sick of this

[bethw112]

its been nearly 3 months since the idea of solipsism started bothering me (again) and i am honestly at the end of my tether. i literally cannot stop thinking about it! every minute my brain is going is this real? can i trust my senses? am i dreaming? is everyone else concious? am i alone?

at times i can calm myself down. ive found quite a few really good distractions but there are also times when nothing works and i feel really miserable, and like im going to be this way forever. the sense of disconnection and loneliness had even lead me to self harm a few times ( which is really bad i know).

ive been to a few sessions with a counsellor but it doesnt seem to be doing much for me. my parents had me evaluated at camhs considering how weird ive been acting, but i havent heard back yet.

the worst part is i dont have any kind of diagnosis (yet) and im starting to think that the whole solipsism thing is perfectly rational and i should doubt the existence of the external world, that theres nothing really wrong with me. but i want it to be real so badly and i know a lot of people have said that people worrying about solipsism should just accept it as a possibility but i really cant do that. the idea is just too horrific.

anyway i guess i would just appreciate any input. ive read just about every shred of information i can on the subject (multiple times) so i dont know if anyone will have any arguments i havent already thought about, but either way if anyone could shine some new light on the issue that would be great

i hope you are all doing ok

[viking111]

I have something similar, I could say. I also feel hopeless and terrible.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I guess they mean that you can accept all things as a possibility because they will never be proven eitherway, for instance accepting that god exists or doesn't. The trouble with this view is that it can mean you entertain the possibility of your solipsism being correct and with the context of an anxiety disorder, this is a reinforcement because you are agreeing with the obsession - this can result in compulsions.

I think whether that is a good way to tackle this needs to come from someone qualified to do so because anyone else could lead you into a more damaging way to handle this by doing this. I can't say I agree with it.

It would be better to be accepting of the your thoughts, that they are just thoughts and that they do not reflect anything correct or incorrect. Be non judgemental, as in Mindfulness, and do not react as reaction is a reinforcement. Your subconscious will look for the reaction, especially emotional ones, the stronger the better and use them to reinforce your anxiety disorder.

Mindfulness can also help in other ways because some of the forms e.g. eating, object handling, etc will be teaching you to focus using your different senses to create a rich experience. I can see someone with solipsism not having this and re-engaging with reality this way could help to move beyond it.

[OCDme]

Mindfulness can also help in other ways because some of the forms e.g. eating, object handling, etc will be teaching you to focus using your different senses to create a rich experience. I can see someone with solipsism not having this and re-engaging with reality this way could help to move beyond it.

Doesn't solipsism come from doubts about what's beyond our 'five senses'? When you're dreaming or in a full-immersion simulation, what your five senses observe would feel as real as it gets. What your suggested is basically 'get closer to your 5 senses and just completely trust your 5 senses'. so I'm not entirely sure how that could help..

[MyNameIsTerry]

Doesn't solipsism come from doubts about what's beyond our 'five senses'? When you're dreaming or in a full-immersion simulation, what your five senses observe would feel as real as it gets. What your suggested is basically 'get closer to your 5 senses and just completely trust your 5 senses'. so I'm not entirely sure how that could help..

It's not about completely trusting your senses. With anxiety we tend not to focus properly on what a non anxious person may hence this helps to learn to focus properly.

Perhaps it seem counter productive? But then so does focussing on your breathing when you have anxiety that includes too much focus on breathing. But you find the focus on breathing is about not observing breathing but either trying to take control over it or worrying it's not right.

I don't know about the "5 senses" in solipsism but given we have CBT. Mindfulness, other acceptance-based techniques, all of which are used to treat the underlying issues, which are not about solipsism, then there must be some use in them?

But solipsism isn't even the problem, it's the underlying behaviours of the OCD that are the problem. Whilst you can tailor treatment towards a theme, you may miss the foundations of the OCD.