How do you manage to endure obsessive thoughts even if you can't stop thinking all the time?

[Jacodok]

My thoughts are constantly revolving around the same topic and won't leave me alone. Whenever I try to give up my avoidances and carry out my exposures and thereby regain a feeling of security and my former life, my thoughts tell me that I am only imagining it. I feel like I am trapped and that at some point I will put my obsessive thoughts into action and still be the person my obsessive thoughts tell me I am. I am totally confused and no longer know what is truth and what is imagination. Through the therapy I have already lost some of my fear, on some days the thoughts are more passive and on other days they come back with a vengeance. I feel empty and numb inside. I wonder if it will ever be the same again. I hope that I am currently in a transition and that it will get easier again on its own at some point. I'm afraid that I've gotten too used to the thoughts that I no longer know what life without them feels like, light and happy. If you have any tips for me on how to deal with this, I would be very happy, I'm currently in a deep hole and don't know what to do.

[deValentin]

Recovery is not linear. Expect some bumps on the road to recovery. It's a matter of setting in motion a virtuous cycle: the better I can function in life on a concrete level, the less disturbing are the possibilities for things to go wrong or not to be as certain as I'd like them to be, and vice versa. It's a slow process. Slow and steady wins the race.

[Mcfly64]

Sorry Jacodok I replied to an older post. It’s sounds like you are seeing a therapist. What about medication?

[LiveOutLove_22]

I understand with OCD it's hard to know what is real and what is completely just made up or imagined in your mind. One thing I'm learning with my therapist and in my OCD therapy is that you have the power to control and take back OCD. There are alot of days where I'm sure we want to give up but I've learned in doing that it gives OCD power. We control our mind so I hope through this journey and forum it can give you comfort to know alot of us our going through the same thing. I wish you luck on your journey, I can completely understand the struggle.

[Jacodok in reply to LiveOutLove_22]

I hope that I will soon be able to finally leave the obsessive thoughts behind me and get back to my former life so that it doesn't affect me and my relationships any further. The uncertainty is unbearable and the fear of thinking the wrong thing. I hope that things will get better between me and my boyfriend, that love will feel real again, this numbness and emptiness is so scary. I hope that it will get better soon, that my life will feel more real again, it is difficult to continue living despite obsessive thoughts and to pursue hobbies again, it still feels unfamiliar.

[LiveOutLove_22]

I understand, the obsessive thoughts will always be there but if you have good people around family, friends, boyfriend etc. that's how I find I can overcome alot of things. They may not have OCD or the Obsessive thoughts just won't go away. But there ability to be there for me is everything. I just joined this forum/community I don't typically get on social media. But i thought this might be a safe space for me to go to while I'm on my OCD journey. Remember your thoughts don't control you, you are the one that can take back control. And if things get tough know that we in this community are rooting for you. As my therapist says your OCD and obsessive thoughts don't define you, you define you. I hope that overtime and through this community you can feel more comfortable in your daily life. I'm trying to do the same and discover new hobbies as well. Just know I relate a lot to the relentless thoughts, I'm sure things will get better overtime. I'm rooting for you and your journey.

[Natureloverpeace]

Since you’re doing ERP, you’re probably aware that thoughts are just thoughts, they aren’t good or bad. They don’t mean anything by themselves unless we attach meaning to them. Everyone gets intrusive thoughts but the important thing is how we respond to them or if we engage with them. OCD is going to try to attack what we value and convince us that our thoughts will lead to us taking action against our values. It will take something that is highly improbable to happen but not impossible and magnify it big time while making it seem imminent. Basically, OCD lies. It’s through doing the ERP we discover this.

[tobeme]

A psychiatrist of my son asked my son to treat the thought as if it was a train running through a train station.Some were loud ,startling ,distressing ,and long others quieter and shorter.His job was to tend to what he was doing.Not to stop the train or engage with it.(Argue with it)Even if the noise was very disturbing keep going back to his work.Or imagine a log in a fast current going by .Either way carry on with what you were doing ie walking or divert yourself to another path.Sometimes when doing his homework it was extremely slow going,but he kept going back to it.very hard,exhausting and relentless but he would persist or change activities for a while,then go back to homework.He did CBT and exposure therapy.The intrusive thoughts are constant and distressing.Meds helped also after many different adjustments by psychiatrist .It helped him cope.