OCD with the news

Curious.... the news has been terribly distressing for me and has stirred up OCD. Compulsive rumination and checking (news stories) are my go-to when OCD is triggered. Today, I purposely did not listen to my news podcast as I do every morning. I feel better-ish. Is this avoidance, or is this self care? Would continuing to listen to a podcast be exposure with response prevention applied to the compulsions that go with it? Thanks in advance!

Anonymous💌

Date posted: 8w

Being completely honest I don’t watch the news due to my ocd I actually don’t see the point in watching something that just causes me distress and isn’t at all in my reality, and most news are fear-monger’s just to create attention and fear, if you feel you are avoiding maybe just reading a piece of news a day instead of an entire podcast. For me it becomes compulsive to keep checking the news when I see something that bothers me hence why I don’t watch/read it.

Nova2025

Date posted: 8w

I hear you. There is quite a bit of alarmist content. I struggle because I feel like it's my duty to be informed as to what is happening, and that information stirs up so much anxiety. Additionally, I'm a mental health therapist, and my clients are coming to me with many of the same concerns about the news. I feel like I need to be informed to understand what they're talking about.

Anonymous💌

Date posted: 8w

@Nova2025 I understand, I don’t think you need to be informed it should be more of a want, and I think that you would understand partially without having to look into it, you already said you know how alarming it can be and therefore understand without needing all the information into what they’ve seen from the news is making them so anxious, if I say the word asteroid to my therapist she already knows I’m talking about the fear of one coming towards earth, or if I say I’ve heard about a recent murder immediately she knows I’m now worrying that either I’m one or there’s someone out to get me, it doesn’t have to be that complex and doesn’t make you any less informed for your clients.

Nova2025

Date posted: 8w

@Anonymous;):(:|:) Thank you.

JediMJ

Date posted: 8w

@Nova2025 It’s commendable that you want to be informed to better serve your clients; however, I think it’s fine if your clients give you a summary of some news item that’s upsetting them. I’ve done that with my therapist. I don’t expect them to know everything. Also, I appreciate that they have set a boundary for themselves with the news. It’s good for me to see that modeled.

Misstama65

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 8w

@Anonymous;):(:|:) Do you get therapy here?

needtoescape...

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 8w

If the compulsion was checking the news, then what you're doing is ERP. Be careful, though, because avoidance can also become a compulsion in and of itself.

Nova2025

Date posted: 8w

It feels like a catch 22.

needtoescape...

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 8w

@Nova2025 - Yeahh, OCD is a bit paradoxical like that 🥲

JediMJ

Date posted: 8w

This podcast helped me: https://schoolofnewfeministthought.com/how-to-cope-when-you-dont-feel-ok/ Here’s a few snippets from the transcript: “…the news fixation is partly because your brain is looking for danger and partly because your brain is looking for safety or relief, and it's looking for both of those things in the same place, which is a screen three inches from your face.” “So in other words, we can stop trying to feel okay. And paradoxically, when you accept that you're not going to feel okay a lot of the time or some of the time or a little bit of the time or most of the time right now, you actually will be able to function much better because you realize that you can feel not okay and still be you and still be in your life and still go day to day and even still have moments of pleasure and connection and joy and you'll be able to function much better. Really paradoxically, you'll even feel a little bit more okay too.”

Nova2025

Date posted: 8w

Spot on, seeking danger and seeking safety. I was just thinking about that the other day. I want someone to tell me things will work out ok and the catastrophic scenarios that my brain is generating, won't happen. Stop trying to feel ok. Man... such a paradoxical solution. I'll work on it. Thank you for the feedback. I'll check out the podcast. ❤️

Ellen_l

Date posted: 23w

Advice?

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!!

Girlypop

Date posted: 19w

ERP for fear of cancelation? (Event/False Memory)

What ERP or other techniques do you use to combat fear of cancelation? Especially curious about those with taboo thoughts, false memory ocd and event ocd based off of real events where the fear of cancellation may actually hold some validity. I once did my own ERP not under a therapist but just on my own I decided to create an anonymous account on Twitter and defend a friend who was receiving online criticism. I knew that this would be semi-controversial so I was expecting backlash and when I recieved troll replies it actually seemed to be a really helpful low-stakes exposure activity. Is this something that others have done? Low stakes online posts etc. that you know will recieve negative responses? I have had severe OCD as a kid as pretty much every subtype under the sun, and as an adult I pretty much have all the types under control except for this real event and false memory and taboo thought OCD. It seems like a different beast since it's somewhat realistic in the camcellation culture today, and it's confusing to address. Ive shut down almost all social accounts and it's keeping me from progressing in a career where I need to have an online presence :/

moon0270

Date posted: 19w

I think I need to take a step back

Finding this app has helped me a lot in feeling like I'm not isolated and I've definitely met so many kind and helpful people here. You guys have helped me on my darkest days. However, because of my fragile state of mind, I think scrolling on here is becoming a compulsion and I feel like I end up triggering myself more by scrolling through some posts. I think it just ends up adding more to my intrusive thoughts and more ammo for my false memories and POCD to latch on to. And I know exposures are good for treating OCD, but this level of exposure seems to be doing more harm than good. So I will try to be less active (maybe I won't, who knows lol).

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