worriedjohn

OCD is tough but also OCD is simple. If you read your own threads for past few months, you may clearly see that all your threads has only one objective. You are repeatedly posting threads to make sure that you are not a pedophile and you want 100% surety that there is no way you are a pedophile. But unfortunately this target is not achievable. You cannot outlogic your OCD doubt by logic or evidences or reassurance from others. So next time when you get the doubt and feel the urge to open a thread to achieve reassurance about that, stop yourself. Accept that you may be a pedophile or maybe you are not and you can't know it for sure. I know it is terrifying for you to accept that possibility but this is the only way out of this. If you don't move away from your target of achieving 100% certainty, you can't progress and reassurance is harmful for you, me and every OCD sufferer.

Yes, it is correct approach. Acknowledging the thought and then gently moving on with your currently activity is what we learn in mindfulness.

I myself have this theme and have read about so many fellow sufferers discussing about the same. So you are not alone. Trying to search for truth of the memory is a compulsion and needs to be stopped. Don't try to find answer and it will bother you less.

Any good book for False Memory and rumination?

I am very much interested in mindfulness in recent days. As per concept of mindfulness you need to focus on present and see all that is happening non-judgementally. What does this non-judgemental perception means actually? In my knowledge, being judgemental means judging something as good or bad.

Can I have verbal memory of an event (the words that someone said) without visual memory (where I was standing and what was around me when it was being said)?

I am ultimately concerned about the future like everyone else but it's tricky. I have an idea that I will face consequence in future for an act I performed 20 years ago.

Yes, I know how tough it is to accept uncertainty about the thing our OCD focus on. But that is ultimately what we need to do. It is our goal and if we can do this, we would conquer OCD.

Why nobody replied to my thread? This is the first time I have posted something on OCDFORUMS and nobody replied. Feeling disappointed?

The mantra we learn from CBT or widely suggested in different OCD forums is "accept uncertainty". In my explanation this means I can't know from sure what my OCD wants me to know. I need to live with doubt that it may or may not be true and I will never be sure if it is true. In my case the question raised by OCD is that whether an event has happened 20 years ago. I need to accept that may be it did happen or may be id didn't and I would never know for sure. I have noticed that accepting this scenario makes me anxious instantly. The basic nature of OCD is that it wants me to be certain. Uncertanity is aparently painful as it creates immense anxiety. But I need to invite that anxiety and have it more and more. The brain will loose sensitivity to the anxiety slowly. It will not happen overnight and we need patience since descensitization requires time. Some people suggest taking note that it is just this silly obsession and just refocusing or not responding. But I don't think it is very useful because escaping the OCD spike don't give you chance to be descensitize to the fear. We need to embrance the discomfort. That is my personal belief only. Do you agree with my explanation.

A man delivers jar of waters in our house. The jars have lots of dirt and insects outside due to filling up in a unclean place. According to my ocd I must wash my hands after I pour water in water filters etc. But I didn't wash my hands for two hours and only washed it before taking dinner.

Is there anybody who doubt memories of past events that actually did happen but fear they are false? I doubt past memories connected with my OCD fear that actually did happen in past but doubt it's authenticity.

I think relabeling doesn't give you chance to desensitize of your fear. When you are relabeling, you are not feeling the anxiety that is caused by OCD. But ultimately OCD fear (obsessions) are caused by OCD and they are not genuine danger. In CBT, the patient work with the therapist to discover how their fear is entirely blown out of proportion or false and it is caused by OCD. But while doing ERP the person may be guided to imagine their disastrous scenario to be true to make himself anxious. But it is for the period he is doing ERP only. This is how far I know about CBT. When the person is not doing the ERP excercise, is it not necessary to learn that the chance of his/her fear being true is very very low and it is only false alarm send by OCD?

Then you believe that for certain types of themes, I have to attribute them as OCD and just refocus instead of believing them?

Don't you think we should believe the thoughts to face them? Thinking thought to be ocd and not believing them is an escape from them?