Hi Trudy, the only thing that I know of to instantly lessen OCD are certain medications such as Zoloft, Paxil... those kinds of SSRIs. When I took Zoloft, I noticed I hardly had any OCD about anything anymore.

Another way is through therapy.

Sorry you are going through this. I know it can be tough.

I take Buspar Lexapro and colozapam and therapy weekly

When I get intrusive thoughts I “shhh” them. It helps. You could use a distraction technique like the five senses. I count the Spanish alphabet. Five words for each letter. You cousin do that in English as well.
Anxiety sucks.

Writing out the intrusive thoughts and/or sharing them within my therapy support network --like you just did with this post-- helps me considerable. Did this post help you any.

Sharing about what doesn't work for me often helps, as well. What have you tried so far?

in my counselling sessions we tried challenge those thoughts by giving it a name in order to distinguish the bad intrusive thoughts. By doing so we can try to create space for more compassion, patience and kindness.
honestly its not an easy thing to do, particularly if we are use to them, my intrusive thoughts are very loud but after awhile it does help.
Perhaps in one of your therapy sessions ask them about this technique, if your curious, no harm in trying!! but dont kick yourself if it doesnt work, it didnt for me but it was nice having it in my toolbox. hope that helps!

Our thoughts are powerful as well as our tongue, don't place too much in the thought but remind yourself this isn't real and move forward in another thought, just because you think it doesn't mean it's going to happen, I've been thinking about a friend and my having to speak at his funeral I had this dream for over a week so I told him about the dream and when I realized I was having the dream because he been making some very careless decisions I was able to release them.. obviously you tell your children but you can tell yourself it's your responsibility to protect them and perhaps you're feeling as if you have no power at this point.. pray with intention..

Ty for the advice ironically I just started Journaling a few wks ago for the 1st. time various therapist and Dr's. Have suggested it for years but I never ga e it much thought. So i decided to give it a go. I have a pretty colorful hard back journal for the good days and good stuff. I also have a big ole spiral notebook for my ugly bad day entries

I believe I've been having intrusive thoughts since I was little. What I can remember they've always been a problem for me.

When I was younger I used to do this thing in my head where I'd imagine those thoughts like on a table or something. Then I'd swipe them away as if I was dusting crumbs off the table and be left with a blank white screen.

Or I would do a thing where I locked them up behind a bunch of doors I'd just imagine myself putting a bunch of obstacles in front of the doors so it's impossible for them to get back in.

This is probably not good advice at all but sometimes I still do it and it is occasionally helpful. Usually only on the smaller less scary thoughts though.

Now that I'm older I feel less logical than my younger self. I used to be able to brush them off and be like "well that won't happen". Now not so much.

Hm-m-m-m. . . I swear by journaling for channeling my own intrusive thoughts and have tried breaking them into subjects (career, family, dreams, etc.) but never considered the possibility of attempting separate "Good" and "Bad" journals. Chew chew. . . The first chew is drawing rhetoric from the psychotherapy puppet show in my head about not judging my feelings. Those psychotherapy puppets always have an opine about EVERYTHING! ! !

That very same puppet show also encourages me to allow creativity in my journaling. The important element is to use the power of writing to channel and organize my intrusive, chaotic thoughts.

Another technique I've used to channel my thought loops which just keep running loops in my head is to translate them into a foreign language. At worst, it turns the loops into beneficial practice. At best it helps me recognize particular thoughts as irrational and drop them.

Is it a good thing that I can now obsess in 3 languages?

One of the things I continue to learn when people share their journal writing is that perspective is based on individual experience.

I have seen where a person has the two journals, and it works for them - and it's also a way to provide a switch for the thoughts that need a different direction.

Intrusive thoughts push me into "doing" things to put the thoughts back into action.

Best wishes as you find what works to help you find your better balance.

Wow 3 languages never thought about that. Ok so did you already know tbose languages? Or you looked up the journal entry words and translated them? It sounds like a cool mindfulness exercise

I once heard someone say that bad thoughts should be thought of like birds. They may fly by but you don't have to let them nest. I think of that when I have a bad thought.

I like Mary's answer--I'm gonna try that instead of what I usually do--I'm able to just tell myself the shut the hell up.
i do it forcefully. and most of the time i get somewhat embarrassed and find something else to think about.

No, I translate directly from my thought loops. My intrusive thoughts tend to loop like slinkies and repeat themselves endlessly without allot of variation in the loops. I started that particular exercise while I was studying Spanish in college. The very first thought loop I translated thusly was, "How dare you?" I was in one of my politically correct phases and taking offense with just about everything and everybody.

?Como te atreves?
?Como se atreve?
?Como les atreven?
?Como nos atrevemos?

From there, the flourishes start coming naturally. I have since gained fluency in Spanish and even worked psychotherapy workshops in Spanish. When I realized I was too fluent for the exercise to work well in Spanish, I started translating to other languages. Mostly Portuguese and German, but I reserve the right to obsess in whatever language I damn well please. Whatever language I obsess in, I rarely make sense while I am obsessing, anyway. It's kinda neat to have a socially acceptable excuse for being hard to understand.

As much as anything else, I think the exercise simply channels the psycho tick into a quasi productive purpose.