Joewest439

Thanks for the replies, good advice. I feel so confused about everything, people say we shouldn't ruminate, but also say we shouldn't avoid the thoughts either, it feels like a catch 22 for me.

Hi everybody, I was hoping to get some opinions on obsessive thought management. I have had severe pure OCD for many years now and have been through many peaks and valleys of repetitive thought patterns. My OCD mainly involves mental rituals, rather than the more traditional physical compulsions. Thoughts range from harm OCD, magical / supernatural thinking, violent impulses, obsessing over my mental state, etc. Most of the time I'm able to immediately recognise the thoughts and see them clearly as caused by my anxiety / OCD. But sometimes this is not possible, as it's hard to keep up with them and eventually I can't even remember what the thought exactly was. This brings me to my question. What is the easiest way to handle these intrusive thoughts? 1, Reassure oneself that the thought in question is harmless and not necessarily a true depiction of things (impossible to do if the thought is forgotten). 2, Remember that thoughts in general do not necessarily matter anyway, regardless of their content. (this tactic never seems to satisfy) 3, Blindly refuse to entertain the thought, no matter how dangerous or real it felt (can be useful but often feels wrong because I'm then still half believing that there could be danger or I am neglecting an important insight) I feel that I am strong enough to make a commitment to method 3, but am worried it'll make my mental condition worse, if it makes me partially believe the thought. This is especially something I need advice for. I have tried tellingly myself 'it's just my anxiety' many times, but sometimes the random thoughts I have aren't even anxiety based, sometimes they seem to be realisations, or even general positive observations, yet my mind still clings on to them until I work out what they were. I know that many sufferers probably use their own ways of managing OCD, and that these methods are not just black and white, they are just the general tactics that I consider. Anyway thanks for reading and any input would be appreciated.

Yes a great deal of my OCD is magical thinking, a hideous combination of thoughts, visual trips, attached 'feelings', with the instant believe that not analysing them out chronologically will result in the death of a loved one via supernatural / devil means. The combination is often hard to pinpoint - the thoughts seem to mix within each other, and at such a fast pace. I sometimes wonder if other OCD sufferers experience this sort of rapid 'mix' too, as their descriptions of their own OCD sound a bit more clear cut, but not necessarily easier I know. otber sufferers

Thank you for your counsel and I agree, I must have the strength to accept that these thoughts occur. Some thoughts are easier to accept, depending on the varying content. It's just very hard to accept the notion that maybe they do mean consequences and maybe they don't', when the apparent consequences are for example that a loved one will die if I don't revisit the thought. I find myself telling myself "is it really worth the risk??"

Thanks for the input, I do see the difference and I understand the notion that we must learn to live with fear. It is just difficult to say 'maybe they do have influence, oh well', it feels unnatural to pretend I am okay with the apparent dangers, when I'm really not. To tell myself 'so what if this does cause harm' and genuinely not care if it does seems like I'm just lying to myself about it.

Hello everyone, I'd like to hear your thoughts and advice about the subject of recognising the meaninglessness of thoughts. Hopefully other sufferers can gain some help from this post too. I have a form of OCD that involves repetitive and frequent obsessive thought patterns, which inevitably leads to the pressing need to defuse them and clarify what they were. This is sometimes not possible, as the specific content of the thought pattern can be forgotten the moment after it occurs. This results in knowing that the thought occurred, but being completely unable to move on from it due to not being able to remember it's exact content and thus being unable to defuse it. It's basically a horrible trap. Now, the way I see it, the key to overcoming this trap is to ultimately recognise the fact that any thought that may occur, regardless of its content / intensity / apparent realism etc, is meaningless. A feat easier said than done, I'm sure all would agree. About 90% of my thoughts / fears / trips are remembered and thus defused moments after they occur, so I'm able to 'recognise' them as non dangerous. But this is done on a content specific way, which defies the whole point of realising that all thoughts are meaningless. The way I see it - until I have the power to know that any thought that occurs to me is meaningless, doesn't need working out, doesn't need recognition, doesn't need action taken against it etc, - I will never be free of them. The main theme of my current belief that thoughts are significant tends to be: 'Thoughts I have about my OCD / anxiety are realisations that suggest a more sinister illness, and I need to analyse them to make sure that I don't believe them, otherwise I will automatically believe them, thus making me worse.' The point being that I seem to assume that I will SUBCONCIOUSLY believe a not necessarily true fear about my actual OCD, thus making it worse. Even if I cannot remember what it was. I try telling myself that 'it's just a thought', or 'it's meaningless', or 'it cannot influence my belief / conduct', but it never seems to be enough. If anyone has any input to this topic that could help me to realise that thoughts are truly just thoughts and are unable to subconciously influence my beliefs about my anxiety disorder, I would appreciate it so much. I need to find the belief that thoughts have no power over me or anyone / anything in my life. Thanks