OCD suffering tropers, assemble!

Thanks.

Anyway, mine has never been to severe, except for the occasional flare-up. Normally, it goes in waves where there will be roughly six months where it gets pretty bad and six months of it being virtually gone.

Mine depends on the action. Cleaning is waves and writing is damn near constant. Task work is a occasional flare up

Mine has two modes, essentially. It's either dominated by my main obsession, or it switches over to the floaters. I was in a surprisingly long period of the little stuff, before my major focus was moved back to the front burner. I've found that the longer I've had it, the more ways it's adapted. Don't be surprised if it becomes unpredictable.

edited 24th Aug '15 10:36:59 PM by SpaceWolf

The obsession changes for me, usually one per flare-up.

(Apologies for the double post)

I've noticed recently that I'm happy as long as me and/or my mind is given something, anything to do. If I'm just left to my thoughts, the void tends to be filled by either my current Asperger's-induced obsession or intrusive thoughts.

My overall mood depends on which one it is.

(Triple post but I feel the need to talk about it)

Ugh. I've got a new obsession and it's really not fun considering the fact that I spend most of my free time on the Internet: computer viruses and malware.

I can understand the fear and paranoia regarding those. Even some of the safer websites aren't safe if someone wants to be a dickhead...

What's making it worse is that it all started while I went briefly to a...definitely quite sketchy site about a month ago. Even though it turned out to be alright in the end (Malwarebytes busted anything bad that came out of it, if it was even related at all) but ever since I've been kinda freaked out about it.

Has anybody found an effective way to deal with everything?

No

Bleh.

I hate how every time I feel a little sick I start to wonder if I have something terrible.

Hypochondria is on the OC spectrum, so it's understandable to get traits of it.

(Copied from Insecurity, Sadness, Anxiety, and Such Matters II) Hey guys, I've started ERP with a therapist for dealing with my HOCD, but it's pretty tough with all the stress it heightens. If anyone has any tips on getting through it, that would be greatly appreciated. Otherwise, just getting your thoughts/prayers/etc. would be equally appreciated as well.

Remind me of what ERP is, please. My therapist was crappy as hell, and I only ended up on medication that didn't work, and I was never subjected to any particular strategy to cull the thoughts. So, I've been forced to deal with it in silence, for a long-ass time.

edited 8th Dec '15 11:47:21 PM by SpaceWolf

ERP stands for exposure response prevention. It's pretty much exactly what it sounds like; you expose yourself to whatever anxiety sets off the compulsions, only you're actively preventing yourself from responding in any way.

The idea is to get used to experiencing the anxiety without indulging it, since the main force behind OCD is the enormous ruts the compulsions drive your thinking into. It's an effective treatment, but it can be especially difficult with primarily mental compulsions, because you're wrangling back your brain's natural inclinations, and starting out, you aren't always aware of what all of your responses are, so preventing them is difficult.

My therapist's suggestion for starting ERP was to find a phrase to focus on for five minutes. Something small, but that still causes enough distress that you notice. You also want to keep a look out for the practice of the therapy itself turning into a compulsive routine—which can happen.

I'm not sure if I've really done enough to know what I'm talking about as far as advice goes, but one thing that's helped me is the reminder that anxiety is the goal when you're undergoing ERP. OCD turns anxiety into The Worst Possible Thing, and that's how the compulsions work their way in. Remembering that you're trying to hang on to anxiety can give you a bit more control of your head, since it can get you to regard compulsions as the obstacles they are instead of coping mechanisms.

I don't know if I can do that. I've got POCD, and my main focus is extremely screwed-up. Hell, even the outliers are bad. Also, my triggers make virtually no sense. If the subject is outwardly thrust upon me, I enter an inescapable cycle. However, if I watch a show or play a game with the subject, I'm more often okay, so long as I already knew what the subject was going to be.

The key is finding something that freaks the OCD out, but not so badly that it throws you into the deep end of the hole. That's usually where a therapist can help out. You absolutely do not start with the big things, otherwise you're just overwhelming yourself for no purpose.

ERP is the big guns, though. There's a lot you can do with basic CBT, and that's usually where to start.

Well, I'd have to find a new therapist, then. The problem is that I'm finalizing a move, and I don't yet have a job. The crappy therapist was on a college campus that no longer attend.

Intrusive thoughts are back, yaaayyy...

From what you described in Insecurities, it seems that you have a similar type of obsession to mine.

That and your standard irrational fear stuff.

One of the main reasons why I don't discuss mine in any detail, is that it could get me banned from the site. Suffice to say, it's fucked.

edited 17th Dec '15 11:33:18 AM by SpaceWolf

I don't really feel like going into detail on mine either, they're fairly tame by OCD standards but still extremely unnerving.

Randomdude4 shared this guy's videos in Insecurities, so I figured that I'd add them to this thread. I haven't yet watched them, and I don't know what to expect.