Explain to me what reassurance is to you. Explain why it's bad for ocd compared to other mental health issues and brain disorders. I keep seeing that reassurance is bad everywhere but feel like the majority don't understand what it is or why it's bad. Don't be scared to put down a wrong answer, give it a go. This to help the nocd community learn as a whole.
Reassurance to me is telling me that I’m not a horrible person or going crazy or anything similar to that. Seeking reassurance is bad for ocd because it can turn into a compulsion. I love all the experiments your doing bro they’re awesome and I love reading about them
Thanks 😊 if you have any topics/ themes/ tips/ tricks you want me to go over, I'll be happy to help. I like the info out there for ocd but I feel as if it's not clear half the time. Stuff like "do this. Do that. This is bad". That's great but people need an understanding to properly utilise that info otherwise doubt will set in and ocd is the king of doubt. The education needs to be there, not just some orders.
@Wolfram you deserve the world fr 🫶
I know it doesn’t work when I’m ill. Whether I try to reassure myself or someone else does it. I do find that articulating my problems works so I vent here or to my journal. I’ll be interested to see what others say.
Reassurance to me is telling myself that is not likely to happen you are Just thinking too much just stop it but I think if I think this is gonna happen then that will also not work but right now I have improved I don't even have to tell my mind right now that it's not gonna happen because I ignore those those I am like ok so what and that's not gonna happen and slowly it's all getting better and seeking reassurance also decreased I don't know why people completely says don't ignore i mean ignoring is good but not getting scared and then ignoring that's not what I am saying
Ignoring or brushing to one side is only OK AFTER you acknowledge, which you mentioned you do. If you don't acknowledge it at first, it'll make it worse. You can't just scream at it in your head to go away as that's what it thrives on.
@Wolfram Absolutely 💯
OK so there's a few different answers. Reassurance is in short seeking an absolute answer to a question with multiple answers. It's seeking to avoid the uncertainty. A lot of things, probably most things in life are uncertain and accepting negative results or the possibility of a bad outcome is how to combat the compulsion. Reassurance is avoidance
.. And will never satisfy because life is full of constant, never ending uncertainties. It's ocd's appetite. Feed it and it will live. Feed something else and it will perish.
I think reassurance for me is trying to make a million times sure that nothing bad is gonna happen to me or I won't get in trouble. When in reality I need to get comfortable that not only can bad things happen BUT I can make it through anything bad. Reassurance delays what may or may not happen. Facing fears gives us tools to fix it when something does go wrong
I was doing so good, but over the past few months, the OCD has returned with a vengenace. I try to explain what I'm experiencing to my family, but they don't understand. I just need to hear that people get it and know that I can make it out the other end alive and in one piece I've had many themes over the years, but right now, scrupulocity is taking over my life. It takes the normal day-to-day things I do, and twists them into compulsions to feed the insatiable monster that tells me if I don't do enough, be perfect enough, that I'm not a good partner-- not a good person. I'm not working hard because it feels satisfying; I'm doing it because I feel lazy and worthless if I don't. Everything has been taken to an extreme. It's making getting in the way of eating and sleeping. I'm suffering, but I feel like I need to try and pretend that I'm fine (even though I'm terrible at hiding it) because I feel like my husband will think I'm crazy, whiny, and dramatic, and eventually, get tired of it and leave. I'm not asking for reassurance. I just want to not feel so alone.
i would like some advice please and i didn't get any responses 😭.. apologies for reposting but just need some thoughts on this 🥲 //// after frustrations with erp not working, i intentionally brought up the intrusive mental images as well as sensations during an exposure in trying to practice desensitizing myself to them. but now im scared that me purposefully bringing on the images and especially the disturbing outward sensations means that i did something bad or acted on my thought since i took the action to purposefully create and bring the disturbing intrusive images and thoughts and feelings. now it feels like not just a fear but reality. and my anxiety levels are just too much. i'm just feeling terrible and would like some thoughts or support
One fun thing about what I’ve experienced is that even if I go to people for reassurance, more often than not it doesn’t help and makes things worse. I see how from an outside perspective it looks like denial and the moment I open my mouth to talk about it the instant thought is “you’re faking it, you know it’s true and you’re faking it”. And it’s great when people say maybe you are this or that like it’s no big deal, …but it is? And then again it’s like maybe they see something I don’t?
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond
