r/OCD • u/Froidinslip • Oct 10 '21
There has been an increase in the number of posts of individuals who are feeling suicidal. And to be perfectly honest, most of us have been isolated, scared, lonely, and there’s a lot of uncertainty in the world due to COVID.
Unfortunately, most of us in this community are not trained to handle mental health crises. While I and a handful of others are licensed professionals, an anonymous internet forum is not the best place to really provide the correct amount of help and support you need.
That being said, I’m not surprised that many of us in this community are struggling. For those who are struggling, you are not alone. I may be doing well now, but I have two attempts and OCD was a huge factor.
I have never regretted being stopped.
Since you are thinking of posting for help, you won't regret stopping yourself.
So, right now everything seems dark and you don’t see a way out. That’s ok. However, I guarantee you there is a light. Your eyes just have not adjusted yet.
So what can you do in this moment when everything just seems awful.
First off, if you have a plan and you intend on carrying out that plan, I very strongly suggest going to your nearest ER. If you do not feel like you can keep yourself safe, you need to be somewhere where others can keep you safe. Psych hospitals are not wonderful places, they can be scary and frustrating. but you will be around to leave the hospital and get yourself moving in a better direction.
If you are not actively planning to suicide but the thought is very loud and prominent in your head, let's start with some basics. When’s the last time you had food or water? Actual food; something with vegetables, grains, and protein. If you can’t remember or it’s been more than 4 to 5 hours, eat something and drink some water. Your brain cannot work if it does not have fuel.
Next, are you supposed to be sleeping right now? If the answer is yes go to bed. Turn on some soothing music or ambient sounds so that you can focus on the noise and the sounds rather than ruminating about how bad you feel.
If you can’t sleep, try progressive muscle relaxation or some breathing exercises. Have your brain focus on a scene that you find relaxing such as sitting on a beach and watching the waves rolling in or sitting by a brook and listening to the water. Go through each of your five senses and visualize as well as imagine what your senses would be feeling if you were in that space.
If you’re hydrated, fed, and properly rested, ask yourself these questions when is the last time you talked to an actual human being? And I do mean talking as in heard their actual voice. Phone calls count for this one. If it’s been a while. Call someone. It doesn’t matter who, just talk to an actual human being.
Go outside. Get in nature. This actually has research behind it. There is a bacteria or chemical in soil that also happens to be in the air that has mood boosting properties. There are literally countries where doctors will prescribe going for a walk in the woods to their patients.
When is the last time you did something creative? If depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder have gotten in the way of doing creative things that you love, pull out that sketchbook or that camera and just start doing things.
When’s the last time you did something kind for another human being? This may just be me as a social worker, but doing things for others, helps me feel better. So figure out a place you can volunteer and go do it.
When is the last time that you did something pleasurable just for pleasure's sake? Read a book take a bath. You will have to force yourself to do something but that’s OK.
You have worth and you can get through this. Like I said I have had two attempts and now I am a licensed social worker. Things do get better, you just have to get through the dark stuff first.
You will be ok and you can make it through this.
We are all rooting for you.
https://www.supportiv.com/tools/international-resources-crisis-and-warmlines
r/OCD • u/Mealthian • Nov 17 '23
There has been some confusion regarding reassurance seeking and providing in this subreddit.
Reassurance seeking (a person asking for reassurance) is allowed only if it is limited — no repeated seeking of reassurance.
Reassurance providing (a person giving reassurance) is not allowed.
Before commenting on a reassurance-seeking question, answer to yourself this question: Are you directly answering what the person is asking, and is the answer meant to cause the person to feel better?
If the answer leads towards a "yes", refrain from commenting.
The issue concerned in reassurance-seeking questions is the emotional obsessive distress that is occurring in the moment, not the question itself.
When you answer those reassurance-seeking questions to quell the person's emotional obsessive distress, it's an act of providing emotional comfort to the person — even if you don't have such explicit intention in mind — rather than an act of providing knowledge.
The person just wants to know they are "fine" in relation to the obsessive question/thought. The answer itself is irrelevant — that's why we don't answer questions of a reassurance-seeking nature directly.
You can comment in any way you want — even providing encouragement and hope — but refrain from addressing the reassurance-seeking question itself.
Consider this question: What if the reassurance-seeking question didn't even occur in the first place? What then?
We can go round and round with more "what-ifs", but it circles back to the fact that reality is uncertain, and will always be uncertain. That is why the acceptance of uncertainty is crucial to recovery.
Take note that in the context of OCD, the issue rests with how a person is dealing with the issues, and not so much the issues themselves.
The issues can be entirely valid, but what we are dealing with here — especially with reassurance — is how we respond to such issues.
Separate the reassurance part — the emotional comfort part — from the issues themselves.
It's important to understand the intent and purpose of each and every information provided.
