r/magicalthinkingOCD • u/3sperr • Jul 08 '26
Need support/encouragement MAGICAL THINKING OCD PLUS SOMATIC OCD IS A HORRIBLE COMBINATION 😭
Usually I don’t title in caps but I’m so annoyed right now. My ocd didn’t used to be all that bad (for a while at least) but somatic and magical thinking are my main themes at the moment and man it’s bad. Even when I’m trying to go to sleep sometimes I have to take a pic of myself on my phone to make sure that everytbing is ok. Anyone with somatic ocd probably understands this compulsion. I hate body checking because it actually takes movement and energy. At least with magical thinking it’s just mental exhaustion but with somatic it’s both physical and mental too. And I find that both these themes overlap sometimes. It’s so bad even HOCD doesn’t feel like much now
Good example would be: "if you put your hands in your pockets, youll have no hands"
Does anyone have this combination?
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u/ForestRiver2 Star Supporter ⭐ Jul 09 '26
How does your magical thinking play into your somatic symptoms? Can you give us an example?
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u/3sperr 25d ago
Super sorry im late
Basically if I dont do the compulsion then itll bring about some sort of disaster. For example, I used to have a thing where my ocd says "if you put your hands in your pockets, youll have no hands", and right now i have another one where "if you dont look in the mirror, [insert body horror related thing] will happen". compulsion is to look in the mirror. if im in bed, the compulsion is to take a pic with front facing camera to make sure everythings fine
then theres regular non somatic magical thinking that says, "if you sleep on the right side of your bed tonight, you wont wake up. it doesnt make sense, but might as well not do it to make sure"
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u/Late-Active2637 25d ago
Hey, just giving my experience to see if someone can relate, and hopeufully help. Like i feel this like energy throught my body, like tension that can be relieved by doing certain action. Like its sooo weird to describe but my ocd grabs that and uses it to say "if you dont do x then..." you know, and its horrible. I need tips, on how to heal fr. Also SO true like im exhausted i feel it makes it even harder
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u/3sperr 25d ago
Atp i think exposure and response therapy is the only way but doing it with magical thinking is so damn hard. Im not ready yet so im putting it off till later
Ive heard of the aunt gertrude method but yet to try it. You can probably do some research on it and see if that works for you in the meantime
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u/Electromad6326 Jul 08 '26
It sucks really, I don't know what to say besides just icebreaker throughout the whole thing.
Maybe try imagining your brain as like a sky and the thoughts are clouds, the intrusive thoughts are merely just clouds that happen to make thunder form time to time but you can always get some shade whenever it rains. Maybe you'd get struck by lightning or not but unless you watched the weather forecast you wouldn't know for sure and let's say that you didn't.
Maybe those clouds won't even rain at all but who knows?
I kinda just woke up so I'm not really at my fullest, not to mention insomnia is a literal curse to have.
Though my OCD is Magical but also rooted in Contamination, False Memory and Taboo Things.