Printable View
hey there, been dealing for 4 years with these crappy solipsistic thoughts now.
someone help me refute solipsism, the metaphysical kind... that everything i see is just a figment of my imagination.... been going through this hell for ages... i want to know that my boyfriend, family, friends, etc. are real... that they experience like me.... that i am not alone.... help
I know you know eggs that we cant outlogic ocd, and we cannot outlogic this fear. That doesnt mean its true though honey. I wish I could help you and me get over this, trust me, I know how scary it is and especially since we both seem to have been stuck on it a long time.
Im curious, how did this start for you? Was it just an idea that came to you and scared you? Thats what happened to me, I found the word for it later. If I find anything that really helps me i'll be sure to get in touch with you, promise.
I have Magical Thinking as one of my themes. This is how it could be for me:
"If I change my t-shirt today, something bad may happen. I don't know what it just feels this way".
From this I wouldn't change it but I would engage in neutralisation compulsions too "just in case" I've set a chain of events in action that could also cause harm to my loved ones.
Another was touching windows, doors, anything really and getting a bad image of something happening to my family. Cue compulsions to retouch the items whilst forcing a nice or neutral image into my head. This would be repeated due to doubt that I did it "just right" and in the right odd or even multiples.
How does this apply to you? I couldn't disprove my fear. I couldn't present evidence to re frame it because there was none. What there was was history showing nothing had before the cycles came along. There was also Behavioural Experiments to prove my thinking couldn't influence the world physically.
You can't get evidence because there is even less than I had. You can only provide counter evidence to state their is no proof what you fear is real therefore any other possibilities are as possible.
This then means the issues with Cognitive Distortions need looking at, such us All-or-nothing thinking, which wants an absolute answer of yes or no.
Another similarity is that whilst I could try to disprove my fear about now my sneaky subconscious would respond with "what if" the outcome is just in the future? Perhaps not mitigating the risk now could mean something bad in a year or even 40 years.
I think with themes like this you have to be careful with disproving methods. I think a better way to go is to learn not to be bothered by these thoughts.
For me, Mindfulness has helped greatly. Now I observe without reaction. Over time the subconscious learns those feared thoughts are meaningless.
You end up with the same result - you don't care about them anymore. When you don't care like you do now, you just accept them and they don't hold you back.