Rsspro18
05-16-2004, 11:55 AM
I suffer from mostly mental compulsions, but sometimes certain repeating actions will combine with them. For example, things that have to be "taken back" if I have a bad thought when I think or do something. Sometimes just changing the thought is enough, but other times it gets tied in with actions, for example picking up a bag or magazine, if when I pick it up I have a bad thought I will have to put it down and pick it up again, maybe several times in an attempt to eliminate the bad thought or "take it back". Same thing with walking in and out of doors, or even posting messags like this! :) Doing the thought changing just seems to make the whole cycle worse. I'm doing CBT for it, and it's a constant thing to be aware of and work on. Sound familiar to anyone?
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percan
05-16-2004, 05:41 PM
I suffer from mostly mental compulsions, but sometimes certain repeating actions will combine with them. For example, things that have to be "taken back" if I have a bad thought when I think or do something. Sometimes just changing the thought is enough, but other times it gets tied in with actions, for example picking up a bag or magazine, if when I pick it up I have a bad thought I will have to put it down and pick it up again, maybe several times in an attempt to eliminate the bad thought or "take it back". Same thing with walking in and out of doors, or even posting messags like this! :) Doing the thought changing just seems to make the whole cycle worse. I'm doing CBT for it, and it's a constant thing to be aware of and work on. Sound familiar to anyone?
Oh My God! Yes! I thought I was ONLY one with this one! The only way to get over this is to force yourself to not redo the action. I had it bad some years ago, but with practice it does go away.
Percan
Oh My God! Yes! I thought I was ONLY one with this one! The only way to get over this is to force yourself to not redo the action. I had it bad some years ago, but with practice it does go away.
Percan
brainchild
05-17-2004, 06:55 PM
I do this all the time!! it goes through phases of getting better and then getting worse again. but its really really annoying!! i understan how you feel!!
LOANOFFICER
05-17-2004, 08:36 PM
Hi, Yes I do have mental compulsions. Refer to my post of thoughts, thoughts and more thoughts. OCD is forever changing gears with me. I use to be a checker, a hand washer, counting etc. Now the biggest challenge is the mental compulsions and fear of paper touching my feet. Get that one! But I am on medication. Are you? I also think going through menopause I have noticed more wierd things going on in my mind! I just can't win!
Rsspro18
05-18-2004, 10:06 AM
Thank you all for responding. It is definitley comforting to here others who have gone or still go through this also. I'm working hard on it, but it's tough. It does go through periods of being very tough and than sometimes it's not as bad, but I guess that's normal (atleast for OCD). It's frustrating, but I guess treating it like any other compulsion is the way to go.
The only way to get over this is to force yourself to not redo the action.
I definitley have to agree with that statement! Also, I'd like to add to that it's as important not to change the thought too! The cycle gets worse for me it seems the more I do repeat the actions or change the thoughts. The fear, anxiety, and doubting gets worse when you don't do the compulsion, but that will pass and atleast its worth it because it will eventually help and has long term gains, while the other one just leads down the same path and to the same cycle. It's tough to work on, but I'm doing it every day, some days are easier than others, but you/we/I gotta keep the faith. I know it'll get better with treatment, soon enough.
The only way to get over this is to force yourself to not redo the action.
I definitley have to agree with that statement! Also, I'd like to add to that it's as important not to change the thought too! The cycle gets worse for me it seems the more I do repeat the actions or change the thoughts. The fear, anxiety, and doubting gets worse when you don't do the compulsion, but that will pass and atleast its worth it because it will eventually help and has long term gains, while the other one just leads down the same path and to the same cycle. It's tough to work on, but I'm doing it every day, some days are easier than others, but you/we/I gotta keep the faith. I know it'll get better with treatment, soon enough.
xpurityx
05-19-2004, 02:07 AM
I do the same thing all the time. About ninety percent of the things that go through my head are negative so I do a lot of flipping light switches on and off and what not. It's terrible. But I am determined to one day defeat it.
percan
05-19-2004, 01:31 PM
I suffer from mostly mental compulsions, but sometimes certain repeating actions will combine with them. For example, things that have to be "taken back" if I have a bad thought when I think or do something. Sometimes just changing the thought is enough, but other times it gets tied in with actions, for example picking up a bag or magazine, if when I pick it up I have a bad thought I will have to put it down and pick it up again, maybe several times in an attempt to eliminate the bad thought or "take it back". Same thing with walking in and out of doors, or even posting messags like this! :) Doing the thought changing just seems to make the whole cycle worse. I'm doing CBT for it, and it's a constant thing to be aware of and work on. Sound familiar to anyone?
