Coming back to this video 4 months later to say that I’ve finally recovered! No more DPDR or existential OCD, I get to live my life again! So thankful to have gone through this because thanks to all of it I’m stronger now. Sending love to anyone currently struggling with this. I know firsthand how scary it feels, but you can absolutely go back to how you were before, just live your life holding hands with your fear and give it space to leave naturally. Thanks for reading this, you are strong enough to handle this.
@@tjkeegan470 I didn’t get this thought but I had similar ones a couple of months ago, like being stuck in a dream or a high trip or that I everything I was looking at was an ilusión. So very existencial . As soon as the anxiety started to get less severe the thoughts became only thoughts , and now u rarely think about it, and when I do I literally right away associated with just an anxiety thought that once went trough my head. So it does go away but it takes time , you need to get rid of the anxiety as a whole , for the thoughts to go away .
Thanks you so so much for your comment! This really gives me hope... I am really struggling with these thoughts. Can you please describe the top 3 things that helped you get over it? Thank you once again
I have read a lot in the forums about how much Existencial OCD is hard to get through, but that's not true. I have been there, with DP/DR 24/7, I had suicidal thoughts not knowing where tf I am, why I'm here, I once passed out because of my overwhelming fears. After 3 months of Therapy, I can say that I am almost 95% cured, and will tell you what, they key is actually ACCEPTANCE, rather than exposure. If you keep exposing yourself to the idea that nothing might be real and we're all gonna die, this is gonna creep out almost everyone, even normal people who don't have OCD. But when you learn to accept, that ok, we're gonna die, and just continue what you are doing: work, gaming, whatever.. things will get more real, and you will no longer feel overwhelmed by it. NGL, without my antidepressants I wouldn't have reached to this point, they have been a major contributor in this journey, they actually stop panick attacks and helps in being more acceptable, and with time, things will get more normal. You will get through this, just like I did. Peace and love my friends
This is a great comment! I feel like I am stuck in this. I also have Suicide ocd which makes it even harder. I try to accept everything as most people told me. But it seems pretty hard in the beginning like the anxiety gets even worse. Was it the same for you when starting the process of recovery? I have constant thoughts of “what’s the meaning of life, we’re all going to die and forget about everything so what’s the point anyway?” And this makes me feel depressed and doomed 🥺
Thank you for this comment. I’m currently struggling with the nature of reality and if all this is real, and while my logical brain knows I’ll never quite know, the thought still keeps me up at night, or when I’m out. This gave me hope, so thanks again.
@@Havana428 I believe aerobic exercise is an important part of getting better. It plays a key role in changing your brain. Stay strong and keep fighting. Things will get better without doubt
@@Havana428 I have the same thoughts. Somehow it feels comforting knowing that someone else understands and has those same thoughts. I am beginning to meditate, aiming to do this daily. It helps ground me and shows me who I really am, detaching 'my' thoughts from my actual self. I am the observer of my thoughts. Likewise, you are not your thoughts; simply the observer. Love
Damn. Never seen a video on this before. Sounds similar to what I’ve been going through the last few years. I’ve always had these questions, but it’s only been the last few years that they’ve been so frequent and accompanied with anxiety/panic attacks. Finally decided to see a Psychiatrist. Fingers crossed. Thanks for speaking about it though.
Hello everyone, I just wanted to share something: I've been dealing with existential anxiety and OCD my whole life (As long as I can remember), and I want to let everyone know that even though these fears and triggers are things that can be hard to reassure, they are just as weak as all other OCD thoughts. They can be defeated, make sure to say this out loud, they are things that can be defeated. My suggestion is going onto youtube as a start and just look at thumbnails of videos that make you anxious, which is what I have been doing, and it's so rewarding once your done. My suggestion is you play music to hype yourself up while you do it, and make it feel like you're winning, because you are. Imagine it as a boxing match lol. Good luck everyone, remember that OCD can be defeated.
I’ve found that answering my ocd thoughts with something logical helps. If I ever get the thought of “what’s the meaning of life” I tell myself “there is none but that’s doesn’t matter. Life’s only meaning is the meaning you give it.”
@@ocdandanxiety while I think most what you said is accurate I felt it came off in an offensive tone. I’m not sure why you had to elongate every word with an exaggerated tone. It felt kind of belittling.
@@Maniac45864 I think it’s just his style. Plus I know from my OCD I perpetually feel like a child trying to get control, he’s talking to the OCD often.
This came to me all of a sudden during COVID and was quite exhausting - I’ve now let those ‘noises’ (thoughts) just pass by with a shrug of the shoulders and allowed my focus to switch to quite frankly much more interesting topics. It takes practice and persistence and it takes time to learn to not react to a thought - now there is no difference between thinking ‘isn’t existence bizarre and isn’t that really scary’ to ‘what do I want for lunch today’ Enjoy your recovery
Really encourging. I suffered from it since i was a kid, and now i'm in my early twenties. But never thought of the possibility of ocd until recently. Now when i start to panic, i just try to calm myself by thinking that 'hey, it's just my brain being weird again. Move on.' I wish i could have therapy but my country is in a dangerous situation so i can't really go to a psychiatrist. Reading words from survivers really comfort me.
I'm so scared this wont ever stop and I won't ever believe in reality again. I feel paranoid that people don't actually recover from it in the way I hope.
Dont worry, I had the worst panic attacks of my life because of this, but now I can think about existential questions literally for as long as I want without feeling any anxiety. Trust me, if you don't let your ocd make a big deal out of this, you will genuinely stop feeling like it's a big deal. Good luck with your recovery!
