After checking the first couple of pages of the OCD forum, the major theme of the posts seems to be HOCD. The sufferers are overwhelmed by feelings of pain, doubt, confusion, stress, hopelessness, anger, frustration, and the list goes on and on... everybody's pleading for unobtainable certainty! It might come, but in short spells, far and few in between. Slight reassurance but No permanent relief... (Now please don't panic as you read this, i am not trying to make you lose hope)
I would like everyone reading this who suffers from OCD to have a look back at worrying past events that they went through. Can you remember what you were worrying about? Some childhood obsessions might still not be resolved yet, but think of other worries/fears that you overcame throughout life. You will notice that the worries seemed to have themes that accompanied every period of your lives. Now you're probably thinking, where the hell is this post going?
Well, OCD is a painful illness but:
- Only think of the Past Irrational Fears/Obsessions that were overcome, and how they no longer hold any stressful significance to you today. e.g. mothers who had obsessive thoughts about harming their newborns, but no longer experience them/give the slightest worry about it as their kids became older.
- Try and associate each worry with the matching period of your life that you were going through. You will notice that the theme of the worry is usually accompanied by parallel events that were occurring at the same time. Now, this is very tricky because its hard to remember exactly when the worry began, for example your HOCD worry was at its strongest at the point of your life where you were having relationship troubles, a lack of a relationship, a low sex drive, a porn addiction, puberty, etc...
- Try and learn from your spikes, do not get carried away by the fears that you face. Learn to identify your spikes and bunch them together in accordance to your related stress/worry/fear so you can become very familiar with them, how they make you feel, and most importantly how not to get carried away by them. This can be a step by step process, talk to a therapist if you find yourself struggling.
- OCD sufferers who have been in a constant worry loop for a long period of time will feel like there is a gap, like something is missing, an unusual feeling when their minds are not obsessing or worrying about a topic. then as you remember a worry (thankfully for OCD, this is instantaneous
!) you will feel normal again. But this is the complete opposite of healthy thinking! OCD has made you think that being worried and overworking your mind over trivial issues is a normal feeling! Think of a light switch in a dark room, why should you get used to the switch being off and constant darkness rather than flicking it on and seeing clearly.- As one worry/fear ceases or is overcome, your OCD will quickly try to dig up an old worry or latch on to any other new worry/fear it can conjure up using your vast mind and establish it as a primary worry, please be mindful of that!
I call OCD a beautiful illness because you can learn from it once you understand it. You still have a sound mind, you can reason logically. You are a rational person, any person going through uncontrollable stress will feel like he/she is going mad, but in the absence of the stress/fear/worry, clear thinking patterns will return.
I am not trying to cure your OCD but instead trying to give you a positive outlook on how to look at OCD. Not everyone with OCD might agree with me, some people might have more than one illness in conjunction with OCD, Your feedback and your thoughts are welcome
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