Obsessive compulsive disorder or OCD: Repetitive intrusive thoughts, compulsive behaviors

[Earthworm]

JDM1984, your issue reminds me of a common phenomenon in OCD. I've got pretty bad OCD from my Lexapro WD which started 7 years ago, and I've had similar stuff to yours. Although for me, it went to the point where I felt a strong urge to kill my family, friends, and myself. Like I'd see a knife, and get a very strong urge to kill my family. Or if I was high up a building, I'd get an urge to throw myself off. This symptom was quite freaky because the urges were so strong and hard to keep from doing. I later learned that this is common with OCD.

[SelmaLady]

JDM1984, your issue reminds me of a common phenomenon in OCD. I've got pretty bad OCD from my Lexapro WD which started 7 years ago, and I've had similar stuff to yours. Although for me, it went to the point where I felt a strong urge to kill my family, friends, and myself. Like I'd see a knife, and get a very strong urge to kill my family. Or if I was high up a building, I'd get an urge to throw myself off. This symptom was quite freaky because the urges were so strong and hard to keep from doing. I later learned that this is common with OCD.

 

Have you looked into brain "rewiring"--- I know that UCLA has a cutting-edge program for treating OCD and addictions through neuroplasticity retraining.   They are doing a lot of research into this field.   Have you read "The Brain That Changes Itself"? and other books on the phenomenon?  It seems to offer a lot of hope for a brain with these types of mal-functiioning.  Dr Timothy Fong is heading up a research program --- Just want to help you in getting yourself well again.

[Wildflower0214]

JDM1984, your issue reminds me of a common phenomenon in OCD. I've got pretty bad OCD from my Lexapro WD which started 7 years ago, and I've had similar stuff to yours. Although for me, it went to the point where I felt a strong urge to kill my family, friends, and myself. Like I'd see a knife, and get a very strong urge to kill my family. Or if I was high up a building, I'd get an urge to throw myself off. This symptom was quite freaky because the urges were so strong and hard to keep from doing. I later learned that this is common with OCD.

I'm so sorry you dealt with this. This is not quite what I was talking about. Im generally just afraid of myself becasue I'm unstable.

[btdt]

JDM1984, your issue reminds me of a common phenomenon in OCD. I've got pretty bad OCD from my Lexapro WD which started 7 years ago, and I've had similar stuff to yours. Although for me, it went to the point where I felt a strong urge to kill my family, friends, and myself. Like I'd see a knife, and get a very strong urge to kill my family. Or if I was high up a building, I'd get an urge to throw myself off. This symptom was quite freaky because the urges were so strong and hard to keep from doing. I later learned that this is common with OCD.

 

How has it changed over time... i don't see a history for you so I cannot comment on it... I am curious what you did till it passed what did you find helpful?  

[btdt]

 

JDM1984, your issue reminds me of a common phenomenon in OCD. I've got pretty bad OCD from my Lexapro WD which started 7 years ago, and I've had similar stuff to yours. Although for me, it went to the point where I felt a strong urge to kill my family, friends, and myself. Like I'd see a knife, and get a very strong urge to kill my family. Or if I was high up a building, I'd get an urge to throw myself off. This symptom was quite freaky because the urges were so strong and hard to keep from doing. I later learned that this is common with OCD.

 

Have you looked into brain "rewiring"--- I know that UCLA has a cutting-edge program for treating OCD and addictions through neuroplasticity retraining.   They are doing a lot of research into this field.   Have you read "The Brain That Changes Itself"? and other books on the phenomenon?  It seems to offer a lot of hope for a brain with these types of mal-functiioning.  Dr Timothy Fong is heading up a research program --- Just want to help you in getting yourself well again.

 

There is a new book out by the same author of the book you mention above... it is apparently the next step in the equation... titled 

 

The Brain's Way of Healing.... 

by 

Norman Doidge MD 

 

I bought it yesterday when I was at the mall buying my vit E... I ended up in the book store and thought the last thing I want is a book I can't read... had a talk to God while I was in there... I know this may seem strange to many but this is how I live my life for a long time now.... 

