Pure-O? HOCD? READ ME.

thinking about things is thinking about things. you can't not think of something. you can only think of something else instead.

donald rumsfeld would be proud of that one!

Last post about this and specific as i can get it as I realized the last explanations werent thorough enough.So this whole ocd is fear like i said but specifically its fear of "losing control". When this idea is left to thrive you begin to turn the mind against itself as the villian and protector which is why ppl suffer. Its impossible and dangerous. So the solution is simple. Stop fearing and doubting that you dont have control over your mind and everything will just go back to normal. Try it now. just sit there and believe that you have absolute control over yourself. Watch as the anxiety slips away. Now all you have to do is make this a habit that is consistent again and all will return to normal. It works and the relief is instant. They even did study where if they make people think they're at risk for losing control they start exhibiting ocd symptoms. So yeah there ya go. Thats the mystery of ocd. Cheers my friends.

In conclusion its like OP said. Its kinda hard but doable. I kind of already said this before but I understand more about it so i'll explain in more detail. With that being said after I explain I prob wont be getting on here anymore because that is also a part of the problem.

Its all comes down to attention.Its the O in ocd that is the problem. The obsession of the topic that creates the mental stress. At first its just worry but then the sensations come and the thoughts become more frequent. It gets worse and worse despite your wishes. Why?

Its because your paying the "idea" attention. In fact constant attention for weeks and months. You think about it almost everyday all day and if you're not thinking about it you're talking about it.

The mind doesnt work in the way we think it does. Its not in our full control based on desire alone. The mind generates thoughts based on the subject of attention. Your beliefs, fears and other emotions on a subject act as a precursor to pull attention. So if im scared of something I will pay attention to it. If I love something i will pay attention to it. But if I dont care about something i wont pay attention to it unless influenced by an external source such as another person bring up the subject or seeing it on t.v etc.

With the mind it doesnt care if the subject attention scares you or makes you feel bliss. It only focuses on what is most important. You direct your mind in terms of importance by keeping focus / attention on a thing once the attention is caught for a second. Think of it like walking a dog on a leash who wants to go one way because of a previous experience, like seeing a squirrel run west yesterday. You have to guide the dog the right way but also place no more inheritance importance on going west. So if you yank your dogs leash and make a big debacle about going west, the dog will unconsciously feel that something about that direction is important. On the other hand if when the dogs trys to go west you simply redirect him gently to east and begin walking then the dog will slowly but surely forget about the ingrained importance of wanting to go west. He will begin to find things to the east that are of more importance.

This is what has happened with most ppl with ocd. They have let their minds pay attention to a dangerous topic for too long. For most its the topic of not being able to control themselves in some way, sexually, violently, etc. For others its the idea that germs make be the cause of their demise. All of this is really the fear of not being able to control yourself mentally and or physically. Its safe to say that you can infact control 100% of physical actions but only about 90- 95% mental actions. Which is fine as by guiding your attention the right way a stray thought can do no harm.

So that means whenever you get a thought or pay attention to the subject of "not being able to control yourself" and the specifics of that will vary with each person. Then just switch your attention to something positive and keep moving. Dont back track and give the topic life. Just leave it. Eventually the symptoms will fade and so will the fear. As you will see this is all the result of an ill guided mind on a dangerous topic.

With my harm OCD- intentional harm thoughts, that is (not talking about the urge to check for running over invisible pedestrians), I got to thinking of OCD as an imp or demon living inside my head. Think the gremlin coming out of the man's head in the cartoon portion of Monty Python's Crackpot Religion sketch. That kind of imp.

And it lives off fear. It eats it, it makes it healthy and grows stronger. It puts thoughts in my head, and lives off the fear that results, which enable it to create more fear, and so on. The more I can ignore those thoughts and refuse to obsess over having them. The weaker it gets, and the less it can create fear in me.

For me, that works only for the pure-O kind of stuff. I have all sorts of other anxieties- health, work, etc. I ain't got them whipped. But something that's pure-O? I can usually keep at least a reasonable lid on it. Harm, sexuality, etc.

