- Username
- lizxx
- Date posted
- 34w ago
Intrusive thoughts
Does anyone have any advice for intrusive thoughts and "what ifs"? How can I try to care less?
- Username
- EFFMYOCDEFFMYOCD
- Date posted
- 34w ago
All I know is for a couple years I have desensitized myself to my intrusive thoughts by looking at them with curiosity instead of facts. I would literally just be like “interesting. Oh well” when I would get an intrusive thought instead of battling it or trying to make it stop. Even for the worst ones. It was so hard but it was what my therapist told me to do. Over time, I started noticing I was having them less bc I wasn’t alarming my brain to be afraid of them anymore. Now I still get them occasionally but they pass so much quicker and don’t rule my life as bad. Hope this helps you!
- Username
- lizxxlizxx
- Date posted
- 34w ago
@EFFMYOCD I loved this, thank you!
- Username
- charissepisces2021charissepisc...
- Date posted
- 34w ago
I did this too! Just let the thoughts be there even if they were terrible. I used to have dreams too, and i dreamt i even liked it. Did the same thing, worked.
- Username
- charissepisces2021charissepisc...
- Date posted
- 34w ago
Do you ever try to answer the what if questions, like exposing yourself to the reality you fear, and then coming up w a solution?
- Username
- lizxxlizxx
- Date posted
- 34w ago
@charissepisces2021 I usually get random what ifs and sometimes they are so bad like what if I did this and I don’t know if I did or not. They usually are pretty bad so trying to expose myself to them is pretty hard. I’m going to try to just not focus on the thought.
- Username
- lizxxlizxx
- Date posted
- 34w ago
@charissepisces2021 Do you have any tips?
- Username
- MikecicleMikecicle
- Date posted
- 34w ago
Simple, don’t engage. Focus on literally anything else, don’t try to suppress the thought but just acknowledge and move on. If you experience anxiety because of them, that’s okay it’ll pass, just don’t interact with the thought.
- Username
- lizxxlizxx
- Date posted
- 34w ago
@Mikecicle thank you!!
Related posts
- Username
- Jacqueline_
- Date posted
- 20w ago
Tips
Any tips on whenever you’re getting that intrusive thought, what can I tell myself without reassuring myself
- Username
- Anonymous
- Date posted
- 20w ago
Intrusive thoughts
Hello everyone. My name is Cathy and I have severe intrusive thoughts that seem to come out of no where. However only one thought at a time. I fixate on that scary thought for days and days and my anxiety builds up and up. I try to then attack the suggested catastrophic thought such I may have this disease or going to die from that disease or rot in hell etc. scary thoughts always. I try and do a ton of research on line to counter attack the thought trying to prove it wrong and this helps me but if I can’t find something that proves I won’t get the disease or have it already or prove other things too depending on what the thought is, it doesn’t help at all and can make it worse. Is anyone out there experiencing what I have. I don’t have ocd cleaning or washing or checking but have intrusive scary thoughts.
- Username
- byrde
- Date posted
- 19w ago
Intrusive thought too intense to ignore
I don’t really wanna go into detail about what it’s about cause I feel like it’s super embarrassing, but there’s this one specific type of intrusive thought I get that I struggle extremely with ignoring/sitting in discomfort with. Does anyone have tips for managing something like this?
Be a part of the largest OCD Community
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond