OCD FAQ: How do you identify OCD thoughts?
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- čas přidán 18. 05. 2014
- How do you identify OCD thoughts from real thoughts? Well, the answer is in the clouds.
Have more questions? Add them in the comments below or if you'd like a private response, send them through the contact form on my website: www.markfreeman.ca
the fact that anxiety cannot hurt me , helps me a lot
You just blew my mind
I cannot wait to get here!
Legit. So much comfort. They’re just thoughts.
Mark you're spot on. Ability to accept horrific intrusive thoughts without judgement is the most difficult part. What if I murder someone I love, what if I take drugs, what if I really want to do that..there are just so many what if's sometimes. How exactly do you practice accepting such thoughts without attaching meaning to it? I remember you said just treat your thoughts like clouds in the sky..thanks
This is what I struggle with also, I want to detach & not judge the thoughts but it is hard!
I have HOCD and I hope I can say who's here after there recovery 😭
I would say this is one of the most important videos for ocd. Because a lot of ocd has to do with “what is ocd and what is something I should think about”? To say that is the ocd will be a big eye-opener for many people.❤️
This is my life right now; constantly trying to find solutions. But then I just run into another problem to "fix." Omg I wish you were my therapist honestly. Thank you for these videos. They're helping until I can get help.
Yes this is my mind all the time my mind in the morning sucks after Noon sucks night can't even sleep HOCD hits hard
You honestly deserve millions of subscribers. You help so many people through their rough times. I'm saying it again, you are like god for us.
😁🙇🏻♂️ thank you for the kind words
@@everybodyhasabrain You're welcome!😊
Thanks for another great video Mark!
This is so helpful! Thank you for making it!
Very helpful video and here you are probably in the best shape of your life!
Your videos are so helpful and a wonderful resource to be able visit and revisit. Thank you for all you do Mark.
:)
Mark, very helpful info, thanks man!
You are amazing, thank you.
This is the first Mark Freeman video i ever watched. I remember having this fear about something a few months ago and i went on google and searched "how do i know if its an ocd thought" . Then i found the youtube link to this video, and ive been watching these videos ever since. Google can be really usefull sometimes haha
Omg, this video is incredible! Thank you!
You're welcome!
Thank you so much for these videos!
You're welcome!
Love your video Mark
Thanks!
So, this is the great thing my brain does, I have a thought, then I start to wonder if that was my OCD or if it was a thought from me, then in the process I get worried, and keep going over it and over it again.
Anyone else do that?
Sure, many people do that. That's why I made this video. Trying to judge and discriminate between thoughts is a compulsion. So it very naturally leads to more anxiety and more uncertainty and more doing it over and over again. It's useful to cut out that compulsion.
You are definitely not alone. This is one of the scariest things about my OCD. It drives me crazy, it makes me so confused about what I really feel.
@@everybodyhasabrain so what should we have to do with all thoughts and doubts please tell me
Same and then i’ll start to wonder which type of OCD or thought it was
@@everybodyhasabrain But what if it's actually a real thought that came from me and not an ocd thought
Jesus thank you so much. My psychiatrist suggested OCD and maybe ADHD. I’ve had panic disorder and anxiety my whole life, but ADHD is new to me & I’ve been obsessing about whether or not I actually have it. But my current medication is working so I should probably drop the obsession of finding the correct diagnosis!
And I suggest dropping any drugs as well
This is so true.
well as it was so intense, I've been figuring out what i need to do to realise its the compulsion making the obsession an obsession. And encouraging all the other symptoms.. Doesn't matter how many times its come back. I don't go into the process of wanting to search for the ocd thought par sei as its so confusing but really feel what you are saying here. i guess the urdge is all encompassing.
thank you for clarifying that, you're right! i was about to fall into this trap! trying to decide if its ocd is just trying to get reassurance.. its about getting a grip on not taking any notice of thoughts, regardless right :/
This was enlightening to me. I sometimes create situations ( actually the last two weeks) where I actually thought check.. that is what this type of situation you describe creates if you label one thought as OCD. You will continually see if you have had or anticipate having an OCD thought. It is a trap. It perpetuates the cycle.
