Sandt Litchfield MDI Contributor
I have OCD – obsessive compulsive disorder.
One of the most common fears that people with OCD have is the fear of purposely crashing their car head on into another car. Of course, it almost never happens, but it’s upsetting and tiring and saddening to have these intrusive thoughts.
And for those who may not have such an experience, that is what OCD is about.
It’s about intrusive thoughts that are hard to let go of. People without OCD may have similar thoughts, but they can much more easily divert their attention elsewhere or simply not pay it any mind. Someone with OCD can obsess on something for months or years or even decades.
And the intrusive thoughts can be about all sorts of things. Things that are dangerous. Things that are disgusting. Things that are just weird.
How I Deal
This is how I deal with it and how many people with OCD are recommended to deal with it. Take the example of being fearful you will purposely crash your car into another car head on. Well, the experts say flood your imagination with it the idea of this fearful thing happening. Imagine that everyone is doing the same thing – simply crashing into each other all over the place. At this point, the thought may be such an absurdity that it may somehow make it easier to let it go. In theory.
The other way I deal withmy OCD is to detach mentally from the OCD thoughts, the intrusive thoughts, which leaves me feeling and acting a little spaced out. But it’s better than the onslaught of obsession.
The third thing that I’ll do is to just say those thoughts are not me … they are just my disease, my OCD.
I have OCD. But OCD is not me.