I am Aomar from Algeria.. 49 years old i just found you on the RUclips I can tell you, you ve saved my life today about the real events OCD . I had a harm OCD and getting made but I was stayed in one fault done when I was 14 years sexual touching by my grand mother .passed more than 25 years with all bad emotions. guilty.sadeness I was convinced that I deserve to be sick and a lot of questions during these years . I was always asking i had no chance ' I've ocd and trauma of my past ' but I was I always asking my self that the events as it is is an OCD as well cause I was sticked only in this one despite of I did many others mistake but this one of my g mama became the center of my world I link every details of my life to this mistake .. I couldn't be diagnosed where I live that it is an OCD , we don't ve a specialized therapists in CBT . I had to learn english to try to find a way to recover from my OCD ..sorry for my english I m good in french . Thanks for every thing hopefully you will explain to us i mean for the people who don't ve access to CBT how to do ERP with the real events OCD
"You're stronger than your OCD". If that isn't the heart of recovery I don't know what is. Healing for me began with taking a stand and saying "No, I'm not going to live my life this way".
@@MDKSuperCars sorry for taking so long to reply. I'd say yes and no. OCD doesn't control my life like it used to, but the urges to obsess or engage in a compulsion come from time to time. Maintenance is important and in that way I never consider myself "better", but definitely better off than I was.
@@IJN-33 mine got worse once I entered high school. Now I have to do something and if I don’t I just have anxiety everyday until I do it. Like right now, my compulsion is my brain telling me to cut a certain number of my pants since I did it with my shorts. And since I don’t want to, my anxiety has been so high
@@johnathonjagodzinski4516 I'm sorry to hear that. You're not alone. OCD is so incredibly challenging, but you can do it! Hang in there. You're stronger than your OCD.
Just try this once. Give it your all to stop doing that compulsion. Tell yourself, I chose not to. It's YOUR choice. NOT your OCD's. Just do this once and follow through. Don't cave!
I personally developed a mindset that might help both visualize and deal with intrusive thoughts - maybe it helps you too. I like to compare thoughts in general to a social media feed - just like Instagram. It’s just a constant flow of information. Some are interesting, deeply personal, boring, irrelevant, shocking or random ads. You don’t need to engage, they are just information and you decide if you keep scrolling and spend your focus and time on this particular post. You can even train your feed or the algorithm (your thoughts / mindset) in the long run by only looking at content that benefits you because if you keep actively engaging with negative content, your feed will be negative.
I love this visualization!! I will start to treat my intrusive thoughts like annoying ads and remind myself I have the choice to skip them. Thank you for sharing!!🙏🏻
I love how you say something so true in "Youre stronger than your OCD" yet others therapists on YT say we have no control over our thoughts and OCD. I appreciate that from you.
@@itzvincentx3 know that you are strong and brave regardless. Water your flowers and pride yourself with all your strengths and flaws. Never ever lose hope.
This works to avoid the compulsion, but the intrusive thought bugging me to perform the compulsion just sits in my head for days... I sometimes forget to perform actions like turning off the lights in the garage because my head is so clouded with the thought of checking the stove that that just reinforces the idea that I should go check the stove "one last time".
Taking power away from the thought💭 and just saying yes to it and feeling uncertain actually helps, I thought it would make me feel worse but no, it has helped a lot!
Your videos are extremely helpful! After 2 years of trying to deal with it in all the wrong ways, ERP is the only thing that has truly helped. Thank you!!
I struggled with severe obsessive compulsive disorder 2016 to June 2021. I have some OCD problems now. But I improved greatly and I am much happier. I am living a much better life now. OCD is a very complex and difficult problem. One of my solutions to healing from severe OCD was to force myself to live for my happiness and peace of mind. Fear is about what if something terrible happens in the future. But the future doesn't exist right now in the present. When you're afraid, worried, and doubting, you have to resist the impulse to do compulsions/rituals, and keep going with your life. Don't do compulsions or rituals or magical thinking. It's all your imagination it's not reality. Stop living in your mind. Live in reality. Let it go. Do something important or meaningful with your time everyday. Your life has value. Follow your dreams and happiness. You are not alone and you can defeat mental illness. I hope this helps. Stay strong and keep living for your happiness and peace of mind.
This exactly. And I’m still looking for the answer. It’s all well & good to say, “you’ll feel some distress, but just ignore it”, it’s like those saying it have no idea how completely overwhelming it is in that moment. To the danger center in your brain, it’s like saying, just ignore that tiger that’s about to eat your face off. Not what’s happening, but that’s how it feels.
I get this feeling. When your mind is spiraling and feeding you awful thoughts, everything feels like a catastrophe. I like videos like this because they help remind me that you're the one in control and you have power over your OCD and anxiety but still I know it can be tough to remember in the moment. We just have to keep moving forward and doing our best
Thank you this really helped and I realized when I looked in the comments I’m not the only person with OCD and compulsions because I always used to fear that I was only person with OCD and no one could help me.but this really helped thank you.🙏
I have done this a few times and it helps! But then i forget to do it a week later! Thanks for reminding me! I love you’re videos they truthfully do help!
This was VERY helpful information. I've been doing micro versions of this technique with smaller compulsions. It's so difficult though :( trying to keep myself from having a panic attack after not doing a compulsion, or doing a 'just right' compulsion 'incorrectly' is so hard. I think I'm going to have to make myself endure the attack though, it's the only way. I've actually been successful several times using this technique for lighter compulsions, I'm dreading trying it on the big ones though. I have a hand washing ritual that can take me upwards of 30mins to an hour to complete 'the right way'. If I'm successful the first time, it only takes about 60 seconds, but if I do the tiniest thing 'wrong' during the ritual, I have to start all over. I hate when people say I'm 'faking it', I would LOVE to not have to do that, very much!!
