If you have OCD (compulsions and/or intrusive thoughts), do the following practice and your compulsions and intrusive thoughts WILL 100% get better and most likely even completely vanish if you apply this advice for long enough, you have to do this if you want to get better, there is no way around it: Meditate daily, ideally 30-60+ minutes, but you can start with 5+ minutes and work your way up. I recommend Vipassana meditation, which simply means putting your attention on the bodily sensations of breathing. Meditation is essentially about one thing: Practicing Awareness. Sitting meditation is an intentional, focused practice of Awareness, but it's just the beginning. You also have to practice Awareness when you are not sitting down to meditate. You basically have to meditate/practice Awareness 24/7, no matter what you are doing, no matter how many thoughts come up and no matter how much you suffer mentally and physically. Practicing Awareness means simply observing your thoughts and compulsions (and also emotions, sensory perceptions, bodily sensations, pain etc., basically everything you experience) in a distanced and detached way. You have to realize that you ARE the observer/the Awareness that is free from all experience. YOU ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS AND COMPULSIONS. You are free from your thoughts, your thoughts just fool you into believing that they are real. Thoughts are just randomly generated bullshit, don't ever worry about them and don't ever think they are more than that. Never believe ANY thoughts. Do not identify with your thoughts and simply observe them from a distance. Your OCD will try to come up with all kinds of sneaky shit to draw you back into it, but NEVER give in to it, no matter what it says. Examples of sly tricks of OCD would be thoughts like "Meditation/Awareness doesn't work", "Your OCD will never go away" etc., but all these tricks only work because you let yourself get fooled by them, because you believe in them. You willingly give your power to these meaningless thoughts so that they can destroy you with it. See the absurdity in that. Also, never try to argue with thoughts, correct them, fight them, get rid of them etc., all of that is more tricks of OCD. You cannot solve OCD inside of the mind, only by stepping outside of the mind and observing it (Awareness). Intrusive thoughts and compulsions are randomly generated and you have absolutely no control over them whatsoever, but you have the power of being able to simply observe them, which will make you realize that you are not these thoughts, which will make them go away if you do it long enough. They only keep coming if they keep getting negative reactions from you. Fully accept and welcome all thoughts, no matter how strange or disturbing they may be. Never resist thoughts. Thoughts have no power over you as long as you don't give it to them. Never feel ashamed, disgusted or shocked by your thoughts, this fuels intrusive thoughts and compulsions immensely. Compulsions and intrusive thoughts thrive on your negative reactions to them. Simply observe them without being irritated by them. OCD is threatened by Meditation/Awareness, that's why it will try to keep you from practicing them. When you practice Meditation/Awareness, your OCD might try to draw you back into its grasp through anxiety and anxious reactions in the body: tension, racing heart, sweating, stomach/heart pain etc., don't identify with these uncomfortable bodily sensations either and also observe all of this in a detached way. It's all just the OCD trying to trick you and ruin your life. The fact that your OCD will try to keep you from meditating/practicing Awareness should be a clear signal to you that you are on the right path to overcoming it. Meditating and constantly practicing Awareness might be very hard at first, but don't be discouraged, it will become easier and easier with time, and your OCD and all its symptoms will gradually become better. Even if thoughts still come up, they will not bother you anymore, you will just see them for the random bullshit that they are. The end goal would be to remain in Awareness 24/7, which would make you completely invulnerable to all compulsions and intrusive thoughts. Also, as corny as it may sound, what's even more important than Meditation and constantly practicing Awareness is fully and unconditionally loving yourself and everybody else and everything else in the world, even the most evil shit you can imagine, even your intrusive thoughts and compulsions. Your world and life have to become completely filled with Love. Negativity and suffering can only thrive where there is a lack of Love. Love repels negativity and suffering like oil repels water. You WILL get through this if you follow my advice consequently for a long enough time, please trust me for your own sake. Wishing you all the best and much love my friend. 😊🙏❤
I think this is really going to change my life completely. Thank you for creating this video and explaining Pure O in a way that doesn't make me feel like a terrible person and for addressing the different types of treatment that can help with this disorder.
If you have OCD (compulsions and/or intrusive thoughts), do the following practice and your compulsions and intrusive thoughts WILL 100% get better and most likely even completely vanish if you apply this advice for long enough, you have to do this if you want to get better, there is no way around it: Meditate daily, ideally 30-60+ minutes, but you can start with 5+ minutes and work your way up. I recommend Vipassana meditation, which simply means putting your attention on the bodily sensations of breathing. Meditation is essentially about one thing: Practicing Awareness. Sitting meditation is an intentional, focused practice of Awareness, but it's just the beginning. You also have to practice Awareness when you are not sitting down to meditate. You basically have to meditate/practice Awareness 24/7, no matter what you are doing, no matter how many thoughts come up and no matter how much you suffer mentally and physically. Practicing Awareness means simply observing your thoughts and compulsions (and also emotions, sensory perceptions, bodily sensations, pain etc., basically everything you experience) in a distanced and detached way. You have to realize that you ARE the observer/the Awareness that is free from all experience. YOU ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS AND COMPULSIONS. You are free from your thoughts, your thoughts just fool you into believing that they are real. Thoughts are just randomly generated bullshit, don't ever worry about them and don't ever think they are more than that. Never believe ANY thoughts. Do not identify with your thoughts and simply observe them from a distance. Your OCD will try to come up with all kinds of sneaky shit to draw you back into it, but NEVER give in to it, no matter what it says. Examples of sly tricks of OCD would be thoughts like "Meditation/Awareness doesn't work", "Your OCD will never go away" etc., but all these tricks only work because you let yourself get fooled by them, because you believe in them. You willingly give your power to these meaningless thoughts so that they can destroy you with it. See the absurdity in that. Also, never try to argue with thoughts, correct them, fight them, get rid of them etc., all of that is more tricks of OCD. You cannot solve OCD inside of the mind, only by stepping outside of the mind and observing it (Awareness). Intrusive thoughts and compulsions are randomly generated and you have absolutely no control over them whatsoever, but you have the power of being able to simply observe them, which will make you realize that you are not these thoughts, which will make them go away if you do it long enough. They only keep coming if they keep getting negative reactions from you. Fully accept and welcome all thoughts, no matter how strange or disturbing they may be. Never resist thoughts. Thoughts have no power over you as long as you don't give it to them. Never feel ashamed, disgusted or shocked by your thoughts, this fuels intrusive thoughts and compulsions immensely. Compulsions and intrusive thoughts thrive on your negative reactions to them. Simply observe them without being irritated by them. OCD is threatened by Meditation/Awareness, that's why it will try to keep you from practicing them. When you practice Meditation/Awareness, your OCD might try to draw you back into its grasp through anxiety and anxious reactions in the body: tension, racing heart, sweating, stomach/heart pain etc., don't identify with these uncomfortable bodily sensations either and also observe all of this in a detached way. It's all just the OCD trying to trick you and ruin your life. The fact that your OCD will try to keep you from meditating/practicing Awareness should be a clear signal to you that you are on the right path to overcoming it. Meditating and constantly practicing Awareness might be very hard at first, but don't be discouraged, it will become easier and easier with time, and your OCD and all its symptoms will gradually become better. Even if thoughts still come up, they will not bother you anymore, you will just see them for the random bullshit that they are. The end goal would be to remain in Awareness 24/7, which would make you completely invulnerable to all compulsions and intrusive thoughts. Also, as corny as it may sound, what's even more important than Meditation and constantly practicing Awareness is fully and unconditionally loving yourself and everybody else and everything else in the world, even the most evil shit you can imagine, even your intrusive thoughts and compulsions. Your world and life have to become completely filled with Love. Negativity and suffering can only thrive where there is a lack of Love. Love repels negativity and suffering like oil repels water. You WILL get through this if you follow my advice consequently for a long enough time, please trust me for your own sake. Wishing you all the best and much love my friend. 😊❤
2 weeks after quarantine started i suddenly felt something snap in my mind and i depersonalized and derealized -> i started thinking reality is fake/pre-programmed and we have no control over ourselves and the world whatsoever i became obsessed about those thoughts (even recognizing they're absurd and irrational) and i also started getting depressed i feel like i lost myself and my life forever i feel really bad, i can't even distract myself because i am indeed obsessed i hate it btw i guess the thoughts come from my huge fear of becoming mentally ill/going crazy/"mentally dying" lollll so now im stuck being super controlling and hiding my fear with other stupid thoughts yeah it's a whole mess
You’re not alone ,hang in there some how we will get over this especially during this pandemic it made everything feel fake like we are robots I been dealing with that to
I have your exact issues... The DP/DR seems to almost confirm that we are right and are going to start going crazy or develop a much worse mental illness. On top of that you still have to deal with all the other intrusive thoughts. BUT you're not alone and it will get better. Seek professional help if you are able to. Either way just know you're not alone and I'll be praying for us all to gain some peace from this all
I hope you are feeling better. Here is a new video on what to do in the moment those thoughts come up. I hope it helps you: ruclips.net/video/c-HKZNh88dQ/видео.html
We're definitely not our thoughts and this didn't make sense to me until I started meditating. I can now step back and observe my thoughts as just thoughts. This took a lot of meditating to get to this point! I really feel free from my intrusive thoughts now but I still get them from time to time. Great video!
Ahhh wonderful to hear a fellow meditator having success. Meditation/Awareness is indeed the ultimate solution to most mental afflictions. Once you realize your mind is just a secondary thing taking place inside of you, the problems disappear by themselves.
Excellent video. I've been having intrusive debilitating thoughts that are sexual and death related. Truly scary because sometimes I can convince myself that the thoughts are true. In the middle of a pandemic getting an appointment with my doctor to get a referral to see a counselor can take time. And this video has helped me begin to tackle the problem myself. when I have intrusive thoughts and I start to panic I will come back to this video to calm myself down. THANK YOU. I subscribed.
I have illness and death related thoughts too, ive been a mess these past 3/4 days. Theres moments I feel like not existing would be better than this hell.
Thank you for this video! I always have disturbing thought that stress me out and make me think i’m a bad person. I get so caught up on not trying to think about them, then they happen more. I never knew there was a name for this, i thought i just had problems. It helps so much to know other people deal with this and it’s normal. At least now when they happen, i know that doesn’t mean i will actually act on the thoughts.
I am glad that you learned that you are not alone and our thoughts are not truths. Please practice self compassion when you are experiencing these thoughts, and at the same time, begin to think of your job as tolerating them without avoiding the thoughts. I wish you the very best.
I had the same experience like you, I was unable to understand myself when I got severe anxiety with compulsions but didn't understand a single things of what's going on (except something is WRONG with me)
If you have OCD (compulsions and/or intrusive thoughts), do the following practice and your compulsions and intrusive thoughts WILL 100% get better and most likely even completely vanish if you apply this advice for long enough, you have to do this if you want to get better, there is no way around it: Meditate daily, ideally 30-60+ minutes, but you can start with 5+ minutes and work your way up. I recommend Vipassana meditation, which simply means putting your attention on the bodily sensations of breathing. Meditation is essentially about one thing: Practicing Awareness. Sitting meditation is an intentional, focused practice of Awareness, but it's just the beginning. You also have to practice Awareness when you are not sitting down to meditate. You basically have to meditate/practice Awareness 24/7, no matter what you are doing, no matter how many thoughts come up and no matter how much you suffer mentally and physically. Practicing Awareness means simply observing your thoughts and compulsions (and also emotions, sensory perceptions, bodily sensations, pain etc., basically everything you experience) in a distanced and detached way. You have to realize that you ARE the observer/the Awareness that is free from all experience. YOU ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS AND COMPULSIONS. You are free from your thoughts, your thoughts just fool you into believing that they are real. Thoughts are just randomly generated bullshit, don't ever worry about them and don't ever think they are more than that. Never believe ANY thoughts. Do not identify with your thoughts and simply observe them from a distance. Your OCD will try to come up with all kinds of sneaky shit to draw you back into it, but NEVER give in to it, no matter what it says. Examples of sly tricks of OCD would be thoughts like "Meditation/Awareness doesn't work", "Your OCD will never go away" etc., but all these tricks only work because you let yourself get fooled by them, because you believe in them. You willingly give your power to these meaningless thoughts so that they can destroy you with it. See the absurdity in that. Also, never try to argue with thoughts, correct them, fight them, get rid of them etc., all of that is more tricks of OCD. You cannot solve OCD inside of the mind, only by stepping outside of the mind and observing it (Awareness). Intrusive thoughts and compulsions are randomly generated and you have absolutely no control over them whatsoever, but you have the power of being able to simply observe them, which will make you realize that you are not these thoughts, which will make them go away if you do it long enough. They only keep coming if they keep getting negative reactions from you. Fully accept and welcome all thoughts, no matter how strange or disturbing they may be. Never resist thoughts. Thoughts have no power over you as long as you don't give it to them. Never feel ashamed, disgusted or shocked by your thoughts, this fuels intrusive thoughts and compulsions immensely. Compulsions and intrusive thoughts thrive on your negative reactions to them. Simply observe them without being irritated by them. OCD is threatened by Meditation/Awareness, that's why it will try to keep you from practicing them. When you practice Meditation/Awareness, your OCD might try to draw you back into its grasp through anxiety and anxious reactions in the body: tension, racing heart, sweating, stomach/heart pain etc., don't identify with these uncomfortable bodily sensations either and also observe all of this in a detached way. It's all just the OCD trying to trick you and ruin your life. The fact that your OCD will try to keep you from meditating/practicing Awareness should be a clear signal to you that you are on the right path to overcoming it. Meditating and constantly practicing Awareness might be very hard at first, but don't be discouraged, it will become easier and easier with time, and your OCD and all its symptoms will gradually become better. Even if thoughts still come up, they will not bother you anymore, you will just see them for the random bullshit that they are. The end goal would be to remain in Awareness 24/7, which would make you completely invulnerable to all compulsions and intrusive thoughts. Also, as corny as it may sound, what's even more important than Meditation and constantly practicing Awareness is fully and unconditionally loving yourself and everybody else and everything else in the world, even the most evil shit you can imagine, even your intrusive thoughts and compulsions. Your world and life have to become completely filled with Love. Negativity and suffering can only thrive where there is a lack of Love. Love repels negativity and suffering like oil repels water. You WILL get through this if you follow my advice consequently for a long enough time, please trust me for your own sake. Wishing you all the best and much love my friend. 😊🙏❤
@@AyushKumar-ux2iv Only if thought rumination affects your internal health you may have to visit a psychologist. Heal yourself. Your breath is directly related to your mind [brain] causing negative thoughts-anxiety-stress. For a relaxed life sit on a chair, back erect, hands on lap with palms upwards, eyes closed, be still and observe your natural incoming--outgoing breath at the entrance of the nostrils for around 10-15 minutes. Be as still as possible. Many thoughts will come which is ok--slowly negative thoughts will reduce and your mind will relax. During your daily activity keep observing your breath consciously. Best part is mood swings also reduce. Do the above meditation daily to feel relaxed. For more healing enter the following on google search and listen before sleep repeating the affirmations for 10 minutes in your mind. -“52Hz affirmations for health and healing you tube”. You will get relief quickly. Best wishes. Shyaaam Sir. -Counsellor.
Hello ma'am I was suffering from severe pure ocd from a long time. I found your channel around 6 months ago and watched your ocd playlist several time to fully understand whatever you were explaining. And I am following expose and response prevention therapy for 5 months now and my obsessive thoughts reduced very much and now I am living a normal life and can focus on my study. Idk how to thank you enough , you've really saved my life Thank you❤️
thank you so much you have no idea how much your video helped me, i cried a lot while watching this because i was so comforted in knowing that i can get help and this won’t last forever. I’ve been suffering with violent and disturbing thoughts about my family for months now that make me physically sick and hate myself. I’ve grown to be afraid of myself for thinking these things, i love my family so dearly they are my rock. I can’t wait to get help and get my life back thank you.
I couldn’t afford a therapist anymore so youtube is my new therapist lol. I had a hard time with my therapist getting me in a anxious state. I’ve been doing it on my own and it’s killer. But I thank our Heavenly Father for videos like yours for guidance and knowledge. I pray for everyone on here. It’s tough. Stay strong and I know one day we’ll look back and laugh at this little devil named Gus haha
I am hopeful that my videos can help you. Therapy is difficult to come by for many and I make videos to offer at least a bit of support for anyone that may benefit. Once you learn to accept your thoughts as just thoughts, and do not try to argue with them or analyze them or scrutinize them for truth, the frequency and intensity will die down. Thank you for such a heartfelt message. I hope you can laugh at Gus too...😊
Dawson Ogilvie im so proud of you for trying to get rid of it by yourself because I’m trying as well and I can tell you how difficult it is !! I feel you! You’re not alone
Phyllis Boyle, unfortunately, I am only able to take insurance within the state of Michigan. There are many wonderful therapists and most can be found on psychologytoday.com. I encourage you to seek help within your state and insurance coverage.
Really made me feel good hearing you say your thoughts aren’t you. And that I am a good person.. I know this to be true and I know my brain and fears are not real. It’s all in my head. It just gets so hard to ignore the voices telling you that your mistakes as minor as they are? Make you a terrible person!. Hearing it from other people that I’m not crazy or bad really brings my attention back to reality. Thank you
This truly has helped me with my OCD. I was so doubtful that there was nothing I could do because I thought my OCD was taking over. I am wrong, and am so glad I found you and your videos! You have helped me immensely, thank you!❤
Thank you, this video was extremely helpful. My friend (2nd yr uni student) is really struggling with obsessive intrusive thoughts which leads her on a downward spiral to very dark places. Reassuring her doesn't help, it only increases her anxiety and it's breaking my heart to see her go through this. She feels worthless, like she isn't 'real' and she has begun to self harm which all adds to her feelings of guilt and extreme anxiety. For example, She seeks reassurance from her boyfriend but when he tells her he loves her, she doesn't believe him and will continue to press him to confirm his love but despite the reassurance, it's never enough, she doesn't feel worthy of love and it's a never ending cycle of deep despair. She's been prescribed antidepressants but they really don't help. She's been referred by her GP for cbt and is currently waiting for an appointment. Are there any books you can suggest that may offer her some support? (I've come across 'Overcoming unwanted intrusive thoughts' - M.Seif/S Winston?). I would appreciate any advice. Thank you so much. ✌
I am so sorry that your friend is suffering and it is so caring of you to try to help her. You are right in that reassurance seeking is a compulsion harmful for someone with OCD. I am concerned about the self harm as it sounds like she is also suffering from depression. Here is a playlist to help her with unwanted thoughts. ruclips.net/p/PL1lUhuKpYUYqKvEwlGXoRPDu_8blhbaq- The book you mentioned is excellent and one of my favorites. If she is looking for more help for Pure O, I have an online therapy course coming out at the end of March. She can contact me at PaigePradko.com. I can walk her through exactly what to do. But, until then, she does need to be assessed and treated for possible depression. Sometimes we need to treat the depression before the OCD.