Exactly.
@Creating my Identity Sorry, I don't understand your question
Thank you so much ♥You re saving my life
😁🙌
Thank you
You're amazing mark your videos helps me sooo much thank you !!!
Vanessa Carbajal Thanks, Vanessa! It's great you've found some helpful tools to use on your journey!
Mark thank you so much again ! Greetings 😊
@@everybodyhasabrain can you help me , I keep thinking of What if it is not OCD what if it is real
@@thesyrianrajiaswad2682 That's a compulsion that can create a lot of struggle and suffering!
@@everybodyhasabrain thanks bro
You are doing good job mark.....its really good to hear you...can you tell the effective of coping with depression in adolescents...one if my pt is very rigid and he is having comorbid social anxiety too...but he is having so much lethargy and tiredness....made him to continue with walk and putting some of physical activities in action plans but some of activities he likes to do and some of not. ..He is addicted of video games all the day he used computer and since last week he is doing bit good for 3 days after 3 days he again feeling back...I told it's a forth and back and normal...you try to push through behaviours..
but I want to know from you would you just any other intervention or skills with psychomotor retardation and lethargy..yes he is on antidepressants as well..
this one thing i tend to forget sometimes :)
Hi, I have a question, I’m trying to stop myself from doing compulsions but I’m struggling to stop myself from doing the ones that seem “automatic” for example, I deal with hocd and as soon as I see someone my age I immediately find myself checking if I’m attracted to them, or when my friends hug me, if I feel attraction towards them. do you have any advice on how I can stop doing this? It definitely affects my ability to enjoy my time with others. Thanks!
Hi Mark! This video was an eye opener for me, though honestly I would appreciate some advice because it brought to me a question! So from what I understand, anything (whether it'd be a thought, a memory, or feeling) that one mentally judges as "bad/evil/gross/etc." can jumpstart the obsessive + compulsive cycle.
In my case, I struggle a lot with black and white thinking, which impacts the way I experience emotions. This experience can quickly become very terrifying to me (i.e; the extreme anger I feel towards someone/something caused by black and white / "all or nothing" thinking is immediately followed by regret, self depreciation, and fear for the future/fear of me being destructive to the things/people I love.)
Radical acceptance is difficult for me but I've been working towards it as best as I can. In this case though, I feel like a lot of the thoughts that come with the extreme emotions are unhelpful and irrational. I want to reframe the way I experience my emotions so that they don't always jump to extreme unhelpful ends coupled with unhelpful thoughts, but I'm afraid of arguing / reasoning with them out of fear I'll fuel some compulsion. I'm not quite sure how to handle this. I just want to be able to experience emotions in a healthy manner and not be afraid of experiencing them. Do you have any advice?
I find it useful to approach the black- and-white thinking as the compulsion. The feelings that follow after are a natural result of sticking judgments on the world and confining it to narrow boxes. It's like how we might feel intense feelings in our face if we hit ourselves with frying pans. And we can practice radical acceptance with those feelings, but it's much more useful to stop hitting ourselves in the face with frying pans. So it could be useful to look at what fears you're trying to control by placing the world tiny labeled boxes. Instead of trying to get control over that, what would you like to give?
Interesting
This seems very difficult Mark. But it makes sense. If I know that it’s ocd, then it’s in some sense equivalent to solving it. And if you solve one, then some other thought takes its place.
It's ok for it to be difficult!
Hi, I have a theme around self-protection and boundaries. If someone has said something and done something that I feel was energetically attacking, and if I don't defend, my brain and nervous system go into hyperdrive. I had a hard conversation with a neighbor yesterday. I did the best I could and I felt she attacked me and I didn't defend myself the way I should have. Now, my mind is going insane telling me the only way to correct this is to call her and have another in-person confrontation to clear the negative energy I took on yesterday. Yet, that is frightening. When I feel attacked my nervous system freezes and I am not good at defending. Also, I am worried if I don't do a perfect job defending myself if I do confront her again, then I will be back into this loop. I have a hard time discerning is this a message from my deeper self saying stand up for me, protect me--and therefore I need to confront her--or is this OCD and I should not feed it. I just want relief.
