OCD: "The 30-Second Pause" + "I will worry about you later!"

I am pleased to say that the anxiety is getting easier to handle. Thank You, Lord. But my body seems to be feeling ill and I need some rest and recuperation.

Anyway, I have come up with a new technique to stop thoughts turning into obsessions which I like to call "30 Second Pause". In Psychology 101, we learned that it takes about 30 seconds to move information from our short term memories into our long term memories. So when a thought occurs to me, I try to think about something else as soon as I have the thought. Sometimes I even simply count from 1-30 with full concentration. Sometimes, counting in another language helps concentrate better. I try to keep myself thinking about something else for 30 seconds at least. And usually, this works for me. Even if the thought recurs, it is not as obsessive and I don't dwell on it for days. And when the thought recurs, distract yourself again for at least 30 seconds. It prevents the thoughts from shifting into your long term memory so it makes it rather easier to forget. Think about it this way - when you're studying for an exam, you keep repeating the information until you memorize it. And you can often remember this for months and years. That's what I think happens with obsessive thoughts - thinking about it constantly just leads to thinking about it more and then it stores itself in our long term memory so even weeks and months (sometimes years) later I still remember things that caused me stress and anxiety. If it's hard for you to distract yourself for long, then try with 10 seconds first and then gradually work your way up. Obviously the longer the better!

Another neat technique is telling yourself that you will worry about it later. This really helps! Because it's like, I'm not denying myself from thinking about it. There is a problem, and I am only trying to solve it by working it out in my head. So if I tell myself to stop thinking about it, the problem is going to nag me even more saying, "Solve me! Solve me!" So I just say, "Yes yes I will get it you but in a while!" So you keep delaying the thoughts, saying you will worry about it later. Again, it's like studying for an exam. If you say, "I'm not going to study," you will end up stressing out even more because how can you afford to not study for an exam? But if you say, "I will study in an hour," it makes you feel in control and like you've got a plan. And OCD is pretty much about control issues isn't it? So at first, tell yourself you will worry about it 10 minutes later, and then gradually increase the delay. It's sort of like procrastinating about worrying. When the thoughts come back, again say you will worry about it later. Soon you will forget about it!

The thoughts will definitely keep recurring so keep using these tricks to push them out whenever you have the thoughts. Both of these tricks have proven to be very useful for me. It takes practice of course and some times it's harder than usual, but perseverence is key!