undoable rituals

[highlight]

I don't know whether this is common. But in my case my rituals seems to get more and more complicated ,demanding anxiety provoking and strict until I cannot actually do them "properly". At this point I usually avoid the thing that I need to do the ritual for (this could be turning on a laptop or leaving the house). I have a laptop that I have not used in months because I know about the near impossible ritual that I have to do in order to use it. What should I do?

PS:

I am currently taking CBD for the OCD. I have been taking it for a few days. It may of had an effect but it's hard to say. If it has the effect is not large enough to be worth the effort as of yet. However it could still help you so don't let this completely colour you view.   

[PolarBear]

I don't want my answer to seem simplistic but what you should do is open rhe laptop and use it. No ritual.

Yes, you'll feel anxiety but it will pass, especially if you keep doing it.

[PolarBear]

Further to above, you don't have to quit outright. Say you do your rituals about 8 times before using the laptop. Reduce that to 7 and keep it at seven every day until the anxiety is mansgeable. Then reduce to 6 and so on. The goal is to get to no compulsions.

Be hard on yourself. The faster you reduce, the faster you'll be rid of the ritual.

[leif]

7 hours ago, highlight said:

I don't know whether this is common. But in my case my rituals seems to get more and more complicated ,demanding anxiety provoking and strict until I cannot actually do them "properly".

Hi highlight,

Yes I think that is very common...that's the whole problem of compulsions. They get longer, and more complicated to carry out to achieve that sense of "ok-ness"  That is why we need to start working on cutting the rituals out. Have you been doing any CBT work (either with a therapist or a self-help book for ocd?) to help you to start facing the anxiety in order to stop the rituals and facing the things you are presently avoiding? 

 

 

[dksea]

12 hours ago, highlight said:

I don't know whether this is common. But in my case my rituals seems to get more and more complicated

I think it is quite common, compulsions are like drugs in a way, sometimes in order to get the same sense of "relief" you have to do more and more.  At their core that is what compulsions are, they are a way to feel the "OK" feeling that OCD causes us not to get about our intrusive thoughts the way non-OCD people do (or we do for thoughts we don't become obsessed with). 

[taurean]

As a child I had a counting ritual. I had to count to a million mentally using additions and multiplications. 

I got quite good at it, but I then asked myself why exactly I felt I HAD to perform this ritual. 

The answer came back that I "felt OK" if I had performed the ritual, and uncomfortable if I hadn't. 

I didn't know then that this was the initial start of OCD showing its ugly head. 

But my decision then - reduce, then cut out a ritual that I could see had no real purpose - shows what we all need to do. Because I soon lost that uncomfortable feeling that the OCD was using to try to hook me into doing it.