What helps you with ocd?

hi! i have a similar experience as you. the only thing that truly helps my compulsive thoughts is pushing through and just let the thoughts be. i know it’s easier said than done trust me but the more we give into ocd, the louder ocd gets. 💗my therapist had me name mine and when the thoughts get too loud, i literally tell Ulga (my ocd) to shut up and go back to her corner.

I too can relate to your post. I miss those what seemed to be carefree weightless times. However now we have a reason to be happy. We have a diagnosis . It was even scarier before not knowing what the heck was wrong with me. Its a hard pill to swallow knowing that part of your brain is just making up lies to scare you. That part of my brain is not me . It is looking for problems in anything it can find. Its a survival instinct. Our brains are looking for something to protect it from. To the point of being a disorder. I always said how hard it is to fix my brain with a broken brain. ..... I comes down to surrendering. Surrendering to a program that people much smarter than me have designed. One thing and a more important thing is surrendering to your higher power. My life had become unmanageable. My Best thinking brought me here ! For me I choose every day to surrender to God. For me this HAS NOT come easy. Every day it a fight . Fighting my brain who thinks it knows better and can somehow controll things. I have to really get broken down by ocd to finally surrender every day. Its weird. As soon as I start feeling better...... bam ocd strikes. A punch in the gut. Robbing me of my feeling of security. Certainty that I will be okay. Its like I have this false idea that I am controlling things. Its an illusion of control. God controls everything. I am not a person who was raised in religion. I dont even have a religion I call mine... but I am pretty sure this world and universe was not created by a man. So there is a higher power. When thinking gets too bad. Surrendering is my help. I surrender to the fact that my brain doesn't like being told it could be wrong ! I have to renew my mind daily and tell myself " Eric, you have a serious brain disorder . " You dont want to believe it but it is true. Try just enjoying today . Just today. Maybe just the next 5 minutes. I hope this helps you .

My relationship with God, definitely 🙌🏻 ❤️

Please call NOCD. Help and healing are real!! I wish I could have had the tools at 22💝

Therapy and working a lot helps me. Having too much down time allows my brain to spiral so I stay busy with art/work. Meeting people with ocd in real life helps as well

My grandma used to remind me, "This too shall pass." It sounds like an empty platitude, but for us that's what it's all about. Getting past what is currently causing us anxiety. If it were a physical illness we could medicate it and it would go away in a short time, but when it's in our head we have to practice fighting the compulsion and ride it out.

For me, this might controversial but it helps to get off social media. It helps to learn about OCD, listen to podcasts and read. I follow people who share information about OCD. Also recently I've been talking to god and trust in him. I also have become more aware about what mycompulsions are.

Little reductions go a long way. I can try to make a long list of things that help later, but little reductions in compulsions really add up and weaken the power of OCD at its core, and it takes a while to go, but once it starts to go, it goes pretty quickly.

Fellow 22 year old here—I don’t have any “wise elder” advice but lately I’ve been really big on just letting myself say the “worst that could happen” parts. Like, I record a voice memo/video of my worry, and then wait a few days or so, listen to it when I’m in a bit of a better mood, and go…”wait, now I’m laughing at myself…?” I also think a big thing of both early adulthood and OCD is learning that things are cyclical, and that you have been “better”, and will be better again and again, and continue to grow. And hobbies! Idle hands are the worst for me when it comes to compulsions. I recently got into water coloring and beadwork, and whenever I have the urge to do something related to my compulsions, I opt instead to create or occupy myself until the tide subsides. Wishing you the best in your journey, Sabrina <3

The thing is, it will never fully go away. There's no cure, but there is help to manage and cope with the anxiety and OCD. I find writing down my thoughts in a journal to get them out of my head helps a lot. The thoughts are acknowledged, so they're happy, and it closes all the open tabs in my brain the thoughts were taking up. I don't go back and read what I wrote, just write it all down as they come to my mind. I keep my journal in my bag or by my bed for when I need to brain dump. I also work on alternative or balancing thoughts to the compulsion/automatic thoughts, recognize that what I was thinking isn't based on what's really going on in reality, and that helps break the hold of the compulsive thoughts for a while. They come back, but not as loud or frequent

