OCD and anxiety

[thegoat123]

so hi guys i know i posted about this yesterday but i didnt really go into full detail. ive been dealing with anxiety since i had a panic attack when i was 14. i went on lexapro and it made it 10x worse and made me terrified of medications. so it went untreated for years. i became agoraphobic, and started developing irrational fears and thoughts. i started experencing more intense panic attacks, agoraphobia, derealization, and just constant agony. i developed somatic OCD, where i manually breathe in and out for months. and every waking minute of every day was terrible. i lost all my friends, and feel like im losing touch with reality. im really scared of experiencing derealization or losing my mind so i thgink about it all of the time which scares me. i just started buspirone, do you guys think that'll help? it's def an untreated chemical imbalance.

[Harmonyharmony]

what kind of thoughts do you have ? I have the same thing . Well I watched a tiktok on a man saying that he has schizophrenia so my anxious mind made me think what if I have schizophrenia? Then I watched a video where people have paranoia so my anxious mind started to feel the paranoia that others said they had . Even though it’s scary I realize that these are just thoughts 💭 and had it not been for me watching that video I would have never felt paranoid… that’s how I see it

[thegoat123 in reply to Harmonyharmony]

i have thoughts like what if im losing my mind, what if im not real or other people arent real. things like that. derealization and stuff. but the thing is i know that thats not the case. i just get these thoughts that make me anxious. the key difference is if you truly believe it or not. if you truly believe it, its grounds for schizo and stuff like that. but if you dont, its just anxious thoughts. these thoughts started happening in a time in my life where my anxiety and stress was chronic(right now). so yeah. you have to firmly believe those thoughts for it to be considered a delusion. i dont. it just scares me at the thought of it.

[WaffleTime]

i’m so sorry for what you’re going through, that sounds horrible. I have anxiety also and have struggled with intrusive thoughts as long as I can remember. Something I learned in therapy for trichotillomania is labeling, give the intrusive thought a name, and when it pops up, say “Hey Bob” like it’s an old friend. Acknowledging it instead of trying to push it down or distract yourself helps . Another technique my mom taught me is that one of the intrusive thought comes, imagine it as a billboard you’re driving past. And if that billboard appears as you’re driving again and again, that’s OK. Because I know that’s how intrusive thoughts work. The best thing to do is just let yourself turn off the “struggle switch”- the frustration and anxiety about the anxiety itself. Tell yourself “this is the way I am, and I embrace it because I love myself. These anxious thoughts are my body’s way of trying to keep me safe”. Finally, focus on what you CAN control. Ex: “ I may be out of control when it comes to my thoughts, but I’m not giving that power over my mood”. Hang in there, best of luck to you.

[thegoat123 in reply to WaffleTime]

Very helpful! thank you.