PolarBear

Good on you, worrier. You said all the right things. Get mad at OCD. Sometimes recovery starts when you get sick and tired of being sick and tired. I started my journey to wellness when I was 48. I grieved for a while about what I missed out on, but my new way of thinking put an end to that. I only think about now and the future. I've had a wonderful 10 years (so far) and looking forward to more. Let today be the start of your journey to wellness.

I think newbie is fine. Perhaps there is a better word. When I use it, I'm referring to sufferers, yes in crisis, but who also have very limited knowledge of what OCD is, how it can manifest, and how it can be treated.

1. I was not referring to you and have no idea about your Jung example. 2. I explicitly stated "when it comes to OCD." You want to talk about Jung and how it helped you, be my guest. Someone wants to talk about the benefits of regular talk therapy, I'll probably join in with my own stories. BUT when users suggest unproven remedies FOR OCD, I start to have a problem. Furthermore, when especially a newbie is here distraught about their OCD, no one should be angling them toward research and therapies that will have no benefit to them in gaining control over their OCD.

Great post and I echo your sentiments. There has been a troubling move of late by some users to encourage sufferers, especially newbies, to jump into rabbit holes that lead nowhere, when it comes to treating OCD. OCD recovery, at least getting to a better place, is possible, but only through hard work and determination. It requires a drastic change in thinking and behavior. It sucks. It really sucks. The payoff, however, is huge. Peace of mind.

You are wrong. An obsession is an intrusive thought,image, feeling, urge, impulse or sensation that causes distress. Yes, sufferers fixate on their obsessions but the fixating is not the obsession.

Excellent!

Two different things. My first post referenced images worrier was experiencing. My second post referenced thoughts that are intrusive and cause distress being obsessions.

If a thought is intrusive and causes distress, it is an obsession.

They're likely obsessions, which can be more than just intrusive thoughts. You can get intrusive images, feelings, urges, impulses and sensations. Like intrusive thoughts, you can choose to ignore intrusive images.

Depression and OCD can be separate and occur at the same time. OCD can also lead to depression.

If your normal involves rituals done to mitigate the anxiety caused by the thought or presence of a 'contaminant' and that is causing adverse consequences to daily living, then your normal is not normal.

This is all OCD thinking. You need to seriously curb your urge to Google everything. All that does is enhance your fear and give you something else to worry about.

To you. Not to people who have broad knowledge of the disorder. Sorry, but your brand of OCD is just not that special.

Your therapist is right. And wrong. OCD sufferers need to learn to not react to obsessions, in any way. That means no physical compulsions and no mental compulsions, like ruminating. If you repeatedly stop reacting to obsessions, the obsessions will weaken and show up less frequently. Saying, that's an OCD thought is still you reacting. My concern is what comes after. If you ruminate for a long time, saying to yourself that's an OCD thought isn't really doing any good. However, if you say that and that leads you to ignore the obsession and get on with your day, then it is perfectly acceptable. For now. Eventually, you'll want to get to a point where you don't have to say that. As an example, if someone always washes their hands nine times but starts doing it only five times, they're still doing a compulsion but they are miles ahead of where they were. They still have to cut out all compulsions, but going from 9 washes to 5 is a huge win!

Good. That's a positive step! Get mad. Then get even!

What's worse, an allergic reaction or the hell you put yourself through every day?

You keep coming back to this. It is this type of thinking that is keeping you stuck. I bet you spend a lot of time trying to find someone else just like you. It's a compulsion. You won't find that person. Even if you did, then what? You'd still have OCD and you'd still have to do the work to get out of the mess you're in. Save yourself a lot of time and frustration and start dealing with your OCD.

You don't have to accept it as OCD. Let it go anyway. Is hanging onto it doing you any good?

Get rid of the watch. Checking it is a compulsion, which will solve nothing.

What you do is ignore the comment and keep moving on. People in general do not understand OCD. It is shocking how many people think OCD is about being neat, clean and fussy. I am an avid reader and am regularly dismayed by well known authors who misrepresent OCD. YOU are in charge of your mental health. Not them.

This gets a proverbial up vote.

Unlike 50% of OCD sufferers, I never experienced contamination obsessions. I know Covid exists. I know it is harmful. I know it can be very harmful for some people. I do not fear it. I do not fear asbestos, petrochemicals or toilet bowl cleaner. I am not alone. This does not mean we do not respect these substances. I realize the fear is real to you and other contamination sufferers, as sure as the fear of standing if front of a drooling, roaring lion. That does not mean the fear is warranted, especially to the degree felt by OCD sufferers.

So, you often do this thing (imagine what normal is) and every time you are overwhelmed by fear. Think about that. Have you thought that maybe you should stop doing that? If every time you do this thing you get a negative result, perhaps you should stop doing that thing. No doubt imagining what normal would be like is a compulsion for you. Like any other compulsion, it's not going to work.

You say we have instinctual/emotional responses to anything dangerous... I suspect what you think is dangerous, I don't. I have never read the warning label on a bottle of household cleaner in my life. Never gone to a manufacturer's website to read up on safety. Never used rubber gloves. You might think that stupid, but there are likely billions of people like me and we get along just fine.

Why wouldn't it feel real? OCD thoughts come from the same place as all other thoughts.