 

I was wandering... and said to God what is this... is this my brain failing again or do you have a plan in here... I don't like shopping anyway not anymore... it was a cranky talk to God.... show me cause I am leaving....

 

bam right to this book... 

 

I did not want to spend any money either... I did not want a book... I thought I would just look inside for a minute... found something thought I would look it up on line later...but know i can't remember anything would have forgot it before I got out of the building... 

it was 40% off... 

I could not find a price on it though I did not look too hard as I was too impatient and needed a nap... 

Said to myself if it is under 20 bucks I will buy it... 

at the counter the girl said it was 20.30...ok I said but it came to 22 something still I have it ... and may make some use of it yet...

 

It says what we know that the brain is fed by light sound ect... and our brains can use all these things to heal itself. Music vibration sound meditation movement there is a list I do encourage others to buy this book if your going to read anyway why not something that may help your healing... get it now while it is on sale ... if it helps it is a steal at that price. 

 

I thought of the library too ... could be there but I think this is one I will use a  lot so it is worth having... 

I will share what I find as I am able. 

peace all

[NoMeaning25]

Just wondering and really sorry if I'm asking a very stupid question my brain is fried, but why are we trying to heal our brains when (now I'm asuming) it's our CNS that's damaged... aren't we supposed to be healing/calming our CNS instead of trying to heal our brain?

[btdt]

Just wondering and really sorry if I'm asking a very stupid question my brain is fried, but why are we trying to heal our brains when (now I'm asuming) it's our CNS that's damaged... aren't we supposed to be healing/calming our CNS instead of trying to heal our brain?

We need to heal both one is the extension of the other interrelated ... intertwined... if all were working fine would be a finely tuned one organ deal ...same as the gut and the rest of the body it all works in unison. 

To heal the inside we feed our brain bodies from the outside with light sound movement there is a feed back... to the body from the brain and the feedback is the reverse of this both needed... brain affects the hand like the hand affects the brain...

 

if the hand is petting a kitten asleep on your lap it sends messages to the brain... if the hand is carving an ice statue it sends a different sort of message both affect the brain and the CNS

[Earthworm]

Have you looked into brain "rewiring"--- I know that UCLA has a cutting-edge program for treating OCD and addictions through neuroplasticity retraining.   They are doing a lot of research into this field.   Have you read "The Brain That Changes Itself"? and other books on the phenomenon?  It seems to offer a lot of hope for a brain with these types of mal-functiioning.  Dr Timothy Fong is heading up a research program --- Just want to help you in getting yourself well again.

That's pretty interesting, thanks for letting me know! I'm gonna look into that treatment program cause I live in LA area.

 

 

How has it changed over time... i don't see a history for you so I cannot comment on it... I am curious what you did till it passed what did you find helpful?

The compulsions to kill did not last long after being triggered, they'd just appear, last for a few mins and go away, although they would be frequent at times and caused quite a bit of distress. Other types of obsessions and compulsions were a lot worse than these... with those, nothing would help... just had to endure the torture for hours or days or weeks. Over the months and years my OCD keeps changing. The bloody images and compulsions to kill went away by themselves with time, and showed up at other times. I have a feeling my OCD might have gotten better in the last 2 weeks for some reason... I could be wrong though. For many years now I've avoided OCD triggers, and that has greatly reduced my torment. I also feel like I might have accepted some obsessions as a norm now... like organizing my computer files for hours at times. I wonder if being on 26mg Citalopram for several years now kinda stabilized me when it comes to OCD. I hardly ever get strong obsessions anymore.

 

Thinking about this now, I think I want to try driving again. I haven't drove since 2009 when driving OCD became severe... always feeling like I've run someone over or crashed into a car.

 

A bigger problem now is the social anxiety... quite crippling... almost as bad as before SSRI's.

[Hudgens]

I don't know if this will work for others but this is how I dealt with my own obsessional/unwanted thoughts.

First, I recognized that trying to run away from these thoughts doesn't work any better than dwelling on them.

Dismissing them doesn't work either. If you try and dismiss them they will get angry (so to speak) and return

later, and usually more insistent-they don't like being ignored, and respond by getting louder (more annoying).

