OCD researching to relieve other anxiety

[ananke]

Submitting to one anxious coping mechanism to quieten another is a bit like pouring petrol on one fire to make sure it's bigger than another fire, but it's also kind of working. As part of having agoraphobia I really struggle being home alone, so I'm making myself feel better via google and obsessive researching about agoraphobia. I don't quite understand why this works. Is it a preparedness thing? Do I just really like research? 

Please let me know if I am not the only one using OCD as a comfort blanket for more anxiety

[echolocation]

ohohoho i do this ALL THE TIME! i used to have quite bad anxiety about accidentally killing my bearded dragon, and i self-soothed by reading endless articles about beardie care and different setups and food and all that. it makes me feel like i understand more about what i'm worrying about, therefore making it... easier to handle? i'm not sure.

i go down obsessive rabbit holes pretty regularly, more when i have more on my plate. sometimes they're not related to what i'm anxious about, sometimes they are. it's like setting up a red herring for my obsessiveness. it's less stressful to be fixated on the lore behind Donnie Darko than whether or not tomorrow is going to go well.

[dancesintherain]

sign me up also.  health and mental health topics are the predominant ones

[Complicated toad]

This is very familiar to me.  I have spent the last month and a half obsessively researching different cancers.  I went to a doctor last month who confirmed I am perfectly healthy, yet I just spent another hour researching rare lung cancer symptoms that they might have missed (I wasted a bunch of work time today doing it too) because I still can't get rid of the obsession.  

[ananke]

Ah it's so frustrating! OCD is a special cruelty- with every other anxiety disorder the best you can hope for is avoidance, but OCD actually makes you feel better and gives you a reason to keep spinning around in the same coping mechanisms. On one hand, I've gathered up a lot of good MH resources, on the other, I could have completed another Bachelors in the amount of time I've spent researching!

[Catwoman]

I can relate....on one hand I'm a mild hypochondriac, on the other hand I'm obsessed with finding something to help with my intrusive thought, so I used to spend hours on forums, reddit and google to find information on supplements which might help, different medications, etc. When I found something promising it was really comforting me. But that feeling doesn't last long, so then I started looking up more reviews and more information. When it's bad I feel jittery and need to feel the relief. So it's kind of compulsive but it's also interesting and sometimes even useful.

[CrazyRedhead]

8 hours ago, ananke said:

Ah it's so frustrating! OCD is a special cruelty

Yes, it is,  a very horrible, cruel thing that takes up much of my waking hours......In a desperate search for something that could help, I came across this:    https://iocdf.org/about-ocd/ocd-treatment/brain-surgery-for-ocd/

Yes, they can do brain surgery for people with severe OCD, although it does carry risks, and is considered a last-resort treatment.

I seriously doubt that any insurances would cover it, though.....At least, not yet.

Edited February 15, 2019 by CrazyRedhead

[Complicated toad]

Agreed with the cruelty description.  The other mental illness problems i have are episodic, there are times outside of episodes where the symptoms become less.  OCD is there all day every day, the obsessive thoughts change but they never stop.

[ananke]

Mine is so mundane now that my tdoc calls it 'wallpaper'- you know it's there but you never think to notice something so everyday. I can just about cope with OCD stuff that relates to me, but it pisses me off when it drags other people into it. That's a perfectly normal woman crossing the street, brain- you don't need to make me imagine her getting run over. 

My obsessive spiralling anthem: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGNiXGX2nLU