As we're on the subject of thoughts ..

[Meg]

I'm just writing my chapter dealing with obsessive thinking and thought you'd like to know the top lot of obsessional thoughts all with loads of people admitting to them

Religious Obsessions"..
Excessive fear,worry,or preoccupation with:
Having blasphemous thoughts or saying bad things
Fear of being punished for blasphemous thoughts
Concern with religious beliefs
Issues of what’s right and wrong,
morality
Dwelling on religious icons, images or thoughts

"Aggressive Obsessions"...
Preoccupation and excessive illogical fear of:
Harming yourself
Harming others
Acting on unwanted impulses--Eg.running someone over, stabbing someone or harming others through your own carelessness
Responsibility for some terrible accident--Eg. causing a car accident, A fire, or allowing burglary
Doing something embarrassing or looking foolish
Violent or horrific images in your mind causing you to think you will do harm to others

"Sexual Obsessions"...
Unwanted, worrisome and intrusive thoughts of:
Sexual thoughts, impulses, or images
Thoughts about molesting your own or other children
Thoughts about being or becoming attracted to the same sex.
Thoughts or images of violent sexual behavior toward others.

"Miscellaneous Obsessions"...
Urge to know or remember certain things
Fear of saying something wrong
Worrying about making mistakes
Fear of using certain colours for superstitious reasons
Excessive superstitious fears with rigid adherence to them
Excessive concern with lucky and unlucky numbers"

Oh –and just because you get obsessive thoughts you do not automatically have Obsessive compulsive disorder either. So don’t let that get to you

Anyone relate to these ?




Meg

'There can only be true courage when first there is genuine fear'

Dr.David Livingstone

[stimpy]

Oh yes, Meg

I am definatly Miscellaneous Obsessions.

Fear of saying something wrong
Worrying about making mistakes
Fear of using certain colours for superstitious reasons
Doing something embarrassing or looking foolish - Embarrassing and Foolish are my middle names.

Green - Someone once told me green was an unlucky colour, and I thought that explains everything!
I wonder if I should change my surname?





Love, light and Best wishes
Liz xxx
With hard work and determination and all the things you know.
The world is there for you to take. There's nowhere you can't go.


[:p]Scatty Eccentric & 'Poet Laureate to panic and anxiety'

[Laurie28]

Fraid so meg!!!

When i 'peaked' the thoughts were v. hard to deal with. Thankfully I no longer dwell on them (although they must still come but I try and 'dismiss' them as 'normal'people do!!)

Agree with you about the OCD thing as well. I was just dwelling too much on them therefore they got more frequent and I would get more upset - vicious circle! - Just the anxiety I suppose

Thanks Meg
Lucky

[april tones]

thats a good piece, i have thoughts which are 'saying bad things in head'. What does that come under? i too thought it was ocd untill i come on here. Does any one else have same thoughts as me? I also do things as i think if i dont, something bad might happen, like check sons window is locked several times. If i dont check again i worry it will be unlocked and someone break in. That might be normal so to speak, i dont know. Love april x

apriltones

[Meg]

Its normal when we're anxious to check up on ourselves more than usual, but if you start having to do it a certain amount of times or really out of perpective ritual then thats when to speak to someone about .
it.




Meg

'There can only be true courage when first there is genuine fear'

Dr.David Livingstone

[sweetwater]

Hi Meg and everyone,
The topic of obsessiveness interests me, as I've definitely got that in me...I've always had an addictive personality and abused vices (alcohol, drugs)...and you talk about religious, sexual, ritualistic obsessions (ie. compulsively washing your hands is a well known one)...but Meg I wonder what it means when it crosses over to a person? It is very hard I imagine to differetiate b/w love and being addicted/obsessed with someone, and people generally think it is the same thing...is it "healthy" to absolutely live and breathe and wait forever for someone? it's like your whole identity is entwined with theirs...and if the other person feels the same way - where do you go from there? do you both drown each other? do you both find heaven together? I know I'm asking some pretty specific q.s that Meg you probably won't be able to help me with, but I was just wondering whether you think these kind of addicitive relationships are healthy...hope you are all well. thanks. xx.

[Meg]

Dear Swee****er ,

My initial response would be that it is healthiest if we strive to be safe, happy and contented as an individual first and then add in any links with others as in our world anyday something could happen between the two of you and you part, or a tragic accident may occur.

If your life is dependant on someone else you will find it so much more difficult to cope and move forward.

This is why there are lots of recommendations for everyone to have individual hobbies and friends as well as being a great mother and wife and worker etc. There are papers that report those who do have many facets to their lives do beter in face of adversity than those who have dedicated their lives to being Mum or wife or workaholic.

Strong relationships where you grow together are what we would all hope for too.




Meg

'There can only be true courage when first there is genuine fear'

Dr.David Livingstone

[sweetwater]

Thanks Meg. Sending good wishes to all.

[Meg]

Thought I'd revive this thread as we've several new people recently and see if anyone has anything to add.

Whilst some of us get obsessive thoughts about situations and tangible things like knives, others may get obsessive thoughts about people as swee****er mentioned above and its is equally difficult to rid yourself of them.
It can take many months to take what might seem to people without that particular thougt or fear a very simple step forwards .

