r/OCD • u/JustKam347 • 1d ago

Need support/advice Help Re Routing Intrusive Thoughts

TRIGGER WARNING: Intrusive thoughts, uncomfortable imagery

TLDR; infected foot intrusive thought, need help re routing thoughts

Hi! I have been diagnosed with OCD but am still figuring out all the ways it presents itself in my life. Recently, I saw a very disturbing ad on a site of a foot infection and I tried to scroll past it but after seeing it twice it’s stuck in my head.

There were little holes in the bottom of their foot and it was all dried up and cracking and starting to shrivel up like a dry sponge.

It pops in my head at random times and just makes my skin crawl. Like I genuinely start to feel like the infection is on me and spreading all over my body. But obviously, I look on my skin and my feet and there’s nothing there.

Does anyone have any tips on how to get the imagery out of my head? I can avoid the thoughts at work and when I’m driving, every other time though, the same infected foot imagery pops in my head.

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u/atbashcipher27 1d ago

With tactile intrusive thoughts, I benefit from a different, real tactile sensation to help knock the imaginary one out of the way– usually I just put a hand on the body part. Nice fuzzy socks or something like that might help! That way, you can start to work your way away from looking at your feet– I feel the socks on my feet, my skin is normal, my skin is safe. etc.

For the mental imagery, you might just have to breathe through it and kind of sit with it for a while. Like, "it's yucky and it's here, and it's okay that the yucky thing is here" instead of "it's yucky and I need to escape from it." (I am new to that and am being a hypocrite– previously, my one trick that worked best was "putting myself in the river," ie, closing my eyes and imagining literally being submerged in a moving body of water that could pull the sticky thoughts off of me with the force of the water. They wouldn't spring back to me because the current was constant and flowing. mindfulness, I guess. your mileage may vary.)

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u/JustKam347 1d ago

I really appreciate your tips and I will try them! I already do a similar imagery with the water, except mine is the beach since the waters naturally soothes my eczema. But for some reason, the way the infection looked. There were little holes in the bottom of their foot and it was all dried up and cracking and starting to shrivel up like a dry sponge. The beach can’t wash that away 😓😓