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I've bee telling myself: "You have to let everything go because they are ocd thoughts. Whether it's 'did I do that?' 'I said that. What did it mean?' 'I worded that wrong. Has it implied bad??'
They are all ocd thoughts and doubts, trying to get you to think things are bad and dangerous. It's ocd and needs to be let go. Ocd will try and convince you that you're letting go of something that needs thinking about/sorting out but you have to just let go, it's lying. It'll say 'but megan, this is something u have said, u just wanna know whether it's bad so U have every reason to think it through' but u cannot listen. It's still all ocd". Is this correct? 

Can ocd thoughts ever be real/bad? Or is it always that they are total rubbish or totally exaggerated and can be let go. People have mentioned 'real event ocd' but I think that this is still where the event is not as bad at all as the person thinks and can still be let go, isn't it? 

Sometimes I feel I do or say things when it's ambiguous as to whether someone heard. Like I'm testing myself- is this still ocd to be let go? Maybe it is because yet again it's fearing that I'm saying and implying bad and the amount of anxiety and upset that comes with it shows its ocd so I shouldn't ruminate. I should let go.
when questioning whether it's ocd or not I guess I have to say 'maybe it is. Maybe it isn't'. 

Sometimes I feel so strongly that I've worded something incorrectly when speaking to someone and in doing so have implied/suggested the wrong thing. My ocd then goes mental and so part of me thinks 'this is ocd in some way. Let it go. If the person questions me later, u can rectify. It's not your fault if the my misunderstand' and part of me says 'of course it's your fault if they misunderstood because you led them to misunderstand through what you said. Sort it out now!' 
What should I do in these instances? :-(

When people say 'let go. It's ocd'. What are they meaning by saying 'it's ocd'? 

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Hi Megan,

I think I understand what you are asking.  You are worried that by relabelling a worry as OCD, you might be ignoring something that is a genuine issue that you should be worrying about.  Is that more or less what you mean?  If so I suspect a lot of people will worry on themes like that.

3 hours ago, megz150 said:

Can ocd thoughts ever be real/bad?

I think with all aspects of OCD obsessions, fears and worries there is a risk, a genuine risk.  But that genuine risk is miniscule, 0.01% or less of a risk, 1 in a million chance etc, but the problem is OCD often makes us think the reverse, that the risk is 99.9% likely to be a real risk that will happen.

So yes, there is a real risk, but the likelihood of that is not sufficient to justify hours, weeks, months, years of compulsions.

 

3 hours ago, megz150 said:

When people say 'let go. It's ocd'. What are they meaning by saying 'it's ocd'? 

I think much of this comes down to what I mentioned in another thread where I wrote.. (forgive the copy and paste) 

In terms of what is going on with your OCD, at a guess the relabelling is no longer helping you, and I am guessing it's simply a neutralising compulsion.  At some point you need to look at what the thoughts you're experiencing mean to you, and what your theory A and theory B is. By doing that, it may help you deal with them better and start being able to respond with something other than anxiety and dread. 

So with my OCD I no longer say 'it's just OCD' I tell myself the worst case scenario now, I confront OCD head on, i.e. 'I am dirty, I will get germs and die' or it might be 'I did leave the gas stove on and the place will burn down' or 'I am a knife murderer'.... thinking those thoughts does not make them real or mean I want them, I am learning to habitualise to the thoughts.

Hopefully some of what I wrote there is about what you meant. :)

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Ok great. Thank you. I'm trying so hard this week. I feel if I can go a few weeks without ruminating then I can feel a bit stronger to do as you say, saying to yourself things like 'things are probably awful' to get rid of the rumination. 

I was getting really worried earlier so I basically said the following to myself. Does it seem like I'm going the right way about letting go?

"I'm worrying whether ocd means things aren't real or not or they can be bad/real. 
Sometimes I think ocd books and things make it seem like the thoughts could be real and stuff like that but i don't think it is the case. I think they are just trying to get us to accept possibilities, deal with uncertainty and move on, even tho they know thoughts aren't real. But they're trying to get us to not need to know everything. And they say like 'maybe it's real. Maybe it's not' and try and get us to say and think the same. 

I'm scared of letting something go that shouldn't be let go. Don't look into it. Your ocd anxiety is heightened which means u won't think clearly and reasonably, you'll get caught up, etc. Don't reassure yourself. Im sure that guy said 'stop labelling- good, bad, right, wrong, real, false' because that keeps you engaged with the thoughts and trying to work things out and stuff. Don't try and work out what ocd means when it's clearly an ocd obsession. Tell yourself 'maybe ocd means false. Maybe it means true. Maybe it's both. Let the worry go and take the risk - maybe you'll let things go that you shouldn't, maybe u won't, maybe u understand ocd, maybe you don't. Maybe you will let things go that shouldn't be let go, maybe you wont"

Thanks for your help 

 

 

 

 

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