Trying to distract yourself from them is about the same thing with the same results. Dwelling on them seems to add

to there strength, so when you put them back in your memory, they are either just as strong or stronger, and will

thus, certainly return.

 

So, what kind of response is left?

 

The answer is to take them as exactly as they are. What I mean here is that the other methods mentioned above are essentially

exaggerations (or not taking them as they really are). Dismissing them or distracting yourself from them is the same as saying they have no meaning or that they don't really exist, respectively. (Distraction being a kind of pretending they're not there). Dwelling on them is like overemphasizing their importance. all 3 methods are exaggerations and therefore not dealing with the problem as it really is. So the answer is to move from strategies that are unrealistic (so to speak) and move to a strategy that takes in the reality of the problem, no more, no less.

 

The way to take the problem (unwanted idea) as exactly what it is, is exactly that. You have to begin by letting the thought be exactly what is is. So how do you do this without simultaneously dwelling on it? You accomplish this by not focusing on the

"content" of the thought but instead, on the feeling(s) it (the thought) creates at the time. So when the thought(s) arise, look within and observe how you're feeling at that time, just letting the feeling be exactly what it is, no judgments about it at all, in fact no interpreting it in words here. Just a scanning, for example,  how different parts of your body feel individually, or how you're feeling overall. The focus must me nonjudgmental and a simple sort of focus or awareness of your inner state just after the unwanted thought occurs.

 

This technique can be practiced for a minute or so.

 

The immediate result is that the unwanted thought does not have the usual negative impact. the long term result is in an unwanted thought returning less and less, and even when it does, it's affect is progressively weaker. I think that this is because of putting it back into your memory in a slightly weaker form each time you practice this simple, though not necessarily easy, technique. You begin to associate it with the calming effect of the technique. 

 

It can also help if, after the above technique, you can remember something (anything) in your memory that you feel good about. I used to recall a sitcom I enjoyed watching. This helps further weaken the unwanted thought(s) because thoughts that are linked in time are also linked then in the memory, and they, being that close, affect each other. And so you will be weakening the unwanted thoughts in two ways each time they occur.

 

I'm not good at explaining things, for example, I have a way of getting rid of hiccups that works for me every time, but no matter how I try, I've never been able to explain this seemingly simple method to another person. Still, I know that the above method always worked for me, and if anyone can get at what I'm saying, I know it will help them  too. I can only try my best.            

[Martina23]

I have got harm OCD in my withdrawal too. That it may stay it made me now so scared, I think I will kill myself. I can not consider staying such a monster how I am now. That is not me ever. This is someone who does not belong to me either. I had in my life also so many good yeas, I think it was worth living, but this is for me too much. I dont want anymore. I think my children would be happy also by my family, they are going to have a lot of good years themselves and I think they will understand, that there are some things when the life is impossible.

[Hudgens]

No! You are not a monster. If you were truly a monster, you wouldn't care about any of this, would you? This is the withdrawal making you feel this way. It will not be always like this. YOU HANG ON!

[Martina23]

Thank you Hudgens, it is only everything such a nightmare. I will read your thread at a time. What I saw, you seem to have a "success story of recovery". Congratulations!

[Hudgens]

Yes, and I've been through the scary bad thoughts too.

Thoughts are not actions.

And these thoughts are from the withdrawal, not from you.

The thought of killing yourself is not your own, but is from the withdrawal, also.

By the way, your children would not necessarily understand.

I want you to call the suicide hotline. Will you?

Unless you think you can understand that the suicidal thoughts are most likely

just like the other bad thoughts, just thoughts and nothing more.

 

Here's something I'll bet it's almost impossible for you to have noticed right now:

Everyone has these kinds of thoughts from time to time, but they don't pay attention to them

because their nervous systems aren't overly sensitized from withdrawal the way yours is. While you get all worked up and terrified about them, everyone else dismisses them as silly thoughts, if they even think about them that much.

 

I care about you and want you to get to a time when all of this is behind you.

[Martina23]

Did these thoughts dissappear by you? No, I will not call suicide hotline. I am already better.