@@VeganowledgeJJ Thank you I'm making baby steps, it's getting slightly better. The hardest part is that I know I'm being ridiculous, but I can't skip my ritual and just do tasks without them, I'll have panic attacks, or end up going back and doing it over again. What type of OCD do you have?
I believe I have contamination OCD and I do just this to manage it, what I observed is the bigger is the obsession, the bigger is the compulsion but resistance is also high so I try to delay it and slowly and steadily those intrusive thoughts convert into little background noises
These videos have really helped me I would have been extremely low without your videos Thank you so much and your voice is so calming I can’t thank you enough
Man. The lists are vile. Takes all day to complete the lists I do. Past, present, future, what's happened, hasn't happened, can etc. I feel good after doing them. Drained but good. Wake up the next day and it starts again. Impacts my day immensely, ruins my mood instantly. Just want to cry. I'm writing this now as I'm in the middle of not engaging. Maybe I'll do it tonight, we'll see.
I struggle with health anxiety and ocd . My compulsions are checking my body. If I feel physical symptoms, how do I not give in? If I don’t, the feeling that something is wrong only gets worse for me. The “symptoms” are very real.
I appreciate this video.. why is is SO HARD to not try and figure out my rumination? The OCD makes me feel like I am going to hurt people I love.. and that’s what I care about the most is the people in my life! I’m going to make a point to stop trying to figure out the “truth” and be okay with whatever answer
I’m actually doing a Brain Retraining program and some of what you teach is very much like some of it. You’re awesome! Thank you for sharing your wisdom.
What helped me with my anxiety and cod, was realizing that you newer know what something bad happening to you can cause later on, it may actually safe your life, or avoid even something worst from happening later. Whatever you do in your life affects the time frame of the next events, which may safe your life because of being in different place in a different time. Anything that happens as well changes your circumstances ( for instance having less money) which will cause you to make different decisions, which then may safe your life or avoid some other possible undesirable event. So you can’t newer know if something that you are trying to avoid or prevent from happening wouldn’t safe your life or be beneficial to you in different way in the future. And same way the desirable event happening, can cause catastrophe later on. When fully comprehended , this can stop the constant tortures thinking, about what you don’t want to happen, or want to happen, or what you don’t want to forget etc. Good luck everybody 🍀
I've been looking for this kind of videos to try remind myself the only way out of this is not doing the compulsions, I always get scared of the "you didn't do this right" thought staying with me for the entire day and do the compulsion, but I want to get better and I will stop doing them.
Thank you for this video! I really appreciate your perspective and like the idea of setting goals to postpone compulsions. So simple but effective. Your videos are super helpful ❤
Dear Nathan Peterson! I have been being in OCD for 12 years. Now I would like to add some support to my fate companions. We have started to found a civil organisation in Hungary to provide people with help. Your youtube channel is amaizing. Videos has helped me a lot. I would like to make hungarian subtitles for them if there is any opportunity for it. I would make the hungary subtitles on my own but I can't add them to the videos. Could you help me in this case? Thanks a lot for your response in advance. Gábor from Hungary one of your followers
Watching this while trying to fight the huge amounts of compulsions flying all over my brain and even while trying not to do anything at all but my palpitations are getting worse and I’m about to collapse and cry RIGHT NOW
I have a confession compulsion. Anytime I remember something "bad" I did, thought or felt, I feel so much anxiety, dread, and fear practically forcing me to confess. I'm gonna try to delay, but good golly it's hard
Thank You for the advice man, the videos are awesome. Also, I was wondering who am I supposed to firstly go to ,to get diagnosed?? I am 80% sure that I have Ocd and I want to get it checked, but I am not sure on who to go to.
The man is right, I was looking for better answer, but so far what he told here - the simple truth, is correct. Just postpone every compulsion you have. For the religious people I can offer also daily prayer, meditation or combination of both. Meditation has delayed gratification of about 3 weeks, so it seems counterproductive to just do nothing, but it helps. If you tend to feel better you need less of your compulsive behavior to nourish you. So I would also add some light stretch, go for a run every other day for about 20-30 min. You'll feel amazing.
Thank you, this video is really helpful. I just wanted to let you know that a while back, after watching your videos out of sheer curiosity, and I don't think I have OCD, I once identified a compulsion in myself, and treated it exactly as you say: 'ok, maybe we'll do it, but tomorrow... maybe after dinner? nah, it's too late today, let's postpone it further...'. It's funny that as a seasoned procrastinator, I'm very good at postponing stuff, so it worked to my advantage. Another funny thing that as you are asking about compulsions in the end, the end screen comes up, and I wonder do I find the compulsion to click it, or not. Maybe I'll postpone it ;) Looks like a useful video too, so I'll watch it a bit later :)
Thank you Nathan. I still have some issues with the doubt of that primary first fear and not getting that “just right feeling”. What’s your opinion about getting over that “first fear”?
What if rumination is your hardest compulsion to deal with? I can detatch myself from it and try to allow the thoughts- but then the rumination lasts for hours and attaches to anything i'm doing. This leads to depersonalization which is even more debilitating than the rumination
@@sasukefan6919 me too and I’d actively keep it in my mind when what I really need to be doing is actively letting go of directing attention. It can get hard sometimes and that’s when I find delaying to be the best alternative! He has a few other articles that I recommend as well such as “how are you justifying rumination” and “how to stop paying attention.” They’re both great!
