jennielouises

I also absolutely love this and have repeated it to myself since I read it at lunch time and have been anxious. I am a potter head so really resonates with me!

Yes I completely agree Felix. What Phili said is true, but so is what you have about him. That's why he went ahead and did it

Ok so my new plan to deal with this is to frame your message above and keep looking at it! ? You literally just made me feel so much better! I didn't know any of that!!

This is so true This is my biggest thing, ruminating! I normally stop myself but I've found it much harder with this. Especially as I am part of the HR team at work and we've put messages out to colleagues about it checking they are ok. But it just reminds me of it the whole time This makes me feel much better. I have deleted Twitter (as you have less control on that than FB of what is shared) and deleted the BBC news app. But I also need to stop going to the BBC News website! The trouble is, (and this will be triggering to others so don't read this bit if you are in the midst of worry).. ..right now I have this dreadful feeling that every moment could be my last. It's not just fear of the war, it's just that the war has stirred up this feeling inside of me that is the heart of my OCD, the feeling of needing to protect myself. Needing to control everything to make sure the awful doesn't happen as we can't have certainty. It started when I was at school and learnt about house fires and Pompeii. It's never gone away since. I don't know about others, but I think a big problem for me is that I haven't lived through wars this close to us. I was born in 1986 so was only 3 when the Berlin wall came down an the Cold War ended. Even the Kosovo war I was too young to know what was happening really (just a young teenager) and was in the midst of being worried about house fires and Pompeii! I think many aren't old enough to remember so we can't help but catastrophise, especially with what the media is telling us What I have done (as I said above) is: Deleted Twitter Deleted the BBC News app I'm trying to limit my news reading to twice a day. But I'm having to really work on that On Tik Tok I am marking videos as not interested if they talk about the war, and eventually the algorithm learns not to share them. That's what I did with Covid My Facebook is just family and friends who don't talk about things like that I have let work know that I am struggling I'm trying to just let the thoughts about war sit in my head, acknowledge them and just get on with things. It's taking a lot of mental power right now though

First of all, I don't think you are morally obliged to go. You've already fought for your country and everyone thanks you for that. You've listed clear reasons why it wouldn't be good for you to go, and you are not longer in the army. Obviously we all want to do what we can but we also need to look after ourselves. Perhaps you could donate some money or old clothes to a lot of the charities helping the refugees fleeing Ukraine? It might ease some of the guilt?

Sorry for jumping on someone else’s post but I’ve just found myself doom scrolling for two hours on this! It’s been on my mind since Thursday and I’ve only just realised today that my ocd was in the driving seat! I’d already left Twitter etc and stopped reading the news. But I opened edge on my computer (I normally use chrome) and the home page was msn with a triggering story!

Yeah. But then even he doesn’t know what he’s talking about I think!

Thanks for the replies. But this has been even more in the news recently after Boris said it. My therapist said it’s difficult for them even to know what the official advice is!

BBC have an article today about takeaway food and washing your groceries. I won’t post the link as it could be a trigger warning. I’ve been doing these things but always thought it was my ocd. But now they are saying we should! I feel like the world is telling me my ocd was right!

I know how you feel. In my role I’m actually responsible for reading the WHO and HSE guidance and creating the guidance for employees. I’m good with where to draw the line at work but I’m struggling at home. I know the guidance is to just wash you hands a lot and avoid touching your face. But then I’d be stressed and anxious all the time. At least this way I have a safe space but I find it hard to control what germs come into my safe space. Especially as I don’t want it to drive a wedge between me and my husband. Before the pandemic I would have challenged my thoughts about the contamination and just let everything get “dirty” and waited for the anxiety to reduce. So I also was pretty much in control. But now it’s taking over

Thank you. Both really helpful. I know I need to do it but it’s like there is a brick wall stopping me. I thought if I could work out exactly why I don’t feel like I can tolerate being unclean or germs being in my house then I could get passed that brick wall. If I could work out why I feel the outside world is so dangerous and an unclean place and why I think washing would help me. I know it’s linked to my emotions but the last therapist told me I just need to put my big girl pants on and get on with it. In some ways it’s like my security blanket even though it causes me distress in other ways

The issue is I don’t really know what I’m afraid of. I don’t know what the thoughts behind my ocd are. I’m not afraid of getting ill or a loved one coming to harm. The only reason I have an issue with germs is if I’m ill, it will make me uncomfortable and my house dirty. I just can’t stand being uncomfortable or dirty. I’ve read break free from ocd but the behavioural experiments don’t help me work this out. One example is going to the shops and trying clothes on. The experiment would be to come home and not feel like I have to scrub from head to toe. Breaking free from ocd then tells you to look at the specific predictions and how much you believe it. But mine are that I will be unclean and the dirt will spread all over my house and be everywhere. Which I just can’t tolerate. Not that something will happen to me or someone. I believe this nearly 100% so I can’t really question it. Another example is cleaning the toilet and not wanting to scrub from head to toe. My prediction is that the toilet water could have splashed on me and I would then touch that part of me and spread it round my house. I won’t be able to control my environment and everything will be as unclean as public spaces. But again I believe that nearly 100%. I know about theory a and b, and black and white thinking but I just can’t tolerate not knowing for sure that I’m clean. I guess maybe that’s the thought? I also know that to get better I need to challenge my thoughts but I truly believe in them and the only thought is I can’t be dirty. Therapists have worked with me in the past to challenge my behaviours and I’ve done some but challenging them means making myself uncomfortable and unclean on purpose and I just can’t do that. My ocd mostly manifests itself with avoiding situations that will make me uncomfortable so it’s hard to do it on purpose. I’m not sure what to do to be honest. None of this is specific to Covid19 by the way. I felt like that before and realise I don’t actually feel any worse since covid19 as I felt bad anyway! Just right now I have an excuse not to leave the house and I feel so happy and clean!

OCD: 'I spent 20 years preparing for the coronavirus pandemic' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-52564434 An article that I feel truly represents how I feel during this pandemic. Especially this hit... ‘Anecdotally, many people with pre-existing anxiety or germ issues have said they are experiencing less worry during the pandemic. Maybe because other people have adopted their worldview, are taking the same precautions, and are also now learning to manage high stress on a regular basis. This is true for me, to some extent. But the pandemic has also thrown up - or revived - some unique challenges for me. Public health warnings have reinforced the fact that germs are easily transferred from person to person, even as we pass each other in the street. Hand-washing guidance has made me wonder how often I've left the sink without truly being clean. And groceries have presented one of the great re-emerging problems of my life.’

Ok I’ve decided to tackle it in two stages like cbt taught me. 1. I’ll use everything in the kitchen that’s been here for over 72 hours and learn to live with the anxiety of where’s it’s spread 2. I’ll touch hubbies phone and be ok with it 3. I’ll touch the things that have been here less than 72 hours. That’s going to be the hardest thing

Thank you. That helps. I wish I could feel comfortable just accepting that