terrible OCD episode

[durda_dan]

last night i went to sleep rather early because i work super early today. and i woke up at about 4 in the morning, i'm not quite sure why i don't think i had a nightmare, but i still woke up, maybe because there was a thunderstorm. but anyway, i woke up and my girlfriend was asleep. anyway i looked at her when she was sleeping and BAM!!!!

"she's sleeping you should kill her now"
my heart was Booming, i was terrified, i curled up into the fetal possition and shook myself to sleep, i was so terrified. i woke up today and i still felt terrible.

i went to work and came back home. when i saw my girlfriend i busrt into tears, i cried in her hands telling her how scared i am.

 

[Nicholas]

That was an intrusive though. If you only have intrusive thoughts but you don't have compulsions, can you still say you have OCD? Maybe that has another technical name, but anyway, I'm not sure.
I have always had intrusive thoughts too, weird, yes, but they don't cause me problems most of the time. I think I might be used to intrusive thoughts, lol. However, some of them are too scary for me, and they give me a lot of anxiety. Just recently my mind came up with the most scary intrusive thought it could ever produce. So I've been very anxious lately... The scary thing is that they are visual intrusive thoughts, they can be detailed, sometimes along with painful bodily sensations. The worst thing I could ever think of.

But your most people who have intrusive thoughts here seem to have... normal intrusive thoughts, thoughts that don't seem that scary at all to me. Just think about your case: it's just a thought generated by anxiety (or depression), and it's not true, it's not real, it's just a fear, like a phobia... the fact you are scared by those thoughts means they are not real, and you are not crazy or a monster at all. You are just scared, anxious, depressed.
So after thinking of killing your gf, you can just realize that it's stupid, because you don't really want to do that, and you are just depressed and anxious, and so you get scary thoughts. You don't want to kill her, you love her, and after realizing that you can just smile and think "damn anxiety, I hope I can feel better soon", and that's it.

 

[getbornagain]

That was an intrusive though. If you only have intrusive thoughts but you don't have compulsions, can you still say you have OCD? Maybe that has another technical name, but anyway, I'm not sure.
I have always had intrusive thoughts too, weird, yes, but they don't cause me problems most of the time. I think I might be used to intrusive thoughts, lol. However, some of them are too scary for me, and they give me a lot of anxiety. Just recently my mind came up with the most scary intrusive thought it could ever produce. So I've been very anxious lately... The scary thing is that they are visual intrusive thoughts, they can be detailed, sometimes along with painful bodily sensations. The worst thing I could ever think of.

But your most people who have intrusive thoughts here seem to have... normal intrusive thoughts, thoughts that don't seem that scary at all to me. Just think about your case: it's just a thought generated by anxiety (or depression), and it's not true, it's not real, it's just a fear, like a phobia... the fact you are scared by those thoughts means they are not real, and you are not crazy or a monster at all. You are just scared, anxious, depressed.
So after thinking of killing your gf, you can just realize that it's stupid, because you don't really want to do that, and you are just depressed and anxious, and so you get scary thoughts. You don't want to kill her, you love her, and after realizing that you can just smile and think "damn anxiety, I hope I can feel better soon", and that's it.

Yes... that's called Pure O. We have established this many times already. Pure O consists of all mental rumination.

 

[Nicholas]

I just read this: OCD-UK: What is Pure 'O'?
but it seems there must be some form of compulsion or ritual anyway, it's just that it's all in your head. Do people who have pure O have compulsions then? I only have intrusive thoughts with no compulsions whatsoever... Right now I just try not to take them seriously and distract myself, for example going on doing what I wanted to do, or listening to some music, surfing the net, etc. Because I know that the more you let yourself be scared by them, the more powerful they become... Somebody once said that "we empower them", "they are powerful and they change our lives just because we give them that power ourselves". I am just trying to not give them power... I try to remember they mean nothing, and if I don't care they will go away by themselves. Which is true, but it's hard "not to care at all". But that's the way to go.

 

[getbornagain]

Yes. Pure O is characterized by an intrusive or unwanted thought followed by a mental compulsion (thought(s)) used to neutralize the intrusive. For example, people with blasphemous-OCD obsessions will say prayers in their head to neutralize the unwanted thoughts. Themes can be anything.... the universal trait is the uncontrollable, unwanted thoughts that create anxiety to the sufferer. And that the rumination is completely within the mind. It's impossible for an outsider to identify a Pure O-sufferer.

You obviously know how to handle the intrusive thoughts, probably because you don't have OCD. Maybe you do and you're winning the battle... Every human being who has ever lived gets stupid, irrational, intrusive thoughts but only the OCDers tend to dwell on them. The cause of this is thought to be a lack of serotonin in the brain.

Welcome to OCD 101 lol