When a person with OCD is beginning to learn about OCD, they can be taught, for example, that the obsessive thoughts do not reflect on their true character.
The intent and purpose of that example information is cognitive-based — to educate the person — and that helps to, subsequently, be followed up by ERP, which is behavioural-based — hence cognitive-behavioural therapy (of which ERP is a part of).
When a person seeks reassurance, it is mostly solely behavioural: the concern here is to quell the emotional obsessive distress — take that emotional obsessive distress away, and the reassurance-seeking question suddenly becomes largely irrelevant and of less urgency.
Providing reassurance doesn't really help the person not suffer either — the way out of that suffering is through the proper therapy and treatment, and providing reassurance to the person only interferes with this process.
Consider as well that if reassurance is provided to the person, where an outcome is guaranteed to the person ("You won't be this! I guarantee you!").
What if the reassurance turns out to be false? What happens then? How much more distressful would the person be (given that they would've trusted the reassurance to keep them safe, only now for their entire world to fall apart)?
Before considering that not providing reassurance is un-compassionate, perhaps it's also wise to consider what providing reassurance can lead to as well.
The reality will always be uncertain, as it is. There is no such solution that guarantees the person won't suffer, but we can at least minimise the suffering by doing what is helpful towards the person (especially in terms of the therapy and treatment) — and that doesn't always necessarily entail making the person feel better in the moment.
r/OCD • u/imscaredhelpme88 • 13h ago
I'm not looking for any kind of reassurance at all.
Everything just feels incredibly tainted. Nothing feels safe. I just went to feel safe nothing does.
Pretty old but it's by Neil Hilborn if you're interested
r/OCD • u/hallogute • 4h ago
So our brain has the ability to endlessly propose things in our brain. When we react to them negatively they get worse. The only way out of ocd is to realize that our brain just is allowed to do certain things in our brain for prolonged periods of time. Without reacting to it! I think the hardest part of ocd is to accept that your brain is allowed to start any kind of obsession from nowhere with us having no say in it.
This SUCKS! But also gives me hope because this monster ocd is only as bad as I want it to be.
r/OCD • u/JulesA1804 • 11h ago
I am so tired of literally going to war everyday against intrusive thoughts to the point it feels debilitating because all my energy is going towards trying to convince my brain to let me enjoy my day for more than one hour. How do you guys deal with feeling mentally exhausted 24/7?
r/OCD • u/unique89user • 2h ago
Everything happening around the world everything is caving in again on me. I felt like this in 2020. I just lost it and had to be admitted it was bad for a year. I feel selfish but at the same time my mind turned a corner back then that I could get out of. Something there is no avoidance and escape from. I feel in limbo and can see that side of things it terrifying so scared I won’t wake up if I fall asleep. It a strange one the way it bites you with so many fake believes and thoughts. There is no where to go to ease everything. Use to go catatonic because I felt stuck.
r/OCD • u/Loving_TheAlien • 2h ago
Hi, I’m not diagnosed yet, however I’m being treated for suspected OCD (please don’t ask, I was doing really bad and meds became necessary) and recently started on my medication
I was wondering if maybe OCD can cause paranoias of sorts, I’ve always been extremely anxious to the point that, yes, it’s been impacting my life
Today I was about to take the train when a guy started yelling something unintelligible by himself in the station and even though I had stepped on the train already I had to step off and run outside the station for fear of some (in my head) terrorist attack.
It’s not even the first time, I’ve missed multiple trains these years and chose to rather walk for hours because I was convinced something was going to happen - once I thought there were too many policemen around the station and convinced myself they knew something they were not telling anyone else. Without considering all the times I felt sick or missed a train because I thought that (for some unknown reason) it was going to crash.
Is this type of thinking linked to OCD?
r/OCD • u/chiffondawn • 23h ago
If you had to sum up your OCD experience in one sentence what would you say?
For me: “A total distortion of my mind and reality that has led me into the fiery pits of hell.”
r/OCD • u/willienille8 • 3h ago
I've recently been doing a lot of introspective thought to work on my own flaws as a person outside of just OCD. If you've ever taken a good hard look at yourself, you'll know it's not easy and can crop up a lot of questions and confusion about how to move forward.
That confusion is impacting me quite a lot and manifesting itself as a lot of self-doubt and this gross pit-feeling in my chest. I think the smartest thing to do right now is talk to my wife about what I'm going through and see if she thinks I'm on the right path with the insights on myself I'm reaching, if she agrees with the conclusions I'm making, but that feels like reassurance-seeking.
I guess my question is how do you recognize the difference between compulsory reassurance-seeking that should be discouraged, and normal human behavior that is actually healthy?
r/OCD • u/Tiny-Neighborhood217 • 1h ago
I want to know if anyone diagnosed with OCD also experiences light sensitivity, screen sensitivity, noise sensitivity, and difficulty concentrating.
