so i have a specific fear. i read a verse in the bible. i say to myself “this verse must mean this” (affirming my fear). is it possible that i’m just willing my fear into existence/ giving a meaning to a verse that is actually unrelated to the real meaning whatsoever? i can’t tell. this might be a stupid question, but ocd really does cloud your reality.
Yes, this is common with OCD. It’s kind of like a distorted confirmation bias mixed with magical thinking as it tricks us into believing the obsession is confirmed. It’s another way that the doubting disease makes us doubt ourselves and our values. I know it’s difficult, but try to lean into uncertainty. The more we start to spiral into the ‘what if’ this means something, the more our brains perceive this as a threat that needs attention, and therefore more time is spent trying to analyse and solve a problem that doesn’t need to be solved. I hope this helps.
Dr. Mark Crawford uses this phrase to describe a common way OCD manifests: "Catastrophizing is “imagining the worst-case scenario of a situation and reacting to the imagined ‘catastrophe’ rather than the actual situation. Their anxiety level matches the imagined catastrophe rather than the fact that nothing has happened." I think this may partly describe what you are experiencing. If I haven't mentioned this to you before, I wrote a book about how to fight OCD as a Christian. You can see more at WagingWarAgainstOCD.com
I’ve always thoughts my fears will never come true so it’s easy to discard my thoughts, but recently I realised they actually can come true. If I have an ocd fear that I’ve knocked someone down and I later find out I did, it means my fears are true. So doesn’t that mean my ocd makes sense and I have to keep on doing compulsions like continuiosly checking the road to make sure I don’t hit someone? I’m so confused and it’s giving me massive anxiety
I’m a Catholic Christian and I love my religion so much. I have found that every now and again, my OCD becomes triggered and I find myself distancing from God & my faith, and avoiding (or trying to) avoid God because religion starts to give me anxiety or trigger my OCD. Lately, like the past week and a half, I think I’ve been doing well. I’m still anxious (and talking about it makes me anxious too, so I guess this is kind of an exposure), but I’ve been trying to keep practicing my faith nonetheless. I’m proud of myself, I’ve been able to keep my OCD at bay and continue to live my life and practice my faith. I even have anxiety right now, but instead of dwelling on “what if?”, I’m trying to continue telling my OCD “so what?” I would just like to know, what do you guys do to deal with moments of anxiety or fear or irrational thinking?
I started seeing every little thing as a sin. Or at least things that will bring bad karma. Everything, even little things like listening to music or enjoying a meal. In my eyes, everything everyone is doing is mostly sins and it terrifies me to death. It scares me to the point of paralysis and I can’t even do anything anymore because everything is a sin in my eyes. I’ll definitely spiral if I think about it more, but if I don’t, I feel like I’m lying to myself. I don’t even have confidence that this is OCD anymore. What if I’m right (I’m not necessarily wrong according to my religious doctrines, not that I’m a 100% sure) and nothings going to help me, not even therapy? And if most things humans do are sins anyway, what’s the point of anything? (See how it starts relating to an existential crisis) I’m terrified that no one’s gonna be able to help me anymore. I feel like I’m at wits ends. I don’t practice Christianity btw. Any insights or even “me too”s would help.
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