Do we make our ocd worse?

[jampot]

I feel like mine is self inflicted sometimes...

when i look back to when this began 24 years ago.

I remember when i was on my pushbike cycling up a hill and felt something in my head pysically make a click noise.

I had the thought that i had snapped..

that i were now mental.

From that moment on i felt different it led to harm thoughts eventually.

Now my every thought is like my mind will make some big deal out of the phrase or thought almost like ive no "normal" thoughts left..so is it that the more we doubt and wonder what it all means the worse and complicated the illness becomes?

How do i live the rest of my life like i am now,is just something that is worrying me at the moment.It feels like everytime i get a relapse they are huge and even worse than the last one.why?

sorry rant over?

[PolarBear]

26 minutes ago, jampot said:

How do i live the rest of my life like i am now,is just something that is worrying me at the moment.It feels like everytime i get a relapse they are huge and even worse than the last one.why?

sorry rant over?

You are once again concentrating on your situation and why it is you are suffering. You don't have to live your life the way you are right now. You can change your situation. There is help available. But first you have to move away from all these questions about why you are the way you are. You have OCD. That's enough of a reason.

[jampot]

20 minutes ago, PolarBear said:

You are once again concentrating on your situation and why it is you are suffering. You don't have to live your life the way you are right now. You can change your situation. There is help available. But first you have to move away from all these questions about why you are the way you are. You have OCD. That's enough of a reason.

Just not easy to accept

[PolarBear]

Sure it is. It's as easy to accept as you want it to be. Right now you're pushing back against it for some reason.

I was multi-obsessional. I had quite a few themes going on at the same time. When I was diagnosed I easily accepted that all but one of my themes was OCD. I couldn't wrap my head around pedophile thoughts being OCD. It took me a while to reconcile those thoughts with OCD. And I couldn't move forward with that theme until I did reconcile it. I had to take a leap of faith that it was all OCD. Then I started working on the problem. As I worked on it, things started getting better. First I had to accept that what I was dealing with was OCD. It's where you need to get to.

[jampot]

6 minutes ago, PolarBear said:

Sure it is. It's as easy to accept as you want it to be. Right now you're pushing back against it for some reason.

I was multi-obsessional. I had quite a few themes going on at the same time. When I was diagnosed I easily accepted that all but one of my themes was OCD. I couldn't wrap my head around pedophile thoughts being OCD. It took me a while to reconcile those thoughts with OCD. And I couldn't move forward with that theme until I did reconcile it. I had to take a leap of faith that it was all OCD. Then I started working on the problem. As I worked on it, things started getting better. First I had to accept that what I was dealing with was OCD. It's where you need to get to.

Thanks Polar bear,i guess that i just dont want to be branded as "sick"

And want to be normal?

[PolarBear]

Hey, I get that. It's a big pill to swallow to accept that you have a mental disorder. But remember, OCD doesn't have to be a life sentence. People can and do get better from the disorder. I am one of them. I consider myself fully recovered. I have OCD but I no longer suffer from it. It's been that way for nearly three years for me now. Yes, I went through an awful time when it hit me that I had a mental disorder. I went through the negative thoughts about being sick, being crazy. But I became determined to do something about it and I did. I put my effort into improving my situation and I came out the other side doing very, very well. I can now stand back and say, yes I have a mental disorder but I beat that bully back and now I have a wonderful life free from horrifying thoughts. You can too.

[jampot]

11 minutes ago, PolarBear said:

Hey, I get that. It's a big pill to swallow to accept that you have a mental disorder. But remember, OCD doesn't have to be a life sentence. People can and do get better from the disorder. I am one of them. I consider myself fully recovered. I have OCD but I no longer suffer from it. It's been that way for nearly three years for me now. Yes, I went through an awful time when it hit me that I had a mental disorder. I went through the negative thoughts about being sick, being crazy. But I became determined to do something about it and I did. I put my effort into improving my situation and I came out the other side doing very, very well. I can now stand back and say, yes I have a mental disorder but I beat that bully back and now I have a wonderful life free from horrifying thoughts. You can too.

I sure hope so?

[jampot]

Youve never had a slipp up in 3yrs?

[PolarBear]

No. I still get intrusive thoughts, just like everyone does, but they don't bother me and they don't lead to compulsions.

[Guest Ally84]

Hi polar bear did you do exposure therapy and gonitive behavior therapy to get were you are ? And how long did you do your treatment for untill your ocd was under control?  Thanks ☺

[PolarBear]

Hi Ally. I did really well on meds. They actually cut down the obsessions and compulsions significantly. That said, I still had a lot to deal with.

I took eight sessions of relaxation therapy, which helped calm me down. I did CBT/ERP in a group setting. I also became very educated on OCD. Knowledge is power. 

I was able to recover from most of my themes within a few months. The last one, the worst one, took me about a year but that's because I fell in the trap of not believing it was OCD. I had to come to that realization first before I could properly tackle it.

Edited September 27, 2016 by PolarBear