Accepting vs. Ignoring Your Intrusive Thoughts

[@muhamadyusuf5023]

I totally get what he is saying. All my life, I try to cope and push the anxiety and anxious thoughts away. I tried so many techniques, and it did work, but temporarily. After a while, I became dependent on those techniques. This led me to feel numb towards the coping techniques. Eventually, I got mentally tired and said to myself, “I’m done with all of these. I don’t want to fight it anymore. I would let these anxious thoughts and feelings overwhelm me, and I’m not going to do anything about it.” Surprisingly, over the time, I feel better and better.

[@OCDrecoveryNick]

Amazing Muhamad! Key stuff what you said there!

[@FatouNjie-u1f]

Hi Muhamed salam, how are you doing, what are your thoughts and symptoms

[@FatouNjie-u1f]

I need help

[@muhamadyusuf5023]

@@FatouNjie-u1f Now I’m doing alright, and it’s not as bad as it used to be. It used to be so bad to the point it hindered my life. In terms of symptoms, I used to experience things like racing heart rate, dizziness, racing thoughts, rumination, restlessness, brain fog, twitching, irregular sleep patterns, shaky hands, excessive sweating, gagging, and vomiting, frequent needs to use toilets, and severe weight loss.

[@FatouNjie-u1f]

@@muhamadyusuf5023 i am going through all that right now, I have death anxiety.

[@pierce106]

Great video Nick. I believe this was extremely helpful.

[@OCDrecoveryNick]

Thanks Pierce! I appreciate the feedback.

[@nattywatty5711]

6:50 is my fav bit 😂

[@bread5414]

What I take from this is mindfulness/meditation and similar techniques are more for maintenance rather than directly addressing the cause? If I'm doing breathing exercises with the belief that it will "solve" all my symptoms and I still have intrusive thoughts it would be another cause of alarm when it's not working.. but if I accept that intrusive thoughts are something that comes along I give it less power and not feel the need to have all these measures laid out to prevent me from having any intrusive thoughts. That way I can focus on doing inner work on a deeper level rather than trying to suppress all my symptoms

[@OCDrecoveryNick]

Hey bread - basically we talk about mindfulness/ meditation being a great adjunct in life but it unfortunately doesn't create belief changes like most people believe, it's too simplistic.

[@aliiiiibaby]

Help I can stop trying to control my thoughts and sleep! I have intrusive thoughts /rumiantions about trying to get present and I can’t stop trying to get rid of it. I just want to be present and life my life again. It feels like psychosis. And I have insomnia is too.

[@OCDrecoveryNick]

Hey Ali - Unfortunately, trying to be present is the problem. The more we want to be present the more it eludes us.

[@hunterhatch122]

Look up "How To Stop Ruminating" by Dr. Greenberg, changed my life

[@OCDrecoveryNick]

@@hunterhatch122 Yes key stuff but he unfortunately still misses many of the main points. He states rumination is a compulsion which isn't entirely accurate.

[@nyxsantos04]

@@OCDrecoveryNick That's surprising to hear. I thought that excessive rumination is a mental compulsion?

[@OCDrecoveryNick]

@@nyxsantos04 Hey NY! I would go into the search bar and type in 'rumination'. I think you will enjoy the two videos titled 'how rumination really works'.

[@Tyt130]

I like this guy, so genuine. What do I do to get better? Is this guy part of the OCD recovery team?

[@finnio9094]

Yes

[@redgrubba]

Hello, this channel has been such a great help and I feel like I'm taking great steps to recover, I was wondering if ya'll could ever do a video on Scrupulocity OCD?

[@OCDrecoveryNick]

Hey Red! Yes we definitely have but we can do it again!

[@mihneadorobat5212]

Would you say mindfulness doesn't play a key role in getting oneself better at sitting with the anxiety and not control it though, Nick? IU'm at a point where i combine belief work and mindfulness to help with my OCD

[@OCDrecoveryNick]

I will make a video on this today.

[@mihneadorobat5212]

​@@OCDrecoveryNick very interesting! Thanks for the reply

[@travisn346]

I'd like to see a video on somatic exercises to release fear and nervous system regulation (these are hot topics out there right now) 🙄

[@shellyoles5756]

Can you go further in to rational shoulds? Oh and hiiii

[@OCDrecoveryNick]

Lmao! Yes I can Shelly!

[@jordynbutler8849]

The commentary and facial expressions 🤣

[@OCDrecoveryNick]

Lmao!