Hi Sabrina! I don't blame you for feeling that way. And, to be honest, what helps me most is exactly what you're doing right now. OCD, for me, is something that likes to keep me seperated from everyone because of my intrusive thoughts and compulsions...and when I'm alone, OCD has me exactly where it wants me: Walled off from everyone and everything EXCEPT OCD. So when I am having an OCD 'flare up', I like to come here and read other peoples posts or post myself. This tends to get me out of my head enough to calm down my anxiety from, say...a 6 or 7, maybe down to a 2 or 3, and from there I can tackle whatevers bothering me easier. There's a saying in AA 'You can eat a whole elephant...one bite at a time'... I find that true for things that cause my anxiety and OCD to go crazy: I work on getting my anxiety down to a more managable 'bite' and start from there. Another thing that I find helps, and not just with OCD, but for depression and anytime I feel like I need to get my head out of my arse, I'll force myself to go and do something with someone: a walk, movies, dinner, a drive: It doesn't matter, so long as you're actively involved mentally in something else. This also helps me to realize I'm not alone in this world and life exists outside whatever lies my OCD is telling me to get me to stay alone. Helping others is a great way to see things from another perspective, which is a HUGE blow to my OCD anytime I can do it. In short: occupying my mental time with positivity and others, despite how my OCD makes me feel about being around said others. I also like to seperate my OCD from myself in the sense that, mentally, I can see my OCD and see me, so I know where my OCD ends and I begin, so to speak. So if I know i'm ruminating about something, and I KNOW I have OCD, and its a thought I keep telling myself 'just a few more moments of thinking about this and I'll let it go'...then I'm able to let things go easier. After all: ERP is about sitting WITH the uncertainty and allowing yourself to be ok with it. I hope that helps and thanks for sharing! My intrusive thoughts and ruminations can be unbearable and last days, but I've been dealing with OCD since I was 6 and wasn't diagnosed until I was 46, and I can't believe how much the therapy is working. I spent oh so many years believing my OCD was all I was ever going to be... ERP and NOCD have offered me the first actual tangible pieces of hope I've ever been given. I feel these tools work when I use them. I can't say that about other avenues of therapy. Stay strong, soldier!

Erp and faith in Christ. There is another side to this disorder and you will find it

I think a roco brcelelet could help with my thoughts or make it worse its just what it means to me

Medication helps me. You may not be on the right Medication or dose. Prozac worked for several years and then it stopped working. Over the past year I was trying a lot of different medicines. Right now I'm taking 100mg Sertraline and 100 mg Desvenlafaxine which seems to be working. I'm also doing ERP therapy

The only thing that has helped me is ERP therapy through NOCD.

ERP therapy is extremely helpful. If you can't afford therapy, then mindfulness meditation can also work quite well. Just do not do meditation if you also have schizophrenia.

Erp therapy helps so much, all the therapists at nocd are trained in it. Erp therapy helps me manage ocd and get my life back 🙏🩷

Besides therapy/a support system? Making fun of myself in a way that isn't self-deprecation. Laughing at the absurdity of its “logic” while acknowledging that I cannot control how “real” it may feel (and that it isn't my fault!!)

My OCD therapist here at NOCD sent me these, which are so helpful -

For me it’s taking things moment by moment, figuring out the things that I actually like to do and doing it whether or not my brain is screaming at me.

Also named her - Agatha is the WORST. I also know from talking to my therapist that typically people with OCD need slightly higher meds because what we deal with is mental and so distressing

The best way is to speak to a therapist and start treatment. I’ve had untreated OCD for 23 years and it didn’t get better until I started treatment recently. Best thing I ever did. Get treatment!

Understanding that it's a condition. So even if you "solve" whatever issue your OCD has given you by doing compulsions, you will be rewarded by OCD latching onto something else and giving you other compulsions to do. The only way to free yourself is to stop doing them.

I'll be 46 in August and just found out what was wrong with me stupid ocd. Meds don't work with me either just exposure therapy. I can't afford it now but it was the best medicine and yeah it definitely helped me so much now that I understand what is the problem

Do not fight the thought! Let it crash over your head and stand still

I was born with OCD. It started about your age. I was born in the 80s, where they didn’t have much information back then. Now that I am in my 40s, I have purged my room, which is a brave thing to do. I have to tell myself positive affirmations where I will take one day at a time, one second at a time. I used to worry that I am good enough. I even ended up with about 4 degrees; one in progress. Breathing helps a lot.

Not giving into my impulses, reminding myself that everyone goes through bad stuff at some point in their life (all things must pass!), journaling, reminders that the past doesn’t define me, and being active