OCD & Are You Settling For Numbness?

An OCD "attack"can become so distressing that a person would prefer to feel nothing instead of the unrelenting disturbing feelings of anxiety, depression, and panic that obsessions can cause. It's awful! For some people it's not even OCD - it can be an event, or a change in life circumstance which triggers very negative emotions. If you are at the point where numbness is preferable to what you are feeling, it is time to do something about it. Even just understanding this is helpful, because you need to realize that you are in a chronic state of pain and you don’t have to live this way. Don’t settle for numbness, even if it seems as if is an improvement. Your goal should be happiness, which is the absence of pain.

First thing, if possible, is to do something physical so that you can drain energy, which will lessen the physical effects of anxiety. I know that some people can become frozen and unable to move when in the grips of fear, but if you can work out, take a walk, run up and down the steps - do anything you can in order to tire yourself out.

When you get to the point where you can think rationally, entertain the idea that you do not have to live this way any longer and that your current state of mind or obsession is only temporary. You will look back on this episode one day in the future and it will be over. "All things must pass," as George Harrison once wisely said.

You are entitled to a life of happiness, and you can eventually live with joy as your normal state of being. This may sound like an unobtainable and ridiculous goal because of your current state of intense anxiety, fear, and depression, but it isn't. If you can just contemplate and nurture the idea that you can feel happiness, that will be one step towards achieving it. Believing is not always easy though, it takes practice. If you can get a picture of yourself at one point in the future being happy, perhaps doing something you have always wanted to do, that is a good start. Concentrate on this image and bring it to mind often. You can change it, add to it, whatever works for you. If you do this often, it will not seem so foreign and will eventually get into your subconscious.

I wish you happiness always.