You are such an amazing person! You have no idea how many people find tpur videos as beneficial and crucial to their life stability. Personally im really greatful for your kindness and help, and will reccomend your channel to others in need. Love from israel♡
I have been having harm ocd thoughts for a couple months now and am currently undergoing erp therapy which I notice is helping but it’s just so scary! I’m always scared it will train my brain that these thoughts are okay so I tend to still reassure myself constantly! The fear of “what if it’s not ocd” has also been a scary struggle. Do you have any advice on the emotional side of ocd? Especially when it comes to this theme it’s so shameful, scary, and makes you feel like you lost yourself. Or that one day when the popped up you suddenly feel like a monster. It’s so hard😭 I love you videos they are so helpful and I love your more softer and empathetic side of addressing this issue.
I understand that fear of “what if it is not OCD”. One thing I can share is that if the thought scares you, it is definitely OCD. At that point, label it as OCD, and treat the thought as it is completely insignificant to you. You do not need to argue with a thought that is meaningless to you. So proud of you for doing ERP, and yes, it is difficult and challenging, but, it works. Keep up the great work.
I hate this feeling I wish the thoughts would just go away and I get really stressed when I think about it. It feels like this icky glob of goo in the pit of my stomach thats weighing me down. I constantly try to reassure myself, but its to no avail... its worse than ever now, the anxiety, i just dont know if this will ever stop and go back to the way it was before when I had nothing to worry about.
sarahpisces 0219 I wrote this comment a month ago and am still in erp therapy and just wanted to give you some hope and say it is definitely possible to recover from this. After about 3 months of struggling hardcore I got to a point where I thought it would never truly get better....and let me tell you I’m starting to feel like my normal self again! If I can do it, you can too, no different so don’t worry you got this! It is soooo possible!
Sarah Wright girl you got this! I used to be like that and I can tell you now I never do that anymore and my anxiety and worries over this are now finally disappearing!
Thank you so much for these videos! I've been following these methods for over a month, and they have helped me a lot more than when I paid money for 3 months of therapy. Maybe I just didn't find the right person or the right sort of therapy at the time. I tried CBT, and if anything, it just made my anxiety worse. Exposure therapy, mindfulness, and meditation were the most effective in reducing my anxiety and keeping my intrusive thoughts under control.
I’m finally at peace with my ocd I became so obsessed with death due to a lot of my friends passing away. That I thought that I was next or my family members were and I was so afraid to talk about out loud in fear of it becoming true. And I told myself that this is something that I can’t control it happens and now I’m doing so much better 😩I’m slowly but surely becoming a new and better person thank you 🙏🏾
I am so sorry for your loss. I am glad that you found the channel. I have playlists for Pure O and OCD to help people. I hope that you feel supported here.
Thank you so much for this video. This gave me insight and information on what I am currently going through. Since the quarantine began, since early April, I have been having nonstop unwanted instrusive/obsessive thoughts and images in my head. It happened so out of the blue, and even now, I feel like I haven't made much improvement, if any. It's still in my head almost 24/7. It is extremely distressing and disturbing. The instrusive thoughts and images I have are related to some of the sins and horrible mistakes I have made in the past, which I have done over and over again. I have stopped for a while, mostly due to what I am going through, but they are haunting me because I have a feeling that those sins and decisions played a role in causing this. The strange thing is these intrusive thoughts had never occurred or bothered me before because I guess I didn't feel anything would happen during those times. I thought it was harmless. Now, it's almost like I'm paying the price for what I've done. Although I'm not sure this would have occurred or not without the quarantine starting, I know that I'm going through it and there are no place for what ifs. But what ifs are one of the major reasons that began what I'm going through. It's almost like my head is forcing me to think these thoughts and images that aren't true and that I don't identify with to the point where I get worried what if it is true. Although I haven't been diagnosed with OCD and anxiety, I'm almost sure that what I'm going through is Pure O OCD as I don't have physical compulsions but have mental compulsions constantly. There are also so many triggers around me, including people, social media, videos, pictures, and more. I know fighting it, reasoning, and convincing myself that they are fake and that I'll never do them makes it worse, and that I am not my thoughts, images, and dreams. However, it's really difficult to put into action, especially without a therapist at this time. I'm honestly kinda stuck right now. As someone who is graduating college soon, I'm honestly worried and anxious that this will affect my future career, my relationships with my family and friends, my lifestyle, my sociability, and just how I bring about myself in every day life. Sorry, I know this was long, but I really appreciate it if you read this. I really hope you reply Paige.
Jason, I am so sorry that you are suffering. OCD creates a sense of personal responsibility, when there is none. I could write you an answer reassuring you, but, that would not help. What will help is ERP. Allowing your upsetting thoughts to come without working through the thoughts or analyzing them, or trying to figure out if they are true or not. Part of your analysis of your thoughts is what is keeping them active. You have to allow the thoughts to float around and tolerate the uncertainty and unknowing of their truth or significance. Make sure you are not following up the thoughts with intentional thought sequences or prayers. Just let them float there and tolerate the anxiety of not knowing the truth. I suggest finding a therapist that specializes in OCD if possible. Until then, I hope this helps.
@@PaigePradkoTherapy Thank you. it's been a really difficult time for me, especially as it is still relatively new, with it being almost two months. I do feel like the things I chose to do in the past consistently did play a role in what I'm going through as the contents are similar, but at the same time, I feel there's no correlation. I just have so much guilt and shame right now. I do feel CBT and ERP is the way to go, but with everything being online, I'm not sure if it would be as helpful as if it was in person. At the same time, I'm not sure I can wait until September or so and potentially become worse by then. I know that I shouldn't interact with my thoughts, analyze them, or make meaning out of them, but the thoughts and images themselves go against who I am as a person and Christian and are really disturbing and scary that I'm not sure what to do. It's one thing to know that I need to let them through, treat them as another normal thought, and not consider the significance, but it's really difficult to really do that, especially without a therapist.
Hi John. I hope the video has been helpful. Here is a playlist for help with Pure O OCD. ruclips.net/p/PL1lUhuKpYUYqKvEwlGXoRPDu_8blhbaq- And here is a pdf that may be helpful: www.paigepradko.com/erp
Thank you. You may be interested in the next 2 videos going live in the next 2 weeks. The first one is a detailed video on ERP for OCD. And the second video is a more detailed video on Strategic Exposure Therapy for OCD and Anxiety Disorders. Thank you again for your comment 😊
Thank you posting the video, I’m in the Uk, I’m 48 , I’ve been having intrusive violent thoughts since I was 17, I was on the brink of trying to get myself sectioned into my local psychiatric hospital due to the thoughts, thinking I was a danger to others, the same day I came across the term ‘intrusive thoughts’ ...the relief was incredible ! ...but the thoughts did not go away, the thoughts have been far more intrusive the last few months, some days I really do think I’m going crazy, what concerns me is the fact the thoughts don’t really make me anxious anymore, but they cause me to slump into depression, should I still be feeling anxious? I put the lack of anxiety down to the fact that I know it’s a recognised mental illness? I’ve finally been seeing a therapist for the last few weeks, he suggested we try EMDR, so we are into our second week...I would really appreciate your thoughts on what I’ve written , thank you 🙏
I am sorry that I did not see your message when you wrote it. I am wondering how EMDR is going. Exposures and ERP therapy are known as the gold standards in treatment of obsessive, intrusive thoughts. However, EMDR is useful in reprocessing trauma.
If you have OCD (compulsions and/or intrusive thoughts), do the following practice and your compulsions and intrusive thoughts WILL 100% get better and most likely even completely vanish if you apply this advice for long enough, you have to do this if you want to get better, there is no way around it: Meditate daily, ideally 30-60+ minutes, but you can start with 5+ minutes and work your way up. I recommend Vipassana meditation, which simply means putting your attention on the bodily sensations of breathing. Meditation is essentially about one thing: Practicing Awareness. Sitting meditation is an intentional, focused practice of Awareness, but it's just the beginning. You also have to practice Awareness when you are not sitting down to meditate. You basically have to meditate/practice Awareness 24/7, no matter what you are doing, no matter how many thoughts come up and no matter how much you suffer mentally and physically. Practicing Awareness means simply observing your thoughts and compulsions (and also emotions, sensory perceptions, bodily sensations, pain etc., basically everything you experience) in a distanced and detached way. You have to realize that you ARE the observer/the Awareness that is free from all experience. YOU ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS AND COMPULSIONS. You are free from your thoughts, your thoughts just fool you into believing that they are real. Thoughts are just randomly generated bullshit, don't ever worry about them and don't ever think they are more than that. Never believe ANY thoughts. Do not identify with your thoughts and simply observe them from a distance. Your OCD will try to come up with all kinds of sneaky shit to draw you back into it, but NEVER give in to it, no matter what it says. Examples of sly tricks of OCD would be thoughts like "Meditation/Awareness doesn't work", "Your OCD will never go away" etc., but all these tricks only work because you let yourself get fooled by them, because you believe in them. You willingly give your power to these meaningless thoughts so that they can destroy you with it. See the absurdity in that. Also, never try to argue with thoughts, correct them, fight them, get rid of them etc., all of that is more tricks of OCD. You cannot solve OCD inside of the mind, only by stepping outside of the mind and observing it (Awareness). Intrusive thoughts and compulsions are randomly generated and you have absolutely no control over them whatsoever, but you have the power of being able to simply observe them, which will make you realize that you are not these thoughts, which will make them go away if you do it long enough. They only keep coming if they keep getting negative reactions from you. Fully accept and welcome all thoughts, no matter how strange or disturbing they may be. Never resist thoughts. Thoughts have no power over you as long as you don't give it to them. Never feel ashamed, disgusted or shocked by your thoughts, this fuels intrusive thoughts and compulsions immensely. Compulsions and intrusive thoughts thrive on your negative reactions to them. Simply observe them without being irritated by them. OCD is threatened by Meditation/Awareness, that's why it will try to keep you from practicing them. When you practice Meditation/Awareness, your OCD might try to draw you back into its grasp through anxiety and anxious reactions in the body: tension, racing heart, sweating, stomach/heart pain etc., don't identify with these uncomfortable bodily sensations either and also observe all of this in a detached way. It's all just the OCD trying to trick you and ruin your life. The fact that your OCD will try to keep you from meditating/practicing Awareness should be a clear signal to you that you are on the right path to overcoming it. Meditating and constantly practicing Awareness might be very hard at first, but don't be discouraged, it will become easier and easier with time, and your OCD and all its symptoms will gradually become better. Even if thoughts still come up, they will not bother you anymore, you will just see them for the random bullshit that they are. The end goal would be to remain in Awareness 24/7, which would make you completely invulnerable to all compulsions and intrusive thoughts. Also, as corny as it may sound, what's even more important than Meditation and constantly practicing Awareness is fully and unconditionally loving yourself and everybody else and everything else in the world, even the most evil shit you can imagine, even your intrusive thoughts and compulsions. Your world and life have to become completely filled with Love. Negativity and suffering can only thrive where there is a lack of Love. Love repels negativity and suffering like oil repels water. You WILL get through this if you follow my advice consequently for a long enough time, please trust me for your own sake. Wishing you all the best and much love my friend. 😊🙏❤
I Looked up this video because I just had a very blasphemous thought over and over on 8/14/2020. I don't know if I was suffering heat exhaustion AZ 114 and 14% humidity. But this blasphemous thought was unrelenting to the point it was scarring me and questioning my salvation. Never been to a head doctor before but had to look this up as the thoughts just hit me like a 100mph. Thank you for the advise.
I'm almost certain I have Pure O. I haven't been diagnosed but talking to my therapist and watching these videos have almost confirmed it for me. Whenever I'm anxious and have an obsessive thought I talk to myself, I curse under breath or I seek reassurance. Describing those behaviors as compulsions opened my eyes
It is a big step when you realize that what you have been doing to calm yourself actually makes your obsessive thoughts continue. I am so happy to hear that you have discovered that information.
Thank God for her testimony. I've always considered myself as a caring person but after being affected by this horrible disease I started thinking like I'm an evil or sth. But I am absolutely thinkful for being affected by this disease because I've made huge changements in my life because of it. My tolerance has dramatically improved and I've got close to Allah and learned to put my needs and myself above everything. OCD patient will know what I am talking about.
I get anxious when I watch specific videos, because I realise how deeply that subject resonates with me. This and hyperphantasia are two things I didn’t know were that different from anyone else’s experience. I can’t imagine what it’s like on other spots of these spectrums. I can’t believe how little we know about how others experience what it is they share. The content and the mechanism is so fascinatingly different.
It is fascinating. There is so much more that we do not understand about the mind and our experience than we do know. We are just beginning to explore these things. Thank you for your comment. 🙏😊
I have dealt with this pretty much my whole entire life. I always thought I was crazy or something...or that something was wrong with me. But then I did my research and I found out I have Pure O. Then I can across this video and it made me feel better! This is so helpful. I still have a long way to go, but I have hope. Thank you for this video ❤️
You’re welcome, Agatha. I have 2 new videos going live within the next few weeks that I hope will help you further. The first one explains what to do in the moment the thought comes up, the second one is how to do a planned exposure.
My God Agatha .... mine started around 19 years of age. I’m now 68. That’s at least 80 percent of my life. I feel for you. I relate to you. I wish you better days and years .... I’m just starting to understand the depth of my pure O.
I wished I discovered this information sooner! I get teary eyed knowing I struggled 20 yrs with horrible intrusive thoughts only to be told by many untrained therapists that "fear is normal and everyone has these thoughts". I knew from day 1 it wasn't normal but was so trapped in the thoughts that popped up and rituals I had to do to undo them that my rationale mind was of no use here. I am now learning more and more on this and helping myself. Unfortunately not many therapists are trained in this area and leave their patients feeling like they are oversensitive or making a fuss out of nothing. I hope more awareness and education is provided to therapists on this.
I am so sorry that you suffered for so long. Even in parts of the world where there is more awareness of OCD and Pure O Intrusive Thoughts, people often cannot find effective help and suffer years before beginning accurately diagnosed and effectively treated. I have read reports that estimate an average of 14 years to get help for people in the US. I am trying to change that. I recently created an online course that is an effective alternative to those that do not have other options available. You can find out more at www.paigepradko.com/ocd, should you be interested.
@@PaigePradkoTherapy Thank you. I will definitely look into. Keep up the great work in spreading awareness about it. It's absolutely horrifying and traumatic for the person going through and I feel for the people who have to wait decades before being told they were not crazy and there's a way out of this.
I really do I appreciate that video I just turned 20 and I’ve been dealing with this intrusive thoughts since I was 13 years old and yesterday while I was at the i came across your video. And trust me I’ve never felt that peace in my life, like someone finally understood me and where Iam coming from like I did not feel alone in that moment. While I was doing abbs I literally had to stop and listen to you and I started crying because you made me feel like there is nothing wrong about me and that Iam not going insane like I thought I was🥺.Now Iam gonna start going to therapy and use the techniques you thought in this video thank you😊 your such lovely women Iam Esteban by the way !!!!!!!!
Paige Pradko LPC NCC thank you for doing this videos I wish you where my therapist I feel like your the only person I’ve encounter that understands me and it’s so relieving!!! I don’t think you know how many people you helped with this video your an amazing sound thank you!!! Is there any social media I can follow you on ????
@@estebancorrea3855 Only if thought rumination affects your internal health you may have to visit a psychologist. Heal yourself. Your breath is directly related to your mind [brain] causing negative thoughts-anxiety-stress. For a relaxed life sit on a chair, back erect, hands on lap with palms upwards, eyes closed, be still and observe your natural incoming--outgoing breath at the entrance of the nostrils for around 10-15 minutes. Be as still as possible. Many thoughts will come which is ok--slowly negative thoughts will reduce and your mind will relax. During your daily activity keep observing your breath consciously. Best part is mood swings also reduce. Do the above meditation daily to feel relaxed. For more healing enter the following on google search and listen before sleep repeating the affirmations for 10 minutes in your mind. -“52Hz affirmations for health and healing you tube”. You will get relief quickly. Best wishes. Shyaaam Sir. -Counsellor.
Thank you for this video. I was diagnosed with Pure O five years ago. I came across your website and resources while looking for a therapist who does ERP. I have never done ERP treatment or cognitive therapy for my obsessions to this day. When you described how the first time we have the anxious thought and obsession, how that affects the brain, and how exposure and cognitive treatment can help, I thought, "Wow, I really need something like this! I want to have treatment like this to heal this part of my life!" I just started doing teletherapy with someone who says they do ERP. I hope this helps. I'm am considering getting your course for Pure O. Thanks.
@@christopthernavetta1782 , thank you for sharing your experience. I’m glad that you’re working with a therapist. I have had lots of people combine my course with therapy. The more support the better. I also have a support group and I am there daily to answer your questions and give support. You can find these resources at paigepradko.com. Please let me know if I can help you in any way.
Thank you so much. After watching this video I feel that the process of working through my OCD is a lot less terrifying than I thought it would be. I appreciate you so much!
Thank you so much for this, I was wondering if you could make a video on how to deal with false bodily responses to intrusive thoughts, my ocd has spiked recently and I’m constantly afraid that I might have bodily responses to certain things
I like what you said about examining the evidence. My biggest intrusive right now has to do with something that may or may not have happened 50 years ago. I'm going to try what you said and check out more of your videos. Thanks.
Hi Michael. Welcome to my channel. I am glad you liked the video. Here is a playlist of videos for intrusive thoughts ruclips.net/p/PL1lUhuKpYUYqKvEwlGXoRPDu_8blhbaq- My favorite is called, “How to Stop Intrusive Thoughts”.
Since you asked for recommendation for video topics, a video topic I think would be beneficial would be on how to do erp for pure Ocd while in a public space during small chunks of time. I know I’m not the only one that might have decent chunks of time throughout the day where I’m in a public space waiting for something like in a line or waiting for someone, and so I’m left to my thoughts, and it would be great to dedicate his time to crushing Ocd but it has to be all mental and discreet as I’m in a public space. Anyways, hanks for doing what you’re doing!
If you have OCD (compulsions and/or intrusive thoughts), do the following practice and your compulsions and intrusive thoughts WILL 100% get better and most likely even completely vanish if you apply this advice for long enough, you have to do this if you want to get better, there is no way around it: Meditate daily, ideally 30-60+ minutes, but you can start with 5+ minutes and work your way up. I recommend Vipassana meditation, which simply means putting your attention on the bodily sensations of breathing. Meditation is essentially about one thing: Practicing Awareness. Sitting meditation is an intentional, focused practice of Awareness, but it's just the beginning. You also have to practice Awareness when you are not sitting down to meditate. You basically have to meditate/practice Awareness 24/7, no matter what you are doing, no matter how many thoughts come up and no matter how much you suffer mentally and physically. Practicing Awareness means simply observing your thoughts and compulsions (and also emotions, sensory perceptions, bodily sensations, pain etc., basically everything you experience) in a distanced and detached way. You have to realize that you ARE the observer/the Awareness that is free from all experience. YOU ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS AND COMPULSIONS. You are free from your thoughts, your thoughts just fool you into believing that they are real. Thoughts are just randomly generated bullshit, don't ever worry about them and don't ever think they are more than that. Never believe ANY thoughts. Do not identify with your thoughts and simply observe them from a distance. Your OCD will try to come up with all kinds of sneaky shit to draw you back into it, but NEVER give in to it, no matter what it says. Examples of sly tricks of OCD would be thoughts like "Meditation/Awareness doesn't work", "Your OCD will never go away" etc., but all these tricks only work because you let yourself get fooled by them, because you believe in them. You willingly give your power to these meaningless thoughts so that they can destroy you with it. See the absurdity in that. Also, never try to argue with thoughts, correct them, fight them, get rid of them etc., all of that is more tricks of OCD. You cannot solve OCD inside of the mind, only by stepping outside of the mind and observing it (Awareness). Intrusive thoughts and compulsions are randomly generated and you have absolutely no control over them whatsoever, but you have the power of being able to simply observe them, which will make you realize that you are not these thoughts, which will make them go away if you do it long enough. They only keep coming if they keep getting negative reactions from you. Fully accept and welcome all thoughts, no matter how strange or disturbing they may be. Never resist thoughts. Thoughts have no power over you as long as you don't give it to them. Never feel ashamed, disgusted or shocked by your thoughts, this fuels intrusive thoughts and compulsions immensely. Compulsions and intrusive thoughts thrive on your negative reactions to them. Simply observe them without being irritated by them. OCD is threatened by Meditation/Awareness, that's why it will try to keep you from practicing them. When you practice Meditation/Awareness, your OCD might try to draw you back into its grasp through anxiety and anxious reactions in the body: tension, racing heart, sweating, stomach/heart pain etc., don't identify with these uncomfortable bodily sensations either and also observe all of this in a detached way. It's all just the OCD trying to trick you and ruin your life. The fact that your OCD will try to keep you from meditating/practicing Awareness should be a clear signal to you that you are on the right path to overcoming it. Meditating and constantly practicing Awareness might be very hard at first, but don't be discouraged, it will become easier and easier with time, and your OCD and all its symptoms will gradually become better. Even if thoughts still come up, they will not bother you anymore, you will just see them for the random bullshit that they are. The end goal would be to remain in Awareness 24/7, which would make you completely invulnerable to all compulsions and intrusive thoughts. Also, as corny as it may sound, what's even more important than Meditation and constantly practicing Awareness is fully and unconditionally loving yourself and everybody else and everything else in the world, even the most evil shit you can imagine, even your intrusive thoughts and compulsions. Your world and life have to become completely filled with Love. Negativity and suffering can only thrive where there is a lack of Love. Love repels negativity and suffering like oil repels water. You WILL get through this if you follow my advice consequently for a long enough time, please trust me for your own sake. Wishing you all the best and much love my friend. 😊🙏❤
I've just come across your channel. I like how you explain things. The video in itself is soothing. LIKED AND SUBBED! Thank you Intrusive thoughts are the worst. There is this constant urge to analyse it or to fight it off somehow. Just staying with it and letting it be there is so unbearable and paralysing. Usually, it's just a stupid detail that doesn't feel right in the head. And if I don't get this 'detail' right somehow in my head it feels like the earth is gonna open up and swallow me down. This stupid analysing and 'getting it right' is so horrible. Thank you
Yeah, I feel your pain. This mental illness is horrific. I struggle from severe intrusive-thoughts-OCD and it makes me sick! I feel as if I have two brains at once and I cannot just relax and be myself because my other brain keeps on saying shit to me, the thoughts are discusting and dispicable. It really does make you hate yourself. Suicidal thoughts are always lingering, honestly I don't know how anyone can live with this.
Thank you for sharing that thought. Our minds sure have a life of their own. I find your thought intriguing, because most people seem to have intrusive thoughts of what “could” happen in the future, but rarely think about the past. Does your intrusive thought cause you anxiety, or have you just accepted that the thought is there and will come and go on it’s own?
Hello Dr. Pradko! Very recently I found your channel by chance and I feel grateful. Thank you so much for the help and information you provide! I've been suffering from repetitive intrusive thoughts since few months and those thoughts disturbs me like anything. I always fear that I might harm myself and that's why sharp tools like knives trigger those thoughts. At the same time I also feel some uncomfortable sensations in my wrist, feeling like I've cut myself and I try very hard to distract myself but I'm failing miserably. The visuals and imagery of someone self harming triggers me a lot and I feel helpless. All I know is that I can't ever harm myself and I don't want to do anything like that but it's very disturbing to have those thoughts and even feel physically. Most of the times I feel anxious and depressed for having those thoughts. It would be very kind of you if you give some valuable information or advice regarding my problem. Thank you!❤
Hi Shruti. First, I want to tell you that you are not alone. Harm OCD is very common among people with OCD and it is treatable. I will have more help coming out for Pure O and OCD in the coming weeks and months. If you would like to make sure that you receive the help that I publish, please go to PaigePradko.com and sign up for my newsletter listed at the bottom of my site. Until then, here is a playlist for Pure O to help you ruclips.net/p/PL1lUhuKpYUYqKvEwlGXoRPDu_8blhbaq-
Beautiful Video, surprising that I have not commented here , great watching, watching it again to refresh remind myself of the contents of the above video .. Arjun ..
for those who don't want to go to the doctor, here you go. • i constantly thought i was a psychopath • i thought i was gay • i thought i wanted to have sex with the members of my family. • i thought every human is a criminal waiting to become. and the only reason i'm not a murderer or a rapist is because i haven't been put in a situation that facilitates it. • i thought i was a racist and i hated people that didn't look like me. • i thought i didn't actually like, and didn't deserve the girl i so madly in love with, i was constantly worried about not loving her anymore and was constantly worried about harming her mentally or changing her personality or believes by force. .... of coerce none of this was true, but it felt so real. and living with that was pain on another level. please, PLEASE seek professional help, if you find yourself thinking these or worse, *YOUR DOCTOR WILL NOT JUDGE YOU* .
I apologize for the delay in responding to your comment. RUclips put your comment automatically to spam, but RUclips made a mistake. I am sorry that you have suffered with all of these OCD thoughts. You are not alone. Many people suffer with these same type of OCD thoughts. I am glad that you are sharing and encouraging other people to seek out help, and to break out of the shame that seems to worsen people's suffering. There is nothing here to feel shameful about. OCD is a condition, it is not the person. Thank you so much for your comment.
@@talcharlotte8502 no, worries :) Just remember this, When you have OCD, your thoughts don't always reflect who you are as a person. . It's like having tourette's inside your head. Even though that's a reach of a statement that's what i imagine it to be. so it functions as a coping mechanism for me, lol
Very good breakdown of Pure O and the therapies available. I’ve struggled for years and this has reminded me of some practices I used to do that helped me. This is one of the best on RUclips, thank you for sharing 💛
Your description does sound like Pure O, OCD. I am sorry that you are experiencing this. It activates your fear center because it bothers you very much. ERP works, but often takes creative ways of having the thought, tracking your SUDS score, and allowing yourself to hold and tolerate uncertainty about the thoughts.
@@PaigePradkoTherapy Thank you. My head is full of anxiety because I'm supressing it for months. I'm taking comfort reading John Bunyan's experience in grace abounding to the chief of sinners.
T77 K bruh I feel deadass the same way rn. Like I’ll have a intrusive thought and while dwelling on it I’ll be like “ I want to do that” but then I’m like no I fucking don’t what the hell. And it’s really scary becuase I’m questioning myself and if I would go crazy and ever actually do the things in my head. Its worse at night also
@@youngoutis7193 Yeah I can't go to sleep either, unless I'm actually extremely tired because then I'll just see disgusting images in my head over and over again. Reading all these comments is actually making me pretty emotional because this is so hard to live with.
Yes man. Just fight it and really try to ignore it. This mental illness is horrific ...and I'm just going to be real with you, if you watch pornographic things, you should really try to get it out of your life because many of the things I've seen within porn has made my OCD into a fucking nightmare.
Yes, I understand. To experience guilt and anxiety from mistakes in your past, demonstrates how much you care about doing the right thing. As none of us are perfect beings, we all make mistakes, we all have a past. The key is whether or not we are learning from our past. Ask yourself what you have learned. I cannot comment on whether or not your obsessions are ocd related, since I do not have that information. But, if obsessions developed because of mistakes, it sounds like there is need for personal healing, forgiveness and self compassion. We all do the best we can do at the time, and we all grow from the lessons of our past.
Today when I got home from school I almost went insane cus of these intrusive thoughts that I hate and then I managed to calm it down a bit but then it started to come back so I found your video and when you said “you are not your thoughts” it made me calm down
It is ok to want to be alone if you are tired. But, we want to make sure we are not avoiding people because we believe our thoughts might be true. That avoidance behavior can unfortunately make ocd stronger. Sometimes people find that their thoughts are less bothersome around other people and seem to fade into background noise.
Me too for many years, had and have some intrusive thoughts, feelings.. Because for all my life I was in contact with toxic people and negative enviroments.. Thank you for stand up..
Thank you so much madam for this video and the information it contains. I have been struggling with OCD for almost 5 years now, but am going to practise methods 1 and 2 that you suggested and hopefully I will be able to free myself from this dreadful thing that has kept some part of my brain occupied almost continuously for all this while 👍☺
I am happy that you found some help in my videos. I have recently added some new videos for sufferers of Pure O that I hope may provide you with more tools. Here is one of the videos on the I. A.M. technique: ruclips.net/video/c-HKZNh88dQ/видео.html Here is one on Stopping Rumination: ruclips.net/video/BNK3sthrcyQ/видео.html
@@PaigePradkoTherapy I cannot thank you enough for all this. I have watched both the videos and I will use a combination of these 4 methods.. thanks to you, I believe am going to make out of this soon 👍☺
Can intrusive thoughts feel neutral instead of upsetting? I've had them for so long that Now I just feel nothing when an intrusive thought pops into my head
Is there an Ocd support group in Britain. Just curious because we arn't common enough to be publicised. Interesting reading the comments and seeing the other ways OcD effects people. My heart goes out to you, stay strong, don't let it stop you achieving you goals.
I keep thinking im a psychopath and that I will stop being anxious about what is happening then I will lose my emotions and become a psychopath and it terrifies me
Unfortunately, psychopaths do not worry about being or becoming psychopaths. Many people with intrusive thoughts worry they will do something bad or go crazy. This is a very common theme. Try to recognize it as OCD, and just let the anxiety float over you as you do nothing to fight against the thought. You can do more intense ERP by having the thought on purpose several times a day. I wish you well.
Thank you. And yes, OCD can be extremely exhausting. And I wish I could meet you too. I love how even through messaging we can feel connected. I have a new video coming out later this week that addresses what to do in the moment that you have an obsessive, intrusive thought. I hope it helps you.
@@PaigePradkoTherapy thank you. Wow! For such a quick response. Your awesome. I would love to watch that video. When I get anxious (most the time) I can't even think. I just feel so stuck. Thanks again Paige
i get extremely distressing intrusive thoughts from my past. it started about 6 months ago. i have been trying all different techniques. I feel so hopeless that i will never get out of this cycle
I succumbed to Pure O when I was 16 though it was only diagnosed in my mid-thirties. I got excellent professional help and it has greatly improved the quality of my life. Even so, the original OCD wiring remains - I’m now in my mid-sixties - and I find your videos a tremendous ‘booster jab’ to the excellent therapy I received three decades ago. Many thanks indeed. Ps my big desire is to help others who have Pure O.
Hi Paul. It is amazing how long people go without a diagnosis. Many people are misdiagnosed with anxiety when it is really ocd. I am glad you had excellent help and having a booster reminder every once in awhile can be helpful. Thank you for your comments. Sharing your story does indeed help others.
Just now i've found your video.....and it gives me so much courage... For the last one and half year i've been taking lots of medicines and also went through lots of counsellings also....ri8 now i am tired .....i just want to get rid of it.... Plsssss make this kind of video coz it's really helpful.....
Is it logical/ possible that our worst thoughts are manifestations of what we are most scared of? Does this happen by design that our obsessive thoughts are often thoughts of the things that fill us with the most terror and misery?
Our brains react with a fear response that activates our sympathetic nervous system whenever something scares us. The content of our thoughts are the same, whether we have ocd or not. But, if a thought worries us or disgusts us, our brain can associate the fear/anxiety response to the intrusive thought. Then, if that person has the genetic predisposition for OCD, the intrusive thoughts can begin to become obsessive, because the brain believes the associated fear response connected to the thoughts mean that they are dangerous. Therefore the brain returns the thought to us over and over again in it’s attempt to keep us safe. Whew...long explanation. This is all why we have to retrain the brain through ERP Exposure and Response Prevention.
If you have OCD (compulsions and/or intrusive thoughts), do the following practice and your compulsions and intrusive thoughts WILL 100% get better and most likely even completely vanish if you apply this advice for long enough, you have to do this if you want to get better, there is no way around it: Meditate daily, ideally 30-60+ minutes, but you can start with 5+ minutes and work your way up. I recommend Vipassana meditation, which simply means putting your attention on the bodily sensations of breathing. Meditation is essentially about one thing: Practicing Awareness. Sitting meditation is an intentional, focused practice of Awareness, but it's just the beginning. You also have to practice Awareness when you are not sitting down to meditate. You basically have to meditate/practice Awareness 24/7, no matter what you are doing, no matter how many thoughts come up and no matter how much you suffer mentally and physically. Practicing Awareness means simply observing your thoughts and compulsions (and also emotions, sensory perceptions, bodily sensations, pain etc., basically everything you experience) in a distanced and detached way. You have to realize that you ARE the observer/the Awareness that is free from all experience. YOU ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS AND COMPULSIONS. You are free from your thoughts, your thoughts just fool you into believing that they are real. Thoughts are just randomly generated bullshit, don't ever worry about them and don't ever think they are more than that. Never believe ANY thoughts. Do not identify with your thoughts and simply observe them from a distance. Your OCD will try to come up with all kinds of sneaky shit to draw you back into it, but NEVER give in to it, no matter what it says. Examples of sly tricks of OCD would be thoughts like "Meditation/Awareness doesn't work", "Your OCD will never go away" etc., but all these tricks only work because you let yourself get fooled by them, because you believe in them. You willingly give your power to these meaningless thoughts so that they can destroy you with it. See the absurdity in that. Also, never try to argue with thoughts, correct them, fight them, get rid of them etc., all of that is more tricks of OCD. You cannot solve OCD inside of the mind, only by stepping outside of the mind and observing it (Awareness). Intrusive thoughts and compulsions are randomly generated and you have absolutely no control over them whatsoever, but you have the power of being able to simply observe them, which will make you realize that you are not these thoughts, which will make them go away if you do it long enough. They only keep coming if they keep getting negative reactions from you. Fully accept and welcome all thoughts, no matter how strange or disturbing they may be. Never resist thoughts. Thoughts have no power over you as long as you don't give it to them. Never feel ashamed, disgusted or shocked by your thoughts, this fuels intrusive thoughts and compulsions immensely. Compulsions and intrusive thoughts thrive on your negative reactions to them. Simply observe them without being irritated by them. OCD is threatened by Meditation/Awareness, that's why it will try to keep you from practicing them. When you practice Meditation/Awareness, your OCD might try to draw you back into its grasp through anxiety and anxious reactions in the body: tension, racing heart, sweating, stomach/heart pain etc., don't identify with these uncomfortable bodily sensations either and also observe all of this in a detached way. It's all just the OCD trying to trick you and ruin your life. The fact that your OCD will try to keep you from meditating/practicing Awareness should be a clear signal to you that you are on the right path to overcoming it. Meditating and constantly practicing Awareness might be very hard at first, but don't be discouraged, it will become easier and easier with time, and your OCD and all its symptoms will gradually become better. Even if thoughts still come up, they will not bother you anymore, you will just see them for the random bullshit that they are. The end goal would be to remain in Awareness 24/7, which would make you completely invulnerable to all compulsions and intrusive thoughts. Also, as corny as it may sound, what's even more important than Meditation and constantly practicing Awareness is fully and unconditionally loving yourself and everybody else and everything else in the world, even the most evil shit you can imagine, even your intrusive thoughts and compulsions. Your world and life have to become completely filled with Love. Negativity and suffering can only thrive where there is a lack of Love. Love repels negativity and suffering like oil repels water. You WILL get through this if you follow my advice consequently for a long enough time, please trust me for your own sake. Wishing you all the best and much love my friend. 😊🙏❤
I have been suffering from HOCD....and its hard for me to follow. ERP. Is there any way to come out thru this Please please please mame help me This feelings is killin me 😢
I am so sorry that these thoughts are causing you to suffer. The reason they cause suffering is because you are worried that they may be true and you want a guarantee or proof that they are false. No matter what someone’s OCD theme is, the treatment is the same. You associate this thought with anxiety. And because of that, your brain shoots you this thought over and over again. To treat this, you have to allow your brain to accept the thought, even welcome the thought in a calm, nonjudgmental way. The more often you allow the thought and do not try to analyze it or prove that it is wrong, but just welcome the thought as an ocd thought, your anxiety will calm down. When the anxiety calms down over time, the thought will be triggered less and less. Practice allowing and welcoming the thought, allow the anxiety to spike and then go down, all the while your job is to stay accepting and nonjudgmental. I wish you the best.
@@maddierose918 Only if thought rumination affects your internal health you may have to visit a psychologist. Heal yourself. Your breath is directly related to your mind [brain] causing negative thoughts-anxiety-stress. For a relaxed life sit on a chair, back erect, hands on lap with palms upwards, eyes closed, be still and observe your natural incoming--outgoing breath at the entrance of the nostrils for around 10-15 minutes. Be as still as possible. Many thoughts will come which is ok--slowly negative thoughts will reduce and your mind will relax. During your daily activity keep observing your breath consciously. Best part is mood swings also reduce. Do the above meditation daily to feel relaxed. For more healing enter the following on google search and listen before sleep repeating the affirmations for 10 minutes in your mind. -“52Hz affirmations for health and healing you tube”. You will get relief quickly. Best wishes. Shyaaam Sir. -Counsellor.
My pure o comes so much when I’m sleeping, when I’m not in control. It’s hard and I’m glad I’m seeking help for it. It’s an ongoing challenge that separated me from people I love being around. It’s hard and I can’t wait to get better
I wish you the very best in your recovery. You can do it! If you ever need more support, I have a wonderful course that helps people recover. Here are some resources for you: The Top 10 Things you Need to Know to Practice ERP: Exposure and Response Prevention for OCD, Phobias and Anxiety www.paigepradko.com/erp OCD Self Assessment Quiz www.paigepradko.com/ocdquiz OCD course www.paigepradko.com/ocd
I've heard a lot of therapists say to acknowledge the thought but while I understand that analogy of a scary movie, bit staying with it rather than moving past it seems like it will make the thought louder and obsess more.
There are different strategies that can be helpful. Doing ERP on the thought itself works, but so does moving past the thought as long as you are not avoiding something or doing something to not have the thought. If you can just think of it as background noise and move past it, then do that. 😊
Hi Frank. So nice to see your name pop up in my comment notification. Guilt does seem to go hand in hand with OCD. It seems like people with OCD have extraordinarily high standards for themselves, making sure they do things “right” and do not in any hurt anyone. I am not sure we can blame it on Catholic guilt because the trait spans across all backgrounds and religions. I tend to believe the experience of guilt is strong in people with OCD because they may fear that doing something “wrong” may result in a new obsessive thought.
I am sorry, Danielle, I just saw your message today. Here is a link to a playlist on OCD. There are several videos on ERP. ruclips.net/p/PL1lUhuKpYUYqeYEMpq99fWkjLMxFR4ySU
@@405OKCShiningOn Only if thought rumination affects your health you may have to visit a psychologist. Heal yourself. Your breath is directly related to your mind [brain] causing negative thoughts-anxiety-stress. For a relaxed life sit on a chair, back erect, hands on lap with palms upwards, eyes closed, be still and observe your natural incoming--outgoing breath at the entrance of the nostrils for around 10-15 minutes. Be as still as possible. Many thoughts will come which is ok--slowly negative thoughts will reduce and your mind will relax. During your daily activity keep observing your breath consciously. Best part is mood swings also reduce. Do the above meditation daily to feel relaxed. For more healing enter the following on google search and listen before sleep repeating the affirmations for 10 minutes in your mind. -“52Hz affirmations for health and healing you tube”. You will get relief quickly. Best wishes. Shyaaam Sir. -Counsellor.
It all started with one bad sexual intrusive thought! I thought my world was going to end. I obsessed over it for about two weeks until I opened up to someone and got some reassurance. It was only a few hours until my mind started ruminating. My rumination of sexual thoughts have lead me to feel all types of anxiety when I look at anyone or anything it’s hard for me to even watch tv go out and shop it gets harder everyday. Can this be treated?
Yes, this can absolutely be treated. These are obsessive thoughts. The reason they bother you so much is that they are activating your fear center of your brain. The thoughts are the opposite of who you are....that is why your amygdala is so activated and why your brain is obsessing. I work with clients every week who have these types of intrusive thoughts. I use a combination of ERP and Strategic Exposure Therapies. Doing exposures is difficult, but they work. I recommend that people watch my videos on ERP, Strategic Exposure Therapy and Maximizing Exposure Therapy before you begin.
Paige Pradko LPC NCC you’re absolutely a great person! You have already gave me so much hope! I will watch all your videos to try and help myself out as much as I can! Is there any way I can contact you through personal message?
Thank you so much for those kind words. You may go to my website PaigePradko.com and contact me by email through the website link. I am working on a way to do online consultations with people, as there is tremendous need and a real shortage of trained therapists.
I would definitely be interested in your services ! I will email you and we shall keep each other updated on that! Thank you so much! May god bless you.
This is literally the video I've been needing for a few years now. I've come a long way tho seeing the therapies that are used. I do feel stronger but it's like drugs, I have withdrawals mentally and forget my strategies when I most need them. Thank you for this video ♥️
You’re welcome. Here is an easy technique that can help you in the moment you are having an intrusive thought. It is pretty easy to remember. ruclips.net/video/c-HKZNh88dQ/видео.html
I have thoughts that I want to hurt my family or do gross things with them but what causes me stress is that I feel like I want to do it and I won't be able to be happy if I don't do it and sometimes when my family is being nice to me I think " oh this is pulling you away from being a bad person and doing the thought" and that gives me anxiety and I have no idea why so I think why does that give you anxiety. That's why I feel like a bad person and I have no idea where the thought even came from and why I feel like I want to do it.
You are not a bad person at all and I am so sorry that you have judged yourself this way. We are not judged by our thoughts, because our thoughts are not truths. They are just thoughts. It sounds like you are thinking that your thoughts are truths, and therefore, you are judging yourself as a bad person. Did you know that we have 60-80,000 thoughts a day. We cannot control what hits our brains. And, people with ocd and without ocd have basically the same kinds of thoughts. If a thought helps you to live your life in the way that feels good to you, great. Otherwise, the thoughts are meaningless and harmless.
I am so glad it helps you conceptualize your client. It is different than treating a client with anxious thoughts. I definitely do not want to overwhelm you with treatment videos, but here is a playlist for more information. ruclips.net/p/PL1lUhuKpYUYqKvEwlGXoRPDu_8blhbaq-
I've used RUclips for so many years and watched so mnay different types of videos. Now I only wished I had searched for OCD help on here sooner. I will be watching all of your OCD videos. Thank you. I am very anxious to try the exposure therapy.
I am so happy that you found my Channel. I primarily focus on OCD and Anxiety, but, occasionally I throw in some different mental health subjects. You will get more familiar with ERP and Exposure Therapy as you listen. You can go at your own pace and feel free to ask me questions along the way. Here is an ocd playlist that may help ruclips.net/p/PL1lUhuKpYUYqeYEMpq99fWkjLMxFR4ySU.
This is hugely helpful, I've been dealing with this horror for a while but in the last year it's become unbearable. I oftentimes lose hours - up to 8-10 hours now and not sleeping fighting off the thoughts and doing mental rituals, including math equations. I feel stuck in my head. Would like to try visualization and cognitive deconstruction for starters because I'm terrified
I am so sorry, Alex. OCD can cause so much suffering. Please seek out help from an ocd specialist if you are able. You can find them on IOCDF.org. Here is a playlist for help. I included a video on visualisations. My recommendations would be to watch the video on preparing Scripts for OCD, the video on Stopping Intrusive Thoughts and the video on Stopping Rumination. They are all in the playlist. You are not alone and there is support available for you.ruclips.net/p/PL1lUhuKpYUYqeYEMpq99fWkjLMxFR4ySU
@@PaigePradkoTherapy I've already been diagnosed with ptsd but I feel my psychiatrist missed this. I (irrationally of course) feel the world will end if I don't finish my line of thought perfectly when the images pop into my head. Will definitely find a specialist in ocd because I'm at the end of my ropes. Meanwhile, to say THANK YOU seems trivial because you already helped with your videos more than I can put into words
Thank you maam j literally cried 😭😭😭 thank you so much this changed my life thanks a lot ladt i was releived bdcausd of my mmother now I lost my mom than you so much because of you i feel mh mother Thank you so mucb for helping
If you have OCD (compulsions and/or intrusive thoughts), do the following practice and your compulsions and intrusive thoughts WILL 100% get better and most likely even completely vanish if you apply this advice for long enough, you have to do this if you want to get better, there is no way around it: Meditate daily, ideally 30-60+ minutes, but you can start with 5+ minutes and work your way up. I recommend Vipassana meditation, which simply means putting your attention on the bodily sensations of breathing. Meditation is essentially about one thing: Practicing Awareness. Sitting meditation is an intentional, focused practice of Awareness, but it's just the beginning. You also have to practice Awareness when you are not sitting down to meditate. You basically have to meditate/practice Awareness 24/7, no matter what you are doing, no matter how many thoughts come up and no matter how much you suffer mentally and physically. Practicing Awareness means simply observing your thoughts and compulsions (and also emotions, sensory perceptions, bodily sensations, pain etc., basically everything you experience) in a distanced and detached way. You have to realize that you ARE the observer/the Awareness that is free from all experience. YOU ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS AND COMPULSIONS. You are free from your thoughts, your thoughts just fool you into believing that they are real. Thoughts are just randomly generated bullshit, don't ever worry about them and don't ever think they are more than that. Never believe ANY thoughts. Do not identify with your thoughts and simply observe them from a distance. Your OCD will try to come up with all kinds of sneaky shit to draw you back into it, but NEVER give in to it, no matter what it says. Examples of sly tricks of OCD would be thoughts like "Meditation/Awareness doesn't work", "Your OCD will never go away" etc., but all these tricks only work because you let yourself get fooled by them, because you believe in them. You willingly give your power to these meaningless thoughts so that they can destroy you with it. See the absurdity in that. Also, never try to argue with thoughts, correct them, fight them, get rid of them etc., all of that is more tricks of OCD. You cannot solve OCD inside of the mind, only by stepping outside of the mind and observing it (Awareness). Intrusive thoughts and compulsions are randomly generated and you have absolutely no control over them whatsoever, but you have the power of being able to simply observe them, which will make you realize that you are not these thoughts, which will make them go away if you do it long enough. They only keep coming if they keep getting negative reactions from you. Fully accept and welcome all thoughts, no matter how strange or disturbing they may be. Never resist thoughts. Thoughts have no power over you as long as you don't give it to them. Never feel ashamed, disgusted or shocked by your thoughts, this fuels intrusive thoughts and compulsions immensely. Compulsions and intrusive thoughts thrive on your negative reactions to them. Simply observe them without being irritated by them. OCD is threatened by Meditation/Awareness, that's why it will try to keep you from practicing them. When you practice Meditation/Awareness, your OCD might try to draw you back into its grasp through anxiety and anxious reactions in the body: tension, racing heart, sweating, stomach/heart pain etc., don't identify with these uncomfortable bodily sensations either and also observe all of this in a detached way. It's all just the OCD trying to trick you and ruin your life. The fact that your OCD will try to keep you from meditating/practicing Awareness should be a clear signal to you that you are on the right path to overcoming it. Meditating and constantly practicing Awareness might be very hard at first, but don't be discouraged, it will become easier and easier with time, and your OCD and all its symptoms will gradually become better. Even if thoughts still come up, they will not bother you anymore, you will just see them for the random bullshit that they are. The end goal would be to remain in Awareness 24/7, which would make you completely invulnerable to all compulsions and intrusive thoughts. Also, as corny as it may sound, what's even more important than Meditation and constantly practicing Awareness is fully and unconditionally loving yourself and everybody else and everything else in the world, even the most evil shit you can imagine, even your intrusive thoughts and compulsions. Your world and life have to become completely filled with Love. Negativity and suffering can only thrive where there is a lack of Love. Love repels negativity and suffering like oil repels water. You WILL get through this if you follow my advice consequently for a long enough time, please trust me for your own sake. Wishing you all the best and much love my friend. 😊🙏❤
Thank you. I was afraid to seek therapy because I thought the only option is the exposure therapy and I strongly feel it would be too much stress for me. But I like the Gus method, that could work for me 🙂
I got this obsessive thought, my mind is telling this negative thought.. the first thing i do i watch RUclips video, about anxiety listening to ther advices aaand it made me calm.. thanks for the video doc.
Hi Rommel. I am glad that you watched the video, but, you want to make sure that you do not use the video as reassurance. Here is a playlist of techniques to try ruclips.net/p/PL1lUhuKpYUYqKvEwlGXoRPDu_8blhbaq- My favorite is the I. A.M. method. It is on the Stop Intrusive Thoughts video. I think it is a good idea to select a technique and try it. 🙏❤️
Hi! I am so thankful i found your content! I do have a question. How would i know if i am overthinking within reason or am i subconsiously self sabotaging? More power to you and hope you help so much more people.
This is actually a wonderful question and I have been working on a video about this topic. If you are exploring or questioning or analyzing your thoughts in anyway, you are actually reinforcing or encouraging the intrusive thoughts. These are actually called mental checking rituals and they are considered compulsive behaviors. There is a difference between ruminating that may actually not be OCD. This gets a little complicated which is why I am working on a video. Basically, we have over 60,000 thoughts a day. We do not want to be “worried” about having a thought. We do not want to give anxious attention to our thoughts. This can create a cycle of obsession that can cause unnecessary mental energy and suffering.
Do you have Pure O OCD?
Here is a FREE OCD Self Assessment Quiz
www.paigepradko.com/ocdquiz
This made me cry. I've been dealing with this all my life and I feel less scared now. I wish I could seek treatment with you.
Thank you, Kaela. I am glad you related to the video in a helpful way.
Paige Pradko LPC NCC I hope one day we can speak soon. I have soo many questions.
Me too, it’s so upsetting. You just want it to go away. Your not alone ❤️
Sheena Ramirez thank you lovely. It started at a very young age and brought so much heart ache and problems. I never knew what it was
@@kaelam8430 can relate to u gal.
she said "you are not your thoughts" and shook her head with that frown and im already boutta start bawling
Me tooo!!! That part hit me
If you have OCD (compulsions and/or intrusive thoughts), do the following practice and your compulsions and intrusive thoughts WILL 100% get better and most likely even completely vanish if you apply this advice for long enough, you have to do this if you want to get better, there is no way around it:
Meditate daily, ideally 30-60+ minutes, but you can start with 5+ minutes and work your way up. I recommend Vipassana meditation, which simply means putting your attention on the bodily sensations of breathing.
Meditation is essentially about one thing: Practicing Awareness. Sitting meditation is an intentional, focused practice of Awareness, but it's just the beginning. You also have to practice Awareness when you are not sitting down to meditate. You basically have to meditate/practice Awareness 24/7, no matter what you are doing, no matter how many thoughts come up and no matter how much you suffer mentally and physically.
Practicing Awareness means simply observing your thoughts and compulsions (and also emotions, sensory perceptions, bodily sensations, pain etc., basically everything you experience) in a distanced and detached way. You have to realize that you ARE the observer/the Awareness that is free from all experience. YOU ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS AND COMPULSIONS. You are free from your thoughts, your thoughts just fool you into believing that they are real. Thoughts are just randomly generated bullshit, don't ever worry about them and don't ever think they are more than that. Never believe ANY thoughts. Do not identify with your thoughts and simply observe them from a distance. Your OCD will try to come up with all kinds of sneaky shit to draw you back into it, but NEVER give in to it, no matter what it says. Examples of sly tricks of OCD would be thoughts like "Meditation/Awareness doesn't work", "Your OCD will never go away" etc., but all these tricks only work because you let yourself get fooled by them, because you believe in them. You willingly give your power to these meaningless thoughts so that they can destroy you with it. See the absurdity in that. Also, never try to argue with thoughts, correct them, fight them, get rid of them etc., all of that is more tricks of OCD. You cannot solve OCD inside of the mind, only by stepping outside of the mind and observing it (Awareness). Intrusive thoughts and compulsions are randomly generated and you have absolutely no control over them whatsoever, but you have the power of being able to simply observe them, which will make you realize that you are not these thoughts, which will make them go away if you do it long enough. They only keep coming if they keep getting negative reactions from you. Fully accept and welcome all thoughts, no matter how strange or disturbing they may be. Never resist thoughts. Thoughts have no power over you as long as you don't give it to them. Never feel ashamed, disgusted or shocked by your thoughts, this fuels intrusive thoughts and compulsions immensely. Compulsions and intrusive thoughts thrive on your negative reactions to them. Simply observe them without being irritated by them.
OCD is threatened by Meditation/Awareness, that's why it will try to keep you from practicing them. When you practice Meditation/Awareness, your OCD might try to draw you back into its grasp through anxiety and anxious reactions in the body: tension, racing heart, sweating, stomach/heart pain etc., don't identify with these uncomfortable bodily sensations either and also observe all of this in a detached way. It's all just the OCD trying to trick you and ruin your life. The fact that your OCD will try to keep you from meditating/practicing Awareness should be a clear signal to you that you are on the right path to overcoming it.
Meditating and constantly practicing Awareness might be very hard at first, but don't be discouraged, it will become easier and easier with time, and your OCD and all its symptoms will gradually become better. Even if thoughts still come up, they will not bother you anymore, you will just see them for the random bullshit that they are. The end goal would be to remain in Awareness 24/7, which would make you completely invulnerable to all compulsions and intrusive thoughts.
Also, as corny as it may sound, what's even more important than Meditation and constantly practicing Awareness is fully and unconditionally loving yourself and everybody else and everything else in the world, even the most evil shit you can imagine, even your intrusive thoughts and compulsions. Your world and life have to become completely filled with Love. Negativity and suffering can only thrive where there is a lack of Love. Love repels negativity and suffering like oil repels water.
You WILL get through this if you follow my advice consequently for a long enough time, please trust me for your own sake.
Wishing you all the best and much love my friend. 😊🙏❤
@Chelle Bright r u talking to me? or...
