoughts come from somewhere, from either past experiences, things we learn or just think we know. If something has never happened and is deemed impossible to happen ever, then chances are you won't worry about it, and if you do it's easier to dismiss. For example; contamination OCD most people know it's unlikely, but they also know there are things that you can touch that can harm you, such as certain chemicals. This real world precedent helps feed anxiety, because we know it's possible, and it exists. Now this doesn't really help those who are suffering with OCD, but it can be beneficial to recognize some parts of a thought and or situation that can induce a high anxiety attitude. Note: I am not a doctor or medical professional, this formula hasn't been tested outside of friends and family and myself. Just something I discovered in common with everyone's anxiety. Not sure if anyone has seen something similar or posted about this, before me, if so credit goes to them.

As a 20+ year OCD vet and OCD conqueror. I wanted to share some tips and tricks that help me. 1. A thought is not the same as a belief. You can think something, and not believe it in the slightest. 2. Thoughts DO NOT represent ANYTHING. They are not indicators to who we are as people, they are pop up ads for the brains computer. 3. We DO NOT control our thoughts! The average person has about 60,000 ( yes, 4 zeros) a day! NONE of which are controlled. 4. We DO have control over which of those 60k thoughts are important. i.e. thought A. I could murder my entire household- survey says? not important ( because yea, sure, you could, but you probably don't really want to) thought B. i need to do my laundy-survey says? important... unfortunately, i hate laundry. which brings me to number 5. 5. Emotional reasoning ( where you let your feelings impact your decisions) is a COGNITIVE DISTORTION. It is a flawed thought process and should NEVER be used. "wanting to do something" does not mean you SHOULD do it, same and sometimes NOT wanting to do something doesn't mean you shouldn't do it ( picked what is important) my brain might tell me i WANT to break up with my husband, ( unimportant) and it might also say i don't want to get up and go to work in the morning ( important). 6. YOU-ARE-IN-CONTROL. Not to be confused with HAVING control. We don't control our thoughts, we control which ones are important, we don't control our feelings or emotions, but we control how to react (or not react) to them. We don't control our OCD, but we can control how it affects our lives, and that can mean that is has all the power, or none. 7. If the action you want to do ( confess, get reassurance, check, analyze, avoid, re-do) are to gain relief from anxiety, IT IS A COMPULSION. DO NOT DO IT. Sit with the anxiety and train your brain to realize its not dangerous or important with ERP ( this takes time, but practice makes perfect) 8. Know your enemy. NOCD has a HUGE amount of articles and information on ALL subtypes of OCD and how to respond and how to treat them. OCD is MUCH easier to combat when you understand how it works. 9. BE PATIENT. BE KIND to yourself. Prioritize healthy habits, a healthy body is better equipped to handle OCD. Good sleep, whole foods, sunlight, social interaction, exercise ( walking especially). When the mind feels weak, make the body strong. 10. You are not alone. OCD is classified by the World Health Organization as one of the top 10 most distressing disorders. Reach out to people, seek medical help. Medication is not evil, it can be life-saving, TALK to people. Bonus Tips * if the question is " What If" its OCD. * Total certainty does not exist, be content with 99%* *"But this feels different, this feels like its not OCD, that its real*- emotional reasoning... its OCD. Hang in there. You got this. Im here for any advice, questions, or support. Today is a great day to have a GREAT DAY.

Hi! It’s pretty difficult for me to get the courage to post this but I’m really struggling to figure out if what I’m experiencing is OCD or Anxiety or neither. I think I have the “pure O” type of OCD where most of my compulsions take the form of ruminating and trying to figure out something all in my head. When I hear this talked about in forums or online the intrusive thoughts don’t really match mine- I worry often about things that seem more “grounded” if that makes sense. A common one for me is my own identity- i will spend long amounts of time stuck in my head trying to figure out my feelings (often sadness or other real emotions I have and patterns I have) and why I feel that way and what in my life caused that and how it’s impacting other things in my life. I also think often about which parts of my personality are the real me and which aren’t. Sometimes this takes the form of strictly ruminating and sometimes I have fake conversations with people I know. It’s intense and I feel I have to figure it out but with no specific intrusive thought that says something like “you have to figure this out or all of your loved ones will die” but it’s very intense. I think also often of all of the decisions I need to make in the future and how they’re going to affect those I love and care about as well as how much I’ll regret them. I imagine all of the ways I think my actions will emotionally hurt others and how to make the least harmful decision, but to me this feels like a valid concern but go over and over and never come to a conclusion. I often just get scared and never make any move because I don’t see an option that doesn’t hurt someone somehow. But again I’m having a hard time identifying the intrusive thought behind it. But I also don’t choose to think about these things most of the time. This is almost all decisions but especially big life decisions. It’s such a struggle because they are things I eventually do have to make decisions about. There is so much more to it that would take too long to explain but in general a lot of my fears revolve around pleasing others/ understanding others emotions to ensure they’re okay, my own identity and personality, and work/school performance. Someone mentioned OCD to me because in my head it feels like I have to solve these things and will go over and over them but I seriously can’t figure out if it’s anxiety, OCD, or none of the above. It’s all very disruptive to my life. I am never not thinking or not trying to figure something out and I feel as if I have no control over it Anyone have any insight?

I don't know if this is exactly a compulsion, but for a few months I had this mindset of "I have to be anxious so that nothing bad will happen." It was mostly when I went out in any way. Sometimes it was for other people too. For example if my mom went to the store/to get food without me. This was mostly during the time when I had been staying inside constantly for a little over a month. Idk if it was an exact cause but I had seen someone who FOLLOWED me last year, hence why I was staying inside. I guess I just want to know if this is common? I know that the whole "if I do this, then this won't happen" thing is common in ocd, but idk how common it is to somewhat force yourself to be anxious.