Recovery Tips For ROCD and all types of OCD themes

Quote from Seamstress on December 23, 2020, 9:36 am

Thanks for sharing. These techniques work for every type of OCD.

Quote from Guest on December 26, 2020, 11:03 am

hey, thank you so much for sharing. when you say disregard the thoughts as just an ocd lie (I know my thoughts are lies despite how real they may feel), what does that actually look like? as in what should my thought process be in that moment? once I have mocked the thought in question should I then push it out of my mind or do something else? I hope that makes sense, thank you again for sharing. 

Quote from Guest on December 26, 2020, 11:32 pm

Thank you all for sharing! I am wondering the same thing! I disregard or say “nice try ocd” like Ali always says, but then what should I aim to think about instead? I’ve struggled with this my whole life, and have spent most of my life ruminating, looking for things to feel guilty about and trying to solve whatever it was, endlessly. So naturally, I don’t know what I should be thinking about normally. Any suggestions outside of breathing techniques? Hopefully that makes sense!

Quote from Guest on January 4, 2021, 6:05 pm

Hi , once you get into the healthy habit of sarcastically disregarding the thought , the actual thoughts themselves eventually come less often, you may find you have minutes then hours then days where you don't have the thoughts. In my experience some days disregarding is easy and you find yourself laughing at how silly the OCD thoughts are, other days even though your actively disregarding the thoughts can come alot but your anxiety is still pretty low, some days despite you disregarding the thoughts can bombard you but again with little anxiety. The secret here is to accept you are still in recovery and this is normal, just keep disregarding and pushing through. As for where your mind should be after you disregard, don't try to push the thoughts out, just let them come in and keep sarcastically agreeing with them, it's not about what you should be thinking more about just trying to live your life as if you didn't have OCD, so for example my ROCD would say "you don't love your partner and you can't enjoy time with them so you have to leave them" so I'd be like "of course your right OCD, that's so true, just like all the other lies you've told me, infact I don't love my partner or anybody at all, jeez you really are a fountain of truth and wisdom aren't you OCD" then follow it up by doing the exact opposite of what OCD is telling you. So I'd spend quality time with my partner, maybe play a game, go for a walk together, basically just have fun together. The OCD thoughts will still pop up but just keep disregarding, it is hard and abit scary at first but with hard work it just gets easier and easier and you will find yourself having great quality OCD free time with your partner.

 

Quote from Guest on January 10, 2021, 10:21 pm

I had this exact experience and contemplated suicide. It was the scariest, darkest, worst nightmare of my life. for months I laid in bed from morning until night crying compulsively to relieve the pain of intrusive thoughts. I wanted to live on an island. I wanted to die. 

GUESS WHAT?

I started doing ERP with a therapist, after learning a lot from Ali, I found help. 2 months ago I could not be around my fiancé. Now I see him, I still get a twinge of anxiety ,do ERP, and go on with my day. It is not perfect but please understand I was living a daily hell and I went from a level 10 to a 2 in weeks. 

I know there is more work to be done, because I still live in slight fear of intrusive thoughts, or what if I freak out again, etc. But I just wanted to say that ERP has changed my life. It is the scariest thing ever, but it works. Do it. 

Quote from Guest on February 1, 2021, 5:46 am

Hi! I'm going through this and it's awful... everytime I talk about it I want to cry so much because it hurts me so much the fact that I'm actually thinking these things about my boyfriend, the person I love the most! I'm so so so happy with him, every single moment, every single time, kiss, hug... he's everything I ever ever wanted e our connection is so beautiful that I just cannot simply understand why this happens. Maybe it's exactly because of that... he's e our relationship is so important to me that I cannot just accept them... I dont know but I just dont. The thoughts switch every single time but all of them are related to us. Anxiety never lows to less than 7 or 8, it everytime high. I cannot eat, I cannot concentrate, I cannot be me. All thoughts are negative, all thoughts create doubts that I never had about him or us because I love him so much.... I know relationships have difficulties, some days we feel a lot and some days we feel less, somedays are bored ans some days are not and thats absolutely NORMAL... it seems like theses thoughts make these normals things like catastrophes and I know it's not. It's normal and that does not mean we dont love each other because we do. So much. We're so beautiful together. The things I feel with him are the most beautiful feelings e emotions in the world and I wont let these stupid thoughts come in the middle of our beautiful story. Sometimes I'm fine and they come like ''see, you are not thinking about it, you are not feeling anything, this is all true, you're in denial, you're gonna hurt him and you" and I just panic, because it's all too much too handle that even knowing it's irrational I cannot just let it go, my brain sticks in it. I hate it because they all create doubts that dont existe, feelings and emotions that are negative, thoughts thoughts and thoughts and none of them are true. I hate this situation so much. I know I can overcome it and I will overcome it, for me, for him and for us. I won't lose the love of m life because of this, despite sometimes it tells me I'm in denial when I'm not. I just love him, love us, love everything we have and the beautiful life we're creating. I won't let this ruin it, I wont. I love him so much it hurts... in a good way. Thanks for sharing hope, we can do it.