I find it useful to approach that as a classic contamination compulsion pattern. Judging something as "energetically attacking" is the contamination. Trying to have more confrontations is like trying to wash away the contamination again and again. But just like any contamination compulsion, the more we chase a feeling of being clean or something being fixed, we just end up feeling more contaminated, more attacked, etc.
Great Channel really:)
Thanks, Nene!
Yet another great video, thanks Mark! Btw, I don't know if it's just me, but you seem to look "beefier" than usual in this video...Have you been working out? Haha!
The camera adds a couple pounds of muscle. It's a special filter ;)
Hey! when you get the chance check your inbox thanks. And this is a nice video thanks
Hi Mark,
My therapist is teaching me the four step method, which involes relabelling (this is an ocd thought) reattributing (it's not me it's my ocd) and response prevention. I have already cut some compulsions without this labelling method. That said, I have started to try it and it's helping me cut out rumination (which I'm struggling with).
What's your take on this approach?
I also have a question about recognitizing rumination. Sometimes I'm just being bombarded with worries and I find it incredibly difficult to concentrate. It takes less effort to respond passively (i.e. sit in the thoughts and still try and do the things I value) ... but I worry this is just rumination ...
Sometimes I try a more active approach and really try and focus on things outside of the worries ... this feels much harder, but sometimes feels like me trying to stop thinking about certain things ...
Which approach sounds more productive? Any suggestions?
Hi dear
Did you get any response? cause me also I used to practice the 4 steps method, but I felt that something is wrong in it, labelling thoughts keeps the cycle running.
I've been having a hard time recently. What I've been feeling recently isn't in the "irrational fear" category: it's about who and what I am. I want to know if it's my mind messing with me as usual or if it's really "me".
The point I was trying to make in the video is that there are no "irrational" or "OCD" thoughts. There are only thoughts. And it's very common to have thoughts about existence and identity. And we can be uncertain about those things while we practice living our lives and being ourselves.
***** Thanks.
It's just been very distrbing to me because it came out of nowhere about two days ago after a series of similar but different kinds of thoughts over the past few months.
I just realized that I am going against the entire point of the video
well this is what i did i fought my ocd like i sat down i closed my eyes and yeah it happened xD hey and also my ocd realy is weird cause when i do something i count like im taking steps or when i touch something i have to touch it with my other hand the same way like what ? and i can`t stand open doors... plz halp ! AND YES I DO REALISE ITS SPELED HELP this is just for comedic purposes :(
Hey mark so i’ve been having this thing where, a question will pop up and even sometimes it can be a normal question that i would ask normally but now it feels as if i feel compelled to ask the question? So i can’t tell whether it’s a question that aligns with my values or if it’s just a question i want to feel certain about.
Ok. That's an uncertainty you're doing compulsions around. Do you want to keep trying to chase certainty and doing this kind of checking and judging now that you see what it leads to? Are there more useful things to spend your time and energy on?
@@everybodyhasabrain Ok so don’t answer the (Uncertainty) even if it’s from a question that feels like aligns with what i want to know got it !
How can I focus on the things that make me happy when the ocd thoughts are preventing me from enjoying these experiences during them?
Also, how can I pursue the things that make me healthy and happy when my ocd will make me question what these things actually are?
These are the compulsions you asked about in your previous comment.
I got a question.
I'm doing the Schwartz method for combating OCD and the first step is labeling and OCD thought identifying it. So going by what you said am I doing wrong? Also my thoughts are OCD because they repeat over and over and over they loop so I feel as if I do have to call them for what they are
You're not doing the Schwartz method wrong. If you're able to achieve a complete, long-term, compulsion-free recovery with that approach, I think that's great. But if you struggle to see long-term results with that approach, then you might find a different approach helpful.
Same here, I've read "Brain Lock" and "You are Not Your Brain" watching your videos and his books, articles, videos, have helped a lot. But the one that helped a lot with his is one part that I've basically memorized paraphrased something to the effect of: "OCD is not some secret wish fulfillment, it is simply a broken machine. OCD can seem to mimic the feeling of reality, but reality never mimics the feeling of OCD. This leads to a very important point: If it feels like it even MIGHT be OCD, it IS OCD."