[Hudgens]

Sehr Gut.

I don't have these thoughts anymore, no.

I also had the scary pictures(images). They're gone too.

In this way they are not real OCD, they're this illusion of OCD created by the withdrawal.

These different symptoms such as depression, anxiety, are "withdrawal" depression and "withdrawal" anxiety.

I mean they're not genuine, because they pass as soon as that part of the withdrawal is over.

[Martina23]

Danke schön (Thank you). No good, that is great. So I will already start to look forward to the weekend.

 

PS. I could not call the suicide hotline as I am at work (to be honest I would not call either - I like myself too much to be brought to the hospital and be medicated from up to down). But what I have heard they are controlling us computers in the work if we do not use computers for private stuff, so I was worrying during having dinner that IT staff would read it and call someone  immediately. They have not done it yet, so I will get back to work...

[btdt]

 

Have you looked into brain "rewiring"--- I know that UCLA has a cutting-edge program for treating OCD and addictions through neuroplasticity retraining.   They are doing a lot of research into this field.   Have you read "The Brain That Changes Itself"? and other books on the phenomenon?  It seems to offer a lot of hope for a brain with these types of mal-functiioning.  Dr Timothy Fong is heading up a research program --- Just want to help you in getting yourself well again.

That's pretty interesting, thanks for letting me know! I'm gonna look into that treatment program cause I live in LA area.

 

 

How has it changed over time... i don't see a history for you so I cannot comment on it... I am curious what you did till it passed what did you find helpful?

The compulsions to kill did not last long after being triggered, they'd just appear, last for a few mins and go away, although they would be frequent at times and caused quite a bit of distress. Other types of obsessions and compulsions were a lot worse than these... with those, nothing would help... just had to endure the torture for hours or days or weeks. Over the months and years my OCD keeps changing. The bloody images and compulsions to kill went away by themselves with time, and showed up at other times. I have a feeling my OCD might have gotten better in the last 2 weeks for some reason... I could be wrong though. For many years now I've avoided OCD triggers, and that has greatly reduced my torment. I also feel like I might have accepted some obsessions as a norm now... like organizing my computer files for hours at times. I wonder if being on 26mg Citalopram for several years now kinda stabilized me when it comes to OCD. I hardly ever get strong obsessions anymore.

 

Thinking about this now, I think I want to try driving again. I haven't drove since 2009 when driving OCD became severe... always feeling like I've run someone over or crashed into a car.

 

A bigger problem now is the social anxiety... quite crippling... almost as bad as before SSRI's.

 

I found it was exactly the same... when I was on zoloft I had these urges to drive the car into a cement divider and die... out of the blue that would hit my head then just fade away... in pooped out worse things came.. yes worse they were drug induced nonsense that nobody needs in there head so I am not sharing them ... I am the circuit breaker and they die right here with me. They should never have been and are dead and buried now.

 In wd and later stages of pooped out had much more strength than the fleeting zoloft ones. Came a lot more often stayed much longer. 

 

At the time I did not understand this was all drug induced and madness was breaking down my door... I kept trying to take the next fix pill and everyone made me sick or worse... I did that awhile till I was spent and just laying in bed waiting to die... when I got that vision or hallucination from God or Mom to stop taking pills or lay there and die. And I listened and quit it all cold turkey... I don't recommend it.

 

I had a true battle with this OCD crap but it was more than OCD or unwanted thoughts or images... sometimes it was like I was living something else... halucinations or psychoitc I just slipped into a freaked out state for no apparent reason... they all passed. 

 

All of it passed ... not to take anything away from how difficult it was but I did something like this before years ago wding from prozac actually it was a server adverse reaction but I did not know that then... nobody knew a thing about it.  So I had some experience with insanity it was what I was trying to avoid by taking pills for 18 years.... I thought it was back. I still did not know what was really happening I did not know it was the drugs. 

 

After finding pp and learning so much... I figured it out... drugs- reactions, wd pooped out, withdrawal.... long wd ...sometimes  cause our brains to malfunction... it was the drug bottom line... 

Somebody on that site suggested saying to self ...when the thoughts come to acknowledge it but call it what it is... 

