feeling better or just running with it?

[SCC1]

Hi again. I've mentioned in some of my replies, that I've been feeling better and only within several days of being on this forum . I have been resisting as many compulsions as I can, and trying not to let an OCD thought take over or let my mind feed into it. By doing this over and over, for so many thoughts ,my mind feels "high." I have had this feeling before, when I have gotten help for a mental illness (from a therapist). Eventually, about 3 days later, my mind went back to how it had been, (sick). It calmed down and didn't feel high anymore . I'm afraid that if I stop fighting the OCD this time, just by not resisting every thought ,that it will happen again, and I'll be back to where I was before I started all the fighting against the OCD. Of course, I don't want that to happen, but my mind needs a break from feeling so high. I don't know if anyone has experienced this ,but if you have, do you have any suggestions on how I can stay well without compromising my progress?

Also ,I have been letting my cat go in the garage to get some air from being in the house all day. I check on him , every 5-10 min to make sure he's okay and not by the door waiting to come in. (I am doing other things when I let him in the garage.) He is in there for an avg of 30min each time, and he is always safe. But i still check on him just to make sure he is not getting into anything in the garage. I have blocked off areas that I don't want him to go, but I still have an almost constant urge to check on him. I walk past the door to go down the hallway for something, then when coming back , I check on him again. Every time I hear a noise, I think it might be my cat getting into something, but when I check , he's still okay. I can't get rid of the thoughts and then the compulsions to do this. Does anyone have any suggestions that may help me to just let this constant checking go? I think it was my therapist that had me challenge these thoughts, by asking me, "Is there something in the garage that could really hurt my cat" ? And "What if you didn't check on him as much ,would something likely happen in 5 minutes"? I had said, "probably not" Yet ,I can't stop this behavior and not give into the thoughts that I need to check on him. Any suggestions ?

[MothFir]

You might try to limit the checking to X amount of times per 30 minutes (or however long the cat is in the garage). My therapist took this approach with one of my checking compulsions. If you know you are allowed only, say, 2 checks for the whole 30 minutes, you may find it easier than you expect to eliminate some of the compulsions, just because you know you have to budget your checking. So if you hear something that you are 99% sure is nothing, your OCD will still urge you to check, but you will be highly motivated to not check because you want to save your allotted checks in case something happens that creates an even stronger urge to check. If you do this consistently you will become less anxious about the routine noises and you'll probably begin noticing fewer of them as well (as you teach your anxious brain that they are not a threat to pay attention to). You can reduce yourself to 1 allotted check and then zero, checking only if you hear something that clearly indicates a problem and not just another "what if" obsession.

It's good that you want to face this problem instead of not allowing the cat in the garage at all, which is something the OCD might tell you would be the easiest and safest option. We have an indoor cat who seems to get a lot of enjoyment from patrolling our basement a couple times a day. We open the door for her to go down and 20 or 30 minutes later she reappears looking pretty satisfied with herself. My OCD has not created an issue out of this, so as long as I know the outside doors are closed and there is nothing dangerous lying out, I don't worry about what she might get into.

As far as the first part of your question, I'm not sure that I've experienced quite what you have, so hopefully someone else will chime in. I will say that most of what I've read and experienced with OCD indicates that behaviors are a lot more important than feelings. I.e., I can't will myself to feel better (or any certain way), but if I consistently behave in a way that weakens my OCD (resisting compulsions and not ruminating), the non-anxious feelings of mental peace will follow.

[SCC1 in reply to MothFir]

That is great advice about only checking X amount of times. I hadn't wanted to check on my cat as much as I had been, but the urges were to strong to ignore. I will definitely try limiting my checking to a certain number of times. I had been giving in to the OCD, b/c I love my cat so much, and I had gotten so (overly) worried. I know it will be a challenge, but I'm willing to try. Thank you so much for your advice!