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What have you done today to challenge your OCD?


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Analysing the past to find out when our OCD started won't help - in fact it's another compulsion! 

And whether OCD evokes thoughts feelings or urges, it's our behavioural response that we must change. 

I was taught to be dismissive "Oh that's just my silly obsession". This is incredibly powerful - it claws back control from OCD, implies we have sussed it out, and seen that it creates what are in fact silly thoughts feelings or urges - nothing we should really treat as fearsome, threatening or repulsive. 

Then I was told to refocus without giving belief to, or connecting with, the obsessional thought. 

Now THESE are really essential CBT psychological tools for me, in challenging and overcoming OCD. 

Edited by taurean
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Guest OCDhavenobrain

So was at my dad'd house and it was this program on radio about bike accidents which i wrote about last week. I had forgot about it, but he listened to it and he mentioned it. I can feel the sweat dripping, i will go outside and not think about it. Even if that is avoidance in a way. Damn, it can hit quickly 

 

And i always seems to get irritated at the person who brings it up. Which is silly it is the OCD i need to be angry at. This is not unexpected at all, because i have feelt the last days that my OCD is hoovering like crazy, i have even got 2 totally new obessions. It is always here i fail, because there is ALWAYS one thought that seems to be important. gaaaaaah. So today i have to clean my bike and change a part so i can go out with it. If it gets worse tonight i will take one painkiller, i think it give some relief. I just can't fall back down in a period again. Then i have to read tonight i just can't let this take my time, so one NSAID it will be if it still tries to do its thing when i come home.


I have to admit to myself that it have got worse after i stopped SSRI, i will not go back on SSRI, worst case scenario i will try antipsychotica but no SSRI. Firstly i would have lost all my success i have had withdrawing and the crazy appetite would come back. 

:thumbdown: I don't like you OCD, stop trying to get my attention. Gah 

 

Do you think it is a bad to go to bed late and wake up late, when it comes to OCD? I have read that many  with OCD tends to go to bed late, there is actually a connection between OCD and delayed sleep phase disorder. I thought about starting a thread about it a while ago, but i didn't. 

 

Annnd i am seeing a lot of people here with the same problem as I, even people with false-memory OCD which i can relate to 100%. Before i know about pure-O and especially false-memory i always saw me as a special case, to special to ever be  successful. And I learnt about all of this but it didn't relieve my anxiety very long. I just want to say that i can totally relate to others here, and still it do its thing, it adjust the story just for a tiny tiny bit and it "needs" to be taken serious again. I just wanted to tell you guys here so it can't be taken as reassurance that all of this seems like the same thing just comming with different thoughts.  

Edited by OCDhavenobrain
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Guest OCDhavenobrain

Something i have feelt have improved a bit is that my concentration is better. I think i know why, before I was ALWAYS thinking about what I should do. All human beings seems to be like this, you want to be in teh next moment instead of here, have always had it a little worse because I have had all those counting going on. If I know that i going to train later on the day have I have counting how good I should do and 100 other wievs on it. I have also been a little bit obsessed in the past by the notion that you always should feel your best, maximize your happiness and such. 

Seems like my concentration have improved, I am not doing any fancy techniques, no inner speaking with myself I am just working on things I need to do.  Don't get me wrong, my OCD is trying to get me back in by telling me where I should be already, "why haven't you dont this before why why why". And it also wants to compare me to others, but the way forward is to just do my things. 

 

Guys, I have noticed that I write "I" with a small letter "i". It have become a bad habit, so now when I try my hardest to change that habit do I notice how many times I write "I". Gaaah, it is either me or it seems to be that the english language is very egocentric, hehe. Generally you are told in school here that you should use "I/me" as little as you can. Sorry i am just frustrated that i can't stop writing iiiiiiiiii.  :chair:

 

Hope some of you are feeling that you can change something in the way you see your thoughts. 

Edited by OCDhavenobrain
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Guest OCDhavenobrain

I am pretty tired of being obsessive so i will try my best to keep letting it be away. Funny thing is that when i am sitting down and relaxx do my OCD offer me to relax with it in the equation.... Like getting control over the things i have/need to do, by counting them. It is very sneaky. You really need to understand how tricky this disorder is, or you will never get anywhere. Personally i feel like it always try another dirty trick, it is probably also because we are so used to it, so we have implemented in everywhere in life. 

 

But no, i won't waste more time to OCD, i hate myself for being obsessive, i really do. Funny thing is that i don't see myself as obsessive (now do i mean my real me). My OCD makes me unable to listen to others (where you actually care, and not trying to figure it out), very uncool, boring and an overall VERY unproductive person

Someone else who feels motivated and tries (even if it is a little bit)? Guys you need to change something or you will be the exact same. OCD will never just lay down and die. 