@@Megan-zp2rb Oh that exact thought was the scariest thing about my ocd, but now I see how it's something you REALLY don't have to worry about. I don't know how else to say this, but the part of you that thinks about existential things is NOT the same part of you that loves your loved ones. You have the side of you that wants to protect you from perceived danger, and the side of you that wants to live life, and one of them doesn't affect the other. You need to learn that the protective side of you is just a tool that you need to learn how to use effectively, and nothing more. You can be terrified for your life in a minute, and in the next minute be full of bliss while you're with your loved ones, and if your train your mind for that you can concentrate only in your current state whenever you want. I promise you will get better soon
@@Megan-zp2rb Yeah, but actually, the best way to fight this is to prevent reaction no matter what you feel. You feel anxious? It doesnt matter, dont react to the thought. You feel like the thoughts will never go away? It doesn't matter (because ocd always makes you feel that anyway), just keep trying not to react. You feel like this technique isn't working? Keep trying not to react. That's the key to cure ocd
I get questions like: “what is life?” “What is feelings?” “Do I really love my mom?” “Who am I?” How do I exist?” It gets so overwhelming that I just start crying. I’m scared of life itself! How you overcome this? It’s nuts
I have the questions. What is my brain. What i am. What am i seeing. And i get anxiety. Are These thoughts also normal exictentiel ocd? I feel like in the only one with this questions.
@@Rrrmmmmmsame here, but its actually fueled by anxious feelings, primarily caused by anxiety overall, because if your not anxious, these thoughts are not that scary, the anxious feelings makes the brain find for answers to calm down your anxious feelings. Just stop the loop as it is just caused by your anxious feelings, I manage my anxious feelings overtime and these existensial thoughts do not bother me anymore.
have a purpose and meaning in life so that in your death bed, your existence make sense because your existence CHANGED SOMETHING so in the last moment you''ll be like ""ahhh so that's the reason why I existed", justification of your existence is what you need to fill the void between your anxious questions and everything,
just wanted to express my gratitude, natan when I was struggling really bad I used to watch your videos. applyed all the tools,I was able to cut out my compulsions and now I love living,hardly get anxious. thank you❤ hope you keep saving lives
Comecei a ter esse tipo de OCD no primeiro ano de faculdade. Acho que por ser uma pessoa bem analista e o meu curso (Computação) desenvolveu ainda mais esse lado, cheguei a ter ataques de pânico e de ansiedade por causa dessas questões, minha vida saiu completamente dos trilhos, saí da faculdade, terminei com a minha namorada, não consigo comer direito, tenho vivido péssimamente nos últimos anos, o seu comentário me dá um pouco de esperança de que dias melhores virão. Que esses dias melhores venham logo para nós!
@@pedroduartedovale Com certeza meu amigo! Fiquei num estado extremo de ansiedade por anos. sinto muito pelo que você está passando agora,tem dois canais no TH-cam que me ajudaram demais q foi o Ocd Recovery e o Mark Freeman,recomendo muito. se vc quiser eu tenho uns livros mt bons em pdf. posso te enviar por email É necessário bastante esforço e dedicação mas é possível ter uma mente tranquila de novo.
@@beeberry8055 that wasn't one of my fears,but with ocd you need to deal with any fear the same way. It's about cutting compulsions and accepting that even if the worst scenario you could imagine happens,it's not the end of the world.
This channel makes me feel more safe with uncertainty, I've always felt that I have to have the right answer to everything or I won't be safe. Weirdly enough the statement 'I'll never know the meaning of life, that is awesome' made me feel extremely happy for some reason. Kinda cool 🤔
I've never been so proud of me in my entire life. I suffered a panic attack 2 months ago who gave me DPDR and an existencial OCD and after that EVRYTHING seem so meaningless. But, instantly I started to accept the syntoms and uncertain...that's why today I can say I'M FREE. Makes me want to cry because I proved myself that I'm SO STRONG
This month I’ve been dealing with health OCD. I took some antipsychotics and they really messed me up. Had my first panic attack and thought I was gonna die or dying. Now after going to the ER my OCD has jumped over to this. This video made me breath. Thank you
While I went through all this day and night 24/7 back in my 30s - after turning 40 I noticed that it didn't really bother me anymore. I accepted my mortality and came to peace with the idea that one day I'll die. It's actually helped motivate me to work and study harder than I ever did in my youth. Even hitting the gym harder and eating healthier foods. My life may not be super exciting but overall I"m doing all right.
me obsessively trying to figure out if my mental health disorders are diagnosed properly, "do i really have the symptoms i have"... "did i really experience what i experienced"... on and on and on!!! its so frustrating and stressful
I take the approach that existential thoughts and associated anxiety are the symptoms of a state of mood. Only when you are in a depressed and anxious state do you have access to these intrusive thoughts and fears. When you are healthy and enjoy your journey, you don’t even care about these questions. So I try to do all the physical things I can to get my body and brain well again. Fake it till you make it. Good sleep, diet, enough sunlight at the right time, vitamins, doing my job, some exercise, enough water. It works for me
Wow that is a great advice. I havent been strong or discplined enough to "fake it" but seems to be a good way to forget all this intrusive thoughts and get back to normality. How has it been for you?
Yes, obviously not the solution for everyone but this helped me a ton… certainly options like being outside, pushing yourself mentally and physically to accomplish fun and meaningful goals is worth trying if you feel stuck. But like this video said no one knows how you feel but you. I don’t know you better than you know you, and if you don’t know yourself, then no one knows you. Which gives you the power to be whoever you want. You are not beholden to be the same person you were 5 mins ago. Someone said that in something, and it resonated ❤️
@@beeberry8055 I haven’t had that thought before. I have felt like I was dreaming for a good solid month though a few times. I found out it was depersonalisation
I used to have this for a couple of years and it plagued me. The more you think about the deeper you go down the rabbit hole with no answers. I woke up one day with no fear or care of wether we live in a simulation/mass experient or or if the world is round or flat. As Long as my family is safe and I have peace in this life
I have been struggling with DDD (depersonalization and derealization disorder) for years and the obsessional part of the disorder is the hardest to deal with for me and probably what keeps it going. The feelings of unreality of my self makes me think about thinking itself/my thought processes because it seems very strange and unfamiliar. Everytime I tell myself ''it's just a thought'', then my mind asks ''but what is a thought, how weird is it that you can speak inside your head and see pictures within yourself, how weird is it that you are self-aware?''. Thinking seems meaningless and like I've just ''realized'' that I do it or like I've just ''acquired it'' (even though I know logically that I've been thinking my whole life). I don't feel like I need to find an answer to all this, it's more like a constant realization of my own existence that I can no longer be comfortable with, a hyperawaress of my self. I feel more like a need to know that I'm the same person and that my inner reality is the same as before (even though I know that DPDR can't change me and how my brain work) I feel trapped inside my head with thoughts that don't feel like mine. How do I let go when my main obsession is about the process of thinking itself, fueled by feelings of unreality and the intense anxiety it constantly gives me?
I know this so well. I had it many years ago for many many months and many setbacks, but it's crazy that you stay indeed the same person...it's really just intrusive thoughts and as you say hyper-awareness and thoughts about yourself that keep the loop going. Sometimes I now get flashbacks when I am super stressed and I think: wow, it's crazy, I remember it was so intense but now I barely remember why I was even so scared...keep going, it will all be back to normal :)
You need to stop caring about those thoughts thoughts are like airplanes that fly over your head you can choose to disregard them(takes practice )when you choose to engage those thoughts you basically tell the planes that your mind is an airport
I feel like I have a lot of overlap between existential and magical thinking OCD. My anxiety about my existential questions is SO BAD I’m convinced that even speaking about my worst ones (d*ath) might make it a reality.
I've had SO many themes when it comes to my OCD. I didn't know that this was one of them, and it explains why I have felt like I'm going crazy for the past few months! Good to know that it's just my OCD so that I can just add it to the list of things the stupid little OCD voice in the backseat of my brain car likes to annoy me with!
The obsession makes me feel like I’m being torn in two. There’s really no sense of enjoyment anymore because I feel like I can’t enjoy life without knowing for sure. I am constantly obsessing about the afterlife, specifically NDEs. While some people may find them comforting I am utterly confused by even minor inconsistencies between them. I really wish there was a cure or a way out of this.
I’m struggling with the exact same thing, NDEs. They freak me out to no end and I can spend hours upon hours watching/reading/thinking about them, just going over them in my mind trying to make sense of them (though now that I’ve been diagnosed with OCD I’m trying to resist). It’s such a relief to see someone else mention them by name since I’ve never seen anyone else mention them while talking about existential OCD. Best of luck to you!!
@@soph_8491 I’m feeling the same right now. Every time I wake up it feels like the feelings come back and the thoughts pressite. If you want a friend I’m here. God loves us.
@@soph_8491 I’m so sorry but yea I know what your going through. My first word of advice is you definitely have to stop watching them, they will only make things worse!!! I stopped watching about 2 months ago (yes I know the urge to watch can be really strong but once you sternly pull away for a while the temptation DOES die down). I am still struggling but since I stopped watching them they’ve faded a bit into the back drop and I’m able to focus on other things better. I’m also taking antidepressants which I think is helping somewhat. Still severely depressed though and numb no emotions. It sucks having this kind of OCD but let’s fight through this!
Im 25 and you just described my life since 16 , i never knew i was suffering from that, there isn't a single day that i dont spend about 8 hrs aday thinking about my existential existence, every time i figure a solution out i overthink it over and over again until at one point i realize it is no more working that solution and enter the loop again... Thank you, you don't realize how much helpful this video was 😭 it was a relief to know i have a condition and finally figured it out.
I was pretty obnoxious with this in high school, constantly asking classmates and teachers, "does truth exist?" I didn't know how to move forward with planning my life before I knew the meaning of life. Got diagnosed with depression and GAD back then and eventually ended up landing on absurdism as the closest thing I'd get to an answer. Diagnosed with OCD now, thanks to other themes. Finally realized that was probably OCD back then about this time last year when I was feeling a lot of distress over Poe's "Dream within a Dream."
Final year of school, Scrupulosity, religious ocd back then along with existential issues. Everyday I would be engaged in conversation with people at school and in general, people of various beliefs. I would be asking them non stop about what their views were on heaven and hell. About what they thought happens when we die. Expressing to them that I feared I would go to hell. Asking the religious ones how can I be sure that I am not secrectly a satanist. Asking how can we endure eternity. Asking about reincarnation. Asking how can we be sure that you are you and I am me.I feel you deeply.
I had a few things going on and was low key stressed, I had a panic attack, the first & only one i've ever had. I woke up the next day and felt detached and my mind was running a million miles per hour. I thought I was on the brink of insanity. I just wanted to feel normal again and constantly checked my emotional state, this is when hyperawareness OCD started/Depersonalization. I blamed the stress on my job and asked myself "what do I want to do with my life?" Well well well, this triggered existential OCD. I didn't know I may have been suffering from OCD at the time, I just thought I wanted to figure my life out and make sure that I wasn't going crazy. I had a deadly cocktail mix consisting of existenital ocd & hyperawareness ocd with a dash of depersonalization....it was hell. I finally recognised that it was probably hyperawareness OCD/DP and I wasn't going mad. This helped me realise I wasn't going mentally insane. However I didn't realise I still had Existential OCD, I thought I was going through an existential crisis, I ruminated for around 2 years trying to figure out the meaning of life and what my purpose was. 2 whole years non stop to get basically nowhere, the question is unanswerable. I thought I'd come to a satisfying conclusion a few times but I still couldn't shake the urge to know. I then I accepted it's probably existential OCD. It's so difficult to be aware and accept what you are doing could be meaningless? This is what drives me to figure it out. I get one life and could live it pointlessly - that frightens me to death. On the flip side, i've wasted 2 years worrying about wasting my life - very ironic. "If you enjoy the time you wasted then you haven't wasted any time" Great video 👍
Holy crap the same thing happens to me I had a extreme panic attack and I woke up and everything was completely different it was like I had an extreme awareness of everything that was going on around me and I had slipped into a crisis about life itself and I got extremely delusional and developed an extreme amount of anxiety and discomfort and at first I was wondering how is anyone supposed to live without knowing.i thought I was on sum sort of drug trip it is the worst thing I’ve ever experience I thought I tripped out on sum sort of drugged and I was stuck like that forever and got extremely suicidal and got taken to a mental health hospital,it took months for me to even calm down in the slightest,it takes a bit of time to be okay from this,as I was getting better certain thoughts from your first experiences come and go but will get a lot better over time and the thoughts themselves get less debilitating and the anxiety will start to slowly lower and lower and lower,and as time goes on it gets easier to go about your day and won’t always be thinking about it and then when your almost completely recovered the thoughts you are having will start to be thoughts just like they would have been before the extreme panic attack,the best thing you can to is just relax and stay calm no matter what and it will get better and never research any questions you might have and try not to analyze the thoughts you were thinking as much as possible,I’m glad I’m going threw this now at 15 then to be going threw it later down the road anyone who is going threw this just no it’s going to be Okay :)
@Anthony Mazzullo I am literally experiencing the exact same thing!!! Just like you explained. First I though I had depersonalization or smth but now I think it could just be existential ocd. What helped you overcome it and did you fully recover?