I think this is really going to change my life completely. Thank you for creating this video and explaining Pure O in a way that doesn't make me feel like a terrible person and for addressing the different types of treatment that can help with this disorder.
I am so happy that you found it helpful. 😊
I hope you get better, you're beautiful. I struggle with this too, we just have to learn to tolerate these thoughts and brush them away.
Check Internet Connection thank you, that’s very sweet. And that’s right, knowing what’s going on makes it easier to gain some control back
@@imansannie1198 hey, how do you feel now?
If you have OCD (compulsions and/or intrusive thoughts), do the following practice and your compulsions and intrusive thoughts WILL 100% get better and most likely even completely vanish if you apply this advice for long enough, you have to do this if you want to get better, there is no way around it:
Meditate daily, ideally 30-60+ minutes, but you can start with 5+ minutes and work your way up. I recommend Vipassana meditation, which simply means putting your attention on the bodily sensations of breathing.
Meditation is essentially about one thing: Practicing Awareness. Sitting meditation is an intentional, focused practice of Awareness, but it's just the beginning. You also have to practice Awareness when you are not sitting down to meditate. You basically have to meditate/practice Awareness 24/7, no matter what you are doing, no matter how many thoughts come up and no matter how much you suffer mentally and physically.
Practicing Awareness means simply observing your thoughts and compulsions (and also emotions, sensory perceptions, bodily sensations, pain etc., basically everything you experience) in a distanced and detached way. You have to realize that you ARE the observer/the Awareness that is free from all experience. YOU ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS AND COMPULSIONS. You are free from your thoughts, your thoughts just fool you into believing that they are real. Thoughts are just randomly generated bullshit, don't ever worry about them and don't ever think they are more than that. Never believe ANY thoughts. Do not identify with your thoughts and simply observe them from a distance. Your OCD will try to come up with all kinds of sneaky shit to draw you back into it, but NEVER give in to it, no matter what it says. Examples of sly tricks of OCD would be thoughts like "Meditation/Awareness doesn't work", "Your OCD will never go away" etc., but all these tricks only work because you let yourself get fooled by them, because you believe in them. You willingly give your power to these meaningless thoughts so that they can destroy you with it. See the absurdity in that. Also, never try to argue with thoughts, correct them, fight them, get rid of them etc., all of that is more tricks of OCD. You cannot solve OCD inside of the mind, only by stepping outside of the mind and observing it (Awareness). Intrusive thoughts and compulsions are randomly generated and you have absolutely no control over them whatsoever, but you have the power of being able to simply observe them, which will make you realize that you are not these thoughts, which will make them go away if you do it long enough. They only keep coming if they keep getting negative reactions from you. Fully accept and welcome all thoughts, no matter how strange or disturbing they may be. Never resist thoughts. Thoughts have no power over you as long as you don't give it to them. Never feel ashamed, disgusted or shocked by your thoughts, this fuels intrusive thoughts and compulsions immensely. Compulsions and intrusive thoughts thrive on your negative reactions to them. Simply observe them without being irritated by them.
OCD is threatened by Meditation/Awareness, that's why it will try to keep you from practicing them. When you practice Meditation/Awareness, your OCD might try to draw you back into its grasp through anxiety and anxious reactions in the body: tension, racing heart, sweating, stomach/heart pain etc., don't identify with these uncomfortable bodily sensations either and also observe all of this in a detached way. It's all just the OCD trying to trick you and ruin your life. The fact that your OCD will try to keep you from meditating/practicing Awareness should be a clear signal to you that you are on the right path to overcoming it.
Meditating and constantly practicing Awareness might be very hard at first, but don't be discouraged, it will become easier and easier with time, and your OCD and all its symptoms will gradually become better. Even if thoughts still come up, they will not bother you anymore, you will just see them for the random bullshit that they are. The end goal would be to remain in Awareness 24/7, which would make you completely invulnerable to all compulsions and intrusive thoughts.
Also, as corny as it may sound, what's even more important than Meditation and constantly practicing Awareness is fully and unconditionally loving yourself and everybody else and everything else in the world, even the most evil shit you can imagine, even your intrusive thoughts and compulsions. Your world and life have to become completely filled with Love. Negativity and suffering can only thrive where there is a lack of Love. Love repels negativity and suffering like oil repels water.
You WILL get through this if you follow my advice consequently for a long enough time, please trust me for your own sake.
Wishing you all the best and much love my friend. 😊❤
2 weeks after quarantine started i suddenly felt something snap in my mind and i depersonalized and derealized -> i started thinking reality is fake/pre-programmed and we have no control over ourselves and the world whatsoever
i became obsessed about those thoughts (even recognizing they're absurd and irrational) and i also started getting depressed
i feel like i lost myself and my life forever
i feel really bad, i can't even distract myself because i am indeed obsessed
i hate it
btw i guess the thoughts come from my huge fear of becoming mentally ill/going crazy/"mentally dying" lollll
so now im stuck being super controlling and hiding my fear with other stupid thoughts
yeah it's a whole mess
You’re not alone ,hang in there some how we will get over this especially during this pandemic it made everything feel fake like we are robots I been dealing with that to
Big Orrrah thank you for the answer, i feel a little bit better
I have your exact issues... The DP/DR seems to almost confirm that we are right and are going to start going crazy or develop a much worse mental illness. On top of that you still have to deal with all the other intrusive thoughts. BUT you're not alone and it will get better. Seek professional help if you are able to. Either way just know you're not alone and I'll be praying for us all to gain some peace from this all
I hope you are feeling better. Here is a new video on what to do in the moment those thoughts come up. I hope it helps you: ruclips.net/video/c-HKZNh88dQ/видео.html
Same brother , you’re okay accept the thoughts and calm yourself with reassurance .
Trust the process you are not your thoughts .
We're definitely not our thoughts and this didn't make sense to me until I started meditating. I can now step back and observe my thoughts as just thoughts. This took a lot of meditating to get to this point! I really feel free from my intrusive thoughts now but I still get them from time to time. Great video!
Ahhh wonderful to hear a fellow meditator having success. Meditation/Awareness is indeed the ultimate solution to most mental afflictions. Once you realize your mind is just a secondary thing taking place inside of you, the problems disappear by themselves.
Excellent video. I've been having intrusive debilitating thoughts that are sexual and death related. Truly scary because sometimes I can convince myself that the thoughts are true. In the middle of a pandemic getting an appointment with my doctor to get a referral to see a counselor can take time. And this video has helped me begin to tackle the problem myself. when I have intrusive thoughts and I start to panic I will come back to this video to calm myself down. THANK YOU. I subscribed.
I am so glad that you found the video helpful.
Me too. You’re not alone. It’s a daily struggle for me.
I have illness and death related thoughts too, ive been a mess these past 3/4 days. Theres moments I feel like not existing would be better than this hell.
@@MikeWazowski680 I can completely relate
@@MikeWazowski680 this video really helps
Thank you for this video! I always have disturbing thought that stress me out and make me think i’m a bad person. I get so caught up on not trying to think about them, then they happen more. I never knew there was a name for this, i thought i just had problems. It helps so much to know other people deal with this and it’s normal. At least now when they happen, i know that doesn’t mean i will actually act on the thoughts.
I am glad that you learned that you are not alone and our thoughts are not truths. Please practice self compassion when you are experiencing these thoughts, and at the same time, begin to think of your job as tolerating them without avoiding the thoughts. I wish you the very best.
I had the same experience like you, I was unable to understand myself when I got severe anxiety with compulsions but didn't understand a single things of what's going on (except something is WRONG with me)
If you have OCD (compulsions and/or intrusive thoughts), do the following practice and your compulsions and intrusive thoughts WILL 100% get better and most likely even completely vanish if you apply this advice for long enough, you have to do this if you want to get better, there is no way around it:
Meditate daily, ideally 30-60+ minutes, but you can start with 5+ minutes and work your way up. I recommend Vipassana meditation, which simply means putting your attention on the bodily sensations of breathing.
Meditation is essentially about one thing: Practicing Awareness. Sitting meditation is an intentional, focused practice of Awareness, but it's just the beginning. You also have to practice Awareness when you are not sitting down to meditate. You basically have to meditate/practice Awareness 24/7, no matter what you are doing, no matter how many thoughts come up and no matter how much you suffer mentally and physically.
Practicing Awareness means simply observing your thoughts and compulsions (and also emotions, sensory perceptions, bodily sensations, pain etc., basically everything you experience) in a distanced and detached way. You have to realize that you ARE the observer/the Awareness that is free from all experience. YOU ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS AND COMPULSIONS. You are free from your thoughts, your thoughts just fool you into believing that they are real. Thoughts are just randomly generated bullshit, don't ever worry about them and don't ever think they are more than that. Never believe ANY thoughts. Do not identify with your thoughts and simply observe them from a distance. Your OCD will try to come up with all kinds of sneaky shit to draw you back into it, but NEVER give in to it, no matter what it says. Examples of sly tricks of OCD would be thoughts like "Meditation/Awareness doesn't work", "Your OCD will never go away" etc., but all these tricks only work because you let yourself get fooled by them, because you believe in them. You willingly give your power to these meaningless thoughts so that they can destroy you with it. See the absurdity in that. Also, never try to argue with thoughts, correct them, fight them, get rid of them etc., all of that is more tricks of OCD. You cannot solve OCD inside of the mind, only by stepping outside of the mind and observing it (Awareness). Intrusive thoughts and compulsions are randomly generated and you have absolutely no control over them whatsoever, but you have the power of being able to simply observe them, which will make you realize that you are not these thoughts, which will make them go away if you do it long enough. They only keep coming if they keep getting negative reactions from you. Fully accept and welcome all thoughts, no matter how strange or disturbing they may be. Never resist thoughts. Thoughts have no power over you as long as you don't give it to them. Never feel ashamed, disgusted or shocked by your thoughts, this fuels intrusive thoughts and compulsions immensely. Compulsions and intrusive thoughts thrive on your negative reactions to them. Simply observe them without being irritated by them.
OCD is threatened by Meditation/Awareness, that's why it will try to keep you from practicing them. When you practice Meditation/Awareness, your OCD might try to draw you back into its grasp through anxiety and anxious reactions in the body: tension, racing heart, sweating, stomach/heart pain etc., don't identify with these uncomfortable bodily sensations either and also observe all of this in a detached way. It's all just the OCD trying to trick you and ruin your life. The fact that your OCD will try to keep you from meditating/practicing Awareness should be a clear signal to you that you are on the right path to overcoming it.
Meditating and constantly practicing Awareness might be very hard at first, but don't be discouraged, it will become easier and easier with time, and your OCD and all its symptoms will gradually become better. Even if thoughts still come up, they will not bother you anymore, you will just see them for the random bullshit that they are. The end goal would be to remain in Awareness 24/7, which would make you completely invulnerable to all compulsions and intrusive thoughts.
Also, as corny as it may sound, what's even more important than Meditation and constantly practicing Awareness is fully and unconditionally loving yourself and everybody else and everything else in the world, even the most evil shit you can imagine, even your intrusive thoughts and compulsions. Your world and life have to become completely filled with Love. Negativity and suffering can only thrive where there is a lack of Love. Love repels negativity and suffering like oil repels water.
You WILL get through this if you follow my advice consequently for a long enough time, please trust me for your own sake.
Wishing you all the best and much love my friend. 😊🙏❤
@@AyushKumar-ux2iv Only if thought rumination affects your internal health you may have to visit a psychologist. Heal yourself. Your breath is directly related to your mind [brain] causing negative thoughts-anxiety-stress. For a relaxed life sit on a chair, back erect, hands on lap with palms upwards, eyes closed, be still and observe your natural incoming--outgoing breath at the entrance of the nostrils for around 10-15 minutes. Be as still as possible. Many thoughts will come which is ok--slowly negative thoughts will reduce and your mind will relax. During your daily activity keep observing your breath consciously. Best part is mood swings also reduce. Do the above meditation daily to feel relaxed. For more healing enter the following on google search and listen before sleep repeating the affirmations for 10 minutes in your mind. -“52Hz affirmations for health and healing you tube”. You will get relief quickly. Best wishes. Shyaaam Sir. -Counsellor.
@@shyaaammeneen63thank
You
Hello ma'am I was suffering from severe pure ocd from a long time.
I found your channel around 6 months ago and watched your ocd playlist several time to fully understand whatever you were explaining.
And I am following expose and response prevention therapy for 5 months now and my obsessive thoughts reduced very much and now I am living a normal life and can focus on my study.
Idk how to thank you enough , you've really saved my life
Thank you❤️
Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I am so glad that I could help…yet you are the one that did the work. 🙏❤️
thank you so much you have no idea how much your video helped me, i cried a lot while watching this because i was so comforted in knowing that i can get help and this won’t last forever. I’ve been suffering with violent and disturbing thoughts about my family for months now that make me physically sick and hate myself. I’ve grown to be afraid of myself for thinking these things, i love my family so dearly they are my rock. I can’t wait to get help and get my life back thank you.
Me to 😔
Thoughts are "distressing but not dangerous. Bear the discomfort and comfort will come." Dr. Abraham A. Low
Love that quote as well.❤️
I couldn’t afford a therapist anymore so youtube is my new therapist lol. I had a hard time with my therapist getting me in a anxious state. I’ve been doing it on my own and it’s killer. But I thank our Heavenly Father for videos like yours for guidance and knowledge. I pray for everyone on here. It’s tough. Stay strong and I know one day we’ll look back and laugh at this little devil named Gus haha
I am hopeful that my videos can help you. Therapy is difficult to come by for many and I make videos to offer at least a bit of support for anyone that may benefit. Once you learn to accept your thoughts as just thoughts, and do not try to argue with them or analyze them or scrutinize them for truth, the frequency and intensity will die down. Thank you for such a heartfelt message. I hope you can laugh at Gus too...😊
Yeah I hope so too.
Dawson Ogilvie im so proud of you for trying to get rid of it by yourself because I’m trying as well and I can tell you how difficult it is !! I feel you! You’re not alone
Paige Pradko LPC NCC Do you take insurance? I would love to work with you. I’m at the point where I won’t do anything anymore.
Phyllis Boyle, unfortunately, I am only able to take insurance within the state of Michigan. There are many wonderful therapists and most can be found on psychologytoday.com. I encourage you to seek help within your state and insurance coverage.
Really made me feel good hearing you say your thoughts aren’t you. And that I am a good person.. I know this to be true and I know my brain and fears are not real. It’s all in my head. It just gets so hard to ignore the voices telling you that your mistakes as minor as they are? Make you a terrible person!. Hearing it from other people that I’m not crazy or bad really brings my attention back to reality. Thank you
You are not alone. So many struggle with these thoughts. They have nothing to do with who you are as a person. ❤️
Thank you so much for this video. I am really fed up of this ocd thoughts.😔😔🥺🥺
This truly has helped me with my OCD. I was so doubtful that there was nothing I could do because I thought my OCD was taking over. I am wrong, and am so glad I found you and your videos! You have helped me immensely, thank you!❤
@@davprov That makes me so happy ❤️
Thank you, this video was extremely helpful. My friend (2nd yr uni student) is really struggling with obsessive intrusive thoughts which leads her on a downward spiral to very dark places. Reassuring her doesn't help, it only increases her anxiety and it's breaking my heart to see her go through this. She feels worthless, like she isn't 'real' and she has begun to self harm which all adds to her feelings of guilt and extreme anxiety. For example, She seeks reassurance from her boyfriend but when he tells her he loves her, she doesn't believe him and will continue to press him to confirm his love but despite the reassurance, it's never enough, she doesn't feel worthy of love and it's a never ending cycle of deep despair. She's been prescribed antidepressants but they really don't help. She's been referred by her GP for cbt and is currently waiting for an appointment. Are there any books you can suggest that may offer her some support? (I've come across 'Overcoming unwanted intrusive thoughts' - M.Seif/S Winston?). I would appreciate any advice. Thank you so much. ✌
I am so sorry that your friend is suffering and it is so caring of you to try to help her. You are right in that reassurance seeking is a compulsion harmful for someone with OCD. I am concerned about the self harm as it sounds like she is also suffering from depression. Here is a playlist to help her with unwanted thoughts.
ruclips.net/p/PL1lUhuKpYUYqKvEwlGXoRPDu_8blhbaq-
The book you mentioned is excellent and one of my favorites. If she is looking for more help for Pure O, I have an online therapy course coming out at the end of March. She can contact me at PaigePradko.com. I can walk her through exactly what to do. But, until then, she does need to be assessed and treated for possible depression. Sometimes we need to treat the depression before the OCD.
You are such an amazing person!
You have no idea how many people find tpur videos as beneficial and crucial to their life stability.
Personally im really greatful for your kindness and help, and will reccomend your channel to others in need.
Love from israel♡
I have been having harm ocd thoughts for a couple months now and am currently undergoing erp therapy which I notice is helping but it’s just so scary! I’m always scared it will train my brain that these thoughts are okay so I tend to still reassure myself constantly! The fear of “what if it’s not ocd” has also been a scary struggle. Do you have any advice on the emotional side of ocd? Especially when it comes to this theme it’s so shameful, scary, and makes you feel like you lost yourself. Or that one day when the popped up you suddenly feel like a monster. It’s so hard😭 I love you videos they are so helpful and I love your more softer and empathetic side of addressing this issue.
I understand that fear of “what if it is not OCD”. One thing I can share is that if the thought scares you, it is definitely OCD. At that point, label it as OCD, and treat the thought as it is completely insignificant to you. You do not need to argue with a thought that is meaningless to you. So proud of you for doing ERP, and yes, it is difficult and challenging, but, it works. Keep up the great work.
Alaina I am exactly the same, constantly ruminating and seeking reassurance
Thankyou for sharing this
I hate this feeling I wish the thoughts would just go away and I get really stressed when I think about it. It feels like this icky glob of goo in the pit of my stomach thats weighing me down. I constantly try to reassure myself, but its to no avail... its worse than ever now, the anxiety, i just dont know if this will ever stop and go back to the way it was before when I had nothing to worry about.
sarahpisces 0219 I wrote this comment a month ago and am still in erp therapy and just wanted to give you some hope and say it is definitely possible to recover from this. After about 3 months of struggling hardcore I got to a point where I thought it would never truly get better....and let me tell you I’m starting to feel like my normal self again! If I can do it, you can too, no different so don’t worry you got this! It is soooo possible!
