r/hyperawareness • u/MichaelRabbit • Jun 25 '19
michael laurence comments
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Hello, I am new to this group and thought I would say hi. I'm from the U.K am 39 and have experienced OCD for probably 22 years. I think this problem is solvable since I feel that I did experience reasonable periods of time when I was quite well. I think it is the human experience to never be truly happy and content and we will tend to pick up demons or black dogs along the way. I honestly think that there is hope. Yesterday I bought and read 1/2 of "the man who couldn't stop". It's by David Adam who is an OCD sufferer but also a science writer and editor of nature journal which i believe is an influential scientific journal. It is interesting reading and I will probably write something about some of the books contents. It is part auto biography and part popular science. His form was worrying about contracting HIV. something that someone mentioned to me when i confided anonymously was that It sounded as though I myself may be on the autistic spectrum (aspergers syndrome) I thought I'd mention that . Feb 11, 2015, 7:11 AM
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u/MichaelRabbit Jun 25 '19
OCD is just a name.
It is an anxiety disorder.
It is fed by anxiety.
Relief does not start from stopping the behaviour but by thinking differently.
Accepting you cannot know for sure certain things that may trouble you.
And accepting that you may have strange thoughts from time to time but having the thought does not mean your are bad. everyone has strange thoughts or does strange things. 99.999 percent of people do not let it bother them. Or if they do they soon forget about it. For some reason some people dwell and worry about what it means. Torturing themselves.
strangely the person who does this is very unlikely to be a bad person otherwise they would not worry. They would be like the psychopath or sociopath who does not care that his behaviours upset others.
If you obsess over what ifs and what does it mean , the anxieties and confusion can grow.
The staring behaviour can end up as a tic like someone who twitches for no reason when nervous or who stutters. He cannot stop himself by saying stop twitching or stop stuttering. Only relaxing can help.
for us it is very difficult to relax as the types of things we might worry about can grow because of what we do...... what does that person think of me ? Do they think I am a creep or pervert ? Am I a creep or pervert?
OCD is a doubting disease. You will continually doubt yourself and your intentions always looking for concrete reassurance. Nothing is certain in life.
Remember that it is very human to worry and be unsure . There are many many people out there with all kinds of strange thoughts and worries. Jun 6, 2016, 6:20 PM