@@ellilasaridou5769 How do you feel? As if you're trying to get back to your "old normal" self? And you can't stop trying to figure out how to just be yourself again and never think about any of this again?
@Dave Burns yes Kind of. I feel so much better now That I realized it was ocd all this time bc I have dealt with different types of ocd in the past so it would Make sense but it also started all of a sudden when I woke up and it felt so real that I convinced myself it was dp.
I got existential ocd over the summer when I was working in busy food service. I had no time to think about anything while I was fixing food. Intrusive thoughts hit me with thinking “what if I’m not real and I just haven’t disappeared yet.” I got through it but it comes back sometimes.
This was my most recent theme and it was paired with suicidal OCD. When I first started having the obsessions, I thought I was depressed and then started getting really worried that these thoughts were indications that I didn't care about life, etc. This was also a very difficult theme to work through because it's everything! But my greatest success has been making scripts that end with something about never knowing the true meaning of life and never finding my purpose. I also have made major strides with just allowing the thoughts to be there and not giving them the time of day. For anyone suffering with this- it's difficult, but you can get through it!
For me, these thoughts brought on a sense of impending doom and a very intense fear. Lots of anxiety, lots of worrying about the meaning of the thoughts.
@@graciegavin745 Sorry that you're going through this. It sucks. Unfortunately I have no specific plan that I followed outside of just accepting that the thoughts exist and riding the waves of anxiety that accompany the thoughts. Eventually, your brain learns that they are not threats. I would recommend checking out the work of Mark Freeman. He has great tips for cutting out compulsions (mine are mostly mental like rumination and assessing EVERY feeling) and explains that anxiety will amplify before it gets better. But it DOES get better. I also recommend finding your "why"...why do you want to get better? Why do you want to go through the hard work of recovery? ANY reason is valid if it aligns with what you value as a person (though I'm sure OCD likes to make you question that... what a turd!). Finally, educate, educate, educate! I feel like I turned a corner when I learned how OCD operates in my brain- I recommend Reid Wilson's work, The OCD Stories, Catherine Benfield, Shala Nicely, Peace of Mind, Jon Hershfield, Steven Hayes, and Jonathan Grayson... among so many others like this channel! Good luck. You've got this. Don't let OCD tell you otherwise.
OMG Taylor i am dealing with the exact same thing! My first theme was Suicide OCD and then this one hit. These 2 togheter are tormenting. I always check if i am depressed. I am terrified of Major Depressive Disorder and everytime i get existential thoughts from the EOCD it triggers my SOCD and i start to think that i am suicidal and there’s no much time until I kill myself. I am crying everyday. I am doubting myself a lot. Do you ever felt like this? Do you feel better now and have some advice for me? Thanks a lot in advance 🥺🤗
Oh my God. I have never had anyone describe my suffering so accurately. All my life people have seen me as if there's something wrong with me or I am crazy. But for now at least I know there are more people out there going through the same and I am not alone in this.🥺🥺
I couldn’t agree more!!!! It’s so relieving and terrifying all at once!!! Glad to not be alone, hate that we all feel this way…..it’s putting my stomach in knots thinking about it all now and can’t sleep.
@@nadiadalleh4940 I too had sleepless nights when I first read about it. But I feel I am in a better place as I know the what and why about these feelings. I feel validated.
thank you for this!! i’ve been obsessively thinking about the philosophy of solipsism for the last month and it’s been getting in the way of my daily life and i didn’t even know this was a subtype of ocd. i’ll make sure to mention this to my therapist when i see them for the first time next week
"What is the purpose of life ?","Life is meaningless" all these kind of thoughts and questions constantly comes in my mind. These thoughts are really eating me.
Even this video feels like or is apart of a simulation or dream. I hate feeling this way because it makes me feel so stuck and hard to get out my house because I feel as though I’m in a trapped bubble or glass bowl. It’s gotten so bad that i even feel this video is all apart of the simulation feeling and thoughts. Is this normal to think about because it feels like my answers are answered but it’s not enough bring myself back from the thoughts making me think I am living in such a dream or simulation. It makes me feel miserable and want to run away from my own body because I overstimulate what I’m feeling which makes my body feel weird and makes me have crazy thoughts.
I understand you. I feel the same. What you described sounds similar to Depersonalization also. It is a brain mechanism of protecting yourself when dealing with lots of anxiety. You might want to check that out. I really hope we’ll recover! 🤗
IRINA COMȘA Im scared I’ll tell my doctor and he’ll brush it off because that’s happened before and I was suffering so bad until they put me on a combo of meds and found one that worked but only for a little bit
@@danielgrant9861 try another doctor? i don't the situation your in maybe that's not an option for you but if it is, and you fear he'll brush you off you should try going to another doctor
I don't know where you're at now, but I really feel the same right now, and despite the feeling of unreality, I relate so much to what you said. I hope you're felling better now, as much as I hope I'll feel better soon. If answering my comment is not a huge trigger for you, don't hesitate to tell me how you're feeling rn ! Sending you love and strenght as much as you might need
Nathan, I just want to say from someone who has been suffering from this type of OCD, THANK YOU for putting this out. You described everything perfectly. Living with this debilitating feeling like what if I'm in a simulation, or what if I'm really alone and this is all just projections of my mind have caused me IMMENSE anxiety, feelings of terror, depression, you name it. But these tools you described are exactly what is needed to help recover from this. Thank you for all you do for us living with OCD.