Effexor thought.... 

Withdrawal thought

Pooped out thought.... 

 

Really that is what they are... drug induced chemical soup stirred up by a drug or other disturnance or body trying to heal and missing a cog here and there. 

 

I like the idea of associating something nice with it to eventually take the power away from it... but I don't think I could do it not all in my mind I needed something concrete I think. I never tried...and succeeded at doing it all in my head... when a group leader try to teach me this once i said to her if I had enough control to do all that I would not be there.   I have tried saying oh effexor thought my system is out of whack just now... listen to a relaxation vidoe or put on the ocean cd - heat up the heat pack in the microwave and lay down listen to the ocean... I spent countless hours listening to the ocean and it worked. In time I found other things I did not see it as distraction so much as healing but have used distraction in different ways too both have there place in this I think. 

peace all

[btdt]

I think there are as many different thing that will work as there are people... don't stop looking don't stop seeking as the base idea is the same but for each there may be a different thing that we find soothing.  If we were all the same it would be simple we are not.  The important thing to know is your not powerless once you find it whatever it is... use it.  For a time before I leaned this above I walked... simple.  I walked and walked and walked. I don't know why but that is what I did it seemed to help... I had this idea that if I was moving and outside I had a purpose and purpose helped. 

[Martina23]

For me it feels like I (my soul) is somewhere behind a windshield. And outside there are all these intrusive thoughts and sometimes monsters from films appearing. There is this film with Will Smith, I think it is called "a legend", and there are such monsters who come out only in the night, so such monsters are sometimes showing by me "outside my windshield" to scare me. I know that they are not real. And I am inside the windshield scared, trying to see through it and telling myself they are not existing, that is only my imagination. I know that nothing from this is real, but it gives me a feeling to be "not normal". And it looks like there is for my brain no possibility to visualize anything nice, which will bring me out. It is funny. But when you both say, then I will just try to keep enduring this all and to hope that sooner or later it disappears.

[Martina23]

Anyway, thanks, both of you, it helped me a lot to realize that this all is a common experience and not me going mad.

[LoveandLight]

Yes have it also, Martina x

 

Hudgens, I like what you wrote on how to deal..does this work with distressing ruminations also? Driving myself nuts here!

[Hudgens]

Yeah, it works with everything, with all withdrawal symptoms.

 

Martina, sorry I didn't get back to you for a while. I sleep during the day and only just saw your posts.

 

No, you are not going mad. You are going through some very rough withdrawal, because some Narr (idiot?) Dr. gave you an antipsychotic drug for pain.

 

Doctors don't seem to understand how incredibly powerful these drugs are. If I was physically addicted to alcohol (a withdrawal that can actually kill someone) I could go through the withdrawal in one to two months. By comparison, it just took me 24-48 times that long to get off of an antidepressant. And yet they who are supposed to know hand this stuff out to people with joint pain or who are feeling bad after a break up. It's the Doctors who are insane here.

 

More to the immediate point, you have to always remember that you are not verruckt, (your knowing the images and thoughts aren't real proves that beyond a doubt) but only suffering from withdrawal, and that you will get over it as everyone who's ever gone through this eventually has. That you are still young will also help a lot, believe me. Tschuss!

[btdt]

Anyway, thanks, both of you, it helped me a lot to realize that this all is a common experience and not me going mad.

Your welcome. 

 

I have one more idea.  When you are feeling as good as you get try a relaxation video on utube give it a go and look for one you like.   If you find one you like try to use it a few times a wk the more you use it the more you brain/body trust it to take the stress level down.. the better it works. 

 

i tend to use the same couple over and over till I am sick of them as I learned in a pain clinic that the more you body gets use to relaxing it will just go there automatically when the video meditation starts... i was completely amazed when this turned out to be true. 

 

After months of hearing the same one every night i would never get half way thru without being asleep so I now believe her.  I am not saying this will work for wd insomnia but it may after a  long time. 

 

Once your body has adapted to relaxing when the video is on using the video when your in a bad state will make more sense and feed safety to you brain.  

