Can a thought act as a trigger

[Guest stringbean]

Just wondered what others thought, as sometimes a thought will come in my head

for example " I dont feel good" quite innocent thought then it escalates "I am getting ill with ocd" or I am going insane.

I can identify that the following thoughts after the initial is ocd but can an original thought be a trigger like this.

Really interested in peoples views

[Guest Steve2012]

Yes, I believe a thought alone can act as a trigger. I think after years of suffering from OCD it is all to easy to associate any negative mental state with OCD when in reality it might be just tiredness, feeling a bit down, feeling hungover....but as soon as you think it is OCD then it is too easy to start thinking about the specific aspects associated with your OCD.

Not sure what the answer is, other than if OCD is using "itself" as a sneaky way in, then I guess try using the 4 Steps and other techniques.

All the best

Steve

[Guest legend]

i dont feel good. is that a thought thats intrusive and unwanted ? id call it the monkey in the ruck sack in your back pack you carry around...hello string. im the monkey

my name is ocd/anxiety/fears etc.... i dont feel good.... what you going to do about it ? BANG anxiety fear doubt... the pending doom.

Then this is the sign of severe badness .... What if im going mad etc panic

The key is that your warning signs are on hyper alertness, like a smoke alarm .... your cooking toast and it pings off... do you rush off to turn it off because

you know why it happening.... or do you panic cos the house is on fire ? my money is on the toaster and you feeling confident

But when you get the pangs of fear internaly... i dont feel good...... do you react ? YES. why ? because your unsure/doubt ..... then WHAT IF im insane etc

then you react becaue of doubt ............. but you never react to the smoke alarm .... because youre in control you have clarity

When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change ... and so should your responses

[Guest Zippo3342]

Absolutely! Some times a thought can definitely trigger/spike your OCD. It happens to me all the time!

[Guest nEvermore]

Everyone has these "scary" or in some way threatening thoughts all the time. If everything is going well, you just forget and move on if these thoughts are silly, pointless, or require no action on your part. OCD is when you fixate your attention on these thought past any point of reason.

[Guest akkers1]

For sure!! Happens to me as well.

[Guest Zee]

Hi Stringbean :original:

Oh yep, my OCD is triggered by thoughts all the time. A "normal" thought can lead to a chain of thoughts and before i know it im in anxiety and obsessing aghhhhh.

[Guest stringbean]

Thank you so much for all your replies that has been really helpful. Legend thanks for yours too, I alway like your replies but sometimes it takes me ages to understand them lol

[Guest legend]

how would you explain it yourself string, in the sense that how you think it works with yourself ?