Sarah Wright girl you got this! I used to be like that and I can tell you now I never do that anymore and my anxiety and worries over this are now finally disappearing!
I'm literally crying watching this thank you ❤️😭
You’re welcome. 🙏❤️
Thank you so much for these videos! I've been following these methods for over a month, and they have helped me a lot more than when I paid money for 3 months of therapy. Maybe I just didn't find the right person or the right sort of therapy at the time. I tried CBT, and if anything, it just made my anxiety worse. Exposure therapy, mindfulness, and meditation were the most effective in reducing my anxiety and keeping my intrusive thoughts under control.
I really appreciate your comments. You are right on about what helps with intrusive thoughts. So glad that you have found the videos helpful.
One of the best presentation on OCD I have seen.
Thank you. I appreciate that 😊
I’m finally at peace with my ocd I became so obsessed with death due to a lot of my friends passing away. That I thought that I was next or my family members were and I was so afraid to talk about out loud in fear of it becoming true. And I told myself that this is something that I can’t control it happens and now I’m doing so much better 😩I’m slowly but surely becoming a new and better person thank you 🙏🏾
I am so sorry for your loss. I am glad that you found the channel. I have playlists for Pure O and OCD to help people. I hope that you feel supported here.
I'm SO sorry for your loss! Stay strong! ✝️🙏❤️
18 years of therapy and I never understood my thoughts are not in my control - that is so so liberating !!!! J o Y
I am so sorry that you never learned about OCD thoughts in therapy.
Thank you so much for this video. This gave me insight and information on what I am currently going through. Since the quarantine began, since early April, I have been having nonstop unwanted instrusive/obsessive thoughts and images in my head. It happened so out of the blue, and even now, I feel like I haven't made much improvement, if any. It's still in my head almost 24/7. It is extremely distressing and disturbing. The instrusive thoughts and images I have are related to some of the sins and horrible mistakes I have made in the past, which I have done over and over again. I have stopped for a while, mostly due to what I am going through, but they are haunting me because I have a feeling that those sins and decisions played a role in causing this. The strange thing is these intrusive thoughts had never occurred or bothered me before because I guess I didn't feel anything would happen during those times. I thought it was harmless. Now, it's almost like I'm paying the price for what I've done. Although I'm not sure this would have occurred or not without the quarantine starting, I know that I'm going through it and there are no place for what ifs. But what ifs are one of the major reasons that began what I'm going through. It's almost like my head is forcing me to think these thoughts and images that aren't true and that I don't identify with to the point where I get worried what if it is true. Although I haven't been diagnosed with OCD and anxiety, I'm almost sure that what I'm going through is Pure O OCD as I don't have physical compulsions but have mental compulsions constantly. There are also so many triggers around me, including people, social media, videos, pictures, and more. I know fighting it, reasoning, and convincing myself that they are fake and that I'll never do them makes it worse, and that I am not my thoughts, images, and dreams. However, it's really difficult to put into action, especially without a therapist at this time. I'm honestly kinda stuck right now. As someone who is graduating college soon, I'm honestly worried and anxious that this will affect my future career, my relationships with my family and friends, my lifestyle, my sociability, and just how I bring about myself in every day life. Sorry, I know this was long, but I really appreciate it if you read this. I really hope you reply Paige.
Jason, I am so sorry that you are suffering. OCD creates a sense of personal responsibility, when there is none. I could write you an answer reassuring you, but, that would not help. What will help is ERP. Allowing your upsetting thoughts to come without working through the thoughts or analyzing them, or trying to figure out if they are true or not. Part of your analysis of your thoughts is what is keeping them active. You have to allow the thoughts to float around and tolerate the uncertainty and unknowing of their truth or significance. Make sure you are not following up the thoughts with intentional thought sequences or prayers. Just let them float there and tolerate the anxiety of not knowing the truth. I suggest finding a therapist that specializes in OCD if possible. Until then, I hope this helps.
@@PaigePradkoTherapy Thank you. it's been a really difficult time for me, especially as it is still relatively new, with it being almost two months. I do feel like the things I chose to do in the past consistently did play a role in what I'm going through as the contents are similar, but at the same time, I feel there's no correlation. I just have so much guilt and shame right now. I do feel CBT and ERP is the way to go, but with everything being online, I'm not sure if it would be as helpful as if it was in person. At the same time, I'm not sure I can wait until September or so and potentially become worse by then. I know that I shouldn't interact with my thoughts, analyze them, or make meaning out of them, but the thoughts and images themselves go against who I am as a person and Christian and are really disturbing and scary that I'm not sure what to do. It's one thing to know that I need to let them through, treat them as another normal thought, and not consider the significance, but it's really difficult to really do that, especially without a therapist.
I just keep watching your video repeatedly .... this is who I am I can see the subtle response behaviors. I use them all
Hi John. I hope the video has been helpful. Here is a playlist for help with Pure O OCD.
ruclips.net/p/PL1lUhuKpYUYqKvEwlGXoRPDu_8blhbaq-
And here is a pdf that may be helpful: www.paigepradko.com/erp
Good video. Will share with my therapist. I just subbed.
Thank you. You may be interested in the next 2 videos going live in the next 2 weeks. The first one is a detailed video on ERP for OCD. And the second video is a more detailed video on Strategic Exposure Therapy for OCD and Anxiety Disorders. Thank you again for your comment 😊
Thank you posting the video, I’m in the Uk, I’m 48 , I’ve been having intrusive violent thoughts since I was 17, I was on the brink of trying to get myself sectioned into my local psychiatric hospital due to the thoughts, thinking I was a danger to others, the same day I came across the term ‘intrusive thoughts’ ...the relief was incredible ! ...but the thoughts did not go away, the thoughts have been far more intrusive the last few months, some days I really do think I’m going crazy, what concerns me is the fact the thoughts don’t really make me anxious anymore, but they cause me to slump into depression, should I still be feeling anxious? I put the lack of anxiety down to the fact that I know it’s a recognised mental illness? I’ve finally been seeing a therapist for the last few weeks, he suggested we try EMDR, so we are into our second week...I would really appreciate your thoughts on what I’ve written , thank you 🙏
I am sorry that I did not see your message when you wrote it. I am wondering how EMDR is going. Exposures and ERP therapy are known as the gold standards in treatment of obsessive, intrusive thoughts. However, EMDR is useful in reprocessing trauma.
If you have OCD (compulsions and/or intrusive thoughts), do the following practice and your compulsions and intrusive thoughts WILL 100% get better and most likely even completely vanish if you apply this advice for long enough, you have to do this if you want to get better, there is no way around it:
Meditate daily, ideally 30-60+ minutes, but you can start with 5+ minutes and work your way up. I recommend Vipassana meditation, which simply means putting your attention on the bodily sensations of breathing.
Meditation is essentially about one thing: Practicing Awareness. Sitting meditation is an intentional, focused practice of Awareness, but it's just the beginning. You also have to practice Awareness when you are not sitting down to meditate. You basically have to meditate/practice Awareness 24/7, no matter what you are doing, no matter how many thoughts come up and no matter how much you suffer mentally and physically.
Practicing Awareness means simply observing your thoughts and compulsions (and also emotions, sensory perceptions, bodily sensations, pain etc., basically everything you experience) in a distanced and detached way. You have to realize that you ARE the observer/the Awareness that is free from all experience. YOU ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS AND COMPULSIONS. You are free from your thoughts, your thoughts just fool you into believing that they are real. Thoughts are just randomly generated bullshit, don't ever worry about them and don't ever think they are more than that. Never believe ANY thoughts. Do not identify with your thoughts and simply observe them from a distance. Your OCD will try to come up with all kinds of sneaky shit to draw you back into it, but NEVER give in to it, no matter what it says. Examples of sly tricks of OCD would be thoughts like "Meditation/Awareness doesn't work", "Your OCD will never go away" etc., but all these tricks only work because you let yourself get fooled by them, because you believe in them. You willingly give your power to these meaningless thoughts so that they can destroy you with it. See the absurdity in that. Also, never try to argue with thoughts, correct them, fight them, get rid of them etc., all of that is more tricks of OCD. You cannot solve OCD inside of the mind, only by stepping outside of the mind and observing it (Awareness). Intrusive thoughts and compulsions are randomly generated and you have absolutely no control over them whatsoever, but you have the power of being able to simply observe them, which will make you realize that you are not these thoughts, which will make them go away if you do it long enough. They only keep coming if they keep getting negative reactions from you. Fully accept and welcome all thoughts, no matter how strange or disturbing they may be. Never resist thoughts. Thoughts have no power over you as long as you don't give it to them. Never feel ashamed, disgusted or shocked by your thoughts, this fuels intrusive thoughts and compulsions immensely. Compulsions and intrusive thoughts thrive on your negative reactions to them. Simply observe them without being irritated by them.
OCD is threatened by Meditation/Awareness, that's why it will try to keep you from practicing them. When you practice Meditation/Awareness, your OCD might try to draw you back into its grasp through anxiety and anxious reactions in the body: tension, racing heart, sweating, stomach/heart pain etc., don't identify with these uncomfortable bodily sensations either and also observe all of this in a detached way. It's all just the OCD trying to trick you and ruin your life. The fact that your OCD will try to keep you from meditating/practicing Awareness should be a clear signal to you that you are on the right path to overcoming it.
Meditating and constantly practicing Awareness might be very hard at first, but don't be discouraged, it will become easier and easier with time, and your OCD and all its symptoms will gradually become better. Even if thoughts still come up, they will not bother you anymore, you will just see them for the random bullshit that they are. The end goal would be to remain in Awareness 24/7, which would make you completely invulnerable to all compulsions and intrusive thoughts.
Also, as corny as it may sound, what's even more important than Meditation and constantly practicing Awareness is fully and unconditionally loving yourself and everybody else and everything else in the world, even the most evil shit you can imagine, even your intrusive thoughts and compulsions. Your world and life have to become completely filled with Love. Negativity and suffering can only thrive where there is a lack of Love. Love repels negativity and suffering like oil repels water.
You WILL get through this if you follow my advice consequently for a long enough time, please trust me for your own sake.
Wishing you all the best and much love my friend. 😊🙏❤
I Looked up this video because I just had a very blasphemous thought over and over on 8/14/2020. I don't know if I was suffering heat exhaustion AZ 114 and 14% humidity. But this blasphemous thought was unrelenting to the point it was scarring me and questioning my salvation. Never been to a head doctor before but had to look this up as the thoughts just hit me like a 100mph. Thank you for the advise.
I get enxyty heat and all to
I'm almost certain I have Pure O. I haven't been diagnosed but talking to my therapist and watching these videos have almost confirmed it for me. Whenever I'm anxious and have an obsessive thought I talk to myself, I curse under breath or I seek reassurance. Describing those behaviors as compulsions opened my eyes
It is a big step when you realize that what you have been doing to calm yourself actually makes your obsessive thoughts continue. I am so happy to hear that you have discovered that information.
Thank God for her testimony. I've always considered myself as a caring person but after being affected by this horrible disease I started thinking like I'm an evil or sth. But I am absolutely thinkful for being affected by this disease because I've made huge changements in my life because of it. My tolerance has dramatically improved and I've got close to Allah and learned to put my needs and myself above everything. OCD patient will know what I am talking about.
I am happy for you 🙏❤️
Great hope you get better it’s the worst
I get anxious when I watch specific videos, because I realise how deeply that subject resonates with me. This and hyperphantasia are two things I didn’t know were that different from anyone else’s experience. I can’t imagine what it’s like on other spots of these spectrums. I can’t believe how little we know about how others experience what it is they share. The content and the mechanism is so fascinatingly different.
It is fascinating. There is so much more that we do not understand about the mind and our experience than we do know. We are just beginning to explore these things. Thank you for your comment. 🙏😊
I have dealt with this pretty much my whole entire life. I always thought I was crazy or something...or that something was wrong with me. But then I did my research and I found out I have Pure O. Then I can across this video and it made me feel better! This is so helpful. I still have a long way to go, but I have hope. Thank you for this video ❤️
You’re welcome, Agatha. I have 2 new videos going live within the next few weeks that I hope will help you further. The first one explains what to do in the moment the thought comes up, the second one is how to do a planned exposure.
Aww yay!!! I can’t wait to watch them and get more help ❤️
U and I both agatha
My God Agatha .... mine started around 19 years of age. I’m now 68. That’s at least 80 percent of my life. I feel for you. I relate to you. I wish you better days and years .... I’m just starting to understand the depth of my pure O.
I wished I discovered this information sooner! I get teary eyed knowing I struggled 20 yrs with horrible intrusive thoughts only to be told by many untrained therapists that "fear is normal and everyone has these thoughts". I knew from day 1 it wasn't normal but was so trapped in the thoughts that popped up and rituals I had to do to undo them that my rationale mind was of no use here. I am now learning more and more on this and helping myself. Unfortunately not many therapists are trained in this area and leave their patients feeling like they are oversensitive or making a fuss out of nothing. I hope more awareness and education is provided to therapists on this.
I am so sorry that you suffered for so long. Even in parts of the world where there is more awareness of OCD and Pure O Intrusive Thoughts, people often cannot find effective help and suffer years before beginning accurately diagnosed and effectively treated. I have read reports that estimate an average of 14 years to get help for people in the US. I am trying to change that. I recently created an online course that is an effective alternative to those that do not have other options available. You can find out more at www.paigepradko.com/ocd, should you be interested.
@@PaigePradkoTherapy Thank you. I will definitely look into. Keep up the great work in spreading awareness about it. It's absolutely horrifying and traumatic for the person going through and I feel for the people who have to wait decades before being told they were not crazy and there's a way out of this.
Thank you for making me feel normal and like Iam not a bad person
You’re comment warmed my heart ❤️
I really do I appreciate that video I just turned 20 and I’ve been dealing with this intrusive thoughts since I was 13 years old and yesterday while I was at the i came across your video. And trust me I’ve never felt that peace in my life, like someone finally understood me and where Iam coming from like I did not feel alone in that moment. While I was doing abbs I literally had to stop and listen to you and I started crying because you made me feel like there is nothing wrong about me and that Iam not going insane like I thought I was🥺.Now Iam gonna start going to therapy and use the techniques you thought in this video thank you😊 your such lovely women Iam Esteban by the way !!!!!!!!
I am glad that you felt that calm come over you. You are not alone and you are not your thoughts ❤️
Paige Pradko LPC NCC thank you for doing this videos I wish you where my therapist I feel like your the only person I’ve encounter that understands me and it’s so relieving!!! I don’t think you know how many people you helped with this video your an amazing sound thank you!!! Is there any social media I can follow you on ????
@@estebancorrea3855 Only if thought rumination affects your internal health you may have to visit a psychologist. Heal yourself. Your breath is directly related to your mind [brain] causing negative thoughts-anxiety-stress. For a relaxed life sit on a chair, back erect, hands on lap with palms upwards, eyes closed, be still and observe your natural incoming--outgoing breath at the entrance of the nostrils for around 10-15 minutes. Be as still as possible. Many thoughts will come which is ok--slowly negative thoughts will reduce and your mind will relax. During your daily activity keep observing your breath consciously. Best part is mood swings also reduce. Do the above meditation daily to feel relaxed. For more healing enter the following on google search and listen before sleep repeating the affirmations for 10 minutes in your mind. -“52Hz affirmations for health and healing you tube”. You will get relief quickly. Best wishes. Shyaaam Sir. -Counsellor.
Thank you for this video. I was diagnosed with Pure O five years ago. I came across your website and resources while looking for a therapist who does ERP. I have never done ERP treatment or cognitive therapy for my obsessions to this day.
When you described how the first time we have the anxious thought and obsession, how that affects the brain, and how exposure and cognitive treatment can help, I thought, "Wow, I really need something like this! I want to have treatment like this to heal this part of my life!"
I just started doing teletherapy with someone who says they do ERP. I hope this helps. I'm am considering getting your course for Pure O. Thanks.
@@christopthernavetta1782 , thank you for sharing your experience. I’m glad that you’re working with a therapist. I have had lots of people combine my course with therapy. The more support the better. I also have a support group and I am there daily to answer your questions and give support. You can find these resources at paigepradko.com. Please let me know if I can help you in any way.
@PaigePradkoTherapy You're welcome! And okay, thank you for responding to this and letting me know!
Thank you so much! Your channel is a blessing.
Thank you so much. After watching this video I feel that the process of working through my OCD is a lot less terrifying than I thought it would be. I appreciate you so much!
Thank you so much for this, I was wondering if you could make a video on how to deal with false bodily responses to intrusive thoughts, my ocd has spiked recently and I’m constantly afraid that I might have bodily responses to certain things
Thank you. That’s a great idea.
@@PaigePradkoTherapy please do yes
Yes ,it be nice if she did a video of body response
I like what you said about examining the evidence. My biggest intrusive right now has to do with something that may or may not have happened 50 years ago. I'm going to try what you said and check out more of your videos. Thanks.
Hi Michael. Welcome to my channel. I am glad you liked the video. Here is a playlist of videos for intrusive thoughts
ruclips.net/p/PL1lUhuKpYUYqKvEwlGXoRPDu_8blhbaq-
My favorite is called, “How to Stop Intrusive Thoughts”.
Since you asked for recommendation for video topics, a video topic I think would be beneficial would be on how to do erp for pure Ocd while in a public space during small chunks of time. I know I’m not the only one that might have decent chunks of time throughout the day where I’m in a public space waiting for something like in a line or waiting for someone, and so I’m left to my thoughts, and it would be great to dedicate his time to crushing Ocd but it has to be all mental and discreet as I’m in a public space. Anyways, hanks for doing what you’re doing!
Thank you for your comment and question. This is a great question and one that I am going to think about ...so that I can offer some ideas.
In tears watching this. Thank you
I have a new video that may help you. You can watch here. ruclips.net/video/c-HKZNh88dQ/видео.html
Thank you for this may allah swt bless you
Thank you.
If you have OCD (compulsions and/or intrusive thoughts), do the following practice and your compulsions and intrusive thoughts WILL 100% get better and most likely even completely vanish if you apply this advice for long enough, you have to do this if you want to get better, there is no way around it:
Meditate daily, ideally 30-60+ minutes, but you can start with 5+ minutes and work your way up. I recommend Vipassana meditation, which simply means putting your attention on the bodily sensations of breathing.
