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Track your obsessive thoughts. Track your interpretations of obsessive thoughts. Challenge your interpretations. Learn realistic thinking methods. Resist the urge to blame yourself.
In order to challenge some of the unhelpful interpretations you give to your obsessions, you have to know what they are first. The best way to do this is to start tracking two things: (1) your obsessions, and (2) the meanings or interpretations you have given to those obsessions. Use this form to help you record three obsessions (and your interpretations of them) per day for a week. Record the situation that brings on your obsessions and the obsessive thoughts you had in the specific situation. When did you first have this thought? What was happening when you first experienced it? Also, record all the emotions you had when the obsession happened. Rate the intensity of your emotions at the time of the obsession on a scale from 0 (no emotion) to 10 (as intense as you can imagine). Along with tracking thoughts, track your interpretations or the meanings you give to these thoughts. To figure out your interpretations (since this can be difficult) ask yourself the following questions: What is so upsetting about this obsession? What does this obsession say about me or my personality? What kind of person do I think I'd be if I didn't act on this obsession? What might happen if I don't act on this thought? Challenging these interpretations will help you see that, for many reasons, your knee-jerk thoughts are not realistic. Not only that, but your interpretations are not helpful in guiding you toward resolving the problems these thoughts pose. Ask yourself the following questions to prove yourself wrong: What evidence do I really have for and against this interpretation? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this type of thinking? Am I confusing a thought of my own with a fact? Are my interpretations of the situation accurate or realistic? Am I 100% sure that my thought will come true? Am I seeing a possibility as an absolute certainty? Are my predictions of what will happen based purely on my feelings? Would a friend agree that the scenario in my head is likely to happen? Is there a more rational way of looking at this situation? Unhelpful interpretations are usually caused by confused ways of thinking often seen with OCD sufferers. Examples of common thought traps include: Catastrophizing is when you are sure (without any evidence at all) that the worst-case scenario will come to pass. Challenge catastrophizing by telling yourself that the worst-case is very rarely what ends up happening. Filtering is the trap that causes you to only see the bad that happens and ignore, or filter out, the good. To counter filtering, ask yourself what parts of a situation you are failing to take into account, specifically the positive ones. Over-generalization is the exaggeration of one situation to all situations, like thinking that because you misspelled something you always make stupid mistakes. Avoid over-generalization by thinking about counter-evidence (moments when you were very clever or caught and improved an error). Black-and-white thinking means that situations are seen in extremes of either success or failure. For example, if you fail to wash your hands one time that they might have germs on them you are a bad, irresponsible person. Try shutting black-and-white thinking down by taking a serious looks at whether or not you have actually produced any bad effects and reminding yourself that this is not the time (nor is any time, really) to make an absolute judgment about your personality. You can find more of these traps here. OCD is a chronic condition, and having unpleasant or unwanted thoughts is not something within your control. Recognize that these thoughts are simply annoyances that do not have any effect outside of your own mind. Your thoughts are simply thoughts, and they don't have any bearing on who you are as a person.