Woman

It makes me angry, too. But I am sure, that then the new word would be used for that what is now OCD in common language.

Yeah, I know. In my case it is mainly feeling guilty. But I have to say that that became much better due to ERP.

It won't feel like that but you nevertheless have to do it against your feelings. That's what therapy if ocd is: Acting against your feelings. Your feelings are fear and doubt. You have to act against them, although it feels wrong. That's how it works. There is no other choice.

That's the only way. But yes, I know it's hard. And I know that sometimes the fear is so big that one can't handle it the right way. But you have to try again and again. Move on and try to make it better. Do you do ERP therapy?

Snowbear, I think it's totally ok to talk with other sufferers how they feel with their ocd. For me it helps a lot to talk to other moms with POCD, because I have no one, instead of my therapist, I can talk about it. And I really tried not giving reassurance. One thing you wrote I've learned otherwise in my therapy. You must not ignore the thoughts, you have to realize them, let they do what they want to do, be ok with them being there and go on with whatever you are doing at the moment. That's very different from ruminating. The thoughts must be accepted and not ignored. Watching ocd as a kind of monster was one skill I learned in hospital. For me that picture fits and helps me. Of course I know that there is no real monster and that it is my brain, but as a parable I can use it well. But I must admit that I should have explained that this is a parable I use and that it doesn't have to mean that this parable fits for everybody. There are different expressions of ocd. Therefore there is the Y-bocs, for example. In the DSM the different levels are classified from "With good or fair insight" to "With absent insight/delusional beliefs". I appreciate your help.

Sorry, I don't understand your question?

If anyone ever had an answer to that, most ocd sufferers wouldn't be some any longer.

What's going on is OCD. OCD does not want you to relax so it permanently tries to send new thoughts and "possibilities" to you. If you follow them, OCD gets you again.

It's always the same here. I am "jealous" of Ocd sufferers who "only" have thoughts. Met some in hospital, they knew it were only thoughts and they knew what Ocd told them was wrong. I got so "jealous"! Because I would not suffer if I was sure it's only thoughts. I am afraid that I really did something.

There is something like confessing OCD. I also had that years ago. And yes, when I can let go one thought, often another from the past comes instead. When I was in hospital, I worked so hard on a special thought that tortured me, and when I came to the point when I had the feeling that it went better, another thought had had before came.

I did not want to say that one can't change anything. That would be cruel and therapy would lead nowhere. No, I just wanted to say that some things are so manifested in our brains, that some people will always have problems with them. That's the reason why in my case OCD is chronical and therapist und psychiatrist say that it is very probably that I will have to deal with OCD my whole life. My aim is to live with it as well as possible. That's work and I have to fight for it, yes. It is not about saying: "I can't change anything, so I don't need to work on it." But a realistic view of the illness for me is reasonable.

Like this.

Yes, that's true. But as we all are human beings with another mood and strength every day, it is not always possible. In my childhood I was taught that I need to be controlled, otherwise bad things would happen. An example: I was told that I had to take care, because if I had made certain things in the wrong way, my mother could have died. So there is this conviction deep inside in me that I need to be controlled. Best conditions for ocd, aren't they? And this deep conviction is always there. Yes, I know about it, but this conviction deep inside of me will never leave completely. It causes fear and my aim has to be to react in the right way. But the conviction and the fear it's causing will never leave completely.

Oh, welcome Emmaloowho! Another mom who is a POCD sufferer. I am very glad to find you here, although I would wish that nobody if us has to suffer this way.

We Thank you Caramoole, that's what I did in therapy. We also did ERP. My main compulsion is ruminating, and I work on it every day. Sometimes the thoughts are so overwhelming (like the situation I wrote down here), that they lead to a panic attack. These situations are the worst, because while a panic attack I am not able to use my brain as I should use it.