Positive words

[MarieJo]

This is my first post. I joined the forum in November after a very troubling episode that left me desperate. I have suffered from most themes of ocd since the age of 10. I am now 48. I thought I was the only person in the whole world with the thoughts. I have had some very troubling times with my ocd. I was so relieved when I had a diagnosis 7 years ago. This forum is so supportive, I think this has helped me as much as medication, if not more. I have noticed just how empathic and kind everyone is. I finally asked for meds last month after all these years of struggling and suffering and boy don't we suffer?!!! Reading about similar people's experiences is the best medicine as you feel less alone and less crazy. I read some comforting words recently and wanted to share them with you all.

OCD can't be trusted, it is not a reliable source of information about who we are or what we will do. This should make it completely irrelevant to how we live our lives. It's simply not worth the energy we invest in it. OCD abuses our moral code. It's the raw material it uses to torment us

Remember your moral code is fine, ironically OCD proves that as it would not exist if your moral code was not intact. It's not that out moral code is faulty, it's that we have a condition which creates false doubts about it. Our moral code is ALWAYS stronger than OCD.

I hope this has helped someone struggling. 

 

 

[evermore]

I really needed to hear this today. Thank you MarieJo  

Taking this as my mantra: It's not that our moral code is faulty, it's that we have a condition which creates false doubts about it. Our moral code is ALWAYS stronger than OCD.

[MarieJo]

So happy it helped you xx

[malina]

Thanks a lot for sharing @MarieJo! These quotes are really good reminders of how OCD distorts our self perception and makes us believe things about ourselves which couldn't be further from the the truth.

 

[taurean]

I like your post MarieJo.

OCD creates a core belief belief which may be false, exaggerated or revulsive, and will feed thinking into our brain to support this belief, which can include such things as false memories, magical thinking, intrusions attacking our true character values suggesting an opposite to be the case.

It can tell us that 2 + 2 = 5 and make us believe it. It can be so convincing that even 0.1% doubt can challenge our thinking.

There is no good form of OCD, and any one theme can be devastating if untreated but beatable or at least manageable if it is.

The base treatment is cognitive behavioural therapy and the application of distraction to break the cycle of distress. I found my work was a great aid to providing distraction .

The more we learn from CBT how to reduce the power of the disorder through understanding of our own issues and exposure and response prevention, and reduce the time available to the OCD by eliminating compulsions and distraction and more positive thinking patterns, then the better may be our experience.

If meds assist, that's good, but meds are very subjective as to what benefit any particular drug may provide to any particular person. 

 

 

[njb]

Beautiful posts you lot. I have been away a while but whenever I come back or pop in I'm totally gob smacked by how insightful everyone is. I only hope my posts have same effect. I associate with every word... happy tears