@@avascott3104 thank you so much! I will for sure check those out, and actually just bought an Occulus Quest 2 to deal with bad rumination times. Apparently it helps anxiety and you can use certain VR games for Exposure Therapy!
it's 1:30am, I've got a stonking flu and I've already filed for absence tomorrow from uni because I feel that awful, I could really have done with going to bed five hours ago, but haven't because of my ocd. I have to get it to stop now.
Lol that's what everyone around us says and thinks.. "Just dont do it simple as that" then I get an intrusive thought of breaking their legs and tell them just walk simple as that.. or... maybe it's not an intrusive thought maybe I really wanna do it lol
I have a door checking compulsion, mostly before bed, although I have many other small compulsions I act on, door checking is the strongest obsession I have. I also count in groups of 4, 4 times in a row. So checking is done in either groups of 16 or 64 (16, 4 times). Would preventing the compulsion of checking the door multiple times be a good start and then work on preventing the door checking compulsions themselves after I make progress on the first? Or should I just try and resist both of the compulsions all together.
I get so agitated and angry when I resist compulsions. I am literally terrified of acting out and hurting someone because I am so triggered and irritated. This is the only reason why I give into compulsions but of course the compulsions are getting worse. Like the other day I saw a rock near a busy intersection and my brain said I had to pick that up otherwise someone will fall over that rock and get hurt and if I don't pick up the rock then I'll just give you what you hate the most, anxiety, anger, agitation. All the things I hate. I feel so trapped 😫
What if you can't figure out if you're obsession is real or not, like rabies fear having false sensations like water droplets falling on skin, seeing things in corner eye? Is there any solution for this. Nathan can you please cover this false sensations quasi hallucination of ocd which really makes differentiate bw real and false.
Do u have rabies Ocd? So do I! If you are, I'm so sorry that you're struggling with it. It's comforting to know I'm not alone though. And me seeing things out of the corner of me eye, I struggle with that too!
The thing with the delaying is whenever I try to delay washing my hands for example after getting an ocd thought I feel like everything I touch will be "contaminated" until I do the compulsion so it feels like a huge stressful waste of time ☹
I definitely feel resisting the temptation is so worth it but I totally agree with you I also keep a mental log of what I touch and then I feel like I have to avoid those things later or I sneakily avoid touching things that I really really don't want to contaminate - so counterproductive!
Just don't think about the germs because they are everywhere and there's good germs and your skin needs the oils it makes to protect you more from the germs ☺️
(Not diagnosed) but I’m basically sure I have OCD along with tics as I have mostly uncontrolled facial movements followed by self controlled facial movements. Yes I can stop the facial movements if I concentrate very hard. Naturally I’m pretty good at multitasking but whilst I’m ‘postponing’ my facial tick or my counting/tapping tics. I feel a overwhelming feeling of doom which I can’t describe in any other way. The best way I can describe it is if I don’t move my eyebrow or touch that 3 more times I’m gonna die basically. But I know that I’m not going to die so I can stop that singular touch or facial movement and the mild intrusive thoughts which I used to think were “normal” (what even is that anymore?), but then the next one just comes and then process repeats
Would you say that OCD feels like a disorder of free will? There is a disorder called "Alien Hand Syndrome" where a person's hands make involuntary movement, but they also think the hand doesn't belong to them. The brain is constantly trying to generate movements... As someone with OCD, do you think there is merit to the idea that perhaps OCD could be a kind of Alien Hand Syndrome (voluntary movement disorder), but WITH a sense of self-agency (or illusion of free will, if you like)?
I've been trying to delay compulsions lately but I noticed that I'm also delaying a lot of other tasks and activities because I'm scared to do them before I finish my compulsions. Does anyone have an idea what to do?
Dear Nathan I am dealing with intrusive mean thoughts for my loved ones. I mean like thoughts that we are talking, they say sth important for them, I start to feel hyper focused and anxious because I am expecting the rude thought or the mean thought to pop up and then boom it happens. All of these like in 2 seconds. It really makes me frustrated because I have other themes but thit situation it really hurts me. I am not rude or bad or cruel or someone that wants people to suffer or to misfortune, especially the people that I love. This makes me to close to myself, or to confess and try to seek forgiveness and be extra generous and ruminate again and again. Am I a bad person deep inside? Am I toxic? I don't want u to answer me but I would appreciate if u could make a video about those things. Is it like moral scrupulosity? I am really sad and even if I try not to do compulsions i feel like I don't deserve anything.
I have hit and run OCD and I am trying so hard to not keep checking mirror's when I drive by a cyclist or pedestrian. Then I go back and drive loops to make sure nothing happened. Please help I am trying so hard
I struggle a bit with ocd and re-reading sentences or words in books, feeling like I need to pronounce a word till it feels right or fits a pattern in some way, and it feels like my reading speed has slowed down, at least with a book I'm reading now, when normally I am a fast reader and enjoy reading. I've struggled off and on since a kid, but I'm so ready to be done with it. Can you address these types of issues in a video? Specifically around reading? I'm sure many others deal with this. And not too many videos on YT address it to satisfaction. Thank you!
i do this when i am watching shows and reading the captions or making sure I’m on the right episode and i reread things even tho ik what i read but i keep rereading it or it’ll bother me for the whole day
I used to not even think of washing my hands when putting on or taking off my contact lenses and I used to not even think of brushing n flossing before bed - I used to just do whatever felt right to me when I was a lot younger - many years later it’s the opposite and I am miserable - those are just 2 examples - any insight would be greatly appreciated- love your content ❤️
For me it's not the compulsion itself that varies in difficulty but the intrusive thoughts itself that varies in degrees of perceived intensity. P.S.A I had a horrible experience with NOOCD. I got more value from these videos than I'd ever get from them.