KrayolaBlue91 Schwartz's approach is very reassuring. But one of the most useful things for maintaining recovery for me has been eliminating all sorts of things that seemed like they weren't OCD, that seemed "normal", that seemed totally "real", with no hint of me questioning it as OCD previously. And now when working with people, this idea that we know OCD because it feels like OCD, trips up so many people because they keep practicing OCD compulsions and don't see a problem with that because they aren't bothered by them (until they get so big they can't ignore them). From a prevention perspective, I don't believe in labelling OCD. If it feels like OCD, then it's already too late to prevent the relapse. So it can definitely help to add in some extra tools to your arsenal that augment that method.
***** That does make a lot of sense from a prevention perspective! Thanks. ^_^
I mean I feel as if I had to label em since they don't feel normal it's everyday with the same exact question but yea Brain lock has helped me a lot with this disorder
OCD COMES OUT ALWAYS IN THE FORM OF 'WHAT IF' QUESTION HOW TO RESPOND TO IT?
OCD is the response to the question. You don't have to respond to it.
Hello, I watch all of your videos on CZcams, you're the best when it comes to OCD. I'm currently struggling with OCD, lately I will get a thought (even a simple, normal thought) for example to mention a news story to a family member or something similar. Then my brain sort of gets stuck on that and I feel compelled to ask. But if you don't ask, it makes you feel like you're avoiding. So it's a damned if you do or don't...compulsion or avoidance. Or I will get a thought while talking to someone and feel compelled to ask a question that I could normally ask anyway. Do you have any advice for how to tackle this?
Thanks! Sorry to hear about the current struggles.
What's helped me is framing OCD recovery around accepting uncertainty. So if my brain is throwing a question at me and creating an uncertainty, then I'm going to let that uncertainty be there and engage in actions that align with my values anyway. You could say that's avoiding certainty, but being certain isn't my goal in life. I want to be healthy and I like being healthy so I don't chase uncertainty. Sometimes, that might seem very unreasonable. But I like being healthy and health is often unreasonable. But it doesn't really matter what my brain does. It can throw questions or not throw questions. Those questions don't change the healthy actions I need to engage in every day. It doesn't matter what my brain feels in the short-term, I know what makes my brain happy in the long-term.
***** Makes sense, thanks. So like, today for example I was out driving and some worker at a store told me about a ridiculous customer they had. So ok that's normal....but then I feel compelled to tell my friend or parents about how the customer was such a jerk to the store clerk. It kind of sticks in my head and I feel like since there is anxiety to tell them, it is a compulsion if I do it. But if I don't, I sort of feel like I am not being my true self. How would you respond to this sort of thing? Thanks for your help.
xxitalia128 One way I often describe the OCD brain is as a dog constantly chasing sticks. The dog wants to stop and get a drink and eat some food, but somebody just keeps throwing sticks and the dog just keeps chasing them. Maybe the dog thinks that it's a stick-chasing dog so if it doesn't chase the sticks, it's not being true to itself. But why bother chasing the sticks?
So when you're asking about how I would respond to this sort of thing, my question would be why respond to it all? As long as you keep responding to your brain throwing sticks, it's going to keep throwing them.
***** Very true. I agree, the goal is to not respond or give importance to the thought. But when I do mention it the anxiety lessens. So I feel like that is compulsive behavior. But at the same time, before I had OCD I would think nothing of mentioning something that happened in my day. If you were to give me one OCD homework assignment, what would it be?
xxitalia128 Normal is what gets us into OCD. So you'll often hear people with OCD say, "Oh, but I used to do it and it didn't bother me." All compulsions start out not really bothering us. So if you catch your brain trying to rationalize something because it was okay in the past, that's a typical trick brains like to play. For a homework assignment, I'd map out all of the behaviors you engage in to cope with, check on, control uncertainty, and then I'd rank them by order of difficulty/anxiety, and then I'd start with eliminating the ones on the bottom first.
Hi sir,
My question is our actions are based on our thoughts. Like for example I wanted to learn about the stock market and the thought in my mind made me take the next step that is learn and start investing.