This is true both of thoughts and of behaviour patterns but there is no excuse for not documenting and contracting with yourself what steps you can and will take to address your own personal issues.


These thoughts and associated behaviour patterns can be applied to most phobic groups , the OCD group, the social phobic group , the driving fearing group, the vomit fearing group etc



Meg

It is impossible to get out of a problem by using the same kind of thinking that it took to get into it.
- Albert Einstein.

[Lottie32]

FOOD - When I was bad, my IBS was bad. I could only eat chicken, fish, potatoes, brocolli, carrots and peas.

No spices, herbs, fried food, onions, garlic, curry, italian, mexican, baked beans, eggs etc. etc. If I had to eat any "bad" things, I became convinced I was about to become instantly "ill".

Now I'm "better", I eat what I fancy, when I like, and actually feel much better for it!!! At the time though, this seemed so logical and vital to my well being!

Charlie

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

[Karen]

I'm afraid I do too Meg. I have quite a lot of obsessional thoughts, some from your list:
Harming yourself
Doing something embarrassing or looking foolish
Fear of saying something wrong
Worrying about making mistakes

But I think the main obsession I have is about other people, as you mentioned. I become obsessed with someone and think that person is my whole life. I think about that person all day every day and dream about them at night. I know I am obsessed.

Briary

[jo-jo]

Oh yes, can clearly relate to point 1, 2 and 3 on miscellaneous obsessions....

Stimpy, my friend has this thing about green cars and I've even heard that green front doors are meant to be unlucky [:P] For me, my fav ever car was green and my fav ever house had a green front door so I don't believe it at all - your surname is just great :D

Cheers Meg for this thread.

Love Jo xxx

[jo-jo]

Briary hon, I've just read the end of your last post and I can relate to that too. I'm married now and am relatively 'normal' but in past relationships, especially ones that have started going wrong, I've been totally and utterly obsessive and my life has totally revolved around that person to the detriment of other areas of my life.

Love Jo xxx

[Karen]

Thanks Jo. Glad to know I'm not the only one to struggle with this.

Briary

[sal]

Hi Meg

Just printed that out. Great post and helps me to see i am normal but have problems that need solving.

Suppose you do get into a rut where no one around you understands so you start to believe you are a bad person.

Should have known you would have brought me down to earth and helped me.

Thank you Meg, just read that post when i needed it.



Love Sal xxxxx

[u0000998]

what about obsessing about the state you are in or obsessing over the feelings themselves or even obsessing over not being in control of your mind and emotions?

[Sue]

Interesting read and certainly some relevance to myself.

Green cars- I have always been told they are unlucky, certainly wouldnt own one and dont much like them being any where near me when driving. I wonder where this comes from? Is it because they blend in with fields and trees and are harder to see?!

Obsessed that I will say something wrong or make a mistake. I also find that if I do say something wrong(or think I have) I will worry continually until I see this person again and know that I havent upset them.

I would also say to a certain extent superstitious fears, wouldnt walk under ladder, must salute magpie etc and would worry excessively if didnt .

[Ian]

Hi Everyone,

Sorry U000098 I don't know your name, but I can relate to what you're saying.

I just think about anxiety and my mental health all the time. I find it hard at the moment to get through a day without looking at a website (fortunately only this one at the moment!), I can't pass a bookshop without looking at books about anxiety and depression, I look for people who might have A&D so that I can talk about it with them.

I guess that maybe I'm either looking for re assurance (which doesn't exist) or that I get some sort of adrenaline buzz from scaring myself - not sure which.

I'm sure this is a normal reaction to anxiety, but at my worst I worry that this is OCD - just something else to worry about I suppose.

It does go away when I feel better, ut never completely. I stop looking at web sites and visiting bookshops, but still find it easy to talk about A & D.

Any thoughts??

Ian

[u0000998]

ian

Most of my sysmptoms sre exactly the same as yours. I e-mailed you the other day - did you get the message?

Jo

[Marc]

For me the "Miscellaneous Obsessions"... have always been a big problem,

Fear of saying something wrong
Worrying about making mistakes
Worrying about what other people think of me, or WILL think of me if I do 'X' , or don't do it !!
Fear of looking stupid/lazy/insignificant etc

Then there's the "Sexual Obsessions"
Feeling desperately frustrated, but also a desperate need just to feel a warm and passionate body close to mine.....

Whoops... started myself off again now....

----------

But then there's the big problem that seems to get worse recently, which is
obsessing about other people,
Why are they so 'stupid/greedy/arrogant/unpleasant'
Why do they not seem to have any feeling for anyone except themselves
Why do they make my life so difficult just to further their own ends....

Then that leads on to - am I any different? - shouldn't I try to show them a better way to act....
But I do, and that's why I'm annoyed that they take no notice and just use me .... right back to square one ... the visious circle.

What is it with the human brain???

[sal]

Hi Marc

So common how you are feeling so dont feel you are alone, Meg put it into simple english that we can all understand and relate to.

Maybe scarey but how many of us have felt like that.



Love Sal xxxxx