Also had a bad experience with NOCD. Maybe they have good therapists, but ours wasn’t one of them. The bad experience caused delay in trying to get help again which just made OCD worse. Wish NOCD had a screener to better match therapist and client.
I used to be OCD, I couldn’t even write RUclips comments and had no RUclips comment whatsoever. No I just don’t care and have stopped caring and it feels so free 🎉🥳 i heard Psilocybin helps with OCD too
Snacking addiction, eg. eating or drinking when I really don't feel like it. I am going to try this method of delay. When I delay or distract myself, I find that I really don't want the "thing" I was obsessing over.
I am so tired of my compulsion I am so tired of doing the things repeatedly but if I am not doing my compulsions I get terrible anxiety and I'll l again start to overthink 😮💨
Benefit of postponing is after good amount of time most probably u have forget the rituals/compulsions which need to be completed at that particular time... But Problem with postponing is one thought continuously ruminate in your mind that u need to do that left over tasks which u avoided doing bcoz to stop ocd compulsions, procastination....Your mind get hijack bcoz of lot of leftover stuff which u avoided doing before...
Great videos, thank you so much. I have relationship OCD constantly whether wondering if bf telling truth, who is talks to, why is he texting. The list goes om and on. Have to ask him over and over until I feel better then can bring it up weeks/months later. Vicious cycle. Not fair to him and relationship. I feel better after watching your videos
If you feel anxiety about some thing, and you are constantly thinking and analysing and trying to relive that anxiety, is that thinking process itself a compulsion?
I need help with list-making! write them everywhere and have to mark them off. My chest is so heavy and never get them all done because i add more to-do's! What is wrong with me! Great help here though!
Oh,man I have soooo many compulsions I do ALL day long every day because of my contamination ocd it would probably take forever to write them all down and it would take forever to stop each one but I DEFINITELY do not want to live like this forever...I already do that I don't always wash my hands after using the bathroom and don't until the next morning and nothing happens but it would be hard to resist washing my hands after doing each task thru out the day...I use alot of paper products and hand sanitizer unfortunately to deal with my constant compulsions.
👍the video if you do compulsions!
I am Aomar from Algeria.. 49 years old i just found you on the RUclips I can tell you, you ve saved my life today about the real events OCD . I had a harm OCD and getting made but I was stayed in one fault done when I was 14 years sexual touching by my grand mother .passed more than 25 years with all bad emotions. guilty.sadeness I was convinced that I deserve to be sick and a lot of questions during these years . I was always asking i had no chance ' I've ocd and trauma of my past ' but I was I always asking my self that the events as it is is an OCD as well cause I was sticked only in this one despite of I did many others mistake but this one of my g mama became the center of my world I link every details of my life to this mistake .. I couldn't be diagnosed where I live that it is an OCD , we don't ve a specialized therapists in CBT . I had to learn english to try to find a way to recover from my OCD ..sorry for my english I m good in french .
Thanks for every thing hopefully you will explain to us i mean for the people who don't ve access to CBT how to do ERP with the real events OCD
@@Aomar0601 you have got this! 😊
Would a compulsion be bitting the inside of your cheek or tongue ?
@@Aomar0601Jesus heals all sickness mate ❤✝️☝
🎉😊
"You're stronger than your OCD". If that isn't the heart of recovery I don't know what is. Healing for me began with taking a stand and saying "No, I'm not going to live my life this way".
So great. Thanks for sharing!
Are you still without OCD?
@@MDKSuperCars sorry for taking so long to reply. I'd say yes and no. OCD doesn't control my life like it used to, but the urges to obsess or engage in a compulsion come from time to time. Maintenance is important and in that way I never consider myself "better", but definitely better off than I was.
@@IJN-33 mine got worse once I entered high school. Now I have to do something and if I don’t I just have anxiety everyday until I do it. Like right now, my compulsion is my brain telling me to cut a certain number of my pants since I did it with my shorts. And since I don’t want to, my anxiety has been so high
@@johnathonjagodzinski4516 I'm sorry to hear that. You're not alone. OCD is so incredibly challenging, but you can do it! Hang in there. You're stronger than your OCD.
Just try this once. Give it your all to stop doing that compulsion. Tell yourself, I chose not to. It's YOUR choice. NOT your OCD's. Just do this once and follow through. Don't cave!
I personally developed a mindset that might help both visualize and deal with intrusive thoughts - maybe it helps you too.
I like to compare thoughts in general to a social media feed - just like Instagram. It’s just a constant flow of information. Some are interesting, deeply personal, boring, irrelevant, shocking or random ads. You don’t need to engage, they are just information and you decide if you keep scrolling and spend your focus and time on this particular post. You can even train your feed or the algorithm (your thoughts / mindset) in the long run by only looking at content that benefits you because if you keep actively engaging with negative content, your feed will be negative.
I love this visualization!! I will start to treat my intrusive thoughts like annoying ads and remind myself I have the choice to skip them. Thank you for sharing!!🙏🏻
This is freaking fantastic! I am all about visuals and metaphors/similes. Thank you!
That's very brilliant!
I love how you say something so true in "Youre stronger than your OCD" yet others therapists on YT say we have no control over our thoughts and OCD. I appreciate that from you.
I mean, over some thoughts we do. But the pesky ones are the ones that come from nowhere. The anxiety.