In OCD we get thoughts in our head, firstly they are uncomfortable and at a certain point of time we can't decide whether this is a thought on which we should take action or not.
Like you said align your actions based on your true values but how can we know whether a thought is the one which aligns with my true values or not ?
It's very useful to identify your values first. For example, let's say that somebody wants to become a chef. They value learning about cooking and sharing their skills. They want to open a restaurant. And one day they have a thought to learn about the stock market. So they spend the day learning about the stock market. And then they invest their money in the stock market. They are not spending their time and energy learning about cooking or developing their cooking skills. And then, instead of investing their money in a cooking course that would have helped them move towards their goals that align with their values, they lose all of their money on the stock market. If they valued learning about investing, that could be a useful experience and they would have learned and grown through that. But they do not want to become a stock broker, they want to be come a chef. They have not learned anything about what they value and they now have fewer resources to put towards the things they actually want to do.
@@everybodyhasabrain
How can one identify his/her true values? And differentiate between them and just thoughts and sensations in our mind and body respectively?
@@shaanhindustani2230 I wouldn't get stuck on something like "true" values. Values are just useful directions that take us where we want to go. So you can always change them and adapt them as you see where you're going. You can always borrow values, too, from people going in a direction you might want to go in
@@everybodyhasabrain
So basically you won't question and get stuck if it were a true value? So from now onwards if I am correct, I should think on the thought for some time and if I am seeing that I get stuck at that thing I should ignore it and follow my true values that I know? How can I stop over thinking?
I find it useful to see thinking as an action. So asking how to stop overthinking is like asking how to stop hitting ourselves with a hammer. It's time to learn how to use the hammer differently. I find that meditation is very useful for this.
Well I have ocd with health. So I need to run to the doctor to check if everything is ok. If I can't figure it out which is a real problem and which don't need attention, how I will understand when to run to the doctor before something worse happen?
Any OCD fear is the same. Somebody that checks locks won't know if they actually have left the door unlocked and should go back to check, or somebody that obsesses about their relationship won't know if they really should be worried that something their partner said means they don't love them anymore, or somebody that checks the stove won't know if they really should go back this time because they left it on and it'll start a fire, etc. It helped me to recognize that my brain will come up with anything that will get me to engage in compulsions. It really only cares about the compulsions. That's why it's not useful to get too caught up in the specifics of an obsession but instead focus on changing actions because if we overcome one obsession, it's very easy for the brain to just come up with something that feels more real or different or necessary to react to and feed it the compulsions it's desperate for. One thing to keep in mind with anxieties about health is that we're choosing to make our health worse by reacting to those uncertainties about something bad happening to our health. It is possible to get over OCD so if you can access a therapist that's experienced with recovery or follow exercises in a workbook, that can be a great way to get started on beating this and shifting the focus to building health instead of trying to avoid illness.
Mark Freeman thanks. Some years ago I had panic attacks. I went to a therapist. Then everything stopped after a year or so. Some months ago (9-10) I started to feel pain. I went to the doctor, exam after exam and nothing. My pain got worse and my need to go doctors and obsessive check for signs on my body too. I backed to my therapist that told me I was need behavior therapy and medication. Took me several weeks till I find the courage to start medication. I started and my therapily will start during this month, but it sucks. I through that anxiety just could became panic attacks and when i learnt how to recognize and cope with that it changed for OCD. Now I feel sick all the time, I can have 2-3 deases per day, I check poo, pee, mouth, teeth and at the minimal change I spend hours on internet and then starts the "game" with my brain try to avoid to go to a doctor. Then when I feel that the uncertainty is too big I go and the day after I will find another stuff to be worry about.
That's great you're getting start on therapy. You've already seen how the brain moved on from panic attacks to using other physical sensations to get you to react with compulsions. That understanding can be very helpful. It's also important to cut out the checking compulsions you mentioned. Although they may seem like they're helping avoid problems, the more you check, the more your brain will obsess about health issues. It's actually a very similar compulsion to what fuels panic attacks--lots of checking and trying to control what's happening in our bodies.
