AMA (Advice).
>>33739179That's great, I'm happy for you. I have OCD and it's hell, I know that I'm not supposed to seek reassurance and ruminate, I'm trying to and it feels awful resisting it all.
>>33739185I know. I have OCD as well.
>>33739192Would you say your progress was linear?
>>33739198Definitely not.
>>33739200Well if you don't mind then I'd like you to expand more on how you solved it and how hard it was.
>>33739185>>33739198Btw, you aren't typing like an OCD who is ruminating? Are you doing good now?
>>33739179I'm OCD/AA and trying to do the same thing. I've gotten pretty good at recognizing when my OCD is trying to make me ruminate or catastrophize so I call it out when it happens which seems to take the legs off of it, but the waves keep coming. Some days are more intense than others, but I have noticed general improvement. Do the waves of the OCD thoughts ever become more manageable? Because it is mentally exhausting trying to keep it in check.
>>33739208The solution is layered. To begin the solution, I have to ask you if you can stop yourself from ruminating? Can you ground yourself?
>>33739209Now THIS is how someone with OCD, who is ruminating, types: >>33739212> Do the waves of the OCD thoughts ever become more manageable?Absolutely.The rituals are your symptoms, they are not your problem. The essence of not checking is a form of reminding you not to feed into the OCD. It is not the solution. It is for you to snap out of it.If you are not in treatment, I would not advise you not to check. Keep checking, but seek help immediately. You do not have to live your life this way.
>>33739213I can get myself to not ruminate or not do compulsions but the anxiety and the thoughts are still there if that makes sense, like I still feel uncomfortable and/or anxious
>>33739232>The rituals are your symptoms, they are not your problem. The essence of not checking is a form of reminding you not to feed into the OCD. It is not the solution. It is for you to snap out of it.>If you are not in treatment, I would not advise you not to check. Keep checking, but seek help immediately. You do not have to live your life this way.I can't afford to get therapy for it yet, but I will look into that once I'm able to. Thank you for the thoughtful response
>>33739248You are 75% there to ending rumination for good.Would you say you've left your ego at the door at some point in your life? For example, would you, today, be ready to admit to yourself something like: "they think I am a loser"? You wouldn't admit it to the world, only to correct your own worldview?The contrast is not admitting to such reality.
>>33739269OCD really is hell.See, I said keep checking, but under the assumption that you'd get help as soon as you could. If you can't, it might really be better to not check. Put yourself through the hell.What I need you to know is that OCD is the symptom layered on top of an existential dread you are avoiding. What I think you should do first, if you can't seek help, is to browse ACT subs and get into ACT immediately. Meditate and learn mindfulness, and put yourself on the path to recovery. You can be like this person: >>33739248 without therapy. You can even get better without therapy, but it's harder.Just start some form of recovery because OCD is not untreatable. You can live a life with no checking, with no sacrifices.
>>33739296>For example, would you, today, be ready to admit to yourself something like: "they think I am a loser"?Yeah, I think so.
>>33739317I omitted a bit of info for the sake of brevity, but what I've been doing isn't actively checking so much as it's accepting when an OCD/anxiety wave comes, acknowledging it and allowing to play out but refusing to engage with it to avoid spiraling into rumination. I've been working with elements of CBT, ERP, and ACT.I've managed to avoid ruminating, but the urge to do so seems to ebb and flow which can sometimes get exhausting. For what it's worth, I have noticed a massive improvement over the past week since I started trying to address it.
>>33739362You have all the prerequisites to end your rumination. When I say end, I mean if you're currently ruminating on a certain situation, you can stop that instantly. You can look back at the situation and feel indifference. 0 emotional attachment, 0 investment. It will be like thinking of a random condiment in your fridge. It will not be interesting, just like any other thought in your head.It will free up your emotional space, and you will be able to feel other things beyond your rumination. You'll open up again.It's hard though. Even for me. I made this thread 5 minutes after ending my 4th rumination in the past 2 months, but it took me 2 days to get here. You get better at it, it used to take me weeks, one rumination lasted for two years, and I'm an adult. So it's hard, but it's a skill.You have 90% of what it takes to end the rumination so you're almost there.This is the process, simplified (based in ACT, but deeper, because ACT doesn't end rumination, only detaches from it):>1. Close your eyes, ground yourself, be mindful and ask yourself, what thought immediately comes to mind?>2. Observe your body's emotional response to that thought. What is it about it that you are fearful of?>3. Get to the very bottom of your fear.>4. Accept it.>5. Observe how you feel when you accept it.Once you've felt the release, keep observing. Do not identify with the euphoria nor the bliss. Observe simply that you've released, and open your eyes when you feel like it. The rumination is gone, but you will have another rumination, so do not celebrate. Just hone the skill.I've simplified the process a lot, so let me explain in detail in the next post what each step means in practice, so you understand why it's hard and how you must think.
>>33739458The process was simplified. Here is why it's difficult:>Step 1.Simple enough>Step 2.Simple enough>Step 3.Obviously the hardest part.5 minutes before creating this thread, I had been ruminating for 2 days about a person's treatment of me in an event from earlier. I did not know why I was ruminating, but I have a lifetime of history with this person, going back to the 90s, so where do you begin? I grounded myself and they immediately came to mind. I asked what I felt and it was a mix of fear and anxiety, a little bit of jealousy (afraid of losing possessions to them). But why did I feel that (these are shallow emotions)? Because they were disrespectful of me. But why did that matter? Because I was trusting of them. But why was I ruminating? Because I was afraid of their actions after the event, they were going to do X/Y/Z (...catastrophizing). But what is the outcome of that? They would minimize me.I went through this process, digging deep, to find out what I was actually afraid of. I am obviously not afraid of being minimized. I am not jealous of everybody. There was something about this person that scared me, and caused me to ruminate.Eventually, I landed on something like:They would do what I do, but try doing it better, in order to take my thing away from me and neutralizing me as a threat. Once I was gone, they would hop on to the next thing.They would try to destroy me if they had the chance."They see me as a threat."When I said those words: "they see me as a threat," I felt an immense release. I observed how that realization felt.Immediately after, the rumination let up. What more was there to ruminate on? This person sees me as a threat. That explains everything. Instantly, I stopped ruminating, and instead of chatting with ChatGPT and playing chess in a stressful haze, I opened 4chan and made this thread.Give this a go. It's not easy though, and you have to remember to stay grounded. Be mindful of your inevitable rumination.
>>33739384This is very relieving to hear. Go hard on ACT. It works.
>>33739505Will do, >>33739458and >>33739498 are an excellent resource that I'll be implementing. Thanks again!
>>33739458>>33739498this is very helpful thanks man and once again i'm happy for you