I deal with the same thing. You’re not alone in this! It’s hard but I keep telling myself it’s only temporary. I am safe. We are safe. A year later, I hope you’re doing amazing rn
5:30 oh yeah, this is so true. You got the answer perfectly figured out, you wake up next day to some random thought and you are like "well sh*t, I didnt think about this...."
I do, and it's pretty much the questions you mentioned 😅 am I in a dream? Do we see the same colors? Is this real? Do we live in a simulation? But I try to think that no matter what, I experience what I experience and I'll try to make the best of everything :) no matter if it might be real or not
I spend hours and hours researching/thinking about the possibility of an afterlife and what it might be like. Ever since I read about “near death experiences” I’ve been wracked with anxiety and terror over what will happen to me when I die, scared I’ll go to some sort of biblical hell or a void where I’m taunted that it was all a cosmic joke played on me and the the void is all there is. It combines with bouts of anxiety over religion as well, to the point I sometimes get badly triggered by certain religious imagery. These thoughts completely debilitate me. Thank you so much for your video, I wish more people talked about this very crippling type of OCD.
Does this fall into existential anxiety? So sometimes people will be talking about normal, everyday things and suddenly it all starts seeming bizarre and foreign to me.. and then panic arises and I start to question things deeper about existence and what not. Let me know
Don't forget to exercise guys. I had a rough day and then went for a run. It opened my eyes to how important it is to exercise. This relaxes you and gets you out of the thought loops :)
i experienced this for the first time when i was 16. it just popped into my head. i panicked and lived in a state of DR for a few weeks. it was horrible and i didn’t even know it was ocd. i should have known though because i have struggled with ocd since i was 5. but i just didn’t know. i asked my father (he’s studied physics) for answers, ALL the time. it helped for a bit but i always doubted his answers. what if i just imagined him saying that? what if that is not true? how does ANYBODY know what’s real? i researched SO much, all the time. my family got so annoyed to the point where they didn’t want to answer my questions anymore. and that kind of helped. i am so glad that i now know what it is and how i can accept it. uncertainty is the key :)
I get that "you need to accept the uncertainty" part but at the same time it is not possible to me to do that because it's the reason why I'm so scared. I can't tell myself "maybe it's all real maybe it's all fake that doesn't matter" no that does matter, it doesn't help me at all, it makes me even more anxious. I want to be like I used to. 100% sure that everything around me is real, that I'm not in a Truman show or matrix type of situation. I can't accept this uncertainty. What am I supposed to do????
I had a full recoveryand I'm so happy about it. I used to think that we're in a simulation when I was 15 and I couldn't bear the thought. I didn't know it was OCD. My therapist told me it's OCD but I just couldn't see how since I was just a child. Until one day I saw a video of someone explaining the matter without saying anything about ocd and he said "I guess we'll never know, so who cares" something along those lines and I immediately had relief and since then I never thought about it again. Basically, I went through ERP without even knowing it lol 😂 Now I can easily go back to videos o what ever trigger I had and feel absolutely no fear or anxiety/panic and I couldn't be happier about it. Stay strong yall we are stronger than our dissorder and it's lies. We are all brave warriors❤
thank you buddy so much for this video because i have depression and anxiety as well . also this video is helping me out a lot so thank you buddy because it’s teaching me so much on how to control my anxiety and depression plus this staring habit that i have been trying to get rid of . ps helps a lot 😇
I've been having intrusive thoughts about the afterlife, I can't stop thinking about it and trying to find answers.. It's making me unable to enjoy anything.. I have derealization too and it makes me feel like the whole world is frozen and I'm the only one aware of it..
If you can’t know truth…how can you say that you can’t know truth. It’s a direct contradiction. To make the statement that you can’t know truth is to affirm that you know truth. Probability is what we base our beliefs on. There are a few things that are certain about reality. But as an OCD patient you have to accept that you’re going to encounter existential certainty on only a few concepts and not others. That’s hard because OCD is a doubters disease. Acceptance is still key.
I think so cus I have both. First it started with harm ocd an well I smoked weed an it made things worse. The thc made me feel unreal an I got depersonalization / derealization disorder. My questions right now that are making my ocd worse I won't say because it's irrelevant and I don't want to trigger anybody. I just hope we get through this all of us.
I'm in the same situation, and I've done quite some research, so here it is. Dp/Dr and existential OCD, in my experience, have a one-to-one relationship: ex ocd elicits existential thought which trigger the sensation, the sensation can trigger existential thought. So what we have to do: while we have episodes, remember that the way we think is "altered" by the sensation of unreality, which poses the existential doubt over everything. So first of all you have to accept and familiarize with this sensation, remembering it's just a SENSATION, understanding why, in the first place it's there (usually as a emotional numbing from stressor), and then realizing that those existential thoughts are just thought, which acquire credibility thanks to the underlying dp/Dr. The more you fight, the more it becomes seemingly unbearable. Because it's the same like trying to rationalize an emotion: you can't. It's just a feeling, live it, let it flow through you, and remember it's the right-hand man of anxiety. On the other hand, treats ex ocd like a common existential crisis: let it be there and do its job.
This is a super helpful video! I've been feeling very tortured and isolated by my mind lately and I intend to stop caring so much about unanswerable fears and I choose to start living and enjoying my life instead. I can appreciate the mystery of life. Thank you thank you thank you!
I once became super aware of my consciousness. It was like a second degree of consciousness where I am conscious that I am conscious and breathing. This gave me panic attacks and spirals of anxiety. Led to constant ruminating thoughts which goes ‘ I am the person who is seeing this world’ , ‘ I am the first point of view and rest of them are different entities’ , why am I me? All such super weird questions which i could not even put into words. Over time, it passed. But recently it has again started to bother me. I don’t know if its because of stress or overworking, but it’s giving me anxiety spirals and making me aware and anxious about my own existence. Did anyone else experience anything similar? I hope I run out this thought and live a normal life.
