How do you guys know what thought is intrusive and which isnt? How do you differentiate between the two. I feel thats my biggest struggle. Some thoughts i feel i think intentionally but then I ruminate on them and think is this true which makes me question if they are intrusive.
I just read a book on this and it said that people without OCD think a thought and that’s that never to be brought us again however people who suffer form intrusive thoughts continue to dwell on the meaning of that thought then end of obsessing over it.
You can tell that by the feeling of urgency - you have to fix something immediately, you have to know by NOW and so on. Read Needing to know for sure (Winston and Seif) where there is very good explanations of intrusive thoughts and their checkmarks.
@Estrid yes exactly. OCD thoughts “stick” and cannot accept IDK as an answer
@Estrid Thanks!!
@Estrid I just ordered the book hopefully it helps
@bekind94 😊👍I hope so too! I have read at least 20 OCD books, and this one has helped me the most. Wishing you the best!
@Estrid Thank you!
I appreciate this question!! I can’t stop with my intrusive thoughts and at times it’s unclear why i’m having them so much!
@AndyBoo22! I just don’t know which thoughts are intrusive or not at times. It gets confusing
I think most thoughts are intrusive, people who don’t suffer from OCD get intrusive thoughts. I think a good way to think about it is, if you look at a tree and think “I wonder how old that is” that’s just a thought. If you’re sitting doing homework and you start thinking, “The universe is so big” that’s an intrusive thought. If the thought has nothing to do with your present moment, I would consider it intrusive.
I think you can tell easily but obviously long enough it will start feel like it’s you who’s having these thoughts but that’s still ocd disguising as your own voice or thoughts. It’s a tough disorder forsure.
Does anyone recall a time where intrusive thoughts didnt bother you then all of a sudden they bothered you and you couldn’t tell the difference between your memories and intrusive thoughts.
How do y’all deal with I’m going to intrusive thoughts? I’m struggling!
I am having what feels like a million different thoughts/images a day. Does any one else experience multiple thoughts a day? If I could guess, I could have maybe up to 50 different thoughts a day. So now i fear if these are even intrusive thoughts. I don’t want any part of the thoughts but having so many a day is concerning to me.
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