Edited by OCDhavenobrain
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OCD intrusions are just silly worthless thoughts, but we won't accept that till we have worked through and understood, in personal CBT therapy or self-help, the cognitive side of OCD. 

I have found a good way forward after this is :

Take the high ground, look down on the OCD, rather than up to it, quivering below it. 

How do we do this?  Well, as an OCD intrusion pops along, be dismissive - think "oh that's just that silly obsession", then refocus away back to what you were doing. 

Why is this so good?  It minimises the potential of the intrusion (oh...just...).

It states the facts. OCD obsessions are silly and worthless, and cause distress (Disorder). 

And it's showing you mean business, by not giving belief to, or connecting with, the obsession by refocusing away - rather than responding with carrying out compulsions and emotional response. 

And when we fervently practice this, and it becomes an autonomous response, it works :).

 

 

 

 

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Guest OCDhavenobrain

Thank you Tauren i did well just up to bedtime, where a thought struck me. It was about jealousy and comparing myself. All or nothing. So i started googling to justify that i didn't have what they have. Also did some searching on facebook and google. 

I think that "all or nothing" is the problem here. I mean some amount of jealousy is normal, it doesn't happen so often to me so i don't think it is abnormal. But the all or nothing thinking is. 

Also i am pretty convinced that my counting in my head is purely OCD doing its thing. I am getting NO relief at all, when you have autism are you supposed to feel good about it, i don't i just want ot count more and more and more. And i feel unease when i am not, like i am losing it. It is not OCPD neither because they seems to find what they do normal. I don't i see it as absurd and something i want to get rid of. 

Beside what i experienced before bed I am motivated and convinced of all that i wrote yesterday. I am tired of being obsessive and i can see where it have got me. In an obsessive mess, this is the opposite to feeling contend and relaxed, this is itchy and messy. 

I am btw going to adjust when i go to sleep I am finding myself going to bed late and waking up late, actually read that people with OCD who do this have a harder time stop themselves from obsessing.

Same advice as yesterday guys and girls. Try to do differently

Edited by OCDhavenobrain
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Guest OCDhavenobrain

Have been doing good, i just keep up with my daily routine. 

My sleep nowdays is amazing compared to before. I can't believe that i am functioning when i sleep 5 hours, i did yesterday because i couldn't sleep and i had to go up. Before i would be TOTALLY UNABLE to function if i got 5 hours. I don't think i am going back on SSRI.  

And i think i am starting to understand how it impacted me. You get contended with everything, which is great in a way. But i want to be driven. 

Sorry if this makes someone depressed about taking SSRI, when it comes to OCD is my belief that one should use them to easier getting through CBT then atleast try to stop (maybe?). To me it makes no sense to take them if you have beaten OCD, and we do say that OCD can be beaten with CBT. But it is always up to the individual!

Same advice as yesterday from me, do different tomorrow!

Edited by OCDhavenobrain
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Guest OCDhavenobrain

I am foing good. But .. always a but. I was going to the trainstation abd there was a rabbithead lying on the ground. Actually on a stair. That seems very bizarre. I am usuallu not taking the train. 

 

So i am starting to analyze is it a crime.  Sometimes do you read about people who throw pigheads infront of mosques and that is a crime. 

Should i feel traumatized. It was bizarre and pretty sick. I wish i could be less alone with all of this the other way around. I mean nobody obsess about being traumatized.

Hope you all are doing good. 

Edited by OCDhavenobrain
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Guest OCDhavenobrain

Was going to tell you about my obsession where i count because i want control but no. 

 

I am overall doing good, got triggered by an event tonight where i was uncareful and now i have 35 euro which could be in danger. So i obsessed 3 hours. Will pick it up from there. I feel like some of us are picking it up, it doesn't need to be recovered, a start is good. 

I wish we get there

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13 minutes ago, OCDhavenobrain said:

Was going to tell you about my obsession where i count because i want control but no. 

 

I am overall doing good, got triggered by an event tonight where i was uncareful and now i have 35 euro which could be in danger. So i obsessed 3 hours. Will pick it up from there. I feel like some of us are picking it up, it doesn't need to be recovered, a start is good. 

I wish we get there

Well done for not buying in. You have shown yourself you can do it and can do it next time too. We can all help one another here to keep doing what we should be doing. We are all working towards the same goal, just at different stages.

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Guest OCDhavenobrain

Thank you very much! I do think that some people here are seeing glimpses of it. And that is great because that dreadful anxiety sucks, and it is my belief that all OCD eventually ends with bad anxiety, due to the nature of OCD. 

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Why do we OCD sufferers feel anxious?

 It's part of the emotional response to threat, fear or revulsion triggered by an OCD core belief. 

To turn the OCD obsessional thoughts into the silly mental nonsense they appear, to non-sufferers, to be, we have to fully understand how OCD works - then change our behavioural response, stopping carrying out compulsions, not connecting with or believing the OCD intrusions. 