It's interesting about the sensations you mention. I have a hard time comprehending things like false attraction and groinal sensations, except that I can produce a not unpleasant tingling in the groin, by doing something at work I know I shouldn't be doing on account of danger. I've noticed that before, and all I can think of it's an unconscious anxiety spike. I can just about recreate that on demand (not that I do, I try to keep safe at work around machinery).

And well, I suffer from lots of physical symptoms that if you Google, could be all sorts of dire things.... or.... yup, anxiety. Panic attacks? had them. Dizziness? oh yeah. Pressure in my head? uh huh. Stiff neck? oh yeah. Right now, it's feeling of numbness in my hands and feet. Sure, something is going to kill me someday, but it's also a symptom of anxiety. The more I obsess over the sensations, the worst they get, until it either burns itself out, or I make an effort to ignore it. Then it goes away. Then something else comes along, or an old sensation will reappear, fresh and frisky from having had a rest. I cycle thru them, and the occasional new anxiety symptom will get added to the mix, every so often.

But the more I worry about it... the worse those sensations will get. Until I either burn myself out on it, or I make myself stop.

I hear ya. thats why In conclusion you have 2 things you need. Courage and confidence. Courage makes the unwanted thoughts disappear as they are rooted in fear. So if you found your self getting scared just remember to be brave and not fear in general and they will go away. Confidence makes it so you can let go of the whole subject and stop paying attention to the whole "but what about this" subjects that you want 100% clarity on. Just dismiss them and move on. Assume everythings ok. Thats all you need

A great road you can begin to recovery in a concrete way that has immediate results is, for one day do not allow your brain to process doubt about the topic. Like don't even allow yourself to analyze a thought of doubt, no "did i just" or, "what if situation" for passed one second. For the first day your heads gonna hurt as you realize how automatically your brain wants to doubt and pay attention to this crap. But don't. Pay as little attention to it as possible if any while not allowing yourself to doubt. That is the most concrete way out.

xosuit wrote:A great road you can begin to recovery in a concrete way that has immediate results is, for one day do not allow your brain to process doubt about the topic. Like don't even allow yourself to analyze a thought of doubt, no "did i just" or, "what if situation" for passed one second. For the first day your heads gonna hurt as you realize how automatically your brain wants to doubt and pay attention to this crap. But don't. Pay as little attention to it as possible if any while not allowing yourself to doubt. That is the most concrete way out.

Yeah to me some flavours of OCD are all about breaking the loop.

This isn't about intrusive fears, specifically, but this is exactly how I feel when I make myself not doubt and care and worry and check:

https://youtu.be/0TedpOX4Rqk

Or this... specifically, https://youtu.be/t9Av2l4t0U4 I want to tear my face in two, and tear it again and again until I have a handful of Snaga confetti....

Snaga wrote:

xosuit wrote:A great road you can begin to recovery in a concrete way that has immediate results is, for one day do not allow your brain to process doubt about the topic. Like don't even allow yourself to analyze a thought of doubt, no "did i just" or, "what if situation" for passed one second. For the first day your heads gonna hurt as you realize how automatically your brain wants to doubt and pay attention to this crap. But don't. Pay as little attention to it as possible if any while not allowing yourself to doubt. That is the most concrete way out.

Yeah to me some flavours of OCD are all about breaking the loop.

This isn't about intrusive fears, specifically, but this is exactly how I feel when I make myself not doubt and care and worry and check:

https://youtu.be/0TedpOX4Rqk

Or this... specifically, https://youtu.be/t9Av2l4t0U4 I want to tear my face in two, and tear it again and again until I have a handful of Snaga confetti....

I know that feeling, when I try to ignore it and allow the thoughts to pass by I just want to start the internal arguement or reassurance again, or otherwise risk validating whatever thoughts that appeared. This case being about liking dudes which sets the mind on overdrive.

That Sheldon sketch is so accurate lol

Ain't it, though? Sometimes I just feel like something is eating at my brain.

That's one way to put it. We gotta stay strong. In my case ai have to be brave amd live with the uncertainty rest assured I'm not into dudes. Hard sometimes especially when I'm starting to feel reluctant about women, but that feels like more of the general anxiety overthinking or stress of this or even not being attracted to the particular girl, than not liking girls anymore.

Gotta stay strong. I know no matter what my mind or reactions or doubts tell me it's not something I want.