OCD thoughts

I have OCD thoughts that go around & around in my head. Basically I repeat everything over & over in my head or something bad is going to happen. I have tried to stops these thoughts for years. It drives me crazy. I can't think or sleep very good. Its so overpowering. Please reply & reach out. I need someone to talk to.

[greenpigeon]

The repetitive thought get exhausting. I get that. Here if you need someone to talk to? :))

[Hidden in reply to greenpigeon]

Greenpigeon with these repetitive thoughts go on the rest of my life???? I'm so scared

[greenpigeon in reply to Hidden]

I’m coming up to my 5th year diagnosed. For most of that time i thought they would last forever, and ruin my life.

I’ve gotten to a point where i still experience them often but not half as much as before. I think it will be helpful for you to accept that they are happening.

Acknowledging that they’re there and that it’s not your fault if the first step towards fighting them.

I promise that with time and practice, with different types of therapy techniques, you will gain the control and come out on top.

You can do this, here if you need anything :))

[Hidden in reply to greenpigeon]

Thank you greenpogeon.

[TomFed]

Hi Bella,

For I'm out of time today, I'll repeat what I've just replied on the other post:

"You should know that you are not powerless over OCD (if you have it). We are powerless only about the first part of the disorder which is obsessive intrusive thoughts as all people not only OCDers have intrusive thoughts that they have no control of. If you sit in meditation for a while, you'd soon understand that most of the thoughts, if not all, are pretty much automatic. So there is no good or bad thought.

Second part of OCD disorder are the compulsions that we all do when we try to control intrusive thoughts. That's where our healing is, because we can wilfully learn to not do compulsions, and when we don't do them, sooner or later the hell's wheel of OCD starts to unravel. Rule is slowly moving to no compulsions at all, first concentrate on eradicating physical ones and then step by step getting rid of mental compulsions.

It's not the content of our thoughts that makes us OCDers different from regular crowd. Most people have intrusive thoughts of various kind, only how we relate to these thoughts makes us different from the non-OCD folks. Intrusive thoughts for OCDers ten to stick and when OCD is on spike the flow of intrusive thoughts can really be overwhelming (again OCD is usually spiking because we have been doing compulsions). And again, there are no bad or good thoughts, doesn't matter you are a lay person on the street or the guru up the mountain, most of our thoughts are just automatic trash anyway. So learn not to take them too seriously."

Have your symptoms already been assessed by a trained OCD / ERP therapist? The usual way to do it is through Y-BOCS test.

So the short answer to your questions is no, you don't have to live with the intrusive flow of random scary thoughts for all your life, as OCD is a very treatable disorder in many cases. But you need to take action if you want to heal - you just reached out for help on this forum which is great. Second step if you haven't taken it yet is to look for ERP trained therapist who could teach you how to apply ERP tools to stop your compulsions. Try not to put energy into stopping your intrusive thoughts as you probably noticed yourself it doesn't work and is just an another mental compulsion which makes OCD worse.

Good luck. And if you have any other questions, let me know.

[Hidden]

Thank you Tomfed. That means A LOT to me. I will try to not give in to the compulsions. Again thank you

[MothFir]

This therapist has some really good insights into compulsive rumination:

drmichaeljgreenberg.com/art...

Understanding that repetitive thinking is an action (compulsion) that can be stopped was a big help to me. Note that you can't stop the initial involuntary obsessive thought ("I need to repeat these things or something bad will happen!"), but you can choose to disregard it as irrelevant, even if that causes your anxiety to spike.

Doing ERP with a good OCD therapist who understands that rumination is a compulsion can help you get some mental peace.

[em_l]

Hello, i experience these for roughly bout 5 years now. It does get better at times but i completely understand what you’re going through. i just joined today because i felt like i was the only one in the world and know one i knew can even barely relate, so i need, just like you, other people to communicate to.

[Hidden in reply to em_l]

Thank you for the response

[Hidden in reply to em_l]

Hey, thanks for reaching out

[Sallyskins]

I know the feeling! It started when I was about 10 or 11 - I had a complicated daily ritual which involved counting and tapping on different parts of my body. It became so irksome that I started cutting it down - first stopping the tapping side of it, and then reducing the counting - so it became less of a chore. Then I managed to ditch it altogether. I still remember the feeling of freedom I had, being free of it!

I didn't know, not for many years, that this was actually OCD. In fact, I was using CBT techniques without knowing what they were. They can help you, too. Trying reducing them gradually so you feel just a little discomfort, but not so much that you can't bear it.

Try not to be tempted to give in - leave it for at least ten minutes or so. Then if you feel you still need to do the repetitive thought, you can. Gradually lengthen the time you leave it to 15 minutes, then half an hour etc.

The feelings of discomfort do subside, but you have to put up with a little discomfort along the way. And the more you can chip away at repeating these thoughts, the less exhausting and the less of a burden it will be.

There's a book called Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts by Sally M Winston and Martin N Self that might help.

I know how overpowering it feels and how exhausting it is. But there is a way to defeat it.

[Hidden in reply to Sallyskins]

Thank you Sallyskins

[deValentin]

You're are counting on repeating things over and over in order to ward off bad luck. It's a form of superstition. There is no end to it because it's not really satisfying. Instead, try to count on making good choices in your life in order to feel at peace with yourself. It's more difficult, but it pays off in the end.

[Hidden in reply to deValentin]

Thank you

[Luvpusheen86]

Hello Bella my name is Stephanie I am currently dealing with the same thing.

The intrusive thoughts are scary and leave you paralyzed and depressed and it’s like no one gets it. Are you seeing someone?

[Hidden in reply to Luvpusheen86]

Yes. Im going to the doctor. They put me on Fluoxetine. Seems to be working but I have the shakes really bad. Maybe its because I've only taken 3 days worth

[Luvpusheen86]

did you talk to your doctor about the shakes or are you going to give the meds more time.

[Hidden in reply to Luvpusheen86]

Probably give it a little more time