#ocd tips

[this-is-ocd-ocspec-saneism]

I’ve seen some pretty concerning things that people have said about OCD on the internet, and it’s especially painful because so many of them mean well.

I’m going to address them, but I don’t want anyone feeling super guilty if they’ve said/done these things before. It’s okay to make mistakes, and the ones I’m talking about are usually in good faith. With that out of the way, here I go.

1: “Good people don’t worry this much about being bad!” I understand the good intentions behind this, but it’s an affirmation that can actually be rather detrimental. OCD can use this as a metric for how good of a person someone is being. Those with OCD who are in recovery might regress because “Oh no, I’m not worried. Am I a bad person now?” This statement is only nice to hear for the first 10 seconds before it becomes a weapon.

2: “I can’t do x, I have OCD!” Yes, OCD is a disability, and it’s absolutely understandable to want to avoid triggers at all costs. However, if you never interact with it, the fear will never go away. Of course, exposure therapy only works in a controlled environment where the one with OCD is CONSENTING TO and AWARE of what’s going on. It needs to be your choice to do this in order to work, otherwise, the fear will spike and it’ll actually set you back. That being said, that doesn’t mean you should never interact with a trigger. It’s important to try and make progress, or else OCD will control your life, and that’s not healthy. It should just always be on your own terms and at a time where you’ve built up your confidence.

3: On the flip side, encouraging people to just jump straight into ERP (exposure and response prevention). As mentioned before, that’s not okay either. That’s signing up for panic attacks and setbacks. First, you need to work on the cognitive side and try and delay compulsions until you feel ready to completely avoid them. This delay can be 5 seconds, 2 minutes, an hour, as long as you’re taking back some control. You can even build up to changing the compulsion slightly (such as applying hand sanitizer instead of completely washing your hands) before you do direct exposures and don’t perform your compulsions. Make sure you’re ready! Forcing someone with OCD into an exposure they’re not ready for causes psychological harm! People without OCD: please don’t do that to your loved ones!

4: Treating reassurance like a treatment method. Seeking reassurance is a compulsion. Providing reassurance reinforces the need for it. If someone with OCD is constantly asking for your reassurance, try and work with them instead of blindly giving it (just make sure you’re following the guidelines above. Flat out refusing isn’t good either!)

5: Don’t assume what the fear behind the obsession is. So many just jump to contamination OCD being all about germs and sickness when it isn’t always the case! Usually, behind every theme someone with OCD has, there is a core fear. For example, someone could fear abandonment, so their contamination OCD isn’t about illness, but rather being perceived as gross and left by their loved ones.

That’s all I can think of right now, but I hope these made sense and were worded well. Let me know if you have anything to add!

[hismercytomyjustice]

Some Tips for Dealing with OCD

Been going through a bit of a rough patch lately and was revisiting my notes from the International OCD Foundation's annual OCD Conference earlier this year. Wanted to share in case these tips might help other folks too.

Apologies for the chunky list!

Use self-care to stack the deck in your favor à la Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

Focus on the basics first (sleep, diet, water, etc).

Build a strong foundation so you can build on it without it falling over.

Focus on how you can handle the things that are 100% in your control to increase your resilience.

Set the bar low with goals. It’s only up from there and you have to start somewhere.

Don’t worry about whether or not something is your OCD. You’re not in the business of figuring that out. OCD rule of thumb, if there’s urgency attached to figuring it out, it’s probably your OCD.

It doesn’t matter what the content of your OCD thought is about, the response is the same. The same principles apply.

You’re building your muscles, maintain aspects of ERP and CBT so those muscles don’t atrophy. This helps prevent you from ending up in a more vulnerable/susceptible place to OCD.

Be aware of when your OCD is “getting loud.”

Know what you’re going to do if a lapse or relapse happens.

Medication is 20-30%, skills and tools are the rest.

