Does anyone know how to get rid of these thoughts? I have to manually breathe almost every second of everyday and it's getting tiresome and I can't stop thinking about no matter what the distractions are.
While this is very distressing and you may feel as though you have to intentionally breathe, that's not how your body actually works, otherwise how would you breathe in your sleep? Breathing is controlled below the level of our conscious awareness. You can approach this fear the same way you would any other OCD fear - by noticing it, and allowing the uncertainty of whether you will be okay if you stop consciously breathing. The goal isn't to stop the thoughts but to sit with the thoughts and the uncomfortable feelings, without doing the compulsive behavior. An ERP therapist can help you to understand your individual OCD cycle.
Curious - how do you breathe at night. Must you think about breathing when awake, but all breathing then gets automatic when asleep, or do you wake up every 20 seconds to remind yourself to breathe? You may think or feel that you have to control your breathing, but if that were true, we would all die in our sleep. So, your breathing either works just fine or you have one of the most incredible medical conditions in the world!! I go with the former. I actually use this example in some of my talks. I was glad to see it here. Not that you suffer from it, but that it is a reminder to us all that OCD is a liar and causes us to doubt our senses or the way our bodies even function. Heck with you OCD!!
Oh my gosh, I never realized other people do this too. I’ve worked with counselors, and it resolved on its own after CBT. But I still do it. In my experience, it’s about reassurance. “I want to live my life without fear of what breathing does”. Mine were specifically about things I did and didn’t like (exhale for bad, inhale for good, don’t get the exhale breath on you). I felt so trapped and self conscious about what I looked like. Just so you know, you are not alone. You aren’t crazy, and this is your mind coping with life. Meditate and focus on healthy breathing.
i am currently dealing with the same thing right now. What has helped me tremendously is just trying to actually focus on your breathing on purpose. It sounds crazy but it helps reduce the fear that it will never end, which keeps you focused on your breathing. hope that makes sense
The more you try to get rid of the thoughts, the more you will have them. If you give these thoughts energy like that then everytime a thought like that springs up your brain is programmed to think it’s really important. You gotta Rewire your mind and change how you approach these thoughts, how you associate them in your mind. Saying “I have to manually breathe” is also not helpful. You feeel like you have to. Maybe experiment with not manually breathing and see what happens. I have swallowing ocd and some urinary stuff and I feeeel like I have to only have good thoughts while I eat or else I’ll choke or aspirate and stuff like that. I’ve learned that I only feel that way because of the connections I’ve made and how I interact with the thoughts I have. Dialectical techniques can really help. I tell myself “it doesn’t matter what thoughts I have, I can eat.”and what’s also helpful is having your goals in mind-like what kinda person you want to be and what you want to do and stuff like that. It takes time and it takes effort but you can Rewire your mind and react to these thoughts differently and reach those goals. Check out Mark Freeman on YouTube and I highly recommend the audiobook “Rewire Your OCD Brain” on Spotify (or you can get a hard copy too somewhere and it might be on YouTube also). Good luck man. Recovery is possible.
One more comment: Mark Freeman makes the point in one video I watched that recovery is about adding and not taking away. If you are focused on getting rid of an experience, you’ll just experience it more (like the whole “don’t think of a pink elephant” thing). Instead try to focus on adding like think of how good life would be if you could relax and trust your body. Basically think:I want to trust my body and be at peace. Rather than: I want to stop not trusting my body and get rid of anxiety. It’s in a lot of Law of Attraction stuff. Think about what you want rather than what you don’t want-easier said than done I know but it’s just something to consider. Watching “The Secret” might help.
Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with intrusive thoughts&images. At first i had intrusive thoughts around my partner, now it’s centred around me & I can’t be around window ledges or medication due to a story I read online(it’s too triggering for me) . Sometimes I feel like I can’t leave my bed due to the thoughts being so overwhelming I just break down and want to sleep. I aren’t taking any medication or therapy yet. I worry that if I don’t give my thoughts a reaction that my thoughts are true and not OCD. I’ve had these thoughts 24/7 for 2 months.
I’m having a big OCD relapse and would like to hear anyone’s tips on how to be present and healthily deal with these intrusive thoughts and the “need” to preform compulsions. Thank you!!
So maybe the title wasn't the best to to put it but when you guys start having obsessive thoughts how do you stop them before it turns into compulsions and anxiety?
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