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How to stop the automatic fear reaction to a thought?


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Hi everyone.  I have been dealing with a stuck thought for over a year. I know what I have to do, I have to not respond to the thought with fear but how do you do that when the fear response is automatic?  My current obsession that has been stuck for over a year is that I have committed a crime and hurt someone in the past when I was drunk and this is why I have no memory of it. I mostly have managed to stop myself from ruminating, going back over my memories, trying to figure it out but I feel like it's not going because when the thought comes into my head which is several times a day my body automatically responds with fear. I get a whoosh of anxiety, my heart starts racing, my stomach feels like lead. When this happens, I tell myself it's just OCD and I try to direct my focus onto something else but I feel like I'm still stuck because I'm reacting to the thought with fear but I don't know how to change this. I feel like the fear reaction happens before I can consciously think about it. Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with this?

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Hey there.

So here's what happens. You get an intrusive thought. Now if it was just that, you likely wouldn't have a problem. Non-sufferers get them. What's different when you have OCD is that sufferers get this little jolt of anxiety along with the intrusive thought.

That jolt is basically the same sensation you would get if you were out walking and saw a lion or saw a child about to get struck by a car. It's a shot of adrenaline that's supposed to make you spring into action.

Unfortunately, it's not supposed to happen with a simple thought. It does and that's what makes you pay attention to the thoughts. Now, after that initial jolt, everything is you.

The freaking out, the compulsions, are your reaction to that jolt and thought. By paying attention to the jolt and thought, you teach your brain that that thought is important and thoughts like it should come with a jolt in the future. So, things get worse over time.

The good news is that the reverse is true. If you react calmly and dispassionately and without compulsions, you slowly teach your brain to not accompany such thoughts with a jolt.

So, calmly let the thought be. Realize that jolt of adrenaline is a mistake and not a sign of something you need to deal with.

And keep practicing. How long did it take for you to get to this point? You can't undo it quickly. Took me about 18 months.

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Also, this may or may not be relevant to you, but I find it helpful keeping an eye on my cycle because I definitely get a bigger "jolt" a few days before my period. It took me several months to notice the relationship and only because I read somewhere else about it being quite common for women. It can be really helpful to dismiss these intense false alarms if I can tell myself hormones are likely to be causing them. 

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19 minutes ago, Darwinia said:

Also, this may or may not be relevant to you, but I find it helpful keeping an eye on my cycle because I definitely get a bigger "jolt" a few days before my period. It took me several months to notice the relationship and only because I read somewhere else about it being quite common for women. It can be really helpful to dismiss these intense false alarms if I can tell myself hormones are likely to be causing them. 

Thank you, I will definitely be aware of this ?

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On 28/12/2020 at 09:27, SnowFairy said:

At all times of the day

You know we have a cortisol rush when we wake up & serotonin isn’t very high. So that time is very anxiety producing. 

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7 hours ago, Handy said:

You know we have a cortisol rush when we wake up & serotonin isn’t very high. So that time is very anxiety producing. 

The morning is no worse than any other time of the day when it comes to the thoughts coming in

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Can you think of something else? Works for me if I get an intrusive thought I just think of something else. I’m in control of my thinking.

Very often I get anxiety first & then a thought & attribute the anxiety to the thought when most of the time they are independent of one another.

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