They will then ease off in power and frequency, and down will come our emotional response and anxiety. 

Exposure and response prevention is just one cog in this wheel of understanding, then change. 

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Guest OCDhavenobrain

It started yesterday from a position of calm. I got more and more thoughts about getting control, my "normal obsession" about counting came in. Those ones doesn't come with anxiety in the same way. I can even see how people without OCD wouldn't care about them. 

So those thoughts doesn't come with dread it is more like a feeling of wanting/needing control where i haven't. If i am not involving it feels like i am on loose line. Totally on my own - kinda feeling. 

I don't think there is more to get for me in analyzing it, i think i now see it as a need of getting control and i see how destructive it is. But i do need to stop taking them serious in the heat of the moment.

 

Edited by OCDhavenobrain
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Guest OCDhavenobrain

Something strange happened to me today. I was going out, extremly undeciful if i should go and buy my a new pair of earphones or save the money, i was stopping many times and searched on google for alternatives even if i did that yesterday already. It was like i waited on a godlike intervention, but it never came and i got more and more confused. 

So i was getting more and more confused, and then did old obsessions come to mind, the accident because i saw a guy who looked look him, and then on my way home did i get sad because i saw two people who was out on roadbikes and i am kinda avoiding, or not avoiding too much. It is just that i have a lot of reading to do. But i will start riding. 

So when i was almost home did there come a car on a different road and he drove on the wrong side of the road and took the corner really agressive. 300 meters later did i saw 2 cars who had crashed, so i asked them if the car was involved. Feelt the need to ask. 

However, i got really surprised today. But i also think that this is a clue, because i am doing things way to much before i decide, i often analyze things before i buy things and other things. So i think this is OCD too.Now i am going to do the boring work for the day, pretty much the rest of the day. Thought i was going out before so i could relax, but instead it got me by surprise. 

Hope you all are doing well. Have you guys noticed that when we write in a state of anxiety do the text seems to be kinda "all over the place"? It is like we want to get it out as quick as possible.


Take care everybody!

Edited by OCDhavenobrain
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Guest OCDhavenobrain

I was failing at going up earlier than i use to today, i need to adjust my days but it is hard, always seems to justify sleeping longer. 

I am doing good, i was starting the day with a thought about spots on my shirt, i was out riding one day and there was this guy.. Maybe he spitted. However i was stopping this before it grow. 
There is a fire in my town, accordingly to the newspaper a grassfire so. Still not sure if i should go out or stay inside, don't get me wrong i am not feeling anxious about it. 

I think i am going to leave my house, worst case scenario do i get exposed to fire. Take care everybody. They are saying that the heat will decrease, tomorrow is the last day and then it will go back to more normal temperatures.

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As a teenager I had bought a cigarette lighter whilst on a  trip to Holland. 

I spilt a drop of fuel on the sheet in the hotel.

It didn't mean anything at the time, but I had the intrusive thought a few days later "did that spillage result in the hotel burning down?" 

Looked at now, I would kick any such intrusion into touch immediately. But you can believe that intrusion stuck with me for a few days. 

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This actually happened a few days ago, but I wanted to share on this topic.

I had an obsession about a specific food contamination for several years. I went 4-5 years avoiding certain food and would always check food labels to avoid accidently eating certain ingredients. I eventually overcame it.

A few days ago, my brain decided to bring back these contamination thoughts before a meal.  Suddenly I started to question if that meal was safe to eat. Instead of throwing it away or google searching for possible food recalls, I just decided to eat it.  I guess it's possible that decision could eventually kill me (extremely unlikely), but I really haven't had any significant anxiety about it since then. 

It just made me think about how easily this could have become a major issue for me again. Giving into the thoughts one time could have spiraled out of control. I've got enough anxiety to deal with at the moment, I certainly don't need to bring back an old obsession. 

That's my positive story for the day.

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Guest OCDhavenobrain
2 hours ago, taurean said:

As a teenager I had bought a cigarette lighter whilst on a  trip to Holland. 

I spilt a drop of fuel on the sheet in the hotel.

It didn't mean anything at the time, but I had the intrusive thought a few days later "did that spillage result in the hotel burning down?" 

Looked at now, I would kick any such intrusion into touch immediately. But you can believe that intrusion stuck with me for a few days. 

 

2 hours ago, mw321 said:

This actually happened a few days ago, but I wanted to share on this topic.

I had an obsession about a specific food contamination for several years. I went 4-5 years avoiding certain food and would always check food labels to avoid accidently eating certain ingredients. I eventually overcame it.

A few days ago, my brain decided to bring back these contamination thoughts before a meal.  Suddenly I started to question if that meal was safe to eat. Instead of throwing it away or google searching for possible food recalls, I just decided to eat it.  I guess it's possible that decision could eventually kill me (extremely unlikely), but I really haven't had any significant anxiety about it since then. 

