How do you label it as a thought when you don't know?

[Donut]

I'm sorry, I'm still totally confused by this. If I remember right, the first step in confronting ocd is to label the thoughts as the ocd but how do you do this if you don't know whether it's a thought or not? Am I suffering from a different illness? I thought that ocd made you doubt whether the thoughts were real or not. Surely if you know it's a thought then you don't have a problem! How do you decide which are thoughts and which are real? This has got me totally confused and frustrated as nobody (including psychologists) seems to understand what I'm saying. They just go on to say stuff about ignoring the thoughts! Arrrgghhh - if I knew they were thoughts then I could ignore them. Am I making any sense to anyone? I feel totally alone with how I feel.

[Guest legend]

yes understand, If you could ignore them, then you wouldn't have ocd in theory would you

If you are questioning the validity of the thought, then id lay the money on its ocd at work, hence if it feels like ocd then it probably is

Looking at the cognitive side first is important , then you can work at changing the way you respond to it, and then push onto exposure therapy.

The compulsions are what we do to irradicate the thoughts etc. are the things you work at reducing and allow the anxiety etc to rise

[Donut]

Thanks for replying Legend.

So basically if I'm not sure about something then I should assume it's ocd right?

[Guest legend]

You got it, or for better wording , if it feels like ocd then it probably is.

[Donut]

So you think I should just take the risk and every time I worry about being contaminated or contaminating anything then I should just label it as ocd? What if I get it wrong? There's those dreaded words: "What if..." :mad2:

[Guest stuckinmyhead]

This is where I struggle because my problem is false memories and u believe them to be real. So how do u get past that?

[Guest PaulM]

I struggle with this too.

Thankfully, I recently had a doctor say to me the first thing we'll tackle in CBT is determining what is an OCD thought. I'm looking forward to that starting.

I think it's pretty common to be unsure of what is "normal" when we've had a history of doing things differently.

[Guest legend]

As an eg. If you have to check a door 60 times , even after driving up the road for 15 mins, and then have to go back to check again

What makes a sufferer do that , and why ?

[Donut]

Yes, it's a real dilemma stuckinmyhead and PaulM. I'm lucky if I can last a minute without becoming "contaminated" so it's not as though I can even get away with doing the washing once because I'd still spend most of the day in the bathroom. The trouble is that the doubts seem so genuine. I know that something's not right because normal folk don't live like this but I just can't seem to separate thought from reality. Even folk without ocd have doubts from time to time so how do I decide which are genuine doubts and which are ocd ones?

[Donut]

Even folk without ocd have doubts from time to time so how do I decide which are genuine doubts and which are ocd ones?

Any ideas anyone?

[Guest legend]

what happens when you have that doubt , and what reaction do you give to it ?

[Donut]

In regards to a contamination doubt I'd either worry about it or go and wash whatever it was that I felt was maybe contaminated.

[Goldie80]

Something that helps me is I think of a logical friend who I trust and I ask myself would they worry about this? If they wouldn't then it's clearly an OCD thought, and so what mr OCD, so what!

[PhilpsonFan07]

So basically if I'm not sure about something then I should assume it's ocd right?

If you have to ask whether it's ocd or not, it's probably OCD.

[Donut]

That sounds like a sensible idea Goldie but I'm not sure how it would work for me. If I have a thought or image pop into my head such as "touching dogs dirt" then when I go to ask that rational person inside me, they always say the same thing: "Well it depends, if you did touch the dogs dirt then go and wash your hands and if you didn't then do nothing" The trouble is that I don't know the answer and so I always err on the side of caution and go and wash. It always seems to be the logical choice to make. I mean if a non sufferer couldn't remember whether they had paid a gas bill or not, they would check - they wouldn't ignore the doubt! I hate this illness so much but I just don't understand what I'm doing wrong.

[Donut]

That sounds like a sensible idea Goldie but I'm not sure how it would work for me. If I have a thought or image pop into my head such as "touching dogs dirt" then when I go to ask that rational person inside me, they always say the same thing: "Well it depends, if you did touch the dogs dirt then go and wash your hands and if you didn't then do nothing" The trouble is that I don't know the answer and so I always err on the side of caution and go and wash. It always seems to be the logical choice to make. I mean if a non sufferer couldn't remember whether they had paid a gas bill or not, they would check - they wouldn't ignore the doubt! I hate this illness so much but I just don't understand what I'm doing wrong.

Any advice anyone?