Meditation is essentially about one thing: Practicing Awareness. Sitting meditation is an intentional, focused practice of Awareness, but it's just the beginning. You also have to practice Awareness when you are not sitting down to meditate. You basically have to meditate/practice Awareness 24/7, no matter what you are doing, no matter how many thoughts come up and no matter how much you suffer mentally and physically.
Practicing Awareness means simply observing your thoughts and compulsions (and also emotions, sensory perceptions, bodily sensations, pain etc., basically everything you experience) in a distanced and detached way. You have to realize that you ARE the observer/the Awareness that is free from all experience. YOU ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS AND COMPULSIONS. You are free from your thoughts, your thoughts just fool you into believing that they are real. Thoughts are just randomly generated bullshit, don't ever worry about them and don't ever think they are more than that. Never believe ANY thoughts. Do not identify with your thoughts and simply observe them from a distance. Your OCD will try to come up with all kinds of sneaky shit to draw you back into it, but NEVER give in to it, no matter what it says. Examples of sly tricks of OCD would be thoughts like "Meditation/Awareness doesn't work", "Your OCD will never go away" etc., but all these tricks only work because you let yourself get fooled by them, because you believe in them. You willingly give your power to these meaningless thoughts so that they can destroy you with it. See the absurdity in that. Also, never try to argue with thoughts, correct them, fight them, get rid of them etc., all of that is more tricks of OCD. You cannot solve OCD inside of the mind, only by stepping outside of the mind and observing it (Awareness). Intrusive thoughts and compulsions are randomly generated and you have absolutely no control over them whatsoever, but you have the power of being able to simply observe them, which will make you realize that you are not these thoughts, which will make them go away if you do it long enough. They only keep coming if they keep getting negative reactions from you. Fully accept and welcome all thoughts, no matter how strange or disturbing they may be. Never resist thoughts. Thoughts have no power over you as long as you don't give it to them. Never feel ashamed, disgusted or shocked by your thoughts, this fuels intrusive thoughts and compulsions immensely. Compulsions and intrusive thoughts thrive on your negative reactions to them. Simply observe them without being irritated by them.
OCD is threatened by Meditation/Awareness, that's why it will try to keep you from practicing them. When you practice Meditation/Awareness, your OCD might try to draw you back into its grasp through anxiety and anxious reactions in the body: tension, racing heart, sweating, stomach/heart pain etc., don't identify with these uncomfortable bodily sensations either and also observe all of this in a detached way. It's all just the OCD trying to trick you and ruin your life. The fact that your OCD will try to keep you from meditating/practicing Awareness should be a clear signal to you that you are on the right path to overcoming it.
Meditating and constantly practicing Awareness might be very hard at first, but don't be discouraged, it will become easier and easier with time, and your OCD and all its symptoms will gradually become better. Even if thoughts still come up, they will not bother you anymore, you will just see them for the random bullshit that they are. The end goal would be to remain in Awareness 24/7, which would make you completely invulnerable to all compulsions and intrusive thoughts.
Also, as corny as it may sound, what's even more important than Meditation and constantly practicing Awareness is fully and unconditionally loving yourself and everybody else and everything else in the world, even the most evil shit you can imagine, even your intrusive thoughts and compulsions. Your world and life have to become completely filled with Love. Negativity and suffering can only thrive where there is a lack of Love. Love repels negativity and suffering like oil repels water.
You WILL get through this if you follow my advice consequently for a long enough time, please trust me for your own sake.
Wishing you all the best and much love my friend. 😊🙏❤
I've just come across your channel. I like how you explain things. The video in itself is soothing. LIKED AND SUBBED! Thank you
Intrusive thoughts are the worst. There is this constant urge to analyse it or to fight it off somehow. Just staying with it and letting it be there is so unbearable and paralysing. Usually, it's just a stupid detail that doesn't feel right in the head. And if I don't get this 'detail' right somehow in my head it feels like the earth is gonna open up and swallow me down. This stupid analysing and 'getting it right' is so horrible. Thank you
Yeah, I feel your pain. This mental illness is horrific. I struggle from severe intrusive-thoughts-OCD and it makes me sick! I feel as if I have two brains at once and I cannot just relax and be myself because my other brain keeps on saying shit to me, the thoughts are discusting and dispicable. It really does make you hate yourself. Suicidal thoughts are always lingering, honestly I don't know how anyone can live with this.
@@scottgsarmwrestling4639 i feel you, how are you doin now??
One intrusive thought I've had over the weekend is how close our ancestors came to nuclear war a couple of times before I was born.
Thank you for sharing that thought. Our minds sure have a life of their own. I find your thought intriguing, because most people seem to have intrusive thoughts of what “could” happen in the future, but rarely think about the past. Does your intrusive thought cause you anxiety, or have you just accepted that the thought is there and will come and go on it’s own?
@@PaigePradkoTherapy I was hoping that the thought could somehow be suppressed or fizzle out.
L Turner
Is he someone you used to know or had a relationship with?
Hello Dr. Pradko! Very recently I found your channel by chance and I feel grateful. Thank you so much for the help and information you provide! I've been suffering from repetitive intrusive thoughts since few months and those thoughts disturbs me like anything. I always fear that I might harm myself and that's why sharp tools like knives trigger those thoughts. At the same time I also feel some uncomfortable sensations in my wrist, feeling like I've cut myself and I try very hard to distract myself but I'm failing miserably. The visuals and imagery of someone self harming triggers me a lot and I feel helpless. All I know is that I can't ever harm myself and I don't want to do anything like that but it's very disturbing to have those thoughts and even feel physically. Most of the times I feel anxious and depressed for having those thoughts. It would be very kind of you if you give some valuable information or advice regarding my problem. Thank you!❤
Hi Shruti. First, I want to tell you that you are not alone. Harm OCD is very common among people with OCD and it is treatable. I will have more help coming out for Pure O and OCD in the coming weeks and months. If you would like to make sure that you receive the help that I publish, please go to PaigePradko.com and sign up for my newsletter listed at the bottom of my site.
Until then, here is a playlist for Pure O to help you ruclips.net/p/PL1lUhuKpYUYqKvEwlGXoRPDu_8blhbaq-
@@PaigePradkoTherapy Ok thank you❤️
This is me and ive been having it for almost 3 years now huhuhu
Beautiful Video, surprising that I have not commented here , great watching, watching it again to refresh remind myself of the contents of the above video .. Arjun ..
Thank you, Arjun. Your comments always brighten my day. 😊
for those who don't want to go to the doctor, here you go.
• i constantly thought i was a psychopath
• i thought i was gay
• i thought i wanted to have sex with the members of my family.
• i thought every human is a criminal waiting to become. and the only reason i'm not a murderer or a rapist is because i haven't been put in a situation that facilitates it.
• i thought i was a racist and i hated people that didn't look like me.
• i thought i didn't actually like, and didn't deserve the girl i so madly in love with, i was constantly worried about not loving her anymore and was constantly worried about harming her mentally or changing her personality or believes by force.
....
of coerce none of this was true, but it felt so real. and living with that was pain on another level.
please, PLEASE seek professional help, if you find yourself thinking these or worse, *YOUR DOCTOR WILL NOT JUDGE YOU* .
I apologize for the delay in responding to your comment. RUclips put your comment automatically to spam, but RUclips made a mistake. I am sorry that you have suffered with all of these OCD thoughts. You are not alone. Many people suffer with these same type of OCD thoughts. I am glad that you are sharing and encouraging other people to seek out help, and to break out of the shame that seems to worsen people's suffering. There is nothing here to feel shameful about. OCD is a condition, it is not the person. Thank you so much for your comment.
I have all of these thoguhts:(
@@talcharlotte8502 no, worries :)
Just remember this,
When you have OCD, your thoughts don't always reflect who you are as a person.
.
It's like having tourette's inside your head.
Even though that's a reach of a statement that's what i imagine it to be. so it functions as a coping mechanism for me, lol
Very good breakdown of Pure O and the therapies available. I’ve struggled for years and this has reminded me of some practices I used to do that helped me.
This is one of the best on RUclips, thank you for sharing 💛
Thank you
Is this OCD?
Mine feels like an intrusive urge to agree with a blasphemous thought/taunt in mind? I feel possessed.
Your description does sound like Pure O, OCD. I am sorry that you are experiencing this. It activates your fear center because it bothers you very much. ERP works, but often takes creative ways of having the thought, tracking your SUDS score, and allowing yourself to hold and tolerate uncertainty about the thoughts.
@@PaigePradkoTherapy Thank you. My head is full of anxiety because I'm supressing it for months. I'm taking comfort reading John Bunyan's experience in grace abounding to the chief of sinners.
T77 K bruh I feel deadass the same way rn. Like I’ll have a intrusive thought and while dwelling on it I’ll be like “ I want to do that” but then I’m like no I fucking don’t what the hell. And it’s really scary becuase I’m questioning myself and if I would go crazy and ever actually do the things in my head. Its worse at night also
@@youngoutis7193 Yeah I can't go to sleep either, unless I'm actually extremely tired because then I'll just see disgusting images in my head over and over again. Reading all these comments is actually making me pretty emotional because this is so hard to live with.
Yes man. Just fight it and really try to ignore it. This mental illness is horrific ...and I'm just going to be real with you, if you watch pornographic things, you should really try to get it out of your life because many of the things I've seen within porn has made my OCD into a fucking nightmare.
These techniques really helped! I'm trying all of them to see what's best for me. I can feel "my voice" getting louder and beating the bad thought.
That’s wonderful to hear. Here is a playlist for help for obsessive thoughts ruclips.net/p/PL1lUhuKpYUYqKvEwlGXoRPDu_8blhbaq-
I hope they help you.
mam, my obsession is related to guilt and mistakes of past events.....it creates anxious and guilt....how to tackle this?
Yes, I understand. To experience guilt and anxiety from mistakes in your past, demonstrates how much you care about doing the right thing. As none of us are perfect beings, we all make mistakes, we all have a past. The key is whether or not we are learning from our past. Ask yourself what you have learned. I cannot comment on whether or not your obsessions are ocd related, since I do not have that information. But, if obsessions developed because of mistakes, it sounds like there is need for personal healing, forgiveness and self compassion. We all do the best we can do at the time, and we all grow from the lessons of our past.
Today when I got home from school I almost went insane cus of these intrusive thoughts that I hate and then I managed to calm it down a bit but then it started to come back so I found your video and when you said “you are not your thoughts” it made me calm down
I am sorry that you are struggling with your thoughts. We cannot control what pops into our heads.
I get tired and I need to sleep or stsy alone when I have intrusive thoughts.
It is ok to want to be alone if you are tired. But, we want to make sure we are not avoiding people because we believe our thoughts might be true. That avoidance behavior can unfortunately make ocd stronger. Sometimes people find that their thoughts are less bothersome around other people and seem to fade into background noise.
Me too for many years, had and have some intrusive thoughts, feelings.. Because for all my life I was in contact with toxic people and negative enviroments..
Thank you for stand up..
You’re welcome 🙏
Ma'am can u plz explain about religious OCD and about how many type of OCD ❤️
These are great topics for future videos. Thank you.
Thank you so much madam for this video and the information it contains. I have been struggling with OCD for almost 5 years now, but am going to practise methods 1 and 2 that you suggested and hopefully I will be able to free myself from this dreadful thing that has kept some part of my brain occupied almost continuously for all this while 👍☺
I am happy that you found some help in my videos. I have recently added some new videos for sufferers of Pure O that I hope may provide you with more tools.
Here is one of the videos on the I. A.M. technique: ruclips.net/video/c-HKZNh88dQ/видео.html
Here is one on Stopping Rumination: ruclips.net/video/BNK3sthrcyQ/видео.html
@@PaigePradkoTherapy I cannot thank you enough for all this. I have watched both the videos and I will use a combination of these 4 methods.. thanks to you, I believe am going to make out of this soon 👍☺
Can intrusive thoughts feel neutral instead of upsetting? I've had them for so long that Now I just feel nothing when an intrusive thought pops into my head
That’s where you want to be. 😊
Is there an Ocd support group in Britain. Just curious because we arn't common enough to be publicised.
Interesting reading the comments and seeing the other ways OcD effects people. My heart goes out to you, stay strong, don't let it stop you achieving you goals.
I keep thinking im a psychopath and that I will stop being anxious about what is happening then I will lose my emotions and become a psychopath and it terrifies me
Unfortunately, psychopaths do not worry about being or becoming psychopaths. Many people with intrusive thoughts worry they will do something bad or go crazy. This is a very common theme. Try to recognize it as OCD, and just let the anxiety float over you as you do nothing to fight against the thought. You can do more intense ERP by having the thought on purpose several times a day. I wish you well.
Paige Pradko LPC NCC thank you
Wow! I love the clarity on this. What’s the sound (music in the background) it calms me.
Thank you. I had a video editor that chose the music. I will have to ask him the name of the song.
Very helpful!!!😀
Thank you ☺️
I appreciate your videos. I've had extreme OCD for 35 years. I feel very exhausted.!!! I wish I could meet with you
Thank you. And yes, OCD can be extremely exhausting. And I wish I could meet you too. I love how even through messaging we can feel connected. I have a new video coming out later this week that addresses what to do in the moment that you have an obsessive, intrusive thought. I hope it helps you.
@@PaigePradkoTherapy thank you. Wow! For such a quick response. Your awesome. I would love to watch that video. When I get anxious (most the time) I can't even think. I just feel so stuck. Thanks again Paige
i get extremely distressing intrusive thoughts from my past. it started about 6 months ago. i have been trying all different techniques. I feel so hopeless that i will never get out of this cycle
I am so sorry that you are going through this. I have your suggestion of doing a video on real event OCD.
@@PaigePradkoTherapy Is there any chance I could ever email you privately to discuss my plan towards recovery? I just have a few questions on things.
Abbey Coughlin, Yes. You can email me at paige.pradko@gmail.com. Although I cannot act as your therapist, I can try to give you my opinion.
I succumbed to Pure O when I was 16 though it was only diagnosed in my mid-thirties. I got excellent professional help and it has greatly improved the quality of my life. Even so, the original OCD wiring remains - I’m now in my mid-sixties - and I find your videos a tremendous ‘booster jab’ to the excellent therapy I received three decades ago. Many thanks indeed. Ps my big desire is to help others who have Pure O.
Hi Paul. It is amazing how long people go without a diagnosis. Many people are misdiagnosed with anxiety when it is really ocd. I am glad you had excellent help and having a booster reminder every once in awhile can be helpful. Thank you for your comments. Sharing your story does indeed help others.
Madam I feared a memory of my ex bf and due to that I am stuck with his name on autorepeat in my head I wish to get rid of it
God bless you all beautiful people
Only thing that helps me is telling me GOD is in control not my thoughts.
😊
Just now i've found your video.....and it gives me so much courage...
For the last one and half year i've been taking lots of medicines and also went through lots of counsellings also....ri8 now i am tired .....i just want to get rid of it....
Plsssss make this kind of video coz it's really helpful.....
Is it logical/ possible that our worst thoughts are manifestations of what we are most scared of? Does this happen by design that our obsessive thoughts are often thoughts of the things that fill us with the most terror and misery?
Our brains react with a fear response that activates our sympathetic nervous system whenever something scares us. The content of our thoughts are the same, whether we have ocd or not. But, if a thought worries us or disgusts us, our brain can associate the fear/anxiety response to the intrusive thought. Then, if that person has the genetic predisposition for OCD, the intrusive thoughts can begin to become obsessive, because the brain believes the associated fear response connected to the thoughts mean that they are dangerous. Therefore the brain returns the thought to us over and over again in it’s attempt to keep us safe. Whew...long explanation. This is all why we have to retrain the brain through ERP Exposure and Response Prevention.
@@PaigePradkoTherapy thanks a lot for the response! I definitely understand it a little better now. And that helps :)
I love that visualization method and I am going to use it with my clients too.
That’s awesome ❤️
If you have OCD (compulsions and/or intrusive thoughts), do the following practice and your compulsions and intrusive thoughts WILL 100% get better and most likely even completely vanish if you apply this advice for long enough, you have to do this if you want to get better, there is no way around it:
Meditate daily, ideally 30-60+ minutes, but you can start with 5+ minutes and work your way up. I recommend Vipassana meditation, which simply means putting your attention on the bodily sensations of breathing.
Meditation is essentially about one thing: Practicing Awareness. Sitting meditation is an intentional, focused practice of Awareness, but it's just the beginning. You also have to practice Awareness when you are not sitting down to meditate. You basically have to meditate/practice Awareness 24/7, no matter what you are doing, no matter how many thoughts come up and no matter how much you suffer mentally and physically.
Practicing Awareness means simply observing your thoughts and compulsions (and also emotions, sensory perceptions, bodily sensations, pain etc., basically everything you experience) in a distanced and detached way. You have to realize that you ARE the observer/the Awareness that is free from all experience. YOU ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS AND COMPULSIONS. You are free from your thoughts, your thoughts just fool you into believing that they are real. Thoughts are just randomly generated bullshit, don't ever worry about them and don't ever think they are more than that. Never believe ANY thoughts. Do not identify with your thoughts and simply observe them from a distance. Your OCD will try to come up with all kinds of sneaky shit to draw you back into it, but NEVER give in to it, no matter what it says. Examples of sly tricks of OCD would be thoughts like "Meditation/Awareness doesn't work", "Your OCD will never go away" etc., but all these tricks only work because you let yourself get fooled by them, because you believe in them. You willingly give your power to these meaningless thoughts so that they can destroy you with it. See the absurdity in that. Also, never try to argue with thoughts, correct them, fight them, get rid of them etc., all of that is more tricks of OCD. You cannot solve OCD inside of the mind, only by stepping outside of the mind and observing it (Awareness). Intrusive thoughts and compulsions are randomly generated and you have absolutely no control over them whatsoever, but you have the power of being able to simply observe them, which will make you realize that you are not these thoughts, which will make them go away if you do it long enough. They only keep coming if they keep getting negative reactions from you. Fully accept and welcome all thoughts, no matter how strange or disturbing they may be. Never resist thoughts. Thoughts have no power over you as long as you don't give it to them. Never feel ashamed, disgusted or shocked by your thoughts, this fuels intrusive thoughts and compulsions immensely. Compulsions and intrusive thoughts thrive on your negative reactions to them. Simply observe them without being irritated by them.
