OCD Support Thread

Post Reply New Topic

I am so glad to hear that my posts have helped you in some way, DataB4. It is nice to see you. : ))

Edit- I neglected to mention that the information you share, has always been helpful and of interest to me, as well...

You don't have to thank me, Stampy, but, you are welcome. Thank you for the extensive support you have given to me. I was truly, in a bad way with my own anxiety/obsessive thinking, for several days, a couple weeks, even, and you and Ferris made me feel that I wasn't alone. You have been a great friend to me, and I value your friendship, immensely.

What I mean by breaking up the quotes into counterparts, is - I would quote the first sentence in your post, then respond to it, then quote the next bit, then respond to that, and so on. I hope I am making sense.

Thanks for explaining AGT. That's a nice thing to have as a special interest. I have watched, on a few occasions, and I have quite enjoyed the singing and a few other types of performances. How lovely that you are getting a custom AGT watch made! I hope you enjoy it, very much! : )

Thank you! I do enjoy the music forum, however, I rarely have enough time to spend there. At best, I may post a song or two, and listen to a couple of songs that others post, a few days out of the week. Apart from there, I have spent most of my WP time in this forum, and almost exclusively in this thread, for the past few days. If I may add - this adjustment is proving to be quite positive in terms of the degree of anxiety I have experienced, in comparison to just a few days, ago. Little adjustments such as this, can make a big difference.

edit - I just thought of this. A very nice man who I work with, has a son, who has Alopecia, and his son, recently, went to speak about it, at an event of some kind, and, the judge on AGT who has OCD, saw him speaking, and he, in turn, invited my colleague's son to see the show, live, and, just a few days, ago, he showed me some lovely photos taken of his son and the judge. I wonder if he was taped, and perhaps, you may have seen him. He is 9 years old, I believe. That would be a fun coincidence. : ))

Forgive me, as I have already addressed this^, twice, previously, but, I just recalled something. I mentioned that this is what I experience, verbatim, but, I think I had misunderstood, as I put it into a specific context, while initially, reading your description, and after re reading it, again, it has occured to me that you are describing the very same phenomenon/experience I had, and spoke of, within your 'Reading Between The Lines' thread. I had one incident, whereby, I became hyper vigilant, to an extreme (I think I referred to it as paranoid or delusional), and what my therapist told me, is that my mind went into a state referred to, as, 'splitting'. I could not, effectively, process information I had taken in or realized, about a particular event that had occurred at the time, as it was too much for me to bear, and I had just gone through a similar event, the chemicals and neurons in my brain were rapid-firing, I had distorted, exaggerated, and somewhat delusional thoughts, and according to my therapist, who I was seeing at the time, 'splitting' occurred as a protection mechanism against a full blown, psychotic break. A psychotic break would have been the next step, I think. After I learned this, I did some research that literally, described exactly, what I experienced (I am going to try to find it, if I can trace back my steps). Thankfully, it had been my Mom, who took the brunt of my very off-kilter responses, when she told me I was having completely, irrational responses to the things she had said to me. I had reacted in a way that was brought on by a completely different incident. The reason it was said, not to be a psychotic break was because, I was in my mind, and aware of what was happening, while it was taking place, and I was simply in hyper vigilance overdrive, or, perhaps paranoia, as the result of an extreme amount of anxiety. In my research, I found a piece about a woman who wound up in the hospital as the result of what the doctor there, described as splitting, due to exposure to an event that her mind couldn't accept, if I am recalling, correctly. It, also turned out that she had severe PTSD, which, I do have PTSD from the incident that caused my, aforementioned, mental experience. Please forgive my sloppy/rambling explanation.

Thank you for your advice. My intrusive paranoid thoughts usually come in "waves", so I can go a few months without having almost any, but I'll be worried about something else. Like for one month I'll get a whole bunch or paranoid thoughts, the next I'm worried about hallucinations, and the next I'm worried about negative symptoms like alogia, avolition, and anhedonia. I was so worried because I've never really had the "lack of insight" that it was a delusional thought before, which I'm definitely telling my psychologist about because I feel like I'm losing my insight. Thank you so much for your advice, though .

Thank you so much for considering me a friend! You don't have yo worry or post anything here that worries you- we all understand and support whatever you post here or anywhere else. You're definitely not alone- you're with about 18% of the population! (I think it's probably more, since a lot of people don't seek help at first- including myself).

