certain images or sounds that make you go "crazy"

daftthing

I can't touch certain materials like leather or chamois etc, simply because the feeling really gets to me. It makes me anxious ...... and I don't know why.

GatsbyLuvr1920

Anything relating to teeth or the dentist, whether it be pictures of teeth or even reading that somebody has to go to the dentist...
-GatsbyLuvr1920-

__________________
"Not everything that steps out of line, and thus 'abnormal,' must necessarily be 'inferior.'"
-Hans Asperger

BadMalibu

Hughley-

I don't think I would consider what you're describing to be OCD. I mean there are tons of things that we look at that will cause us to feel "mental" as you put it. I think the word that you might be looking for is anxious. I know that there are things I may look at that make me uncomfortable or anxious, but it doesn't mean I'm going to have an OCD moment about them.

Sometimes when we look at things it triggers memories that in the past have made us uncomfortable, and that in turn triggers anxiety. Most likely your brain might be saying, "hey! You remember what happened last time you touched that, so don't do it again!" For me personally, it's the sound of a fork scratching across the surface of a plate!! EWWWW!!!!

hughley

Yeah, it got me thinking what is this connected to? There has to be a reason, it can't be random. The only thing I can think of is that when I was younger, I kept having this reoccuring nightmare, it had images and this awful music in it, accompanying these two distinct and opposite animate "things," each one had its own dreadful music. I really don't know what they were though. Everytime I woke up and during the nightmare I would have the same exact feeling I have now when looking at certain things that give me this awful/anxious feeling that I described before. But that really doesn't explain anything, does it? Trying to find the logic in it...thinking if I can find the cause I can find the cure. Sometimes I just try to conquer the anxiety by constantly staring at it or replaying the image in my head, but that never works. It just makes me more uncomfortable. I get upset over it, too, because I feel defeated and there is this unknown thing that has this power over me and I don't want to happen again.

dannic1

In response to the question about certain noises being OCD, I have read where OCD people tend to "key into" certain noises more than others. For me, I have always disliked ticking clocks (an OCD specialist and I even discussed my dislike of them), squeaky swings and dripping water. When the refrigerator runs and I can hear it, it tends to bother as well.

danni

teacher2be

that describes me too. noises really bother me too. its like every noise is more noticeable to me than others maybe. huh this is strange, i had not really thought a whole lot about till reading this.

DesertRose1953

Hughley, you say you have tried to defuse this feeling by focusing on the image, but that this does not help. I believe this technique is called "flooding" and it does not always work, and does not work well for some people. In fact, I would not try to do it on my own, without a professional to help me with it. You can make yourself pretty seriously upset.

You might try the opposite tack, though. One technique that sometimes works for me is to simply say Stop! I say it out loud. I'll even say something like "Don't have time for this nonsense, brain, so quit it!" Or "I am paying no attention to myself at this moment." I know, sounds really stupid, but if I am not in a real panic mode, this actually does help me detach somewhat from what is going on in my head.

In general, I always find that talking to myself (out loud, of course) about what is going on to be helpful. The part of me that is NOT caught up in the OCD moment does running commentary on the part that is and it helps me not become entirely consumed by the OCD.

One instance in which living alone is an advantage! No one to hear me editorializing about myself...

hughley

Desert Rose,
I think that is a really good tip, to say "stop" out loud. I used to do this and it would help me snap out of whatever I was obsessively stuck in, especially when it comes to these things/images which I am trying to conquer and failing terribly. Your post reminded me that this does work, thanks! I don't live alone though and I do get self-conscious, but that's a small price to pay for relief.