I wanted to mention one other thing about this. During the year I had this one with the thoughts and actions (like another poster said, OCD continually changes its manifestations) not only did I associate it with going in and out of doors, buildings (if I had a bad thought while doing it I'd have to go back in and out thinking a GOOD thought), but I also associated it with time. In particular, as New Year's Eve was coming up, I wanted to make sure that I had a GOOD thought at 12 midnight. Well of course the more you tell yourself NOT to think about something, the more you will. So when midnight rolled around, despite my best intentions, the bad thought entered my head. But it was the one thing I could not redo! Unless I was going to drive to a different time zone!! So since I couldn't redo it, the going in and out of doors etc. lost their power. So I guess if you could intentionally do something similar, where you absolutely cannot redo the action, it might help.
Percan
I wanted to mention one other thing about this. During the year I had this one with the thoughts and actions (like another poster said, OCD continually changes its manifestations) not only did I associate it with going in and out of doors, buildings (if I had a bad thought while doing it I'd have to go back in and out thinking a GOOD thought), but I also associated it with time. In particular, as New Year's Eve was coming up, I wanted to make sure that I had a GOOD thought at 12 midnight. Well of course the more you tell yourself NOT to think about something, the more you will. So when midnight rolled around, despite my best intentions, the bad thought entered my head. But it was the one thing I could not redo! Unless I was going to drive to a different time zone!! So since I couldn't redo it, the going in and out of doors etc. lost their power. So I guess if you could intentionally do something similar, where you absolutely cannot redo the action, it might help.
Percan
Rsspro18
06-05-2004, 09:46 AM
Thank you guys so much for responding. Those are exactly the types of things I suffer from. I get the one with time sometimes too!! It actually effects me around New Years as well, trying to have the perfect thought at that time. Rarely worked out right and I'm still here! I have done some similar things, like throwing something away by flushing it down the toilet so I can't get it back, etc. I guess it's a form of exposure therapy. You can't do it with everything, but it works sometimes. Also, the following advice has helped me tremendously and others with mental compulsions might want to try some of this.
The most important thing when tackling this problem is to break the cycle of
having an obsessional thought and ‘putting it right’ with another thought, ie
neutralising. Here are some tips!
* Don’t try and get rid of the obsessional thought, just accept it. We all
have odd thoughts at times. Think to yourself that it’s just an odd
thought, it doesn’t mean anything, it doesn’t mean you are a bad
person.
* Do not neutralise to put the thought right - break that cycle.
* Things to keep in mind that you can try that will help the situation
- recognise that this is only a thought, it is only so upsetting if I give it too
much importance. The more frightened of it I am the more it will come
to mind;
- stop trying to put the thought out of my mind - just let it fade - don’t
be afraid of it;
- never ‘put the thought right‘ by ‘neutralising‘ (that is saying in your
head a compulsive thought or opposite thought) this will just strengthen the cycle.
* Remember trying not to think a thought will not help this, and can just
have the opposite effect. Test this out - now try not to think of a blue giraffe! As you can see for yourself this just brings the thought of a blue giraffe to mind! The same goes for your intrusive thoughts. Trying not to
think of them may well bring them into your mind.
Good luck everyone! I'm still dealing with this everyday, and it's still distressing, but gotta keep working on it.
"you never fail until you stop trying."
The most important thing when tackling this problem is to break the cycle of
having an obsessional thought and ‘putting it right’ with another thought, ie
neutralising. Here are some tips!
* Don’t try and get rid of the obsessional thought, just accept it. We all
have odd thoughts at times. Think to yourself that it’s just an odd
thought, it doesn’t mean anything, it doesn’t mean you are a bad
person.
* Do not neutralise to put the thought right - break that cycle.
* Things to keep in mind that you can try that will help the situation
- recognise that this is only a thought, it is only so upsetting if I give it too
much importance. The more frightened of it I am the more it will come
to mind;
- stop trying to put the thought out of my mind - just let it fade - don’t
be afraid of it;
- never ‘put the thought right‘ by ‘neutralising‘ (that is saying in your
head a compulsive thought or opposite thought) this will just strengthen the cycle.
* Remember trying not to think a thought will not help this, and can just
have the opposite effect. Test this out - now try not to think of a blue giraffe! As you can see for yourself this just brings the thought of a blue giraffe to mind! The same goes for your intrusive thoughts. Trying not to
think of them may well bring them into your mind.
Good luck everyone! I'm still dealing with this everyday, and it's still distressing, but gotta keep working on it.
"you never fail until you stop trying."
daftthing
06-16-2004, 04:39 PM
Mental compulsions are probably my worst type of compulsion. Sometimes I see a number plate and have to learn it, walk past the car and recite it in my mind a certain number of times, and sometimes only if it has "good" letters in it etc ....... so many odd things like that!