Oh yeah, I've seen that too. I don't know any other way to do it than copying the part you want to quote, making a new post, clicking the quote icon (it should be with the bolded/italic icons, I think), and pasting the part you want to quote. There's probably a much simpler way, though- I just don't know it yet .

Thank you! I love watching AGT, and I watch the episodes and acts over and over because they are great! My favorite act this year is a group called The Masqueraders- they are singers and can harmonize really well! I can't wait for my watch, because then when I go to school I can have AGT with me all the time !

That's great! I'm glad you are still enjoying the music forum but also having a more positive experience here. If I post anything that bothers you, than feel free to ask and I will edit it. I know some things posted on here have bothered me (the one about me having schizophrenia), so don't feel rude or intrusive asking me to get rid of any post . Also, feel free to not share anything here that will cause you anxiety. I haven't posted my OCD "journey" here yet since it would take a long time and I feel it would be bad for my health at the moment. So basically, you're not alone with not posting things that bother you !

Which judge was it? Was it Howie Mandel (the bald one)? He has OCD too! I've read his book Don't Touch Me and he is my favorite judge on the show. That's so amazing how your coworkers son got to meet him- that must have been so cool! I don't know if I saw him, but I missed part of AGT before because we were late getting back from eating dinner, so he may have been on the show! When I get home I will go back and see, since it won't let me rewatch episodes here at the beach.

I hope you are having a good day/night/rest!

^Good Morning/Day/Evening, SSF ~

Thank you for your response, and all the nice information, your thoughtful, caring and considerate offer to delete anything that could be bothersome to me. I appreciate knowing that you would do that for me/anyone! I would do the same, and always try to consider how my own words/explanations and so on, could effect another person, or a person's experience. I will let you know, SSF. I normally, rely on myself and some coping mechanisms I've put in place for myself, but your kindness and empathy touches me. It is so helpful to know that you understand that it might take me some time to write of my own OCD (or other) experience, and it's ok to wait until the time is right, instead of focusing on it when it could make some difficulties worse.

Indeed, he is in fact, the judge in the photos/'the bald judge' (my colleague's son is now bald, as well, as the result of Alopecia, and he wants to spread awareness, so, he speaks at his elementary school and other schools and events and so-forth). It would seem that Howie Mendel is having a positive impact on many people who experience OCD. I am going to read about his symptoms. Perhaps, I might read his book. Thanks for mentioning it. Speaking of OCD books, my sister gave me a very good one, and I utilize it, as needed. I wonder if you have heard of it. The title is: Freedom From Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - A Personal Recovery Program For Living With Uncertainty, by Johnathan Grayson, PHD. It has helped me quite a bit, with both, OCD and anxiety.

Indeed, my day is off to a good start. Thank you!
I hope you are having a good day/evening/rest, too ! : )

Thank you for getting what I mean. It's completely okay to not post things that make us uncomfortable or anxious. This thread is more for support if you are having a hard time, just to know you have some friends to talk to .

Wow, that's pretty cool! I'm glad your coworkers son is spreading awarenesses- it's something that isn't talked about a whole lot. I didnt even know what alopecia was until about a year ago, because my favorite YouTuber's friend's brother has it as well. Howie Mandel mostly experiences a fear of germs. In a way, we both have the same type of OCD because it's both forms of hypochondria. That's also why he shaves his head (he says it feels cleaner for him, which is great!). He is kind of like my hero, since I love AGT and he has OCD (which I also have) and ADHD (have traits of). Those sound like good books- I'll check them out!

Thank you- today has been much better for me so far. I'm glad it's been good for you as well!

Is this the day Ferris has guests over? I haven't seen him today. I hope everything is going alright .

Yes, it is. And, tomorrow he will be seeing his therapist : )

Do you miss him? I happen to. I miss another friend, as well, and it's making me a bit melancholy. Ok, I'll buck up, now. I, too, hope everything is going well : )

So glad to hear this^. Thank you, SSF !

I do miss talking to him . I hope his meeting with his therapist goes well! Thanks for telling me- I was a little worried!

You're welcome. He mentioned it a couple pages, <--back, I think... : )

Last edited by Britte on 17 Aug 2017, 4:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yey! I survived. It wasn't that bad at all.

So much to catch on here , I will try to reply as soon as I can

So happy to see you. So glad it wasn't bad. : )

edit - take all the time you need... !

Yeah I need to my CBT homework before tomorrow but I'd rather be posting here

I know how that is! We will be here when you are able to return.