Personal Development for Smart People Forums - View Single Post - How to Counter Bizarre/Obsessive Thinking

Big C · 03-02-2009, 10:16 PM

I used to have a very low self esteem and this in itself brought about anxiety. Through this anxiety developed ocd. With me i used to think if i didnt perform certain rituals a certain number of times my luck would run out or something bad would befall a loved one. This got pretty bad in my teens to the point of controling my life to an extent. The other thing was then i didnt understand why i felt i had to do these rituals, these being touching something a certain number of times, picking something up and putting it down a certain number of times etc. This went on for years. I used to tell myself next time i felt i had to do a certain act i would just ignore the urge, but this heightened the anxiety so it was a circle that needed to be broken. I actually read somewhere that no matter what you do you cant influence the future for good or bad and then realised the root of my problem was actually my own lack of self esteem. So i read up on becoming more positive and concentrated on positives instead of negatives, then when i felt the urge to carry out these rituals i decided i wouldnt do it, i would resist the urge, this was difficult as the anxiety rose. But i forced myself to ignore the anxiety and guess what? Each time i ignored the need to perform one of these rituals well nothing actually happened. The more i ignored the urge to carry them out the more the anxiety decreased. I realised i had created my own cycle by fuelling my own anxieties. Now i dont have this condition at all when i used to get negative thoughts that would increase the ocd i did a thought stopping technique, telling myself these thoughts were irrational and replacing them with rational thoughts. Looking back i cant believe how this condition used to control me, it actually makes living your life difficult, by facing up to the anxieties i had and confronting them they started to lessen. The bottom line is you cant influence the future at all, by believing you can as i did you become open to conditions like ocd which are based on irrational fears and anxieties. Its like overcoming a phobia beating it. I faced my anxiousness and beat it improving my self esteem, becoming more positive, and was chuffed i managed to do it alone.

03-02-2009, 10:16 PM	#3 (permalink)
Big C Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Manchester Posts: 35	I used to have a very low self esteem and this in itself brought about anxiety. Through this anxiety developed ocd. With me i used to think if i didnt perform certain rituals a certain number of times my luck would run out or something bad would befall a loved one. This got pretty bad in my teens to the point of controling my life to an extent. The other thing was then i didnt understand why i felt i had to do these rituals, these being touching something a certain number of times, picking something up and putting it down a certain number of times etc. This went on for years. I used to tell myself next time i felt i had to do a certain act i would just ignore the urge, but this heightened the anxiety so it was a circle that needed to be broken. I actually read somewhere that no matter what you do you cant influence the future for good or bad and then realised the root of my problem was actually my own lack of self esteem. So i read up on becoming more positive and concentrated on positives instead of negatives, then when i felt the urge to carry out these rituals i decided i wouldnt do it, i would resist the urge, this was difficult as the anxiety rose. But i forced myself to ignore the anxiety and guess what? Each time i ignored the need to perform one of these rituals well nothing actually happened. The more i ignored the urge to carry them out the more the anxiety decreased. I realised i had created my own cycle by fuelling my own anxieties. Now i dont have this condition at all when i used to get negative thoughts that would increase the ocd i did a thought stopping technique, telling myself these thoughts were irrational and replacing them with rational thoughts. Looking back i cant believe how this condition used to control me, it actually makes living your life difficult, by facing up to the anxieties i had and confronting them they started to lessen. The bottom line is you cant influence the future at all, by believing you can as i did you become open to conditions like ocd which are based on irrational fears and anxieties. Its like overcoming a phobia beating it. I faced my anxiousness and beat it improving my self esteem, becoming more positive, and was chuffed i managed to do it alone.