I need help with odd OCD obsession

[miss_jade]

Hello everyone,

I've had OCD since I was twelve, and have had many obsessions in the past, religious (afraid being possessed by demons), harm (afraid of secretly wanting to murder people), existential (afraid I was in a dream/lucid dreaming) and many others but this one has been the hardest on me for some reason, and the first time it's ever escalated to panic.

Basically a few months back I had a bad experience with pain medication in which I experienced physical and emotional withdrawal symptoms when I ran out and didn't go back to the GP to renew my prescription like I should have. During that experience, I was finding it difficult to divert my attention away from the experiences in my body, my thoughts and feelings and, very oddly, perceiving time moving slowly.

My obsession is this, I'm afraid of noticing or being aware of time moving slowly.

I'm afraid it will never go away and be 'stuck' in my head and I won't be able to focus on anything else. I don't want this thought in my head because I believe it will cause extreme boredom and anxiety that will be present as long as its in my head interfering with the quality of my life. It's basically an obsession about the thought/awareness of time moving slowly causing emotions that I don't want to be there, I just want it gone so I can focus and be at peace again. It's constant and I'm so tired.

I have been seeing a therapist which is helping, but its hard because it's so long between sessions.

[miss_jade]

Are my beliefs thought-action fusion, thought-event fusion, some other distortion entirely? I just need some help because I need to focus, I need to get my life together again.

Thank you

[Betternow]

Hi miss_jade

I'm afraid I’m not qualified to give you an answer about your distortions. I just wanted to reassure you that the anxiety that is fuelling your OCD, will wax and wane over the course of your life. So I doubt that you will be stuck with your time distortion feeling for long.

You say you are seeing a therapist. Have you tried seeking help in a specialised anxiety unit that have experienced OCD Specialists? Are you taking medication to help you cope with your OCD? Have you spoken to your GP about a special referral?

As an aside, time of course is relative to speed and gravity. Your perception that it is moving slowly is not uncommon. People often sense that time is moving at different speeds throughout our lives. You often hear people say, “my holiday just flew by so fast” or “ the days just dragged when I had that boring job”. I’m not suggesting that your intrusive thoughts are not upsetting for you, but I’m just trying to offer you another perspective.

[Sophie_M]

A note to ensure all comers are aware that this thread began life over here as Irrational fears after trauma, which is now closed.

As part of our community rules we ask members to keep to one thread for support if the issues are substantially the same. It makes it really difficult for the community to provide support if they don't have the full story because it is scattered across several very similar threads.

Usually we would remove the newer thread in favour of keeping everything together under the older one, but we made an exception in this case.