I have gone through existential OCD 3 times in 5 years , it happens it comes back again and again, i also have very weird questions like what exactly is right what is wrong , what is the guarantee what I m thinking and doing is right , who decides what is right , how do I know what is right .... And so on , and many such thoughts it's really weird , i also have wasted so much time into it
I've experienced that exact phenomenon! Its been torturing me and following me for years everyday. I'm relieved to hear that I'm not alone regarding this specific obsession
I've been questioning exactly the same myself. It feels like I discovered something about existence, to me it makes no sense that I'm me, why am I the "preferred point of view" of the universe? It's such a strange feeling I never ever thought about before, never realized how weird this is, and I've been really deep into spirituality, trying to find the answers...
This has been one of my themes lately. Thanks for the video, I always come to your channel as reminder almost to keep my OCD in check. I fall into compulsions sometimes and don’t realize it until I come here. Thank you.
My brain keeps telling me that everything will pass, every moment will pass and i cant remember these moments. The thoughts just keep popping up and making me depressed. Is this considered existential OCD?
Thank you so much for your videos. I am having those same thoughts 24/7. It's so relieving to know what it is. I'll try not to get reassurance compulsively, but, honestly, sometimes I have to fall because it feels SO lonely and SO disorienting... like I'm losing myself, like I don't exist. I know I'll get through this. I don't have anxiety anymore, that's good... but now I feel that reality is distorted, weird, like turned upside down. If like to see the world as I used to see it. Well, there you go, I ranted. Thank you for reading me, whoever you are.
How would I know if this is an OCD, or if it is my 'Awakening', my calling for finding spirituality or religion in my life? I am an agnostic, was brought Catholic. The first time I experienced this existential despair was shortly after I lost faith after developing critical thinking. Now I am having it again, and just found out it could be apparently an existential OCD mixed with existential depression (lost interest in anything, as everything seems meaningless, stupid, futile). How do I know if I should fix it psychologically, or if it's a thing that needs a spiritual answer?
Last year during lockdown, I had (at 17) the first and worst anxiety and depression of my life with existential dread and fear constantly. When I went back to school, my symptoms faded, despite the tragic loss of one of my best friends. I stopped seeing my therapist. Now, after graduating and moving through half of the summer, I find myself stuck with these intrusive thoughts again, losing interest in the things I liked to do, constant fear and nervousness. I never sought a diagnosis, but with newfound knowledge that my Grandpa has been living with OCD, and my Mother with Anxiety, I guess I'll have to get help again.
i used to wander why hands are hands or eyes are eyes , i know it sounds odd but i would wander about anything from the universe to reality itself..just me thinking on how i could think made me spiral out of control into panic and very bad DP/DR, life and existence freaked me out to the core its like even my freak out freaked me out..what a mess it was..its the frekiest thing ever but i look back and wander why i was so fixed on those thoughts..Very glad i recovered
My significant other is barreling this right now and I am trying to understand how I can help him through this when he has these episodes. I don’t want to say the wrong thing or make anything worse because I see how much it impacts him in a debilitating way. Any suggestions from those that do suffer from this ? Thank you
Hey how is he doing now? Hopefully much better. I would just tell him to accept it as much possible and IT WILL dissolve completely over time, and he will feel normal and calm again. Let him know that the fear is just energy and won't hurt him.
My ocd is about reincarnation I don't like the idea of losing the memory of my loved ones it makes life pointless. So my ocd keeps saying YOU NEED TO LEARN HOW TO NOT REINCARTE !!!! YOU MUST DO THIS !!!! So I look up things about it I look up proof an all that then I look up the illogicalness of reincarnation to help myself to disbelieve it, I honestly don't know what to believe I'm scared I don't care about anything materialistic and life all I care about is my loved ones I care about sharing love with other people I want to be loved and I want to give love to other people I understand that people won't always be there I understand but our memories of them will always live on through other people people will remind us of the people that we love. So losing memory to me is worse then dying. So my ocd keeps going like LEARN FROM BUDDHA !!! but then what about my family? My friends ? All the people I will learn to love ? How do I save them from this???? I'm living in hell right now Im trying so FUCKING hard to stop but it's hard when it's about this type of stuff. Plus buddhism says about suffering an how you can learn to live with it an mindfulness seems to me that some of it might be true do what's stopping reincarnation from being true. Then my ocd says we'll Buddha says it's attachments that make us suffer an we must detach ourselves from that. I'm so depressed I feel like there's no way out of this. I had harm ocd an it was horrible then I started smoking weed an then I got depersonalization disorder an started questing everything !!! I'm sorry I'm just in so much pain. An I try to stay in the moment but when I'm alone. It hurts me. My ocd just now just said Well you see the buddha is right ! Your not paying attention. Idk what to believe anymore. My ocd is also If I listen an learn to let go of this obsession will I reincarnate because I failed to learn the meaning of something in life ? An by doing this its accepting yup one day I'll lose all my memory of my loved ones. This hole thing has tought me alot I won't lie I try to be positive I've learned to care more for other people. I love you all here. I try to tell myself that people will die but there memory will live on in others other people will remind us of our loved ones meaning love everyone as they were your loved ones. I just wish I could talk to someone who knows how to treat this. But is that me asking for reassurance I don't know my OCD just keeps on asking these questions. My ocd always seems to attack my family. My loved ones pets you name it. I know that means my loved ones mean everything to me but it's hell when it's existential stuff cus there's really no answer to any of this but my OCD won't accept that. Ocd is like living in hell. Then my ocd thinks maybe this is my karma ? Or wow you probably don't understand karma you should look it up to find out. My googling is that a compulsion? Everyday my life didn't live with this I just want everybody to be okay I just want everybody to be happy you me everything so at least OCD you made me learn to love people in or out of your family. Maybe question is has anyone had this same theme? Or heard of this same theme? I might be asking for reassurance I don't know tbh. I think it would be reassuring to know I'm not the only one with this thought. Won't feel so alone. Idk
I’m experiencing the same thing brother. Very similar. I’m thinking about the same thoughts and what I can do. Sometimes I think maybe there’s a message I need to understand or something. You’re not alone. God loves us brother and don’t worry. Would you like for us to be friends. We can talk about it more.