@@itzvincentx3 know that you are strong and brave regardless. Water your flowers and pride yourself with all your strengths and flaws. Never ever lose hope.
This is what I'm doing right now to manage ocd. It really helps.
Thanks for sharing man! Super helpful!
I started this few days ago. I wish it would be helpful
This works to avoid the compulsion, but the intrusive thought bugging me to perform the compulsion just sits in my head for days... I sometimes forget to perform actions like turning off the lights in the garage because my head is so clouded with the thought of checking the stove that that just reinforces the idea that I should go check the stove "one last time".
Man this is the worst. Lmk if u figure something out for this
35 years of it so not expecting a change now
Same! My brain loves to bug me and make the anxiety worse and worse until I do a compulsion.
Taking power away from the thought💭 and just saying yes to it and feeling uncertain actually helps, I thought it would make me feel worse but no, it has helped a lot!
It always feels wrong.
Your videos are extremely helpful! After 2 years of trying to deal with it in all the wrong ways, ERP is the only thing that has truly helped. Thank you!!
Happy to help!
I struggled with severe obsessive compulsive disorder 2016 to June 2021. I have some OCD problems now. But I improved greatly and I am much happier. I am living a much better life now. OCD is a very complex and difficult problem.
One of my solutions to healing from severe OCD was to force myself to live for my happiness and peace of mind. Fear is about what if something terrible happens in the future. But the future doesn't exist right now in the present. When you're afraid, worried, and doubting, you have to resist the impulse to do compulsions/rituals, and keep going with your life. Don't do compulsions or rituals or magical thinking. It's all your imagination it's not reality. Stop living in your mind. Live in reality. Let it go. Do something important or meaningful with your time everyday. Your life has value. Follow your dreams and happiness. You are not alone and you can defeat mental illness. I hope this helps. Stay strong and keep living for your happiness and peace of mind.
Yes it motivates
I'm feel so happy for you brother! Yeah!!
Thank you for this video, my OCD came back and while it’s not as bad as last year it’s still annoying, I will not give my life away to OCD!
The problem for me is when my OCD is at its worst, i can’t reassure my self that it’s okay to view them as just thoughts.
Same! It’s been 10 months are you okay now?
This exactly. And I’m still looking for the answer. It’s all well & good to say, “you’ll feel some distress, but just ignore it”, it’s like those saying it have no idea how completely overwhelming it is in that moment. To the danger center in your brain, it’s like saying, just ignore that tiger that’s about to eat your face off. Not what’s happening, but that’s how it feels.
I get this feeling. When your mind is spiraling and feeding you awful thoughts, everything feels like a catastrophe. I like videos like this because they help remind me that you're the one in control and you have power over your OCD and anxiety but still I know it can be tough to remember in the moment. We just have to keep moving forward and doing our best
i try delaying but sometimes i’ll go to bed and as soon as i wake up i will think about it straight away
yes same what should be done
Every morning when I wake all I can think about is doing my compulsions, I give up and then I can't continue with my day until I've performed them.
You really changed my Life Nathan! I appreciate your content and all that you do :)
I appreciate that! Thank you for the kind words.
Thank you this really helped and I realized when I looked in the comments I’m not the only person with OCD and compulsions because I always used to fear that I was only person with OCD and no one could help me.but this really helped thank you.🙏
Your channel has helped me a lot in bringing mental peace in my life. Thank you for your videos. I hope it keeps helping many more people.
Road to recovery!!!
I'm working on my religious compulsions and I'm breaking them step by step!!! I'm able to say some of my trigger words now!!!
I'm also working on religious ocd!!! It's been such a tough journey!!! How have you been doing?
I have done this a few times and it helps! But then i forget to do it a week later! Thanks for reminding me! I love you’re videos they truthfully do help!
Awesome! Great job trying it! It's defiantly a skill to learn!
@@ocdandanxietycan I send you a message pls personal message???
Man this is tougher than I thought
This was VERY helpful information.
I've been doing micro versions of this technique with smaller compulsions.
It's so difficult though :( trying to keep myself from having a panic attack after not doing a compulsion, or doing a 'just right' compulsion 'incorrectly' is so hard.
I think I'm going to have to make myself endure the attack though, it's the only way.
I've actually been successful several times using this technique for lighter compulsions, I'm dreading trying it on the big ones though.
I have a hand washing ritual that can take me upwards of 30mins to an hour to complete 'the right way'.
If I'm successful the first time, it only takes about 60 seconds, but if I do the tiniest thing 'wrong' during the ritual, I have to start all over.
I hate when people say I'm 'faking it', I would LOVE to not have to do that, very much!!
I understand and hope you are doing better! Thanks for sharing
I’m with you I sometimes it worked and sometimes it’s so difficult
@@VeganowledgeJJ Thank you I'm making baby steps, it's getting slightly better.
The hardest part is that I know I'm being ridiculous, but I can't skip my ritual and just do tasks without them, I'll have panic attacks, or end up going back and doing it over again.
What type of OCD do you have?
How are you doing now?
@@marthacooper8713 I'm still struggling, but not as badly.
It has gotten better, but it's definitely something that takes time.
Awareness is our super power.
Great vid, thank you 🙏
I believe I have contamination OCD and I do just this to manage it, what I observed is the bigger is the obsession, the bigger is the compulsion but resistance is also high so I try to delay it and slowly and steadily those intrusive thoughts convert into little background noises
These videos have really helped me I would have been extremely low without your videos Thank you so much and your voice is so calming I can’t thank you enough
And thank you again for your videos Nathan, you're amazing!!