 

Long story short feed the brain safety and relaxation when it is at its best so when you need it to recall the state of peace it will remember it. If there is not state of peace yet just keep trying one of these days there will be. 

 

I wish you peace

[Earthworm]

My OCD has been back lately. I have a lot of doubt and checking compulsions, like checking doors over and over and never feeling sure that they are closed... it leaves a frustrating anxiety in my head and body that lasts for a while.

 

Anyone know any supplements or anything that can help it?

 

I've tried inositol powder, NAC, L-Theanine.

[nycdreamer]

Have you tried 5-htp to increase serotonin levels, or l-tryptophan? I've been taking 5-hto and it has been helping. Also, l-theanine and glycine are very calming. St. Johns Wort is also a natural SNRI.

[IndigoEarthling]

Earthworm have you always had OCD? How has withdrawal affected it?

 

I'm in a tough spot mysf with OCD and feeling crazy over here....

[Earthworm]

Earthworm have you always had OCD? How has withdrawal affected it?

 

I'm in a tough spot mysf with OCD and feeling crazy over here....

 

No, I got OCD the moment my WD started, it was the first symptom to appear. I never had OCD before. I started organizing things to achieve perfection, yet being assured of perfection is impossible, so it's and unending struggle. I also have checking compulsions because I'm not reassured by many of my activities like closing doors.

 

Fortunately my OCD has quieted down since I made this thread... seems like it was a strange temporary thing for now. I'm back to the level it was before.

 

How does your OCD express itself?

[Earthworm]

Have you tried 5-htp to increase serotonin levels, or l-tryptophan? I've been taking 5-hto and it has been helping. Also, l-theanine and glycine are very calming. St. Johns Wort is also a natural SNRI.

 

Thanks for your response. I can't take 5-HTP, L-Tryptophan, or St. John's Wort with my SSRI. I tried L-Theanine though, and it didn't help. I was wondering if there is anything else that can help.

[antidepressantsNoMore]

I just made a thread. http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/8975-wd-almost-over-but-decided-to-finally-get-help-with-pure-ocdgad/

 

I honestly, think, you need to go to a therapist who specializes in treating in OCD

[IndigoEarthling]

Did anyone have washing and checking OCD that came and went? I'm having a really though time- it's hard for me to believe that this is part of withdrawal.

[btdt]

All I know is I never needed to get up out of bed and check the stove until after I had taken prozac ... I never had such guilt and haunting and negativity ....being completely down on myself until I quit effexor. To me this is wd....100%

 

I think this is all wd I cannot speak to people who had ocd before going on drugs as i did not have it before going on drugs. 

[antidepressantsNoMore]

I already have a therapist who specializes in OCD. I've been seeing someone since January for it and just found another lady on Monday who works with the Internationsl OCD foundation.

 

That's good. I called up a bunch of therapists because of the situation with my insurance isn't looking so good. I met with one therapist and they said they couldn't help me and I needed to be in therapy once a week. I ended up calling 9 others. I have an appointment today with one and few other numbers to call. I just need to talk to someone who understand OCD/intrusive thoughts and Generalized Anixety. If I can meet and talk with a person like that once every week- 2 weeks, I'd be good.

[Broken]

Funny thing about OCD (regardless of it's symptoms appearing before or after the use of an antidepressant) is it requires your undivided attention. The reason you become anxious is because you disagree or find the nature of the thought to be unsettling, yes?

 

It's because you care that you suffer, by not caring it's as though you're accepting the thought to be okay or that there is some truth to it, right? Wrong! This is a common misconception amongst OCD sufferers and isn't the case at all.

 

In order to get your OCD under control you ultimately have to stop caring about the content of your thought regardless of how frightening it may seem and practice radical acceptance. By accepting the thoughts for exactly what they are, just thoughts. You worry because you're looking for absolute certainty that you will not act on any of these thoughts (which you won't). You have to accept uncertainty to a degree, nobody can be 100% certain of anything in life, they just can't and you have to learn to accept that.

