Michael33
05-10-2014, 01:02 AM
Hey guys, I thought I should just share this little piece of info. that my psychologist once told me to help me understand what I was going through.
Anyhow, there are many types of Pure OCD as you could call it, the many different forms usually revolve around fear of harming yourself or loved ones/others, existential based OCD among other things - a whole variety of intrusive scary thoughts that often accompany, or spark very strange and uncomfortable/scary anxious or unexplainable feelings.
I understood that these thoughts were a condition, an anxiety problem and something that wasn't going to hurt me as I thought it would. But I always found it so difficult to understand why I was having the thoughts, why I couldn't just switch them off. The key is, all these thoughts are just phantom fears, you lead yourself to believe they exist and it puts your brain in danger mode - as a result you do certain things, whether physically or mentally, to try and ease or understand the anxiety. At the end of the day, there's nothing to understand - it's all crap, it's all a bunch of negative and scary things you imagined in your brain to help attach some type of understanding to the horrible and awful feelings you felt, where really there was nothing to understand, there is no grand background to this, aka it doesn't mean f all.
So now I'll share my psychologists comparison, hoping it will help some people here in the early scary stages exactly how stupid and irrational the whole thing is.
This is the example she gave me: When some of us were kids, we were told that the boogeyman exists. We were told he lives in your closet and he's some type of scary monster that comes out at night. As a result, if you made yourself believe that the boogeyman was real (similar to making yourself belief that these stupid thoughts have anymore validity then the damn boogeyman), it's natural that you'll be scared of the boogeyman - you'll be anxious, scared. You'll do certain things to protect yourself from the boogeyman, it's said you should keep your closet closed or have red sheets on the bed to keep him away - chances are you would do this to avoid the boogeyman, the same way people with typical OCD will wash their hands, or people with Pure O will argue with their thoughts, wonder why they exist. At the end of it all, someone tells you the boogeyman doesn't exist, you have to face your fear. You learn that the thoughts are non existent and false/irrational worries, which is when you have to teach yourself that he doesn't exist. You have to open the closet knowing the boogeyman might be there, you accept the false sense of uncertainty that you've created, but you still take out your clothes to get ready for school - the same way you have to let the thoughts consume your mind but dont respond, dont fear them, keep doing what you're doing. Eventually, you, your brain, your subconscious, every part of you knows the boogeyman doesn't exist and it was all bullshit. Same thing with PureO, hope I've helped put it into perspective.
Sorry for length and the childish comparisons, I thought I had to post this because it helped me put it into perspective so much better to help me in recovering, but moreso it gave it a much less serious and depressing view on what I was going through.
Anyhow, there are many types of Pure OCD as you could call it, the many different forms usually revolve around fear of harming yourself or loved ones/others, existential based OCD among other things - a whole variety of intrusive scary thoughts that often accompany, or spark very strange and uncomfortable/scary anxious or unexplainable feelings.
I understood that these thoughts were a condition, an anxiety problem and something that wasn't going to hurt me as I thought it would. But I always found it so difficult to understand why I was having the thoughts, why I couldn't just switch them off. The key is, all these thoughts are just phantom fears, you lead yourself to believe they exist and it puts your brain in danger mode - as a result you do certain things, whether physically or mentally, to try and ease or understand the anxiety. At the end of the day, there's nothing to understand - it's all crap, it's all a bunch of negative and scary things you imagined in your brain to help attach some type of understanding to the horrible and awful feelings you felt, where really there was nothing to understand, there is no grand background to this, aka it doesn't mean f all.
So now I'll share my psychologists comparison, hoping it will help some people here in the early scary stages exactly how stupid and irrational the whole thing is.
This is the example she gave me: When some of us were kids, we were told that the boogeyman exists. We were told he lives in your closet and he's some type of scary monster that comes out at night. As a result, if you made yourself believe that the boogeyman was real (similar to making yourself belief that these stupid thoughts have anymore validity then the damn boogeyman), it's natural that you'll be scared of the boogeyman - you'll be anxious, scared. You'll do certain things to protect yourself from the boogeyman, it's said you should keep your closet closed or have red sheets on the bed to keep him away - chances are you would do this to avoid the boogeyman, the same way people with typical OCD will wash their hands, or people with Pure O will argue with their thoughts, wonder why they exist. At the end of it all, someone tells you the boogeyman doesn't exist, you have to face your fear. You learn that the thoughts are non existent and false/irrational worries, which is when you have to teach yourself that he doesn't exist. You have to open the closet knowing the boogeyman might be there, you accept the false sense of uncertainty that you've created, but you still take out your clothes to get ready for school - the same way you have to let the thoughts consume your mind but dont respond, dont fear them, keep doing what you're doing. Eventually, you, your brain, your subconscious, every part of you knows the boogeyman doesn't exist and it was all bullshit. Same thing with PureO, hope I've helped put it into perspective.
Sorry for length and the childish comparisons, I thought I had to post this because it helped me put it into perspective so much better to help me in recovering, but moreso it gave it a much less serious and depressing view on what I was going through.