i constantly say things like under my breath to myself to “neutralize” thoughts and sometimes i even say the thoughts out loud and then i feel contaminated and have to brush my teeth and wash all my items around me. this is a daily occurrence. when i accidentally say things out loud im trying so hard not to say it that sometimes i do. please help
Only a trained therapist can accurately diagnose what you are experiencing. In my OCD journey, I have experienced similar themes, the compulsion to say, do or think something to neutralize the intrusive thought. It is treatable, but you'll get the most relief by retaining a trained OCD therapist who uses ERP therapy. NOCD is affiliated with many good ones. If you haven't already, why not contact them for a free consultation. It could change your life.
Ask yourself 'what happens if I don't brush my teeth?' or 'what happens if I don't whisper to myself' this way you can identify the feared consequence. The teeth brushing and whispering compulsion is just something that you have invented to make yourself feel better about a thought that you don't like to have. ERP practice would be to firstly 1. imagine not brushing your teeth or whispering after thinking an unwanted thought and imagine the feared consequence being true (repeat the thinking until anxiety goes down) 2. slowly reduce the repetitive times that you brush your teeth each day (by doing this you will start to realise that the compulsion has no impact on reality- Nothing Actually Changes, whether you brush or talk under your breath - the outcome remains the same. You just Think something bad will happen and you need to give yourself the chance to see that by doing nothing at all, everything is fine :)
I am really struggling with harm ocd. ( The fear of hurting others) My ocd is very tough to combat at the minute. I feel like i’m having intrusive thoughts every minute of every single day. Except from when Im distracted. I feel guilty and foul for the thoughts. I have this strong intrusive feeling that feels impulsive, as if i’m about to act on a thought. It almost feels like I want to. But I really don’t and i’m so scared this isn’t normal. I keep thinking. “What if this isn’t OCD” “What if i did that” and it’s really worrying me as it feels relentless and as if I’m about to do it. In my head chest wrists. I feel tired of this. I don’t know much about compulsions etc but i find myself - Asking my bf if he gets intrusive thoughts like me. Asking him if he actually does and asking repeatedly. - I ask him over and over again and check if he definitely does. - I will literally try to fight the thoughts by kind of saying “ as if i’m not that type of person” Then saying everything will be okay to myself. Please can someone tell me if this is normal. Yes I may be looking for reassurance but i need to know if it is, Im scared, i’m crying. Please tell me if you’ve had this feeling of as if you’re about to do it!
im not diagnosed, but these past two days have been terrible. i constantly have this underlying feeling that i might do something that i think is gross and i feel like i can’t do anything on my own because otherwise i might do something wrong. like i feel like i constantly have to be in front of people so that i can make sure of my every action. this is so exhausting and I’m so confused. and like i keep getting terrible images and stuff replaying in my head. i also try to recall what happened but i feel like i have false event too. i used to have religious ocd and that eventually stopped completely, but now it feels like all my work getting over that was pointless. also like i feel like i might have contamination ocd but not the typical germ type. I just get terrible images and I can’t remember if those images are true or not even though they’re impossible and i feel terrible. I don’t know if i could ever get over this because even the thought of it is terrible.
I've never seen a therapist or been diagnosed, so I went surfing through to find this community. I've seen a lot of OCD symptoms written online. Here is what I experience that I feel may be OCD. If any of you guys agrees, please let me know. I have only ever been able to call my mom by her first name. I have never been able to not do that. She tried to make me call her mom once as a kid but it felt so wrong that I started crying. Everytime I see a wet floor sign, I say "piso mojado" out loud. I have plenty of harsh intrusive thoughts, such as committing acts of violence when I see people not using their turn signals, interrupting performers at a concert. I make myself re-press on my phone alarms 10-12 times each day in the same rythym until it feels fully set to go off. Light switches get flicked off and on, I can't stand not doing it. I have to double-check everything and make myself re-look through the same drawers at work for hours. I love to write, but I never get far because I need approval from others. My head is also always filled to the brim with thoughts which has made writing and things like memory a lot harder. I can't use spoons. I can only use forks for almost everything. I can't stand them. That's all I can think of for right now. Please let me know what you guys think. Thanks!
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