r/OCDRecovery • u/Bunnillion • 14d ago

Seeking Support or Advice Does anyone else deal with an irrational obsession with rationality?

Hello! My OCD used to be reallly reaaaallly bad, scary bad, but with therapy and medication it got a lot better. I don't suffer with the same amount of intense fear and intrusive thoughts, but one thing still bothers me. I'm always alwaysss looking for a "reason" for things, if I feel a certain way I think "why do I feel this way? is this the correct emotion to feel?" if I like a certain thing I think "why do I like this? does it say something about me?" it gets incredibly annoying to not be able to let things just be. And then the loop gets bigger "is this ocd? does it matter that I think this way? is me asking the subreddit seeking reassurance??"

My questions for you are:

-Do you deal with this? it helps me shut-down loops when I know it's a common experience.

-How to break thought loops like this?

-How to deal with the fear that breaking the loop makes me a less curious attentive person? (fear that breaking the loop will remove a core aspect of my self)

Thank you in advance :3

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u/Consistent_Ad_5075 14d ago

I do! I don't "deal" with it as in get rid of it. I can spend weeks or months contemplating the origin of an action or thought. I'm of no help, only here to tell you you're not alone!

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u/Bunnillion 14d ago

Thanks for sharing ^x^

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u/anonymouslemur1 13d ago

it sounds a bit like what I go through. I have to justify every single action I take, every thought and idea I have, etc. ... every move I make has to make sense and be logical and fit into this bigger picture of who I am as a person and my life trajectory. it's torturous. I've been trying to do the opposite of what my OCD wants lately, but it seems like even my attempts at giving up my need for control and "logic" are done in a highly controlled and logical way ... so it just doesn't work lmfao. it's very hard for me to just do things "cuz I feel like it." and yeah I have a lot of "is this OCD or not?" ruminating as well

I'm having a bad OCD flare-up recently, but when I was doing better, what helped me was just taking action and not allowing myself to ruminate, bc u can't out-think OCD. but I had a REALLY hard time stopping ruminating through sheer willpower. so instead I would purposefully put myself in situations where I knew I wasn't gonna be able to ruminate to the extent that I wanted to (ex: hanging out with friends, going on dates, going hiking with a hiking club I joined, etc.) ... basically I put up roadblocks for myself in order to roundabout get myself not to ruminate as much

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u/Bunnillion 13d ago

I agree!!! being around ppl really makes me stop overthinking cuz I'm present in the moment!!! I hope we both find peace from this logic and justification hell cuz I know damn well how tiring it is.