Excessive Worry Over Conversations

[CharlieMoon]

Hello,

I have been struggling lately with running over and over conversations I’ve had with people at work.

I honestly think Zoom is exacerbating this! I find myself second guessing every pause, look and word to the point where I’ve been so convinced I’m irrevocably rude and socially inept that I find myself shaking during the conversation and engaging in self harming behaviours afterwards. I also, probably not surprisingly, find it pretty tough to follow what people are saying.

I then feel I have to run over the conversation and every implication of what I said / how it could be perceived for, really, a ridiculous amount of time afterwards. All the while beating myself up over it. I’m sure I’ll be fired any day! 

I suppose I’m just wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar to this? It’s becoming really quite a significant problem for me.

Thank you

[Agrippina]

I used to suffer from this really badly. For years at work I was terrified of every conversation and would then go over and over and over them in my mind afterwards. It is definitely OCD and unfortunately by going over the conversations or doing other compulsions you are just feeding it. I have been doing CBT and ERP for about a year and a half and they have really helped with this. Might be worth considering?

[CharlieMoon]

Thank you for your response. It’s reassuring to hear you’ve had a similar experience. 
 

I am currently on a waiting list for CBT. I’ve not really looked into ERP, I honestly don’t know that much about it. Would you say that it’s been especially helpful for you? 

[Agrippina]

1 hour ago, CharlieMoon said:

I am currently on a waiting list for CBT. I’ve not really looked into ERP, I honestly don’t know that much about it. Would you say that it’s been especially helpful for you? 

So ERP is essentially an off shoot of CBT. It is one of the many tools CBT can teach you, and it has been shown to be very effective in dealing with OCD. I hope that makes sense, I am not the best at explaining it! Not all CBT practitioners will cover ERP, so if you are interested it might require seeking out a specialist but there are some decent books about it as well.