@@Happys_Art That would be awesome! Do you have a playstation 4? I could add you on there. An thank you,,, I was dealing with things today an your message was amazing
@@user-tl6he1mn7s no worries brother. Here’s my instagram. Follow me. Insta: happy_farhanalmajali And here’s my Facebook. Facebook: Farhan almajali (Pic of a guy with dark hair and leather jacket side view.) Also yes I do have a PlayStation 4. I’m not familiar with it yet so I will have to wait for my brother to ask him how to add. We can be friends and we can talk about everything inshallah.
@@Happys_Art I don't have either of those unfortunately only a PlayStation 4. It's the only social media outlet I use but when you figure out how to add just message me here ☺️ when you have everything ready
I have been dealing with so many years now. I had dealt with all kind of ocd compulsion to instrusive thought .for whole 1year i was completely cured but again now im having philosophy ocd.
THANK YOU. SO MUCH. I have been struggling with OCD for the past 4 years now and this really helped. I have phases with OCD where I know the treatment but I just ignore it and bop there I am in the OCD circle/phase again. thank you! this really gave me insight into it and I think I'm ready to start working against it again. thank you. I will try my best.
Coming across this video has brought this massive sense of relief to me because I've been struggling to pinpoint why I've been spiraling so heavily lately and this gives me something for consideration to bring into therapy and a baseline to work with.
@@elionmarvel5544 Glad to hear that man. I don't have the means to get help rn, but I think I'm doing pretty good though. Hopefully, I'll get to see a therapist soon.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! I suffer from this and feel seen, heard, felt, and validated. Edit 1: For me, what it looks like is this intense anxiety around not knowing what existence is and thinking that I’m inside of a trauma and everyone and everything is a figment of my imagination, and I’m going to wake up into the “real” reality one day once I’m brave enough to face the trauma. I imagine that the “people” (because remember, to me some of the time, people are manifestations of my consciousness) will one day break the news to me that all of this is a dream and going on inside my head. It’s incredibly destabilizing and makes me feel insurmountable loneliness. Because if I’m the only thing to exist, how can that not be anything but lonely? Anyway, I really hope to explore this more and do some exposures to try and overcome this. I started taking SSRIs and I FINALLY found one that is helping me tremendously. I’m a bit nervous it will stop working and I’ll fall back into the trap of my brain, but perhaps that fear is natural and to be expected.
You know I too have those ongoing obsessions about reality, bordering solipsism. Observing coincidences and feeling sometimes that nothing and no one is real and that everything is a subtle play set around me, and I compulsively research buddhism, and hindu gurus and try to find explanations from persons of seeming authority that will put my mind at ease and restore my faith in an objective reality. I have to find a satisfactory explanation before I put down the phone or switch off the pc. Of course the relief does not last long. When I am in heightened state of anxiety I do not observe my surroundings and actions well and that does not serve my memory, so then I doubt if I remember putting objects where they are or doing a certain action. Like did I close this window or is this a glitch in the matrix, did time just go backwards or I don't remember correctly the time from when I absent mindedly checked it? But whenever I have been in a healthy and serene state, and I could feel this in my body through my breathing and blood flow, you know a general sense of well being, I have always been naturally observant at such states and had no reason to doubt my memory or reality. Also consider this brother, if either me or you are in a matrix or a simulation, why are there two of us? Or rather thousands of us, all suffering and I stress the word suffering, from the same affliction? An affliction common enough to have a name and it is only a subset of a larger category.
@@alexanderfridayeagle9146 hello brother. I would like for us to be friends. I’m experiencing the same thing and I would like a friend to talk with and maybe help each other. God bless you.
Hello my friend. Can we be friends. I’m going through the same thing and I want a friend to talk with the is experiencing the same thing. God bless you.
I was diagnosed with GAD some five years ago. It's crazy how accurate some of these videos are, I have booked a meeting with OCD specialist after watching a bunch if these, I think it might help me. Thanks so much.
I feel so stuck with this theme. I had many OCD themes But this one is completely another level of hell. I experience Depersonalization also. I want to feel like myself again not asking these big questions I’ll never know. I am panicked and depressed everyday 24/7 😥 someone please tell me i won’t feel this way forever
I was wondering about some of these stuff ever since I was a kid, especially the color and the dream ones, but thankfully I wasn’t “OCDing.” They were kinda scary tho
Me too! That colour thing creeped me out. Thankfully it’s never been more then intrusive thoughts - no compulsions just bugged me for a day or two and they faded.
@@abb7y *virtual hugs* I know how that feels!!!!! I’m so sorry it’s bothering you :( that thought sometimes pop up in my head but never lingers too long…. I don’t really have a good solution to deal with it either then telling you to shift the focus. I know it’s hard for ocd… I don’t have it but… for me I just take time to start hobbies, focus on something small, and concrete, that can fill up your mind
@@abb7y for me I try to do embroidery, learning ukulele or guitar, growing plants… something solid that you can hear, and touch, and you can mold it’s shape. And you have an outcome from this hobby that will stay with you, I find that help
@@abb7y another thing I do is painting… and do colour mixing and stuff. And focus on just the colours how they look, what colours you see, and know that it doesn’t matter if other people see the same thing or not. Accept that they might not, and to be honest it doesn’t matter and also you and I we will never know the truth.
