Do people with OCD think bad things will happen if they don't do their compulsions?
It depends on what you mean by “think”, and it’s a very subtle distinction.Do I actually, really, truly, rationally believe these bad things are going to happen? No.I’m perfectly aware, whilst engaging in a compulsive activity, just how irrational it is.However, the desire to do the compulsion and the fear behind it are so overwhelming that rational thought has no way in.One of the obsessions/compulsions I used to struggle with was the obsessive thought that I would make other people ill and the compulsive behaviour to wash my hands. It really truely did feel like if I didn’t wash my hands a 3rd time, then my hands were so unclean with some deadly germs that I would make my family ill as soon as I touch them.The distinction here between “thinking” and “feeling” is difficult to illustrate. Here’s a non-OCD based example, that might help: You know those glass floors you sometimes see in really high up places, like a skyscraper or over a precipice (I think there’s one out over a portion of the Grand Canyon)? The ones that really freak people out when they walk over them, because you can see hundreds of meters straight down the to unwelcoming ground below? It’s a bit like that. You know the floor is safe. You know the engineers have it all figured out. You know you’re not about to plummet hundereds of meters to your death. But your brain still freaks out and says get me out of here now! Danger!OCD is like having that Danger! alarm severely malfunctioning and going off at completely innocuous triggers. Rationally, you know that the alarm has been triggered in error, but it’s almost impossible to just ignore it.In fact, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), which is often used to treat OCD, focuses on how to gradually learn to turn down the volume on those false alarms. And speaking from experience, it takes an immense about of time, practice, patience and repeated failure in order to teach your brain how to do it.
I believe that my sister has sociopathic tenancies?
Eh, sounds like you're about right. I'm a sociopath. However, regardless if she is or not, you can't do anything about it. But she definitely sounds like one. And sociopathic tendencies show the most in teenage years, actually...
How to work on negative irrational thinking/cognitive distortions?
From what I have read cognitive distortions are exaggerated irrational thoughts..stuff like "all or nothing thinking", "jumping to conclusions", and etc. I'm almost in my mid 20's. I'm currently seeing a therapist. I have been diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, and depression. We've discovered that these types of cognitive distortions hold me back. I always assume and believe the worst. It's literally second nature to me because I've dealt with moderate to severe anxiety since I was child. My therapist asked me to start to come up with small steps to get my mind out of that cycle of negative thinking, but I'm completely stuck. It seems so foreign to me, because it's almost comfortable for me to think this way and feel anxiety. Has anyone had a similar experience and dealt with these types of thoughts? Do you have any suggestions on how to begin to get my mind out of thinking this way? Thank you!
Why does infatuation make people do crazy things?
Infatuation may make people do crazy things because infatuation can be dazzling, and may even give rise to wild reveries in the mind, thus sort of irrationally affecting the outer behavior of the infatuated, because infatuation may even make us forget our own moral and logical bridles together with what normally would be called good style. Infatuation directly clings to one's own soul's wild instinctive urges, therefore infatuation may make the infatuated sort of foolishly disconnect from prudence or from the proper conventions of life. Therefore we can say that infatuation may make people do crazy things, foolish things.
Does anyone else get intrusive thoughts?
i get horrendous intrusive thoughts about my worst nightmares (children, babies, family, boyfriends family, grandparents etc.) most of them are sexual but lately they have turned sexually violent or just plain violent. its horrific. i didn't know my mind could be this sick. i try to be a very morally and ethically pure person, but i find that my intrusive thoughts (which are most definitely unwanted and very distressing) cause me a great amount of grief and guilt. the ocd plays on my worst fears, the things i dont want to think about or carry out or see ever in my life, and in turn it makes my life hell because i do think them and see them and it causes me a great amount of pain. after trawling many ocd forums, websites etc. it says that you need to let the thoughts in. but when they are as distressing, disgusting and sickening as mine, how am i to let them in? they are morally and ethically wrong in every way, my worst nightmares and im scared the fact i keep getting these intrusive thoughts means i am a sick person and should be in a mental hospital and that they are significant in some way. how can i cure myself? i used to be like everyone else and get weird and disturbing thoughts sometimes but paid no attention to them and as soon as they had arrived they had vanished again. now, i sit there terrified of my own mind. when i get a thought it plays over and over and a lot of the time will get more distressing. my method right now is just trying to block it out because letting it in makes me feel so guilty. does anyone have any advice for me? also, should i feel guilty? obviously i never want to see, think or carry out these acts of course but it makes me feel so guilty because of the people and things involved. my dad, children, my boyfriends grandfather and even my boyfriend (with my boyfriend they are usually violent thoughts or ones that i dont love him) i honestly dont want these thoughts but they have such a hold over me and make me feel so guilty, please help!!
Is the cause of depression spiritual, emotional or physical?
"Deficiencies in neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, noradrenaline, and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) are often associated with depression. As reported in several studies, the amino acids tryptophan, tyrosine, phenylalanine, and methionine are often helpful in treating many mood disorders including depression. Recent evidence shows a link between low levels of serotonin and suicide. Low levels of serotonin can lead to an overall insensitivity to future consequences, triggering risky, impulsive and aggressive behaviors which may culminate in suicide, the ultimate act of inwardly directed impulsive aggression. The most common nutritional deficiencies seen in patients with mental disorders are of omega–3 fatty acids, B vitamins, minerals and amino acids that are precursors to neurotransmitters." Humans release stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline when faced with stress, danger or threats. These hormones give a burst of energy required for "fight or flight" but also cause nasty side effects: feeling bad, anxious and having lots of negative thoughts. The long-term activation of the stress-response system — and the subsequent overexposure to cortisol and other stress hormones — can disrupt almost all your body's processes. In the long term these hormones cause neuron death in the brain - which leads to depression. " Dr. Daniel G Amen has found through SPECT studies that problems in the basal ganglia (anxiety, panic, fearfulness), cingulate (obsessive compulsive disorders), prefrontal cortex (attention deficit and learning disorders), limbic system (negativity), temporal lobes (temper, aggressiveness, mood disorders) cause various conditions. These dysfunctions can be due to genetics or developmental reasons and it is necessary to optimize brain function. Whereas, spirituality says that depression is a cause of ignoring or not addressing our feelings and emotions, of being cut-off from the self, from the inner light or our connection to the universal light.