OCD is threatened by Meditation/Awareness, that's why it will try to keep you from practicing them. When you practice Meditation/Awareness, your OCD might try to draw you back into its grasp through anxiety and anxious reactions in the body: tension, racing heart, sweating, stomach/heart pain etc., don't identify with these uncomfortable bodily sensations either and also observe all of this in a detached way. It's all just the OCD trying to trick you and ruin your life. The fact that your OCD will try to keep you from meditating/practicing Awareness should be a clear signal to you that you are on the right path to overcoming it.
Meditating and constantly practicing Awareness might be very hard at first, but don't be discouraged, it will become easier and easier with time, and your OCD and all its symptoms will gradually become better. Even if thoughts still come up, they will not bother you anymore, you will just see them for the random bullshit that they are. The end goal would be to remain in Awareness 24/7, which would make you completely invulnerable to all compulsions and intrusive thoughts.
Also, as corny as it may sound, what's even more important than Meditation and constantly practicing Awareness is fully and unconditionally loving yourself and everybody else and everything else in the world, even the most evil shit you can imagine, even your intrusive thoughts and compulsions. Your world and life have to become completely filled with Love. Negativity and suffering can only thrive where there is a lack of Love. Love repels negativity and suffering like oil repels water.
You WILL get through this if you follow my advice consequently for a long enough time, please trust me for your own sake.
Wishing you all the best and much love my friend. 😊🙏❤
I can see your compassion for others in your insightful recommendation. Thank you 🙏
I have been suffering from HOCD....and its hard for me to follow. ERP.
Is there any way to come out thru this
Please please please mame help me
This feelings is killin me 😢
I am so sorry that these thoughts are causing you to suffer. The reason they cause suffering is because you are worried that they may be true and you want a guarantee or proof that they are false. No matter what someone’s OCD theme is, the treatment is the same. You associate this thought with anxiety. And because of that, your brain shoots you this thought over and over again. To treat this, you have to allow your brain to accept the thought, even welcome the thought in a calm, nonjudgmental way. The more often you allow the thought and do not try to analyze it or prove that it is wrong, but just welcome the thought as an ocd thought, your anxiety will calm down. When the anxiety calms down over time, the thought will be triggered less and less. Practice allowing and welcoming the thought, allow the anxiety to spike and then go down, all the while your job is to stay accepting and nonjudgmental. I wish you the best.
Great video, very interesting!
Thank you 🙏
I'm trying to hold on before my therapist appointment but I feel like I'm loosing my mind
That first step is the hardest. Glad you are making the effort to get help.
omg me too. I’m so scared something will happen before mine. I have it in like 3 weeks!!
You both are stronger than you think. Keep telling yourself YOU ARE IN CONTROL. Because it’s true.
@@maddierose918 Only if thought rumination affects your internal health you may have to visit a psychologist. Heal yourself. Your breath is directly related to your mind [brain] causing negative thoughts-anxiety-stress. For a relaxed life sit on a chair, back erect, hands on lap with palms upwards, eyes closed, be still and observe your natural incoming--outgoing breath at the entrance of the nostrils for around 10-15 minutes. Be as still as possible. Many thoughts will come which is ok--slowly negative thoughts will reduce and your mind will relax. During your daily activity keep observing your breath consciously. Best part is mood swings also reduce. Do the above meditation daily to feel relaxed. For more healing enter the following on google search and listen before sleep repeating the affirmations for 10 minutes in your mind. -“52Hz affirmations for health and healing you tube”. You will get relief quickly. Best wishes. Shyaaam Sir. -Counsellor.
My pure o comes so much when I’m sleeping, when I’m not in control. It’s hard and I’m glad I’m seeking help for it. It’s an ongoing challenge that separated me from people I love being around. It’s hard and I can’t wait to get better
I wish you the very best in your recovery. You can do it! If you ever need more support, I have a wonderful course that helps people recover. Here are some resources for you:
The Top 10 Things you Need to Know to Practice ERP: Exposure and Response Prevention for OCD, Phobias and Anxiety
www.paigepradko.com/erp
OCD Self Assessment Quiz
www.paigepradko.com/ocdquiz
OCD course
www.paigepradko.com/ocd
I'm really trying to not be cynical, but this is the first time I heard somebody say exactly what I'm trying to get out of my therapist.
I am glad you felt understood. Here is a recent video I made to help those with Pure O. ruclips.net/video/c-HKZNh88dQ/видео.html
You're videos really helped me so much. Thank youuuu
That makes me feel great. 😊
Hey, if one thought goes away then a next come 😞
How do i avoid this?
You tolerate the anxiety of unknowing, uncertainty and doubt of each thought. The theme of the thought doesn’t matter. Thank you for your question.
I've heard a lot of therapists say to acknowledge the thought but while I understand that analogy of a scary movie, bit staying with it rather than moving past it seems like it will make the thought louder and obsess more.
There are different strategies that can be helpful. Doing ERP on the thought itself works, but so does moving past the thought as long as you are not avoiding something or doing something to not have the thought. If you can just think of it as background noise and move past it, then do that. 😊
Hi Frank. So nice to see your name pop up in my comment notification. Guilt does seem to go hand in hand with OCD. It seems like people with OCD have extraordinarily high standards for themselves, making sure they do things “right” and do not in any hurt anyone. I am not sure we can blame it on Catholic guilt because the trait spans across all backgrounds and religions. I tend to believe the experience of guilt is strong in people with OCD because they may fear that doing something “wrong” may result in a new obsessive thought.
I recommend watching this video on my favorite technique to STOP unwanted, intrusive thoughts:
ruclips.net/video/c-HKZNh88dQ/видео.html
Thank you. My depression is better here. Thank you RUclips
Paige! This video states that you have a detailed ERP lesson; may i have the link to that video? thank you so much!!
I am sorry, Danielle, I just saw your message today. Here is a link to a playlist on OCD. There are several videos on ERP. ruclips.net/p/PL1lUhuKpYUYqeYEMpq99fWkjLMxFR4ySU
@@405OKCShiningOn Only if thought rumination affects your health you may have to visit a psychologist. Heal yourself. Your breath is directly related to your mind [brain] causing negative thoughts-anxiety-stress. For a relaxed life sit on a chair, back erect, hands on lap with palms upwards, eyes closed, be still and observe your natural incoming--outgoing breath at the entrance of the nostrils for around 10-15 minutes. Be as still as possible. Many thoughts will come which is ok--slowly negative thoughts will reduce and your mind will relax. During your daily activity keep observing your breath consciously. Best part is mood swings also reduce. Do the above meditation daily to feel relaxed. For more healing enter the following on google search and listen before sleep repeating the affirmations for 10 minutes in your mind. -“52Hz affirmations for health and healing you tube”. You will get relief quickly. Best wishes. Shyaaam Sir. -Counsellor.
Thanks a lot so nice of you if there is online classes than I will join but certified
very nice presentation
It all started with one bad sexual intrusive thought! I thought my world was going to end. I obsessed over it for about two weeks until I opened up to someone and got some reassurance. It was only a few hours until my mind started ruminating. My rumination of sexual thoughts have lead me to feel all types of anxiety when I look at anyone or anything it’s hard for me to even watch tv go out and shop it gets harder everyday. Can this be treated?
Yes, this can absolutely be treated. These are obsessive thoughts. The reason they bother you so much is that they are
activating your fear center of your brain. The thoughts are the opposite of who you are....that is why your amygdala is so activated and why your brain is obsessing. I work with clients every week who have these types of intrusive thoughts. I use a combination of ERP and Strategic Exposure Therapies. Doing exposures is difficult, but they work. I recommend that people watch my videos on ERP, Strategic Exposure Therapy and Maximizing Exposure Therapy before you begin.
Paige Pradko LPC NCC you’re absolutely a great person! You have already gave me so much hope! I will watch all your videos to try and help myself out as much as I can! Is there any way I can contact you through personal message?
Thank you so much for those kind words. You may go to my website PaigePradko.com and contact me by email through the website link. I am working on a way to do online consultations with people, as there is tremendous need and a real shortage of trained therapists.
I would definitely be interested in your services ! I will email you and we shall keep each other updated on that! Thank you so much! May god bless you.
This is literally the video I've been needing for a few years now. I've come a long way tho seeing the therapies that are used. I do feel stronger but it's like drugs, I have withdrawals mentally and forget my strategies when I most need them. Thank you for this video ♥️
You’re welcome. Here is an easy technique that can help you in the moment you are having an intrusive thought. It is pretty easy to remember. ruclips.net/video/c-HKZNh88dQ/видео.html
Just found you on you tube, - you are calming me down already! Your video's are soothing ☺
I'm so glad!
I have thoughts that I want to hurt my family or do gross things with them but what causes me stress is that I feel like I want to do it and I won't be able to be happy if I don't do it and sometimes when my family is being nice to me I think " oh this is pulling you away from being a bad person and doing the thought" and that gives me anxiety and I have no idea why so I think why does that give you anxiety. That's why I feel like a bad person and I have no idea where the thought even came from and why I feel like I want to do it.
You are not a bad person at all and I am so sorry that you have judged yourself this way. We are not judged by our thoughts, because our thoughts are not truths. They are just thoughts. It sounds like you are thinking that your thoughts are truths, and therefore, you are judging yourself as a bad person. Did you know that we have 60-80,000 thoughts a day. We cannot control what hits our brains. And, people with ocd and without ocd have basically the same kinds of thoughts. If a thought helps you to live your life in the way that feels good to you, great. Otherwise, the thoughts are meaningless and harmless.
Thank you madam.This is exactly the problem and the solutions.
You’re welcome. I have a follow up video coming out on intrusive thoughts later this week. 😊
This is so helpful, thx for sharing
Thank you for your comment 🙏❤️
Thank you so much Paige!!
You’re welcome 😊
This video is so helpful, it has helped me understand my current client. Thank you
I am so glad it helps you conceptualize your client. It is different than treating a client with anxious thoughts. I definitely do not want to overwhelm you with treatment videos, but here is a playlist for more information. ruclips.net/p/PL1lUhuKpYUYqKvEwlGXoRPDu_8blhbaq-
Sometimes its the therapist who can heal ocd but not the method.....it is much important to have better therapist like you to heal ....thank you mam..
Thank you for your compliment. The relationship between a therapist and a client is so important in the healing process. 🙏❤️
I've used RUclips for so many years and watched so mnay different types of videos. Now I only wished I had searched for OCD help on here sooner. I will be watching all of your OCD videos. Thank you. I am very anxious to try the exposure therapy.
I am so happy that you found my Channel. I primarily focus on OCD and Anxiety, but, occasionally I throw in some different mental health subjects. You will get more familiar with ERP and Exposure Therapy as you listen. You can go at your own pace and feel free to ask me questions along the way. Here is an ocd playlist that may help ruclips.net/p/PL1lUhuKpYUYqeYEMpq99fWkjLMxFR4ySU.
This is hugely helpful, I've been dealing with this horror for a while but in the last year it's become unbearable. I oftentimes lose hours - up to 8-10 hours now and not sleeping fighting off the thoughts and doing mental rituals, including math equations. I feel stuck in my head.
Would like to try visualization and cognitive deconstruction for starters because I'm terrified
I am so sorry, Alex. OCD can cause so much suffering. Please seek out help from an ocd specialist if you are able. You can find them on IOCDF.org. Here is a playlist for help. I included a video on visualisations. My recommendations would be to watch the video on preparing Scripts for OCD, the video on Stopping Intrusive Thoughts and the video on Stopping Rumination. They are all in the playlist. You are not alone and there is support available for you.ruclips.net/p/PL1lUhuKpYUYqeYEMpq99fWkjLMxFR4ySU
@@PaigePradkoTherapy I've already been diagnosed with ptsd but I feel my psychiatrist missed this. I (irrationally of course) feel the world will end if I don't finish my line of thought perfectly when the images pop into my head.
Will definitely find a specialist in ocd because I'm at the end of my ropes.
Meanwhile, to say THANK YOU seems trivial because you already helped with your videos more than I can put into words
Thanks for sharing! This is really helpful!
So glad you found it helpful. 😊
Thank you so much this is amazingly useful!! Just Your video brought down my anxiety! Im so grateful thank you!!
I started reading eckart tolle "a new life" its been life changing especially with intrusive thoughts
That makes me so happy. Thank you for sharing that with me.
I love that book. Sometimes I listen to Eckart in the car, and he always manages to calm me too.
Thank you maam j literally cried 😭😭😭 thank you so much this changed my life thanks a lot ladt i was releived bdcausd of my mmother now I lost my mom than you so much because of you i feel mh mother Thank you so mucb for helping
I am so sorry that you lost your mom. And it makes me happy that I could bring you comfort. ❤️
If you have OCD (compulsions and/or intrusive thoughts), do the following practice and your compulsions and intrusive thoughts WILL 100% get better and most likely even completely vanish if you apply this advice for long enough, you have to do this if you want to get better, there is no way around it:
Meditate daily, ideally 30-60+ minutes, but you can start with 5+ minutes and work your way up. I recommend Vipassana meditation, which simply means putting your attention on the bodily sensations of breathing.
Meditation is essentially about one thing: Practicing Awareness. Sitting meditation is an intentional, focused practice of Awareness, but it's just the beginning. You also have to practice Awareness when you are not sitting down to meditate. You basically have to meditate/practice Awareness 24/7, no matter what you are doing, no matter how many thoughts come up and no matter how much you suffer mentally and physically.
Practicing Awareness means simply observing your thoughts and compulsions (and also emotions, sensory perceptions, bodily sensations, pain etc., basically everything you experience) in a distanced and detached way. You have to realize that you ARE the observer/the Awareness that is free from all experience. YOU ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS AND COMPULSIONS. You are free from your thoughts, your thoughts just fool you into believing that they are real. Thoughts are just randomly generated bullshit, don't ever worry about them and don't ever think they are more than that. Never believe ANY thoughts. Do not identify with your thoughts and simply observe them from a distance. Your OCD will try to come up with all kinds of sneaky shit to draw you back into it, but NEVER give in to it, no matter what it says. Examples of sly tricks of OCD would be thoughts like "Meditation/Awareness doesn't work", "Your OCD will never go away" etc., but all these tricks only work because you let yourself get fooled by them, because you believe in them. You willingly give your power to these meaningless thoughts so that they can destroy you with it. See the absurdity in that. Also, never try to argue with thoughts, correct them, fight them, get rid of them etc., all of that is more tricks of OCD. You cannot solve OCD inside of the mind, only by stepping outside of the mind and observing it (Awareness). Intrusive thoughts and compulsions are randomly generated and you have absolutely no control over them whatsoever, but you have the power of being able to simply observe them, which will make you realize that you are not these thoughts, which will make them go away if you do it long enough. They only keep coming if they keep getting negative reactions from you. Fully accept and welcome all thoughts, no matter how strange or disturbing they may be. Never resist thoughts. Thoughts have no power over you as long as you don't give it to them. Never feel ashamed, disgusted or shocked by your thoughts, this fuels intrusive thoughts and compulsions immensely. Compulsions and intrusive thoughts thrive on your negative reactions to them. Simply observe them without being irritated by them.
OCD is threatened by Meditation/Awareness, that's why it will try to keep you from practicing them. When you practice Meditation/Awareness, your OCD might try to draw you back into its grasp through anxiety and anxious reactions in the body: tension, racing heart, sweating, stomach/heart pain etc., don't identify with these uncomfortable bodily sensations either and also observe all of this in a detached way. It's all just the OCD trying to trick you and ruin your life. The fact that your OCD will try to keep you from meditating/practicing Awareness should be a clear signal to you that you are on the right path to overcoming it.
Meditating and constantly practicing Awareness might be very hard at first, but don't be discouraged, it will become easier and easier with time, and your OCD and all its symptoms will gradually become better. Even if thoughts still come up, they will not bother you anymore, you will just see them for the random bullshit that they are. The end goal would be to remain in Awareness 24/7, which would make you completely invulnerable to all compulsions and intrusive thoughts.
Also, as corny as it may sound, what's even more important than Meditation and constantly practicing Awareness is fully and unconditionally loving yourself and everybody else and everything else in the world, even the most evil shit you can imagine, even your intrusive thoughts and compulsions. Your world and life have to become completely filled with Love. Negativity and suffering can only thrive where there is a lack of Love. Love repels negativity and suffering like oil repels water.
You WILL get through this if you follow my advice consequently for a long enough time, please trust me for your own sake.
Wishing you all the best and much love my friend. 😊🙏❤
Thank you so much Paige
You’re welcome 🙏❤️
Thank you. I was afraid to seek therapy because I thought the only option is the exposure therapy and I strongly feel it would be too much stress for me. But I like the Gus method, that could work for me 🙂
There are other methods than ERP. You might like my I. A.M. method I describe here: ruclips.net/video/9nEC8yIgFKg/видео.html
Wow! Another excellent video
Thank you, Michael. I appreciate it.🙏❤️
I got this obsessive thought, my mind is telling this negative thought.. the first thing i do i watch RUclips video, about anxiety listening to ther advices aaand it made me calm.. thanks for the video doc.
Hi Rommel. I am glad that you watched the video, but, you want to make sure that you do not use the video as reassurance. Here is a playlist of techniques to try ruclips.net/p/PL1lUhuKpYUYqKvEwlGXoRPDu_8blhbaq-
My favorite is the I. A.M. method. It is on the Stop Intrusive Thoughts video.
I think it is a good idea to select a technique and try it. 🙏❤️
Hi! I am so thankful i found your content! I do have a question. How would i know if i am overthinking within reason or am i subconsiously self sabotaging? More power to you and hope you help so much more people.
This is actually a wonderful question and I have been working on a video about this topic. If you are exploring or questioning or analyzing your thoughts in anyway, you are actually reinforcing or encouraging the intrusive thoughts. These are actually called mental checking rituals and they are considered compulsive behaviors. There is a difference between ruminating that may actually not be OCD. This gets a little complicated which is why I am working on a video. Basically, we have over 60,000 thoughts a day. We do not want to be “worried” about having a thought. We do not want to give anxious attention to our thoughts. This can create a cycle of obsession that can cause unnecessary mental energy and suffering.
@@PaigePradkoTherapy Thank you! Excited to watch it! :)