It just made me think about how easily this could have become a major issue for me again. Giving into the thoughts one time could have spiraled out of control. I've got enough anxiety to deal with at the moment, I certainly don't need to bring back an old obsession. 

That's my positive story for the day.

Good job. 

 

I am feeling that my contamination-theme have increased the last year. It is funny with OCD because everything you obsess about feels as real. Before contaminationfears was more like an itch, now it can come with anxiety. I am not sure if that is true however, because i remember that i have been afraid of poisons and getting poisons on my stuff in school. I thought that my book in chemistry had got all kind of dangerous chemicals on it, remember sitting reading it at home with a paperbag on my hand. 

Got massively triggered today whne i saw a relative which i have obsessed about a lot. Got a minor panicattack but went home. 

The thought of today is that no matter what the theme is - it feels as real for the sufferer. 

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Guest OCDhavenobrain

I am feeling tired today.  Need to go up earlier tomorrow which means sleeping earlier. 

Going to buy myself a new pair of earphones.

Waa triggered todau by a smell in a tunnel. Smelled glue and there sat this musician who was very happy. Normalöy i would search on google. 

And i will habe to take a break after 2å augusty when i al done with all the studying. I am feeling the strwss building up and it impact my stomach.

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22 hours ago, OCDhavenobrain said:

 i remember that i have been afraid of poisons and getting poisons on my stuff in school. I thought that my book in chemistry had got all kind of dangerous chemicals on it, remember sitting reading it at home with a paperbag on my hand. 

I had the same fear with my chemistry book at school. That was several years before I even knew what OCD was. When I think back through the years, it's hard to believe how many different fears I've had. 

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Guest OCDhavenobrain
2 hours ago, mw321 said:

I had the same fear with my chemistry book at school. That was several years before I even knew what OCD was. When I think back through the years, it's hard to believe how many different fears I've had. 

I know right! It was there my concerns about chemicals begun. I did good in the class but i was so scared of acids and other chemicals. Not in class but when i sat home with it. It was my mother who thougjt it was wwird. I thougjt it was normal. Couldnt understand why i was so afraid.

I also dropped my phone today on the ground where people spit and goes but i didnt clean it. Actually i thought about doing it later but never did. 

I am starting to expose myself with contamination. I find it to be one of the easier ones because you can expose yourself in another way. I dont mean easier like in not as worthy of complaining about but it is more clearcut

 

Edited by OCDhavenobrain
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The fears threats or revulsions of OCD are repetitively anxiety-inducing to sufferers - but to non-sufferers, or sufferers with different themes, they mean nothing, just worthless nonsense - a silly idea easily dismissed. 

For me, an important part of the C (cognitive) element in CBT is learning why this apparent silly nonsense to others seriously bugs us so much that we believe it despite high probability evidence to the contrary. 

We need to understand how this happens. Then the B (behavioural) part of CBT makes sense. 

The D (disorder) will only ease away when we accept the fear threat or revulsion is created by a false or exaggerated core belief, and we cease to carry out unhelpful, obsession-strengthening not weakening, compulsions. 

Edited by taurean
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Guest OCDhavenobrain

Thank you. 

Today I was reading and i feelt that i had problems concentrating but I keept on reading and then did I get some kind of anxietyattack, tested myself but then did I just walk with it. Then when I went home did I see a truckdriver in a distance, he was naked on the overbody so my thoughts wanted me to analyze but keept on. Home now and I am going to keep on reading. 


Tomorrow I need to go up even earlier, but I do go up earlier then before.

 

I have come to the conclusion that one can get stuck in the recoveryprocess, and I am not as sure as before that even reading about OCD is useful. I enjoy this community and all the  kind people but I obviously wish we wouldn't need to be here. 


The conclusion of the day is that one can only occupy oneself so much, the OCD will sneak in eventually. So at some point do you need to sit with it and what it is saying.

Edited by OCDhavenobrain
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1 minute ago, OCDhavenobrain said:

I have come to the conclusion that one can get stuck in the recoveryprocess, and I am not as sure as before that even reading about OCD is useful. I enjoy this community and all the  kind people but I obviously wish we wouldn't need to be here. 

Spending too much time on OCD, rather than day to day living would be bad. 

I only consider it when I am on the forum, preparing a topic, or challenging my OCD. 

A trigger came along yesterday, and it wanted to stick around. I was in a weak state so not at my best, but I got reading an interesting novel, made tea and we watched some TV together. 

Today I have been busy all day until having a break now. 

Not connecting with intrusions and refocusing away is a great tool to use when you understand, from CBT, that the intrusion that is fighting for your attention is, really, worthless nonsense.

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