You’re always learning what does and doesn’t work. Even if exposures don’t go the way you hope, it’s okay. It’s data. Gather experiences and data so you can learn from them. Your experiences expand you and help you grow and expand your resilience. You’re always learning what does and doesn’t work.

Think of “failure” as “failed experiments” for which you’re collecting data and can learn from.

Develop strong emotional regulation to keep yourself stable.

Keep an eye on where your life gives you opportunities for exposure and take advantage of those gimmes.

Micro avoidances add up, so work hard to handle even little ones. Recognize when you’re triggered by something and choose to do it anyway. Sometimes it’s OCD and sometimes it isn’t.

Even if what you fear happens, it doesn’t mean your OCD was correct. Your OCD is never correct.

Self-compassion is hard work. It’s not about being positive about everything but rather about being real/more realistic.

Reframe perfectionism as “I’m committing to x” and it doesn’t matter if it’s perfect or the best or whatever, just focus on that. For example, "I’m committing to exercising for 5 minutes,” and not thinking about if it’s perfect or not.

Remember when you’re having a tough time, think “I’m working on it.”

Think “yeah, and” rather than “yeah, but” because “yeah, but” often comes up when we’re negating positive things we did.

Even if you’re not certain something will give you a positive outcome, still do it. Even if it doesn’t do what you hoped, you still fought back. Give yourself the opportunity to see the outcome and with that comes flexibility. This can be as simple as making yourself a piece of toast.

Line out three small goals you want to complete each day. It can help to make the goals at night for the next day so you don’t have to deal with motivation in the morning. Use an index card on your bedside table. If the goals feel too big or intense, make them smaller or break them down further. This is behavioral activation.

[neurodivergent-bard]

If you're someone like me who needs to ask a lot of questions often and you struggle with it bc you feel like they're stupid, here's a tip: say it. Turn to the person you want to ask said questions and announce it proudly.

Here's some ways you can do it:

- "Hey, I really need to ask some stupid questions so bear with me"

- "I'm sorry, I need to ask some questions that might be ridiculous right now"

- "Excuse me, I'm struggling right now. I need to ask some silly questions to clarify"

- "Sorry to bother, I'm a bit confused. Mind if I ask some stupid questions before we continue?"

Why this is a good way to go about it? It's something I've learned to do in the past 3 years and it helped me a lot. I feel less awkward and silly when I ask my questions and the way these are phrased helps take the edge off. The person you're talking to will probably be friendlier and kinder, you might get a chuckle out of them, and they're just going to understand better that you're aware that your questions might seem stupid (but they're not! Trust me, they're not. Keep asking your questions. It's good that you're asking them. Always ask them). It should help both you and the person you're talking to. I really hope it will, at least

[frankiensteinsmonster]

🎀 Things that help me Cope with OCD in my life 🎀

My OCD is driven by anxiety around contamination and living with my partner with allergies.

TW for Disordered Eating Habits caused by OCD and mention of intrusive thoughts!

🌧️ water bottles

for hydration. Bc of a million and one reasons, I can't drink water normally. Not only am I not used to it in the first place, but I have severe anxiety around contamination, and both my mental and physical health prevent me from doing the dishes, which can impact my ability to consume Any sort of substance.

🌧️ prepackaged foods

On that note, individually wrapped foods are a huge life saver. I can't eat off our normal kitchenware if I've ingested an allergen within five hours of eating (see next item) since I can't brush my teeth until then to be sure that I'm Clean. On top of this, I have other issues that impact my ability to eat. Things like granola bars, candy, sleeves of crackers, and packaged tuna/chicken are my go-tos but other foods exist. Fruit is also a good one if there's any around!

🌧️ disposable utensils

Once again, my brain is fucked and it makes me Not Eat and dishes are Hard + not always an option. Disposable utensils are IMMENSELY helpful.

🌧️ lotion

Handsanitzer is literally like holy water to me. This is not amazing for my health or my skin. I can at least help my skin with keeping lotion on hand. Pun unintentional, but welcomed.