I appreciate you!
@@ocdandanxietysir I'm a filipino do I need to avoid the triggers?....it's hard for me to do it since the triggers are in my house weekly....
Man. The lists are vile. Takes all day to complete the lists I do. Past, present, future, what's happened, hasn't happened, can etc. I feel good after doing them. Drained but good. Wake up the next day and it starts again. Impacts my day immensely, ruins my mood instantly. Just want to cry. I'm writing this now as I'm in the middle of not engaging. Maybe I'll do it tonight, we'll see.
I struggle with health anxiety and ocd . My compulsions are checking my body. If I feel physical symptoms, how do I not give in? If I don’t, the feeling that something is wrong only gets worse for me. The “symptoms” are very real.
Me toooo!!! Medication and cbt therapy
I have this too, it's so hard to resist. Journaling seems to help a bit. I feel for ya
I appreciate this video.. why is is SO HARD to not try and figure out my rumination? The OCD makes me feel like I am going to hurt people I love.. and that’s what I care about the most is the people in my life! I’m going to make a point to stop trying to figure out the “truth” and be okay with whatever answer
I'm healthy
I'll take help of mine subconscious mind to cure mine OCD...time to end this Long battle and WIN...
A new beginning!!!!
Thank you. THIS video did it for me. For the first time in 3 weeks, I did not do a singular ritual before bed and I feel so much hope and relief.
I’m actually doing a Brain Retraining program and some of what you teach is very much like some of it.
You’re awesome! Thank you for sharing your wisdom.
What helped me with my anxiety and cod, was realizing that you newer know what something bad happening to you can cause later on, it may actually safe your life, or avoid even something worst from happening later. Whatever you do in your life affects the time frame of the next events, which may safe your life because of being in different place in a different time. Anything that happens as well changes your circumstances ( for instance having less money) which will cause you to make different decisions, which then may safe your life or avoid some other possible undesirable event. So you can’t newer know if something that you are trying to avoid or prevent from happening wouldn’t safe your life or be beneficial to you in different way in the future. And same way the desirable event happening, can cause catastrophe later on. When fully comprehended , this can stop the constant tortures thinking, about what you don’t want to happen, or want to happen, or what you don’t want to forget etc. Good luck everybody 🍀
You have saved me going down the spiral over and over again 🥺🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻❤️
Thank you so much💚I don’t want to listen to my compulsions anymore. It’s so hard to live with.
I've just started trying to get control, thank you for this video and the positivity. ❤
Love your Videos. I'm trying to get rid of a Nervous tic that drives me Crazy and your videos has helped. 🙂👍
You got this!
Much love my man
These videos are great! I think I'm starting to get obsessed with them...🙂
I've been looking for this kind of videos to try remind myself the only way out of this is not doing the compulsions, I always get scared of the "you didn't do this right" thought staying with me for the entire day and do the compulsion, but I want to get better and I will stop doing them.
Thank you for this video! I really appreciate your perspective and like the idea of setting goals to postpone compulsions. So simple but effective. Your videos are super helpful ❤
Dear Nathan Peterson!
I have been being in OCD for 12 years. Now I would like to add some support to my fate companions. We have started to found a civil organisation in Hungary to provide people with help. Your youtube channel is amaizing. Videos has helped me a lot. I would like to make hungarian subtitles for them if there is any opportunity for it. I would make the hungary subtitles on my own but I can't add them to the videos. Could you help me in this case?
Thanks a lot for your response in advance.
Gábor from Hungary one of your followers
Such an awesome perspective to ease into something challenging!
Thank God for you. Thank you so much for all your hard work and for sharing it all in such perfect ways.
Watching this while trying to fight the huge amounts of compulsions flying all over my brain and even while trying not to do anything at all but my palpitations are getting worse and I’m about to collapse and cry RIGHT NOW
Try natural remedies like tea you.l see
One of the hardest things I’ve had to deal with.
This video was posted a long time ago but i needed it so badly in this moment. Thank you😢
I have a confession compulsion. Anytime I remember something "bad" I did, thought or felt, I feel so much anxiety, dread, and fear practically forcing me to confess. I'm gonna try to delay, but good golly it's hard
me too
me too
Absolutely same it’s the absolute worst feeling!
Another thing I said to myself is “I’m going to get my life back”
Key is keep mind busy and ocd patterns mix it up ... what u do lst do last vice versa ocd bully gets confused 😄
Thank u for this because I get OCD only with cleaning at my job as a store cleaner
Thank You for the advice man, the videos are awesome.
Also, I was wondering who am I supposed to firstly go to ,to get diagnosed?? I am 80% sure that I have Ocd and I want to get it checked, but I am not sure on who to go to.
You can talk to your primary care doctor first, and then they can refer you to a psychiatrist :)
Hey there! Thanks for the kind message. Here is a link that can help find a certified OCD specialist near you: iocdf.org/find-help/
“Go watch the next video right now “ is a trigger for us OCD😂 just saying!
Anyway nice job I like your work 👍
Thank you so much for your helpful and beautiful video's...
You are so welcome!
Trying to get control of my hand washing, counting, and magical thinking. I’m going o try to postpone on purpose. 🙌🏼
The man is right, I was looking for better answer, but so far what he told here - the simple truth, is correct. Just postpone every compulsion you have. For the religious people I can offer also daily prayer, meditation or combination of both. Meditation has delayed gratification of about 3 weeks, so it seems counterproductive to just do nothing, but it helps. If you tend to feel better you need less of your compulsive behavior to nourish you. So I would also add some light stretch, go for a run every other day for about 20-30 min. You'll feel amazing.
