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Desperate for help please.


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Hi phillev. Please forgive me if I have got this wrong. You have harm OCD. Harm OCD is where you are concerned about that you might harm somebody. You had an intrusive thought -image- about harming somebody close to you. You believe that you will do this in the future because you predicted a time which would be mentioned when you were overhearing a conversation.

I reckon you must have similar things occur in the past. Given your diagnosis. What gives the thought potency is the prediction game you played with yourself. This is a coincidence.

Do not describe the image on this forum as suggested not because it is too awful to describe but because it would strengthen the power of it. 

You need to shift your attention. The medication should cushion you from the feelings that you have. It might take a little time.

On a practical note do you need to get a medical certificate from your GP for work? If I were you I would return to work as soon as possible. The brain is a thinking machine. At work it would think about work

Edited by Angst
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15 hours ago, OCDhavenobrain said:

That is how it works for all of us. Some obsessions means more to us of some reasons. But you also have obsessions which you were totally panicking about, which doesn't bother you one bit today? This is one is just the same,  but do not wait for it to die on its own because it will be replaced and the new one will feel as bad as this one OR this will stick forever, it is possible to have one your whole life.

I can relate to what you are saying as regards the obsessions lessening as time goes on and others not. I'm still debating if the prozac has played a part in this but who know. As for work Angst I work in a very stressed environment and don't feel ready yet, I have a mental health evaluation next week and will wait to see what they say. At the moment sleeping is my only escape! 

Edited by phillev
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I thought I was having a good day today until lunchtime I was on my tablet and I heard a helicopter fly over which for some reason made me think of the news and an image of our local newsreader popped up in my mind saying "we must get this in" and I think it's related to the horrible image I had seen myself do a couple of weeks ago I now feel back to square one and scared as anything. 

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59 minutes ago, phillev said:

I thought I was having a good day today until lunchtime I was on my tablet and I heard a helicopter fly over which for some reason made me think of the news and an image of our local newsreader popped up in my mind saying "we must get this in" and I think it's related to the horrible image I had seen myself do a couple of weeks ago I now feel back to square one and scared as anything. 

Hi Phil,

this is the same thing - it was just an intrusive thought. You then gave meaning to this random thought and it terrified you. You have to begin to understand that intrusive thoughts are meaningless, it is us who obsess over them and allow them to cause us anxiety. Have you tried CBT Phil? I think it could really help you in combination with your medications. A CBT therapist can help you learn mechanisms to manage these thoughts. 

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So these thoughts can come from nowhere then and create an image/sounds in the mind even though you are not necessarily thinking about them I'm confused as these seem different to my normal train of thought hence the premonition worry. They seem like the hypnogogic thoughts I get before I drift off to sleep. 

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You get billions of thoughts coming through your head every day - images, words, sounds, pictures, feelings, whatever. You can't possibly process or focus on all of them - or even a tiny fraction - so your brain discards most of them as unimportant. However if you respond to a thought as being important, your brain thinks "aha this thought must be significant" and it focuses your attention on it. The more you pay attention to it and carry out compulsions - even if just trying to figure it out - the more your brain sees the thought as important. It becomes front and centre in your brain's priorities. Whereas someone else may have never even noticed this thought, or if they did they might have thought "huh, weird coincidence" and got on with their day. The non-ocd sufferer's brain receives this message and discards the thought. 

I see the brain as almost like a pet you train. It learns what's important from you. Right now you are teaching your brain to see this thought as VERY VERY important, and like a good pet it is responding to this training. The way to undo this is to reteach your brain by not treating the thought as important - don't pay it attention, don't try to sort it out. It'll take a while but eventually your brain will stop hammering you with this thought. Only then will you look back and think "I can't believe I was so worried about that" - but the work has to come first. 

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33 minutes ago, phillev said:

So these thoughts can come from nowhere then and create an image/sounds in the mind even though you are not necessarily thinking about them I'm confused as these seem different to my normal train of thought hence the premonition worry. They seem like the hypnogogic thoughts I get before I drift off to sleep. 

Hey Phil, I get these hypnogogic type thoughts throughout the day too, not just as I'm going to sleep. I too got worried about them and asked my therapist, but he said that this type of thing isn't anything bad and can occur when you're under a lot of stress. So basically, even though these seem different, they are also just intrusive thoughts! 

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22 minutes ago, phillev said:

So these thoughts can come from nowhere then and create an image/sounds in the mind even though you are not necessarily thinking about them I'm confused as these seem different to my normal train of thought hence the premonition worry. They seem like the hypnogogic thoughts I get before I drift off to sleep. 

You mention a sound of a helicopter…image of a newsreader…newsreader saying we must get this in…to the horrible image. This was a particular train of thought that caused distress. Because it lead to a particular image. Your OCD is moulding your train or pattern of thoughts.