🌧️ masks

Not only as a COVID precaution, but as a World precaution!! I feel so safe in my mask whenever I'm out and about + added bonus of not needing to worry about my face, esp with reflective hide-y sunglasses on. Also, more specifically, I worry less about breathing in other people's AIR or them spitting on my face as they speak around/to me, which in turn, gives me less violent intrusive thoughts which is great for both of us!

🌧️ gloves

Autism + OCD combo

I love the separation between me and the outside world via All my clothes (I am usually in long sleeves and tights), but adding casual gloves have been so great for my bc although washing my hands is easier, I can avoid needing to do that so much if I have a second pair of hands I can just take off and wash later

+, as mentioned. Sensory needs.

☔Things that I'm considering and why ☔

- Tweezers for picking out medicine from their jars.

I hate sticking my hand in there + it's really hard if it's a large jar bc if I feel like I've contaminating this big fuckin jar-- my options are Worry About It Every Time I Need A Tylenol (I have fibromyalgia btw, so that's like. Every fucking day) OR I throw it out and wait, in pain, until we can get a new bottle. Tweezers will fix me.

- Smaller bottle for my bulk medicine bottles.

Basically for the same reasons as above. If I end up feeling like I've contaminated a big bottle of pain medicine, it'll impact my ability to Drink Water if we don't have water bottles, which is something we're figuring out how to keep a steady supply of. So it can be a huge fucking struggle. If I have a smaller bottle and periodically refill it whenever I'm out of the little bottle out of my bulk stash, in the event that I've contaminated the little bottle, it will be more okay to throw away that bottle! Winning and thriving!

- Paper soaps for portability

Some bathrooms don't have soap and it's unfair and literally fucking disgusting. You can tell I'm mad about this. And sometimes I use up all my handsanitzer! It's not super often I need soap that just Isn't there when it's supposed to be, but to me that's all the more reason to keep some on my person at all times so I don't have to carry the shame of dirty, water washed hands 🤢🤢. Fml!

- Wet wipes

Inexpensive from what I understand, also portable AND multi use!

I use a cane, and wheelchair atm and am looking into getting elbow crutches as a happy medium bc my town isn't fucking accessible. That aside, I love wiping down strange and familiar surfaces alike, plus sometimes people touch my shit with it without my permission and that's just reality and sometimes even I need to touch my mobility aids with dirty, contaminated hands. 😞 Having antibacterial/soap wipes would make me feel so much safer in the world! (Antibacterial wipes alone cannot get rid of allergens on surfaces, soap and water is much more effective but Anything is better than Nothing and also I have.. ocd. Not everything I do is going to be logical.) Also!! Clean hands town, population: me (again)

[peppermint-flavored-chaos]

things i did as a neurodivergent person to get straight a’s for the third year in a row

hi hello hi how’s it going. welcome to the 3am-burst-of-motivation-tumblr-post-of-the-day, where i’m sharing all of my study tips that allowed my adhd/austism/ocd/bpd brain to somehow squeeze out straight a’s for the third year (sixth semester) in a row. 

1. study differently for different subjects. contrary to popular belief, flashcards and rewriting your notes does not work for every subject (unless it does for you, in which case ignore me and do what works for you). different subjects, at least for me, require different environments, techniques, and associations. 

2. association! sensory stuff works great for me because i tend to associate physical things with emotions and even personality types, so have something be constant every time you study. example: i have two tubes of chapstick, one peppermint and one pomegranate. i put on the peppermint one right before i go to bed and the pomegranate one after i eat breakfast - i associate the different scents with different activities (going to bed and starting my to-do list). 

3. to-do lists! mine are written on sticky notes and stuck to my mirror because i hate hate hate having the sticky glue stuff from sticky notes on my mirror and i’m not allowed to clean my mirror until all the sticky notes are off of it. when i can’t see my mirror, they’re on the outside of my backpack because they’re bright pink and the social anxiety makes me think people are staring at me if they are on my backpack. 

