This is definitely a help... hopefully for many others also. On my YouTube channel, I try to explain that a sufferer needs to find the "why" to their fear. Normally it's much deeper than just the fear on top...like I'm afraid of HIV so I take repeated tests to make sure I didn't contract it. I tried to explain that there is a root cause to this fear if I looked deeper. I found that I'm a actually not so much afraid to have HIV as I am to spreading it.
Do my root fear is actually that if hurting others not so much of being I'll myself. Does that make any sense?
I am sorry to hear that you are going through this compulsion.
I also try to find out the "why"in my OCD symptoms,
as to what is the root cause of them developing ?
But what I have learnt is that OCD is irrational.
It does not make any sense.
There is no logic to it.
I have the fear of harming others, with the fear of spreading incorrect
information about anything.
Thus, OCD can pick on anything, and start causing fear and anxiety,
which results in reassuring ourselves, with compulsions.
When you take repeated tests to make sure you didn't contract HIV,
you are feeding the OCD. It will just keep getting stronger.
Repeated tests are not going to make you feel satisfied either.
Since OCD is not going to quit, unless we try to slowly stop that compulsion
of repeated tests, and living with the uncertainty, and it's feared consequences.
This is not easy, I know, with my own struggles with OCD.
Thanks for sharing! This is a good read! I oftentimes hate to refer to myself as struggling with “mental illness”. My brain is an organ just like any other organ in my body and therefore has the ability to malfunction. OCD is not a choice but instead a disorder in which the brain misfires false signals of danger. I wish more people understood how painful and destructive this disorder is. Hopefully by continuing these conversations we can put an end to the stigma and help those who need it most. 💖
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