- Date posted
- 1y ago
Someone please explain
Why is reassurance a bad thing for OCD?
Why is reassurance a bad thing for OCD?
You'll stay in your comfornt zone, and you'll keep wanting MORE reassurance and each time you get it you feel like it's not enough so you CONSTANTLY NEED it and it doesn't help you beat the problem you'll just be simering in it for longer.
Here’s an article about seeking reassurance and why it’s bad for those with OCD. The Psychology of Seeking Reassurance: https://www.treatmyocd.com/blog/reassurance-seeking-ocd-anxiety-how-to-stop-cycle
It will never be enough. Its bad for ocd because it can be ocd. It's a common compulsion to seek reassurance. It reinforces the walls to your comfort zone but ironically cages you within it. Your comfort zone is like a place of rest at the end of the day. Life gets uncomfortable when you leave it sometimes. Doesn't mean you should avoid going through discomfort especially when it benefits you in the end. Reassurance counteracts all that and provides shelter when you're supposed to be vulnerable. That's when you grow
Seeking reassurance tells your brain that your intrusions are important. And when something is important our brain tends to focus on it more, causing the frequency of the intrusions popping up in your head to go up. The more the intrusions pop up, the more anxiety we feel, the more compulsions we do and the more reassurance we seek. By doing that, we give attention to the intrusions and signal our brain again that they are very important, which leads to our brain focusing on them even more and increasing the frequency of them popping up in our head again goes up. This goes on and on and at some point it turns in to a vicious cycle.
Posting for reassurance and not getting comments due to that is so hard. OCD is so hard..
Lately my OCD has been very horrible, it’s been more convincing than ever to the point where I’m genuinely convinced that I like this stuff, when I get a thought, I’ll hear my intrusive thoughts go “oooh, I like that, I’d do that.” and I just don’t freak out nor feel bad, I just feel like I like it even more, and feel like I would do/act on it and like it, and the feeling is strong and it lingers forever? It genuinely feels like I do, and I’m just lying now, i can’t tell if I make these thoughts worse or anything All I remember mostly just being like confused sometimes when these thoughts happen, but since I’m getting strong emotions that I like it, my brain says that means I did and I’m worried about that being true because I don’t understand nor know It’s like I am resisting to like this stuff now, it’s even tougher now than it was before
Hello! I just got diagnosed with OCD a week ago and joined the app today to find a sense of community. Since my understanding of treatment is minimal at this point, I'm confused why everything on here tells us not to seek or give reassurance? If someone could explain the reasoning behind that it would be greatly appreciated, as I want to make sure I'm not only watching out for it in my personal life but also using this app appropriately.
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