Hi mark,
If the urge to answer the question is the problem, and we have no control of urges.
Does that mean we have no control
Over the problem ?
I wouldn't see an urge as a problem. Reacting to it, judging it, putting it in charge of your actions--those would be the problems. An urge can be there. It's just weather. What we do with it and to it create the problems
I feel like I go about my day regardless of the thoughts but I do engage with them, it’s something I don’t want to do.
@@Ray-ww7qo You can stop spending time and energy on that!
I keep getting false memories and then I have to ask if it happened or not wat should I do
I have to find out if it's real or not
munni e Whether you label it as "real" or "false", it'll still be a thing in your head. Trying to chase certainty about things in your head will only make you less certain.
I have HOCD but have the biggest crush on boys and it sucks (im a girl) I love Curt Smith from tears for fears but these thoughts come up and they suck then the next minute you can feel ok then you get these thoughts and THEY SUCK
Yes. So cutting out the compulsions will be very helpful. It's totally possible to get over stuff like this but it will involve making changes.
Okay so I've watched this video twice, and frankly the words "there is no OCD thought" is giving me anxiety lol. Could you please clarify what exactly you're trying to say here, because isn't the entire foundation of the existence of OCD the thoughts that can actually be categorised as OCD thoughts? I mean isn't it obvious that an intrusive thought that is constantly giving you anxiety is definitely an OCD thought and nothing else? And that it's definitely different from other regular/normal thoughts? Like for a moment it just sounded to me like you're saying "there/s no such thing as OCD thoughts, there's no OCD." Lol. Like the only comfort I've been seeking throughout is that OCD is definitely a real thing, and so are the thoughts specific to it, which we term as intrusive thoughts or OCD thoughts.
Arisha S Thoughts are thoughts. OCD is in your reactions to thoughts and feelings.
Taking that kind of problem-first approach of waiting until a thought becomes distressing, is often a reason why people relapse or continue struggling with OCD. It can really help to see that many of the compulsions that practice OCD and make it worse are around thoughts we like or don't see as problematic. What you're describing are compulsions. Instead of seeing it as "managing" pure o, it might help to consider this practice you're describing is just fueling it.
Hi,, I feel guilty whenever my parent treat me good and nice, I will have thought that I am letting them down and I feel very guilty, It make me feel better after I confess to my parent. I feel that if I don't confess my sin, it will be bad for them.
How to overcome my OCD of confessing to my parent that I do a lot of weird thing, or private thing, like watch porn? Should I just endure the urge of confessing?
The first compulsion here is judging yourself. If you engage in that compulsion, that will create lots of feelings you don't like that will pressure you to engage in more compulsions to relieve those feelings. So I'd actually start with cutting out the judging compulsions to help you cut out the confession compulsions.
Thanks I will try not to judge myself. By cutting the judgement of my action e.g. Good or bad, will it ease the guilt that is inside me?
If you want to get rid of the guilt, then your brain will give you more guilt so you can try to get rid of it and get that experience you want (of not having guilt).
Thanks Mark I will try to accept the guilt in my mind
*****
This is interesting. What about intrusive doubts/questions? How do you know when something is OCD or real doubt?
Tara Bordelon I don't find it useful to get caught up judging and labeling uncertainties. It's entirely possible to engage in compulsions around a "real" doubt. So I find it helps to focus on actions.
Mark Freeman can you explain a bit further?
Tara Bordelon What would you like me to explain further?
Mark Freeman what do you mean focus on actions vs labeling and judging?
Tara Bordelon The healthy actions that align with your values won't change based on uncertainties your brain throws up. Instead of focusing on anxiety and putting it in charge of my life, I find it much more effective to focus on how I want to spend my time and energy in any moment.
Where is your practice? What is the name of your website.
My website is markfreeman.ca and I also share stuff each week on everybodyhasabrain.tumblr.com I don't have a traditional sort of practice but I'm based in Toronto, Canada.
A purple thought LOL
I have a sorta weird issue. Not like it's illegal but.. I've met a lot of bad people. Someone help Austin out for CHRISTMAS SAKE
Purple thought 😂😂😂😂
Thank you
You're welcome!