 You mention that they seem to be like hypnagogic thoughts and that they are different to normal trains of thought. One explanation is that your mood is giving them special status. But there is a danger here in that you will spend time thinking about the nature and quality of the train of thought. So I think it is best to ‘train’ your brain, to use GBG word, not to pay attention to the train of thought or image.

Your brain created the image. It is not in the real world. It is a false image. It will not occur.  We know that images have powerful emotional effects. Politicians and advertisers know that. You need to be active, engage your brain in other activities and think of arranging therapy with a good therapist.

 

 

 

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Thanks again for the replies, I do have a very active mind and it feels like it’s on the go all the while, as is I said up until that point yesterday I was feeling a tad better but     this was definitely a thought that seemed to arrive from absolutely nowhere which doesn’t seem to happen to me unless I’m about to nod off I’m just hoping it’s my brain/OCD getting ahead of its self and creating thoughts and images before I can really comprehend what’s going on if that makes sense as I’m normally well aware of my intrusive thoughts such as am I going to hurt somebody etc this seemed very different.

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Another thing that’s now worrying me is that these might be precognition type thoughts as apparently they are quite common come from nowhere and you have no control over them, I’m a nervous wreck and am still waiting for my mental health consultation.

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You now consider that you might have foreknowledge of an event by extrasensory perception. This foreknowledge, I assume, relates to the disturbing image which your brain conjures up.

Your present concern does confirm the idea that reassurance does not work in the case of OCD. 

The parapsychology unit at the University of Edinburgh has not discovered any evidence of paranormal activity over the many years it has operated. This, of course, is more reassurance.

Your OCD, so to speak, will be relentless in trying to prove its veracity. Be aware of this. If somebody told you that they had foreknowledge of an event by the imaginary in their mind, what would you think?

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5 minutes ago, Angst said:

You now consider that you might have foreknowledge of an event by extrasensory perception. This foreknowledge, I assume, relates to the disturbing image which your brain conjures up.

Your present concern does confirm the idea that reassurance does not work in the case of OCD. 

The parapsychology unit at the University of Edinburgh has not discovered any evidence of paranormal activity over the many years it has operated. This, of course, is more reassurance.

Your OCD, so to speak, will be relentless in trying to prove its veracity. Be aware of this. If somebody told you that they had foreknowledge of an event by the imaginary in their mind, what would you think?

I just want this all to end!

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1 minute ago, phillev said:

I just want this all to end!

It's totally understandable that you want all this distress and fear to go away - anyone would. Unfortunately though the way to make it go away is totally counter intuitive. The way to make it go away is to stop fighting it. If you stop engaging with it that gnawing anxiety will start to fade. You have to leave this alone, as hard as it is. 

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It will end. It ended in the past and will end in the future. You are waiting for your new medication to take effect. And as I said before therapy with a good therapist will help. Keep strong.

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1 hour ago, Angst said:

It will end. It ended in the past and will end in the future. You are waiting for your new medication to take effect. And as I said before therapy with a good therapist will help. Keep strong.

I hope so as I’ve never had it this severe before, I thought I’d dealt with all it had to throw at me and I was wrong.

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Guest OCDhavenobrain

If you do the work. I think he mean that the obsession can change and you may even get better shortterm. 

Look, why not make it better longterm? You don't need to suffer from this energyconsuming storyteller inside your head. 

Good day from me and please consider what we are saying.

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What scared me the most was how the thought/image came from nowhere and the newsreader saying “We must get this in” seemed a very random but possible thing they would say if a breaking story came in, is my OCD really that good it could come up with something that seems so real?

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3 minutes ago, phillev said:

What scared me the most was how the thought/image came from nowhere and the newsreader saying “We must get this in” seemed a very random but possible thing they would say if a breaking story came in, is my OCD really that good it could come up with something that seems so real?

Hi Phil 

What you're engaging in at the moment is ruminating - trying to figure it out, make sense of it. Which is totally understandable but it is actually making your distress worse. It is no different to, say, washing your hands to make sure they're clean. 

When you find yourself thinking about it and trying to sort it out you need to gently but firmly decide to leave it be and focus your attention elsewhere. Which is extremely hard but does get easier over time. 

The thing with ocd is no matter how hard you try you cannot think your way out of it. The only way out of it is to leave it alone. 

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21 minutes ago, gingerbreadgirl said:

Hi Phil 

What you're engaging in at the moment is ruminating - trying to figure it out, make sense of it. Which is totally understandable but it is actually making your distress worse. It is no different to, say, washing your hands to make sure they're clean. 

When you find yourself thinking about it and trying to sort it out you need to gently but firmly decide to leave it be and focus your attention elsewhere. Which is extremely hard but does get easier over time. 

The thing with ocd is no matter how hard you try you cannot think your way out of it. The only way out of it is to leave it alone. 

But is OCD capable of putting something so realistic image and word wise in my mind without my consent? That’s my real question.

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While I realise I’m looking for reassurance which I know is wrong I’m so scared and anxious that it means something given it’s context so I’d rather have an answer.

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