What does the OCD brain look like?

[Mental Fairy]

Snoring Dog

I feel I need to check in on your for some reason. I hope you are doing ok. I have signed up for an OCD course in January to learn about it more. Watch this space.

[snoringdog]

now i immediately think & redirect by telling myself

"everything bad about myself is either inborn or forced on me by my outside environment, so it is not under my control"

"everything good about myself is because of my true nature"

Snoring Dog, are you able to likewise redirect?

Hello Manny,
Good to contemplate, thanks.
(But I think I must have at least a couple of bad things that I should take responsibility for, no? )

I feel I need to check in on you for some reason. I hope you are doing ok. I have signed up for an OCD course in January to learn about it more. Watch this space.

Hello Mental Fairy,

Thanks, I was having a rough patch for a while, maybe a bit better now...

So much stupidity, pain, ugliness and evil in this world.
Sometimes it's impossible to ignore, and I spiral down. (If there were a God, I'd want to curse him to his face.) Intrusive and obsessive thoughts have been stronger too.
It feels like we're on a sinking ship, and everyone's still dancing and hitting the buffet but me. What am I missing here?

(BTW - I feel ashamed to admit this, since it's all in my head. Others here, like you, are struggling with real, tangible problems, sometimes horrifying in the telling).

So, OCD - I thought you'd said CBT....
CBT is helpful to me when I remember to use the ideas. Recognizing automatic negative thoughts and identifying core beliefs (that may be erroneous and lead to unhelpful reactions) is key to heading off a downward spiral.

OCD is something that I'm beginning to recognize in myself.
It's not an overwhelming problem, and I'm more "O" than "C" I think.
I do need to learn more about it. Seems pretty common.

On a lighter note, what's a nice OCD fruit? - The pomegranate!
Once I start on one, I can't stop. I'm obsessed with finding the best way to peel and to crack open another section without squashing any of the juicy kernels.
And then compelled to go after each of the latest kernels that I've loosened up.

And it's hard to think of anything else when you're eating one.

[manuel_moe_g]

Hello SnoringDog!

(But I think I must have at least a couple of bad things that I should take responsibility for, no?

Well, depends on if that serves you. I am trying to overcome my inborn nature and my parents' programming that told me "everything good that Manuel does is caused by something out of Manuel's control, everything bad that Manuel does is caused by Manuel's choice because of Manuel's bad true nature". I know that the exact opposite is not logically true, but I am trying on a belief that will serve me well now.

If there were a God, I'd want to curse him to his face.

yes, and if there is a hell i want to go there forever, to be as far away from god as possible. my presence near such a terrible god would only ennoble him, and he is a worthless bastard

please take care, SnoringDog, you are simply the best, so glad you are here!

[rivergirl]

"Heaven for the climate, hell for the company" -- Mark Twain

My idea of hell is spending eternity with megachurch preachers and some of my more fundamentalist relatives, and their version of God.

I'm glad you're taking the OCD course, snoringdog. Please take care of yourself.

[snoringdog]

Found the "OCD For Dummies" book in the local library the other day, and it's worth a look.
Serious but approachable wide-ranging coverage of the topic, and various treatments.

I only have what I think are slight tendencies, that's why I picked it up.
Probably the most is unwarranted or unwanted thoughts, and negative appraisals of past interactions ("I should've done or said something else", "What do they think of me", "What an idiot I was", etc) followed by a (learned?) head shake or twitch to counter or dispel it.

I'm sure this goes back to my religious days when thoughts were deemed sinful or wrong.

Just need to let them float on by...

[Mental Fairy]

As my yoga guru says, let thoughts become clouds and allow them to float by.
Currently in a windless storm currently!