 

Accepting a thought isn't agreeing with it or believing there to be any truth to it. It's merely accepting that these intrusive thoughts will pop into your head from time to time, especially because you have been dealing with them daily in a counter productive fashion, and that's okay, the key is not to react to them. Sounds easy? No, but it does get easier with time. These aren't your thoughts remember that, they're a byproduct of your anxiety.

 

In order for OCD to thrive you have to give it a lot of attention in the form of compulsions. Compulsions can be physical actions or mental. Ruminating, internal dialogue, seeking reassurance, constantly looking for an answer on google which incidentally you'll never find by the way.

 

Google is your enemy, too much information can be a bad thing.

 

If you want something to live (OCD) feed it (compulsions), if you want something to die? Starve it.

 

Anxiety is an incredibly tricky customer, it will use your imagination to create worst possible case scenarios all day long. The trick is you have to let it, the harder you fight the deeper engrained these thoughts or images will become. Let the thoughts wash over you and learn to live with the anxiety they bring in the short term, don't attempt to neutralise it as this is a compulsion and as previously stated that is in fact the real issue that needs to be addressed.

 

Over time as you continue doing this your anxiety will gradually lessen and one day hopefully dissappear entirely along with the thoughts that have bothered you to such a degree that you have felt the need to make sense of them (compulsion)

 

Don't avoid anything that you believe to be a trigger but instead willingly walk towards it regardless of the nature of your thought. Your exposing yourself to the obsessional thought or action and though it ramps up your anxiety you carry on regardless, this method of treatment is known as ERP (Exposure and Response Therapy).

 

The key is not to care, the things you don't care about don't bother you, they don't keep you up at night. The premise here is exactly the same you just need to apply it to your current obsessional worries.

 

More difficult than it sounds but when dealing with OCD this has proven to be the most successful way of tackling it and finding peace.

 

Remember as nonsensical as it may sound the thought is not the issue but instead your emotional response to it and the subsequent compulsion you have become dependent on to attempt to alleviate the anxiety it brings you.

 

I hope that helps if only a little.

[Broken]

My knowledge comes from experience, the theme or nature of your OCD can shift within a split second. I've been dealing with it from childhood and there's very few variations of OCD that I haven't come across personally.

 

It's rare that an OCD sufferer will have only one obsession whether they're aware of it or not. They will no doubt however have one which brings them higher levels of anxiety.

 

For example someone who fears driving because every pot hole or speed bump might be a a pedestrian they've hit (it's not) may also have issues with cleanliness or order, checking their electrical appliances are off and there doors are locked several times before retiring for the night. These other text book OCD traits may even go unnoticed because they're still obsessively ruminating about the pedestrian that they ran over (pot hole) earlier that day, because that's the obsession they find to be most upsetting and it's evident why.

 

The thought of killing or injuring someone in their car unintentionally will bring anxiety that will far outway the level of anxiety brought by ensuring that their house is secure at night.

 

There are many common themes of OCD reported but the truth is they're an infinite number. If you can think it and it's accompanied by an unhealthy level of anxiety which you attempt to address in vein via some form of compulsive behaviour that too is OCD.

[Broken]

I'll give you an uncommon example I was told about.

 

A loving father who anytime he had change in his pocket and was close to his baby was terrified he was going to push the loose change into his babies mouth until it choked.

 

He knew he wouldn't and he was completely aware of just how ridiculous his thoughts were yet he was crippled with anxiety and decided to stop carrying change altogether (avoidance, another compulsion). This only served to reinforce his irrational fear and prolonged his anxiety.

 

He should have gone as far as carrying more change, holding said change in his hand while in the company of his child, even as far as holding a single coin in front of their mouth. There was never any danger to his child who he loved unconditionally, it was just the thought of him bringing harm to them that had brought him to his knees.

 

At first his anxiety would have been dreadful yes but gradually as he continued to practice this it would have ultimately disproved his fear and his anxiety would have diminished.

 

Like I said anxiety can attach itself to literally anything and if you are already functioning at a heightened state of anxiety it's far more likely to do so.

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To sum up OCD.

 

"What if..."

 

That's pretty much all there is to it.

 

Amazing how two little words can start a horrendous ordeal which can leave you crippled with anxiety and in some cases take years to resolve.