OCD feeding my depression

[Strongest123]

Hello everyone on here. Hope everyone is having a good Friday. I myself have been struggling with my OCD symptoms like never before. I guess maybe some stressors are triggering them, not sure. I think most of us with OCD create our own senses of impending doom. It’s been getting worse the last few weeks. I’ve noticed that if I spend time with a negative person, or a “Complainer”, I start sliding down into the depths of what ifs…I’ve always had OCD, ever since childhood, also an excessive worrier. Sometimes I relieve dramatic events in my past, over and over again, almost a sense of putting myself in those situations again and again. Hope everyone has a blessed weekend🙏. Samson

[Mcfly64]

Hi Samson. Are you getting any help for your ocd?

[Strongest123 in reply to Mcfly64]

Hello. I’m seeing an APN for medication and a psychotherapist for therapy. I think the meds I’m on aren’t helping anymore with my OCD. I’ve under some stress lately. I’ve had OCD ever since childhood. I really do think that I may need to go on different meds. Samson

[Mcfly64 in reply to Strongest123]

Yes I think you should try some different meds. Good luck 🙏

[deValentin]

Nolen-Hoeksema also believed, based on her studies, that rumination, a cognitive response style that involves passively brooding about one’s mood, would lead to increases in depressive symptoms, while distraction and problem-solving would lead to decreases in symptoms.

It's kind of a vicious cycle. Feeling sad pushes you to find causes of your sadness, and trying to find causes of your sadness at the expense of all other activities increases it. By contrast, trying to solve problems on a practical level is a source of satisfaction, and if you reasonably enjoy life, finding causes of your sadness loses its significance.

[LiveOutLove_22]

Hey I understand knowing that OCD likes to play upon your fears and dramatize them. Sometimes it's hard to know what's real and what's just in your head. I think knowing your triggers in OCD is an important step. That's something I'm working through in therapy now. I have made some progress but still have a long way to go. I am also an excessive worry due to past tramatic events I often have images in my mind in the past. But I know that yes unfortnately at the time those events were hard and tramatizing but there in the past. I am older and in a new place in my life. I understand through my therapy journey those images will often come up when I just try to block them out but unfortunately that is a part of the journey with OCD. I have to learn how to sit with those uncomfortable images or thoughts and not dwell on them. I also think it's best to surround yourself with positive uplifting people. Le'ts face it nobody wants to be around a negative person. This journey is hard and at times debilating, so it's important to surround yourself with family and friends and even this online community. We all understand that OCD tries to take what you love and enjoy away from you but it does not define you, remember that. Anyways I wish you better days, weeks, months ahead etc.

[Strongest123 in reply to LiveOutLove_22]

Thank you very much. I surely appreciate your response. I try to surround myself with uplifting and positive people. But I’ve just noticed that everyone, or most everyone dwells on negativity. I’m also an avid weightlifter and bodybuilder and I feel so good after I exercise. One thing I’m also trying to cut back on is caffeine. Drinking coffee definitely worsens my OCD….Samson

[maudegorra]

I hear you. What you are going through is exactly what's happening to me. I hope we can talk more because I feel that we can understand each other.