4. change your location often. specifically for my adhd peeps who have the attention span of an overexcited puppy, walk around. do things. go to a park or a coffee shop or a grocery store or a sidewalk or a bench somewhere or my personal favorite, the bank. when you’re understimulated go somewhere with lots of different noises and when you’re overstimulated so somewhere quiet or control noises (listen to music, noise-cancelling headphones, humming). 

5. keep a piece of paper next to you for the Random Thoughts That Come at Inconvenient Times and write down the stuff you want to look up/do/tell someone about and like... i don’t even know why that helps but it does. just having your thoughts out there i guess?

6. body doubling. find a person who will study with you. bonus points if it’s another neurodivergent person. they are depending on you to finish the studying and get the good grade. THEY ARE DEPENDING ON YOU. DON’T DISAPPOINT THEM. (side note anxiety people i would not recommend this for you)

7.  go to a place that will remind you to pee and eat and drink things. starbucks is great for this. so are most restaurants. 

8. get a new thing to study with every week. i like new things. if i have a new thing i am going to use it until it’s no longer exciting. i get a pencil, just a boring, manual pencil from the drugstore every monday afternoon for like sixty cents. it’s a fantastic method, at least for me. 

9. don’t drink something with caffeine in it while studying. you will either fall asleep or end up on a roof. it is not a good situation. caffeine for neurodivergents is like sleep pills, for me at least and most of the other ND’s i’ve met. if not for you, you’re lucky. 

10. spaced reps. in other words, find a big pair of dice and write vocab terms on each side, then hurl it at the ground and define each term. do this for like an hour. it’s fun and gets a lot of energy out. 

11. stim. vocal stims, physical stims, self-talk, fidget, yelp, squeal, tap your foot, walk around, shrug your shoulders, twitch your nose, jump up and down, ribbit like a frog. stim, stim, stim. it helps. 

anyways. it’s 3:17 am. happy studying!

[secretfan03]

Full Article HERE

[cherripossum]

try to label your thoughts even with simple words like hunger or anxiety!

ko-fi

[thisisocd]

5 Back to School Tips for Students with OCD

Ask for help and accommodations ahead of time.

This is the most important tip, so I’m putting it first.  If you need extra time or extra help in class, ask before it gets to be a problem.

Teachers and professors are also more responsive when you give them a heads up, verbally or over email, if you’re struggling extra hard on an assignment because of your mental health issues. 

The sooner you address your struggles, the better--in my experience, anyway.

Practice effective time management as much as possible.

Executive functioning can be hard for people with OCD, and this includes time management.  I’ve found that doing assignments ahead of time, even if you don’t think you need to, is a great place to start. 

Always plan for assignments to take longer than you think they will, because OCD can make it harder to get work done. 

It is also very helpful to set up “do dates” as well as “due dates” when doing schoolwork, which basically means figuring out when you will do assignments to get them done on time, and trying to stick to that schedule.

There’s more info under the cut!

Break up assignments into smaller tasks ALWAYS

This is especially helpful if you’re not sure where to begin for one of your assignments. 

This technique, usually referred to as “chunking”, is pretty much just used to make a daunting task seem scary by breaking it up into smaller, more manageable pieces.

Essays, projects, and exams are are examples of good things to break up into bite-sized assignments.

Type notes and exams on the computer if you have handwriting-related compulsions.

This has helped me TREMENDOUSLY in school.  ERP is great and all, but the classroom is not a great place for it when taking notes and exams.

This is something that not every professor or teacher will allow if you don’t have a specific accommodation for your OCD, so see the point above and get your accommodations sorted out ASAP.

Set time limits for doing assignments 

As mentioned before, always assume something will take more time than you initially think, especially if you’re having a rough time with OCD.

Set timers for yourself.  I have found the Pomodoro technique to be very helpful for this.

This tip is really good for perfectionism, but works well for procrastinators/chronic avoiders, too!