Positive affirmations - things to know for all OCD types

[Ziggyy]

I decided to make this post as I was reading a self help book for OCD and made some notes from it that I thought could be helpful to anyone needing to hear some of these today. I am having a particularly bad day and I am reading these over trying to remember that OCD should not be my whole world. So if this post helps anyone feeling the same or having a difficult time right now, I hope taking this in helps, even if only a bit. 

 

- OCD acts like the worst kind of manipulative compulsive liar. 

- No one has ever become happy through obsessional behaviour.

- Intrusive thoughts, doubts, images and urges are entirely normal - trying to blot them out is something like trying to cure a physical illness by removing a healthy organ.

- The problem is not the intrusive thoughts but the meaning you attach to them.

- Exposure allows you to learn new ways of behaving by acting against the way you feel.

- When you demand certainty in your life, you will be distressed and find it impossible to overcome OCD. You don't need perfection - you can strive for high standards but if you don't succeed 100% you are not a failure - just human.

- Practise refocusing attention away from your intrusions and anxiety and towards living in the moment and acting against the way you feel. 

- The more we accept the feeling of anxiety in the moment in comes upon us, the faster it will pass. 

- Keep the experience in perspective - try to accept, not control.

- Try to think of anxiety as hard to bear but not unbearable.

- A thought is only intrusive if you don't let it in and recognise it for what it is - just a thought. 

- By deliberately and repeatedly facing your fears or obsessions and not responding to them, you will become more used to them and the fear will subside.

- When you confront your fear without a ritual or safety-seeking behaviour, the anxiety gradually fades and the urge to carry out rituals will fade too.

- FEAR - Face Everything And Recover

- Strive toward thinking and acting as if you did not have OCD.

- If trying to decide upon alternative behaviour - imagine what your OCD-free twin would do and then act as if you were then. 

- If you know that you tend to over-assume danger - correct your thinking by deliberately assuming you are safe.

- The aim is to tolerate uncertainty - to accept that you will never know the exact combination of factors that contributed to your present position and that most of the 'causes' are probably unknown.

- Flexible thinking and unconditional self-acceptance are much more constructive and better for your psychological, emotional and physical health. 

- You have the right to place your own happiness as a high priority in your life without feeling guilty that you are not doing as much as you used to/could do. 

- You are entitled to take everyday risks without undue anxiety. 

- You have the right to allow intrusive thoughts, doubts, images and urges to pass through your mind and assume they are safe without having to spend time and effort making sure.

 

[snowbear]

   

 

I pafrticularly like 

''FEAR - Face Everything And Recover''

Simple and easy to remember.

[Ziggyy]

5 hours ago, snowbear said:

   

 

I pafrticularly like 

''FEAR - Face Everything And Recover''

Simple and easy to remember.

Me too it’s great isn’t it! Similar to ‘feel the fear and do it anyway!’

[BelAnna]

19 hours ago, Ziggyy said:

I decided to make this post as I was reading a self help book for OCD and made some notes from it that I thought could be helpful to anyone needing to hear some of these today. I am having a particularly bad day and I am reading these over trying to remember that OCD should not be my whole world. So if this post helps anyone feeling the same or having a difficult time right now, I hope taking this in helps, even if only a bit. 

 

- OCD acts like the worst kind of manipulative compulsive liar. 

- No one has ever become happy through obsessional behaviour.

- Intrusive thoughts, doubts, images and urges are entirely normal - trying to blot them out is something like trying to cure a physical illness by removing a healthy organ.

- The problem is not the intrusive thoughts but the meaning you attach to them.

- Exposure allows you to learn new ways of behaving by acting against the way you feel.

- When you demand certainty in your life, you will be distressed and find it impossible to overcome OCD. You don't need perfection - you can strive for high standards but if you don't succeed 100% you are not a failure - just human.

- Practise refocusing attention away from your intrusions and anxiety and towards living in the moment and acting against the way you feel. 

- The more we accept the feeling of anxiety in the moment in comes upon us, the faster it will pass. 

- Keep the experience in perspective - try to accept, not control.

- Try to think of anxiety as hard to bear but not unbearable.

- A thought is only intrusive if you don't let it in and recognise it for what it is - just a thought. 

- By deliberately and repeatedly facing your fears or obsessions and not responding to them, you will become more used to them and the fear will subside.

- When you confront your fear without a ritual or safety-seeking behaviour, the anxiety gradually fades and the urge to carry out rituals will fade too.

- FEAR - Face Everything And Recover

- Strive toward thinking and acting as if you did not have OCD.

- If trying to decide upon alternative behaviour - imagine what your OCD-free twin would do and then act as if you were then. 

- If you know that you tend to over-assume danger - correct your thinking by deliberately assuming you are safe.

- The aim is to tolerate uncertainty - to accept that you will never know the exact combination of factors that contributed to your present position and that most of the 'causes' are probably unknown.

- Flexible thinking and unconditional self-acceptance are much more constructive and better for your psychological, emotional and physical health. 

- You have the right to place your own happiness as a high priority in your life without feeling guilty that you are not doing as much as you used to/could do. 

- You are entitled to take everyday risks without undue anxiety. 

- You have the right to allow intrusive thoughts, doubts, images and urges to pass through your mind and assume they are safe without having to spend time and effort making sure.

 

This is an incredibly helpful post and I also like the 'FEAR' too- thanks Ziggyy!

[gingerbreadgirl]

This is an amazing post thank you