greentop

I'm finding my OCD to be particularly bad this week as I'm suffering from a flu which appears to be going around my housemates. Feel like a lot of my hard work has been flushed down the toilet essentially as I've let intrusive thoughts take hold and haven't been strong enough in my illness to stop ruminating about them. Has anyone else found this when they are poorly?

Some very wise words Roy! I was reading a discussion where you three were discussing about accepting uncertainty. Something I’d seen hundreds of times before, but something about it clicked and I’ve been accepting the uncertainty of things the last few days and finding it to be a great way to challenge my OCD. Thank you all for sharing your stories!

Hi Nellie, it’s comforting to know other people have been there and not confessed. This advice is super helpful and I think you’re right. I seem to be able to get a handle on all of my forms of OCD but real events and moral scruples I just struggle with so much. I’m going to try really hard with this one. Thank you for your kind message x

Hi there, I have had a specific real event OCD crop up time and time again, making me feel guilt and morally wrong. To be honest at this stage I’m nearly tempted just to confess what I’ve done just to stop the pain of it. But alas I will continue to fight! When it crops up however I’ve actually forgotten how to deal with it. At the moment I’m trying to say ok I acknowledge this repetitive thought of the bad thing I’ve done and the gains I’m receiving from it but I will not react to it. But I’m not sure if it’s working... does anyone have any recommendations for exactly what they do or a book that relates to real event OCD that may help me? Thanks!

Hey everyone! I’ve taken a break from the forum for a couple of weeks and have found my POCD which had popped up again I have really got a handle on still struggling a bit with the past mistakes but doing a lot better than before and not dwelling as much on the thoughts. Just wondering how others (who I had been following the forums of who were struggling with real event ocd) are doing with their coping?

Oh I must try that one @taurean ! My OCD has been particularly real and scary recently but I've also been getting among the top grades in school - something which I am very proud of

Exactly! And we can be proud of ourselves for big and small things - everyone has their own markers of achievements.

Yesterday after a few really great days, my therapist said something which stuck with me: 'look at all you've done while battling OCD.' And it's true, sometimes we're so busy focusing on the OCD we forget to congratulate ourselves for all the things we've done along the way WHILE coping with OCD. I found today a particularly hard day with a lot of bad intrusive thoughts but this evening I've been reflecting on all the accomplishments I've done and everyone else should be proud of the big and small things they do while juggling the OCD bully

I seen 2 other therapists before I seen my current therapist who I just didn’t click with. They were more like counsellors and therefore weren’t sufficiently trained in OCD and CBT which was a big problem! If you research correctly you can find some people who can really help. To be honest if you told me a couple of weeks ago where I’d be now in how good I’m doing, I would have told you that it wasn’t possible. I still get quite a few of these intrusive thoughts and some days they’re worse than others but it’s just not getting stuck on the loop or compulsions, just letting the thought come and saying ‘so what’ to the thoughts. The intrusive thoughts are (for the most part) becoming less and less each day ? Going over and over mistakes day in day out has been an issue for me and I figured it was better to forgive myself, learn from my mistakes and move on because punishing yourself in your head will do absolutely nothing and get you nowhere and to be honest turned me into a grumpy and not so nice person to be around. Instead, it’s better to focus on what I can do in the PRESENT of today, rather than lying around the house, punishing myself. It’s hard I know, but it’s really worth it ?

Oops posted twice!

Hi Nellie, Is there any way you could get access to a therapist? I think it would greatly benefit you. I have been where you are a few weeks ago I made the decision that enough was enough, I needed to deal with these thoughts of never being allowed to make a mistake. I had a bit of a blip last week where I entered back into rumination and felt horrible. No one is perfect, no one will ever be perfect and therefore there's no point trying. Polar Bear is 100% right and I've found his advice to be extremely helpful. I've made mistakes in the past which recently I felt the need to run and confess. Now when the thought enters my head I just say oh whatever! It REALLY works, even a few minutes ago I had an intrusive thought telling me I was a bad person. If I engaged with that thought and tried to solve it I would have wasted my day away, (as I had done last week), instead I just say SO WHAT! and I can honestly say my intrusive thoughts have reduced dramatically. Good luck!

I sometimes find it hard to know what to say without it being an 'analysis' of my OCD and have been using this since yesterday and these two words 'SO WHAT' really do work! Thanks!

It’s also kind of funny how something can seem so life or death one day and as you stop to ruminate over it you realise it’s really not that big of a deal too!

Thanks guys - I think I’ve been doing so well weaning off my compulsions at the moment that the OCD is trying to slip in the cracks and catch me off guard! It’s exciting to watch my compulsions slowly reduce each day

Thanks @taurean. I often think of people like you and many others on the board as volunteers. And the most selfless kind who don’t shout about what they do from the rooftops