QZZ
12-17-2007, 06:48 PM
Okay, I feel an attack coming on.
I was sitting down after work and the TV was on, but the sound was off. I saw a bed with straps and was like, "what is this, something they use for the death penalty?" So I turned the sound up (knowing full well this may cause a flair up) but I just HAD TO KNOW. So, of course it was what I thought. Something for lethal injection. It was a freaky looking thing and the walls looked dirty and weird... so I was like great...here we go!!
THEN
They showed this picture of the guy who raped and killed the little girl that spawned Megans law.
The picture of him instantly got burned into my OCD MEMORY.... He had a weird serial killer looking hair cut with his hair parted and freaky looking expression on his face. it was like a prison mug shot with the orange jump suit and all.
SO, now I cant get this out of my mind. I am now fixated on this guys face.
The obsession I had yesterday (that I was doing well with) is now a distant memory and this is now my new one.
I am now imagining all kinds of weird scenarios with this guy now and it is freaking me out.
I am doing my best to do my CBT and all that good stuff, but this just happened 30 min ago and it is still fresh in my mind.
I wish I could watch and see things that are upsetting and 2 seconds later forget about it like everyone else, instead of fixating on it like this.
I am doing some rituals in my mind, but trying not to.... like when I imagine the weird stuff, I have to think of something good, etc...
Anyone else get weirded out by seeing these people? or think that way, when they do?
I was sitting down after work and the TV was on, but the sound was off. I saw a bed with straps and was like, "what is this, something they use for the death penalty?" So I turned the sound up (knowing full well this may cause a flair up) but I just HAD TO KNOW. So, of course it was what I thought. Something for lethal injection. It was a freaky looking thing and the walls looked dirty and weird... so I was like great...here we go!!
THEN
They showed this picture of the guy who raped and killed the little girl that spawned Megans law.
The picture of him instantly got burned into my OCD MEMORY.... He had a weird serial killer looking hair cut with his hair parted and freaky looking expression on his face. it was like a prison mug shot with the orange jump suit and all.
SO, now I cant get this out of my mind. I am now fixated on this guys face.
The obsession I had yesterday (that I was doing well with) is now a distant memory and this is now my new one.
I am now imagining all kinds of weird scenarios with this guy now and it is freaking me out.
I am doing my best to do my CBT and all that good stuff, but this just happened 30 min ago and it is still fresh in my mind.
I wish I could watch and see things that are upsetting and 2 seconds later forget about it like everyone else, instead of fixating on it like this.
I am doing some rituals in my mind, but trying not to.... like when I imagine the weird stuff, I have to think of something good, etc...
Anyone else get weirded out by seeing these people? or think that way, when they do?
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purplegirl1
12-17-2007, 08:42 PM
This type of stuff happens to me. I tend to obsess over money. If I see something about people having kids and having a house and extra cash, I obsess about it and it is stuck in my head. Or, If I hear about something in the news, like someone dead or hurt - it sticks with me too....All of my obsessions are replaced by another one!!!! You are not alone!
purplegirl1
12-17-2007, 08:42 PM
This type of stuff happens to me. I tend to obsess over money. If I see something about people having kids and having a house and extra cash, I obsess about it and it is stuck in my head. Or, If I hear about something in the news, like someone dead or hurt - it sticks with me too....All of my obsessions are replaced by another one!!!! You are not alone!
BadMalibu
12-18-2007, 02:17 AM
Qzz-
Like purplegirls says, one obsession sometimes becomes replaced with another one, but you can't avoid intrusive thoughts by avoiding the television.
I have a very simliar problem with the tv, as I'm sure alot of us on the board do. We avoid the tv because if we do that or change the channel right away, we'll be spared seeing all the bad stuff on the 11:00pm news, which in turn helps prevent us from having an OCD moment. The only problem is you'll eventually start to find something bad in anything you watch, even if it's Barney. If you really think about it, it's hard in todays day and age to avoid bad stuff because everywhere we look, we see violence, pornography, degredation of women, so forth and so on. The whole key is not to avoid the tv and practice exposure thearpy for a small amount at a time.
Basically the way exposure therapy works is you expose yourself to the situation you're most afraid of for a very small amount of time to begin with, then gradually increase the time as you go along. The same principle that works for exposure therapy is the same one for systematic desensitization, or when a Psychologist wants to help someone conquer a phobia.
For me, whenever I see something on the tv like a graphic movie, I'll just tell myself, "it's just a movie, and it's not real." If it's the news, I'll just say, "that's too bad, and my prayers go out to the family." If it's something like you watched that has to do with a murdere, I'll say to myself, "I'm glad I'm me and I'm normal." That's all I do and it works pretty well.:D
Like purplegirls says, one obsession sometimes becomes replaced with another one, but you can't avoid intrusive thoughts by avoiding the television.
I have a very simliar problem with the tv, as I'm sure alot of us on the board do. We avoid the tv because if we do that or change the channel right away, we'll be spared seeing all the bad stuff on the 11:00pm news, which in turn helps prevent us from having an OCD moment. The only problem is you'll eventually start to find something bad in anything you watch, even if it's Barney. If you really think about it, it's hard in todays day and age to avoid bad stuff because everywhere we look, we see violence, pornography, degredation of women, so forth and so on. The whole key is not to avoid the tv and practice exposure thearpy for a small amount at a time.
Basically the way exposure therapy works is you expose yourself to the situation you're most afraid of for a very small amount of time to begin with, then gradually increase the time as you go along. The same principle that works for exposure therapy is the same one for systematic desensitization, or when a Psychologist wants to help someone conquer a phobia.
For me, whenever I see something on the tv like a graphic movie, I'll just tell myself, "it's just a movie, and it's not real." If it's the news, I'll just say, "that's too bad, and my prayers go out to the family." If it's something like you watched that has to do with a murdere, I'll say to myself, "I'm glad I'm me and I'm normal." That's all I do and it works pretty well.:D