Feehlo382 Posted April 5, 2011 Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 I've been suffering with OCD for about five years now (forgetting earlier signs when I was a kid) but literally today a new symptom has emerged. I've had some experience with intrusive thoughts before, but now I'm getting unstoppable intrusive internal images. All day on and off I've been seing a finger being cut off with a guillotine, and for an hour or so earlier I was seeing images of me fallinng down stairs and it's really not pleasent. Just under two months ago my medication was changed from fluoxetine to mirtazapine to aid my depression (so far, it's barely done anything) because although my OCD was still severe it wasn't getting any worse. And now, although the rituals haven't worsened this is now becoming quite disturbing and is inhibiting thinking normally (well, as normally as I can manage ). What are your experiences and how do you deal with it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hummm_mabbe Posted April 5, 2011 Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 Hi there Is it a hallucination, in that you are literally seeing these things as though they were really happening, or are they kind of 'mind images', like a picture you see in your head? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feehlo382 Posted April 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 Hi there Is it a hallucination, in that you are literally seeing these things as though they were really happening, or are they kind of 'mind images', like a picture you see in your head? They're mind images. I'm luucky in that I've never had any serious hallucinations . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlevic Posted April 5, 2011 Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 this sounds bit far out but there is this thing called Pure O, I have OCD too but it's more obsessive rather than compulsive if you know what I mean and can sometimes be described as Pure O; it's more thought based and can manifest itself into things like cleaning and being anally retentive and stuff but it is thought driven. You can obsessively think about the same scenario over and over again. I used to have a repeating pattern of thoughts that would drive me too distraction but as with full blown OCD it's ritualistic and for some reason your brain needs to complete the 'ritual'. Sorry if that sounds daft but I just think your OCD has evolved. Hope you are ok and that didn't sound too nuts x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hummm_mabbe Posted April 5, 2011 Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 Hi there You might try the 'paradoxical approach' that CBT sometimes uses. Thats when you go in the opposite direction and actively try to picture and think about the intrusive images as much as you can. Sometimes that can get you "over the hump" of the fear element and they can start to seem less frightening. Alternatively maybe try mindfulness and acceptance - part of the problem with iontrusive thoughts and obsessions is that you end up demanding they shouldnt be there, which adds to the distress. Letting them come and go, sort of like letting waves wash over you in the sea, can take a lot of the 'power' out of them. Trying to get rid of them or to suppres them will usually make them worse, a bit like blowing more air into an already inflated balloon. Rather than trying to tie the neck off even tighter to let it out, you just let the air come out when it wants to. Dont know if that makes sense or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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