How to deal with ocd thoughts?

[Skylark12]

Hey,

I was wondering if anyone could give me any advice on how to manage ocd thoughts? I've read loads of articles online, but many of them vary in what they say. The general idea seems to be to 'let the thought be there' and to be as passive about it as possible. However, I find that really hard to do (which is probably normal?), because in my head, not knowing to answer to my ocd questions really bothers me and it feels wrong not to answer them.

Also, do I not engage with the thoughts at all, or can I analyse them? Does that count as rumination/a compulsion? Right now, I'm really confused as to which direction is the right one towards recovery. I know that recovery is going to take so much time, but the thought of letting myself experience the anxiety and not fight it is really daunting.

(Here is some information on my own ocd.) My ocd is based around the fear of plagiarising. I'm aware that sounds pretty strange, but believe me, it came out of something very small. I've always been afraid of other people accusing me of taking their ideas etc, but eventually, I focused too much on my fear, analysed it too much and within a few weeks it was a full blown obsession as my ocd found something new to latch onto. These days, at random, when I see things I find interesting or inspiring, (writing wise or art wise, as I used to do both in my free time), my anxiety level jumps up and I start asking myself whether 'taking that idea' is plagiarism/morally wrong. It's not that I truly want to take those ideas, be it a character design or an interesting phrase from a novel, but I think it's the fact that I want to somehow find the line between what's right and wrong, when being inspired by something. And now, because I don't know where the line is, I'm always terrified that I've done something wrong when I draw or write. And I'm constantly in fear of new thoughts popping up all over the place, so I'm always 'watching' what I'm thinking.

Thanks for reading all of that! I'm so sorry this was really long D:
Any advice is welcome!

[Pippy187]

Hey Sky,

Welcome to the forum!  Like you I deal with obsessive thoughts a lot of the time, mine are more intrusive in nature... But that is it! Thoughts are just thoughts.  I doesn't mean action or behavior.  With your fear of plagiarism... It's only that if it is done intentionally and you can always site something if you'd like to :)  It sounds like this is a bit different then my thoughts, but for me I find distraction works best, I read, write, come on to this site, play video games and I just started to draw... exercise is very important  and balanced eating habits too.

I'm currently reading Imp of the Mind, it's about controlling intrusive thoughts related to OCD.  I'll let you know how it is.

[greenzebra]

I'm definitely not an expert on OCD as I just recently realized that I was dealing with it, but just try to tell those thoughts that you're not plagiarizing, you're just admiring and taking inspiration, then try not to let yourself linger on the thought. Sometimes this works for me, but it's definitely a battle that takes time. Good luck. xx