Thank you, this video is really helpful.
I just wanted to let you know that a while back, after watching your videos out of sheer curiosity, and I don't think I have OCD, I once identified a compulsion in myself, and treated it exactly as you say: 'ok, maybe we'll do it, but tomorrow... maybe after dinner? nah, it's too late today, let's postpone it further...'. It's funny that as a seasoned procrastinator, I'm very good at postponing stuff, so it worked to my advantage.
Another funny thing that as you are asking about compulsions in the end, the end screen comes up, and I wonder do I find the compulsion to click it, or not. Maybe I'll postpone it ;) Looks like a useful video too, so I'll watch it a bit later :)
But by not doing compulsions my anxiety is very high with panic atacks and I cannot focus on anything, not even my work. What to do in this case? :(
Just the first five seconds of this video has made me a fan lol. ❤️😂
Thank you Nathan. I still have some issues with the doubt of that primary first fear and not getting that “just right feeling”. What’s your opinion about getting over that “first fear”?
Great video!
What if rumination is your hardest compulsion to deal with? I can detatch myself from it and try to allow the thoughts- but then the rumination lasts for hours and attaches to anything i'm doing. This leads to depersonalization which is even more debilitating than the rumination
I recommend reading Michael greenberg’s post on how to stop ruminating on google. It really helped me and it might help you as well.
@@avascott3104 yep. thanks. I was using mindfulness as a compulsion... shit.
@@sasukefan6919 me too and I’d actively keep it in my mind when what I really need to be doing is actively letting go of directing attention. It can get hard sometimes and that’s when I find delaying to be the best alternative! He has a few other articles that I recommend as well such as “how are you justifying rumination” and “how to stop paying attention.” They’re both great!
@@avascott3104 thank you so much! I will for sure check those out, and actually just bought an Occulus Quest 2 to deal with bad rumination times. Apparently it helps anxiety and you can use certain VR games for Exposure Therapy!
Your a brilliant help, I was also reading low vit d is a factor also in ocd getting worse.
it's 1:30am, I've got a stonking flu and I've already filed for absence tomorrow from uni because I feel that awful, I could really have done with going to bed five hours ago, but haven't because of my ocd. I have to get it to stop now.
Lol that's what everyone around us says and thinks.. "Just dont do it simple as that" then I get an intrusive thought of breaking their legs and tell them just walk simple as that.. or... maybe it's not an intrusive thought maybe I really wanna do it lol
Its more than likely its just another intrusive thought
thank you so much, great video!
I have a door checking compulsion, mostly before bed, although I have many other small compulsions I act on, door checking is the strongest obsession I have. I also count in groups of 4, 4 times in a row. So checking is done in either groups of 16 or 64 (16, 4 times). Would preventing the compulsion of checking the door multiple times be a good start and then work on preventing the door checking compulsions themselves after I make progress on the first? Or should I just try and resist both of the compulsions all together.
This is the hardest thing I have been struggling for my entire life 😔
I get so agitated and angry when I resist compulsions. I am literally terrified of acting out and hurting someone because I am so triggered and irritated. This is the only reason why I give into compulsions but of course the compulsions are getting worse.
Like the other day I saw a rock near a busy intersection and my brain said I had to pick that up otherwise someone will fall over that rock and get hurt and if I don't pick up the rock then I'll just give you what you hate the most, anxiety, anger, agitation. All the things I hate. I feel so trapped 😫
What if you can't figure out if you're obsession is real or not, like rabies fear having false sensations like water droplets falling on skin, seeing things in corner eye? Is there any solution for this. Nathan can you please cover this false sensations quasi hallucination of ocd which really makes differentiate bw real and false.
Do u have rabies Ocd? So do I! If you are, I'm so sorry that you're struggling with it. It's comforting to know I'm not alone though. And me seeing things out of the corner of me eye, I struggle with that too!
Always helpful .. thank you 😊
Anytime!
Love this Nate!..Thankzz😍❤️
The thing with the delaying is whenever I try to delay washing my hands for example after getting an ocd thought I feel like everything I touch will be "contaminated" until I do the compulsion so it feels like a huge stressful waste of time ☹
I definitely feel resisting the temptation is so worth it but I totally agree with you I also keep a mental log of what I touch and then I feel like I have to avoid those things later or I sneakily avoid touching things that I really really don't want to contaminate - so counterproductive!
Just don't think about the germs because they are everywhere and there's good germs and your skin needs the oils it makes to protect you more from the germs ☺️
@@tinakinz123 i meant mental contamination it's not about the germs but thanks ☺
I always swallow my saliva while thinking “LIVE NOT DIE” in my head.
Been doing it for 25 plus years. 😢
I need to stop basically oaf figuring out why I am ok 👀 and not be so specific to why and try not ruminate/think about it
(Not diagnosed) but I’m basically sure I have OCD along with tics as I have mostly uncontrolled facial movements followed by self controlled facial movements. Yes I can stop the facial movements if I concentrate very hard. Naturally I’m pretty good at multitasking but whilst I’m ‘postponing’ my facial tick or my counting/tapping tics. I feel a overwhelming feeling of doom which I can’t describe in any other way. The best way I can describe it is if I don’t move my eyebrow or touch that 3 more times I’m gonna die basically. But I know that I’m not going to die so I can stop that singular touch or facial movement and the mild intrusive thoughts which I used to think were “normal” (what even is that anymore?), but then the next one just comes and then process repeats
I’m not diagnosed either yet, but I have so many symptoms
Would you say that OCD feels like a disorder of free will? There is a disorder called "Alien Hand Syndrome" where a person's hands make involuntary movement, but they also think the hand doesn't belong to them. The brain is constantly trying to generate movements... As someone with OCD, do you think there is merit to the idea that perhaps OCD could be a kind of Alien Hand Syndrome (voluntary movement disorder), but WITH a sense of self-agency (or illusion of free will, if you like)?