If you work a computer-based job and have these problems, how do you manage working on a screen for several hours?
Also, if you enjoy playing video games, how do you manage your screen sensitivity?
Do you limit your gaming time, take frequent breaks, or use any other methods?
Do you think these symptoms are related to OCD, or could they be caused by something else?
I'd appreciate hearing about your personal experiences and what has helped you.
I understand that everyone's experience is different.
r/OCD • u/New_Upstairs_7083 • 1m left
I’ve been suffering from False Memory OCD since last year. And it’s been hell since then. But when I got reassurance that ok maybe I didn’t do that. I felt ease for like a month. But then again started this new thing: where I see about my other memories by how they arrive, how they feel, how actually true are they. SO, when a memories that comes the same way like my false memory came and then turns out to be true, I feel hella scared that what if the false memory I thought to be false could also be true bcz the same mechanism they arrived. This has been
Happening repeatedly and I just can’t move on, and it’s interrupting my life a lot.
Edit: anyone who experienced it pls advice me
r/OCD • u/Firm-Application-714 • 0m left
For a while I believed that I was just coasting through life because I was too overwhelmed and burnt out to really pursue my goals. And while I still think that’s true, there’s also a part of me that genuinely believes I don’t deserve to do the things I enjoy or pursue my goals because of the person I used to be and the real events I ruminate over. I feel unforgivable, and because of that I’m not sure what to really do with myself besides coasting until it’s finally over.
r/OCD • u/CloudMako • 16h ago
I was prescribed Aripiprazole and I'm feeling great! It's like I never had OCD. Seriously, what a miracle! I still remember the compulsions, but I simply don't act on them anymore. I've been at peace for a few days now. Seriously, getting treatment is really worth it. Get help, don't let OCD control you.
r/OCD • u/Residence-Evidence11 • 1d ago
I don’t want to spoil this show for anyone, but for those who have seen it, I imagine the Beast as representing OCD and the Woodsman keeping the lantern lit as acting on compulsions. Sometimes when I’m struggling it helps me to picture Wirt saying “Wait, that’s dumb.”
Full explanation if you haven’t watched and don’t care about spoilers:There’s a woodsman who spends the entire show chopping wood to fuel a lantern because he believes the flame inside is the only thing keeping his daughter alive (she’s been taken by a character called the Beast). At the end we learn that the Beast has lied about the daughter/ lantern and is actually terrified of the flame going out because it’s the only thing keeping him alive. Great (though probably unintentional) symbol for how acting on compulsions out of a desire to protect someone is just a lie and really only fuels OCD itself.
p.s. If you haven’t seen OTGW: Very cute cartoon, classic fall vibes, sometimes genuinely creepy and NOT for small kids!
r/OCD • u/Forsaken-Stick-7064 • 16h ago
Hey! I am in the process of trying to get diagnosed. I am looking for examples of what your mind is like with “pure o” ocd. Not just “I have a thought and this is what I do to try to comfort that thought” I want to understand the intensity, repetition, context etc. of the thoughts/loops/cycles. Basically I just want a peak inside of someones brain with “pure o” (I am aware that it is different for each person)
If you could share your own examples or recommended any books, podcasts, or anything that gives a detailed look at pure o ocd.
Edited to add: I understand that “pure O” is not a great name for it (which is why I put it in quotes) I should have just asked about mental compulsions and not used the name “pure o”.
Hey
Started Anafranil recently and it has helped a lot and together with erp my ocd has gotten much weaker and backed away some. Don't have specific obsessions in my head anymore at the moment that it wants me to solve.
At the same time i have a really strong feeling like i'm missing something, not something specific like my obsessions but just an ominous anxiety that something is missed.
Any one that has dealt with this? Is this common?
Thanks!
r/OCD • u/GeneralVirus5407 • 22h ago
I’m muslim and have OCD. I struggle with the concept of evil eye a lot. If i ever say anything about accomplishments (e.g, grades) or applications to university, I get so incredibly anxious and feel as though I’ve lost the accomplishment or what I wanted to get already, or it feels like only a certain amount of time until i do. I’ll say and repeat Masha’Allah or Allahumabarik immediately, but if i forget, i’ll spiral after. which isn’t great because I also have false memory OCD, so i’ll convince myself neither of us said it. Encountering people who are pushy about knowing things about you is the absolute worst.
It’s not about not having trust in Allah’s plan or holding plans at such a high level that I’m afraid to lose them. It’s literally just anxiety and intrusive thoughts that people knowing will ultimately cause things to fail and fall apart (which i know isn’t true, but that doesn’t change anything). I simply won’t tell family or people who need to know, like teachers about applications because of this.
Super weird, but i wonder if this is common among muslims or people who have the concept of evil eye in their culture w OCD?