Labbetuss Posted November 27, 2020 Share Posted November 27, 2020 (edited) I guess I struggle a bit to find the difference between having OCD (pure O in particular) and not having OCD. I'm not sure if this is reassurance seeking, but I struggle to find where the lines goes. A huge trigger for me is when people say "everyone has intrusive thoughts" and that way I struggle to see the difference between people who have OCD and those who don't. Especially when it comes to POCD and groinal responses. Does everyone get those kind of intrusive thoughts and does everyone get groinal responses? Edited November 27, 2020 by Labbetuss Link to comment
hazydaze Posted November 27, 2020 Share Posted November 27, 2020 (edited) Hey! It's true that virtually everyone experiences OCD-type thoughts (that is, ego-dystonic thoughts) Like.... almost everyone, if not literally everyone!!! The difference lies in how these thoughts affect you. For example, I have OCD. My mom does not. She too experiences crazy thoughts. But the difference between her and I, is that when we get these intrusive thoughts, she does not engage with those thoughts. I, on the other hand, have a very difficult time not engaging, and wind up in a vicious cycle of having thought - reassurance - feeling better for a sec - having thought - reassurance - et cetera. What makes obsessive-compulsive-type thoughts a disorder is when it is significantly disrupting your quality of life. My mom gets crazy thoughts like everyone does, but she disregards them virtually the same moment they arrive. I get crazy thought like everyone does, but because my brain is wired a bit differently, my brain freaks out and thinks that it is protecting me by trying to "solve" why the thought was ever there in the first place. People like me, the latter, end up having a "disorder" characterized by the fact that I can't let these things go as easily and my life is being significantly disrupted by my obsessions and compulsions. Edited November 27, 2020 by hazydaze Link to comment
PolarBear Posted November 27, 2020 Share Posted November 27, 2020 No. Studies have shown that basically everyone gets intrusive thoughts from time to time. What are intrusive thoughts? They are thoughts that pop into your head that you'd really rather not have. There is more to OCD than having intrusive thoughts, however. 98% of the population dismiss intrusive thoughts as meaningless and they don't have OCD. People with OCD have obsessions (intrusive thoughts) that cause distress. They also do compulsions to get rid of the distress they feel. And it's all usually wrapped up in doubt. Link to comment
Labbetuss Posted November 28, 2020 Author Share Posted November 28, 2020 22 hours ago, PolarBear said: No. As in people without OCD don't get groinal responses/POCD intrusive thoughts? Link to comment
PolarBear Posted November 28, 2020 Share Posted November 28, 2020 Your groin is a part of your body. Every part of your body twinges, tweaks and or generally makes itself known from time to time. Everybody experiences this. What differs with OCD sufferers is that they attach meaning to these sensations. If they do that too much or too forcefully, they can teach that part of the body to produce the sensation every time a certain trigger appears. So, yes, everyone gets groinal sensations. No, only OCD sufferers get groinal responses. Link to comment
Labbetuss Posted November 28, 2020 Author Share Posted November 28, 2020 13 hours ago, PolarBear said: Your groin is a part of your body. Every part of your body twinges, tweaks and or generally makes itself known from time to time. Everybody experiences this. What differs with OCD sufferers is that they attach meaning to these sensations. If they do that too much or too forcefully, they can teach that part of the body to produce the sensation every time a certain trigger appears. So, yes, everyone gets groinal sensations. No, only OCD sufferers get groinal responses. Thanks. That makes sense. Link to comment
Phil Posted November 28, 2020 Share Posted November 28, 2020 We all have intrusions, but to most the meaning behind the intrusions isn't significant/meaningful and does not affect the emotional system, that's why they bounce off, and are fleeting. The head and the body are connected (dual system). What's the betting that if i think about having cramps all day (obsessions), I WILL get cramps, same with groinal experience/ call it what you like psychosomatic, physiological etc, but its the misinterpretation of the bodily sensation that we obsess about. its a feedback system. Do we get panic if we have NO somatic sensations in our body, no. The anxiety causes the bodily sensations, we misinterpret the sensations and the panic thoughts arise. Then more sensations and guess what, panic attack. When we have a groinal sensation, our thoughts fasten onto it and obsess, and guess what, it perpetuates. then the 'it must mean I'm a monster' thought pops in and we get entangled in that. We are constantly selectively attending to the obsession/threat. If we tolerate them and habituate to the thoughts and accept them just as a physical sensation, the brain gets used to them without trying to neutralise them, the emotional spike lessens then becomes extinct. Classic ERP. Link to comment
Handy Posted December 1, 2020 Share Posted December 1, 2020 Groinal responses & POCD are well covered in the forum, just search for them. Link to comment
Albertina Posted December 1, 2020 Share Posted December 1, 2020 Yes everyone get intrusive thoughts people who doesn't have OCD also get intrusive thoughts but they are not stuck in the loop and they can control their thoughts but people with OCD get thoughts which is not controllable and they seek reassurance. You should read some articles on OCD to get a clear understanding of what OCD is. https://iocdf.org/about-ocd/ https://www.treatmyocd.com/education/what-is-ocd-meaning-symptoms-and-how-ocd-works/ https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/obsessive-compulsive-disorder https://iocdf.org/blog/2017/11/10/you-are-not-your-thoughts/ Link to comment
Labbetuss Posted December 3, 2020 Author Share Posted December 3, 2020 My question was mostly related to POCD. Like I understand that anyone could be like "Maybe I could [insert horrible thought]" and though that thought would be horrible they'd push it away, but thoughts about children I don't understand how anyone could really brush off or just go back to life after that. I think I made the mistake when I was told I had OCD the first time to feel relief that it wasn't really me and I was not my thoughts, but I also saw what I had as a disorder and not something normal everyone went through. And I guess I feel a bit worried that people who never had OCD also have these thoughts and they aren't affected by them or have their lives ruined by it. On the other hand, I've had several themes from harm to existential to Real event to meta (I guess) and all of them felt very severe and those thoughts took up most of my life, whereas the POCD thoughts don't. It's just that thinking them once ruins any chance at living and the groinal responses are pretty unbearable too even if they aren't constant. So in severity the other themes have always been more troubling, but the occasional groinal reponses and thoughts in the POCD theme feel a lot worse when they actually are there. So I'm wondering what it'd be like if I didn't have the other themes and only had the POCD ones if I would qualify for the disorder of if I'd just be a person without OCD with their life basically ruined. And that might be the case at some point because I feel like I'm slowly learning to cope with the other themes at the moment, but the POCD theme just seems hard to cope with. I also find it very hard to even talk about in therapy. Link to comment
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