Watching your videos is my ocd compulsion😂😂
I've been trying to delay compulsions lately but I noticed that I'm also delaying a lot of other tasks and activities because I'm scared to do them before I finish my compulsions. Does anyone have an idea what to do?
Dear Nathan I am dealing with intrusive mean thoughts for my loved ones. I mean like thoughts that we are talking, they say sth important for them, I start to feel hyper focused and anxious because I am expecting the rude thought or the mean thought to pop up and then boom it happens. All of these like in 2 seconds. It really makes me frustrated because I have other themes but thit situation it really hurts me. I am not rude or bad or cruel or someone that wants people to suffer or to misfortune, especially the people that I love. This makes me to close to myself, or to confess and try to seek forgiveness and be extra generous and ruminate again and again. Am I a bad person deep inside? Am I toxic? I don't want u to answer me but I would appreciate if u could make a video about those things. Is it like moral scrupulosity? I am really sad and even if I try not to do compulsions i feel like I don't deserve anything.
I get you. I have same sort of thing.
I have hit and run OCD and I am trying so hard to not keep checking mirror's when I drive by a cyclist or pedestrian. Then I go back and drive loops to make sure nothing happened. Please help I am trying so hard
I struggle a bit with ocd and re-reading sentences or words in books, feeling like I need to pronounce a word till it feels right or fits a pattern in some way, and it feels like my reading speed has slowed down, at least with a book I'm reading now, when normally I am a fast reader and enjoy reading. I've struggled off and on since a kid, but I'm so ready to be done with it. Can you address these types of issues in a video? Specifically around reading? I'm sure many others deal with this. And not too many videos on YT address it to satisfaction. Thank you!
i do this when i am watching shows and reading the captions or making sure I’m on the right episode and i reread things even tho ik what i read but i keep rereading it or it’ll bother me for the whole day
Fantastic support for compulsive behaviour
This is the best , thank you
I'm not going to the videos on a disgusting disorder with surgery pics😕 and the struggle is real.
How do I delay checking OCD if I routinely check items in my house oven, sliding door, front door, etc.
I used to not even think of washing my hands when putting on or taking off my contact lenses and I used to not even think of brushing n flossing before bed - I used to just do whatever felt right to me when I was a lot younger - many years later it’s the opposite and I am miserable - those are just 2 examples - any insight would be greatly appreciated- love your content ❤️
I just hate the uncomfortableness😔 but I want to feel better
For me it's not the compulsion itself that varies in difficulty but the intrusive thoughts itself that varies in degrees of perceived intensity. P.S.A I had a horrible experience with NOOCD. I got more value from these videos than I'd ever get from them.
Also had a bad experience with NOCD. Maybe they have good therapists, but ours wasn’t one of them. The bad experience caused delay in trying to get help again which just made OCD worse. Wish NOCD had a screener to better match therapist and client.
Ok this worries me because I’m going back to NOCD. I have difficulty in the obsessive thoughts that go on loop.
I used to be OCD, I couldn’t even write RUclips comments and had no RUclips comment whatsoever. No I just don’t care and have stopped caring and it feels so free 🎉🥳 i heard Psilocybin helps with OCD too
Snacking addiction, eg. eating or drinking when I really don't feel like it. I am going to try this method of delay. When I delay or distract myself, I find that I really don't want the "thing" I was obsessing over.
Hi, I'm suffering from OCD. I couldn't control it. Pls, help me 🙏
I keep biting my cheeks and swallowing 🤷🏻♀️
ERP works the best !
Totally!!
Is it possible to do a reassuring/asking question compulstion and not have ocd. Or maybe that's just anxiety.
I am so tired of my compulsion I am so tired of doing the things repeatedly but if I am not doing my compulsions I get terrible anxiety and I'll l again start to overthink 😮💨
Benefit of postponing is after good amount of time most probably u have forget the rituals/compulsions which need to be completed at that particular time... But Problem with postponing is one thought continuously ruminate in your mind that u need to do that left over tasks which u avoided doing bcoz to stop ocd compulsions, procastination....Your mind get hijack bcoz of lot of leftover stuff which u avoided doing before...
Rumination kills me. It stresses me out so much
This is SO HARD and FEARFUL!!!
Great videos, thank you so much. I have relationship OCD constantly whether wondering if bf telling truth, who is talks to, why is he texting. The list goes om and on. Have to ask him over and over until I feel better then can bring it up weeks/months later. Vicious cycle. Not fair to him and relationship. I feel better after watching your videos
If you feel anxiety about some thing, and you are constantly thinking and analysing and trying to relive that anxiety, is that thinking process itself a compulsion?
I need help with list-making! write them everywhere and have to mark them off. My chest is so heavy and never get them all done because i add more to-do's! What is wrong with me! Great help here though!
Oh,man I have soooo many compulsions I do ALL day long every day because of my contamination ocd it would probably take forever to write them all down and it would take forever to stop each one but I DEFINITELY do not want to live like this forever...I already do that I don't always wash my hands after using the bathroom and don't until the next morning and nothing happens but it would be hard to resist washing my hands after doing each task thru out the day...I use alot of paper products and hand sanitizer unfortunately to deal with my constant compulsions.