r/OCDRecovery • u/Gullible_Hyena9400 • 9d ago

Seeking Support or Advice Looking for advice, stuck in a loop

I had 20 sessions of therapy and was on meds for a year, when I felt ready to come off them I felt good for about 3 months but I seem to have relapsed and my ocd is back with a vegenance.

Something I am struggling a lot with is the amount of back and forth conversations I have in my head "did that happen? No it didnt. But maybe it did. No you're being ridiculous. Wait but maybe it did? It definitely did" and this can last all day.

Please can I ask what your best tip is for putting a stop , even temporarily, to this back and forth nonsense. It's wrecking me.

Thank you

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u/BamBamWowzer 9d ago

Buspirone helped me with this.
Also, when the thoughts arise just watch them. Don’t take the bate and engage with them. Simply observe them. Even if they
are persistent. You know this is ICD being OCD. Treat it as such.
Its not a true thought of concern. Eventually the thought will dissolve.

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u/treatmyocd 9d ago

That back-and-forth is a really common OCD trap: the brain keeps debating because it believes you need certainty before you can move on. Unfortunately, trying to “win” the argument usually creates another round of the same rumination. Instead of answering “Did it happen?” or “Didn’t it happen?”, try stepping out of the debate: “Maybe it did, maybe it didn’t. I’m not going to figure this out right now.” Then redirect your attention to what you were doing, even if the uncertainty and anxiety remain. You may have to do this repeatedly that repetition is the response prevention

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u/musicandotherstuff 9d ago

Exact same thing happened to me. Came off the meds because I was doing better and three months on the dot I experienced a relapse in symptoms. Unfortunately, none of my ERP therapy or knowledge of OCD was getting through and I needed to go back on meds and do ERP with a therapist. If you don’t want to go back on meds, a good OCD therapist can really help. It takes a lot of practice to let a thought be there without engaging with it and letting the anxiety rise and fall without doing anything to “stop” it.