Made me come to the conclusion that I have this disorder and recently I have become so bad that I have derealization and depersonalization. This helped me not feel alone and see it from a different perspective
Let me share my story, please read it I would really appreciate it, since I am nearly hopeless and also excuse me for my bad English, it is not my native language: this shit is freaking me out I've got a pretty damn bad dp and dr. I remembered when I was a kid that I always would have the constant fear of having a stroke or hearth attack ( I was there 7 years old!!!!) and I got diagnosed with hypochondria ( the phobia or fear of any illness and getting them) and I was only seven years old! haha I even read by that age medicine lecture and learned the symptoms of those illnesses. So basically then I always used to question myself what happens after death, was fearing death extremely and what is the purpose of life and at one point i got stuck with this terrifying thougt with the purpose of life and from there on I developed DR I also remember that when I was concentrating too long or too much on this specific thought I would always freak out and nearly pass out nd getting dizzy af, since this all makes no sense and it's really weird, because there isn't actually an explanation and answer for this as I always thought. Nobody understood me and nobody understood my question they would always answer it with : the purpose of life is to make children and to make the best of your life. but that wasnt my question I always got missunderstanded and it was so frustrating. However, I still got this terrifying fear of what happens after death and so on, but altough I got by the years really religious and try my best to keep being religious I still cant get over my DR and this fear. Also I developed a pretty pretty pretty fu****ing bad version of DP, it is like DP but on antoher level, it is so bad, that I cant recognize myself and I always have racing thoughts and I am trapped in my head with this thoughts. Because of an stressful experience which happened this year I developed a super bad DP version with kinda like personalities, they would literally let me feel like antoher person (mostly persons from RL, which I really like and impressed me in a way) to push my extreme low self esteem or to protect me from awkward situations or feelings. It is crazy and I've got suicidal thoughts of this, If i wouldnt be that religious I wouldnt care killing myself because i dont got an "I-feeling" anymore it is literally splitted. Can maybe somebody relate or help, maybe you even got a similar story or the same version of DP with this personalities because I havent found somebody yet who has this, wish you all the best for recovering and stay strong guys and find God in your life!!!
I'm afraid of not choosing the right religion. Christianity purports to be the only path to some heaven. Accept Jesus or go to hell I have major issues with the Bible and other so called holy books. What do I do?
I experienced obsessive thoughts about what if we live in a simulation and that I would not be remembered after I’m dead. It lasted months but I overcame it. Thankfully 😅
Augusto Colman that’s rlly smart and i’ve tried that but it just went away temporarily, and then the unwanted thoughts just come back and i obsess over them. it’s almost as if ocd is subconsciously addictive😬
@@ellalusk7036 oh yes that happened to me too. It came back with same and other questions. Did the same, started to let them be without trying to respond to them. Try what Nathan says. Each time a question pops up you tell yourself I don’t know until you are ok with that answer
The main one I’ve had is like are people real or a figment of my imagination. The reason it gets to me so much is because whenever I’m trying to talk to someone, have a deep conversation, whenever my partner says I love you or my mum and I are laughing and giggling - it comes into my head that they aren’t real which I don’t know if they are - no one does. It kills me to think the people I love don’t exist because I obviously want them to. It makes me push it away to talk to anyone because what’s the point if they aren’t real? It terrifies me.
And I know as humans, we focus mainly on the negative rather than the positive because it means we need to fix the negative - even thought we don’t, we just want to do bad. It kills me to think about it all.
I understand what you mean and I’m going through the same thing . If you want we can talk and become friends . Here’s my instagram. Insta: happy_farhanalmajali
Hey, im struggling with the same thing due to the fear that im trapped in a coma and my life iant real. It hurts so much. Were you ever able to get past these thoughts?
@@MORGUE88 hey! Yes. It took a few months but I found going to college helped and just getting on with everyday tasks helped. I know how scary it is to even fathom the thought of moving. You can do this, though.
I frequently have thoughts about life and our existence. I frequently wonder how humans are real, how the universe is real. I thing about things like sound and how technology allows us to be able to record sound and replay it elsewhere and it all seems completely impossible to me. I’ve never had this in my 25 years and it’s terrifying me. I do have OCD but never had these kind of intrusive thoughts. The things I think seem as if there is no rational conclusion to them. Does this sound like existential ocd??
I watched a documentary about universe ,paralell universe ,mandella effect and stuff ,and it has been messing with head ever since ,i get questions like whats the truth ,did we shift into parallell universe,did i invidually shift into one without knowing it,ive also before this ive had thoughts,what if theres no god ,whats life about ,what were supposed to do,then it got worse and gotten to the point i showed u before,its so hard like for a minute i know nothing happend i lived like this 21 years without questioning anything,then obessions hit me again,im making my life hell for some questions that arent even considered science,for some conspiracies,i hope i get out of this loop,im.positive there will be some help for me,also i have had previous ocd themes,its not the first one,but so far the most reality shaking one.
⚠️ I'm struggling with it for 8 years. It comes and go. In the end, you want to know why you are here, what's my purpose ? What's after death ? Why do anything if everything is meaningless and sad ? 😮😮😮
Thank you for this video. I relate to many of these thoughts + I have experienced anxiety around the concept of "not existing". In my thinking mind I know for a fact that not existing is a concept you can only think about in an existing mind, but despite of this the compulsion/thought of not existing after death keeps popping up. Could this be a part of Existential OCD?
@@lifeofh9824 Nice to not be alone with thinking like this. Like with the other thoughts mentions in the video, the solution probably is to allow that thought to exists. I wish you the best 💕
@@lifeofh9824 Yes I'm trying some of the one's you mention above right now. I think when it comes down to it, the best thing to do is to do what he says in the video. Salut the thought and welcome it without attaching emotions to it. Or atleast try. It's the same for everyone so it's all we can do. Also... we can only think this thought while existing, which kind of takes out the whole concept of it... Good luck
I want to thank you so much for this video. I first got scared when my English teacher shared with me a story about a philosopher who is an existentialist and it freaked me out. I had these thoughts ever since and I had panic attacks afterward. I couldn’t sleep because of all the research I was doing and freaking out. For me, I might question why I’m doing something and if humans ever did this thousands of year ago and causes me anxiety. Then I would research about what people think online. This would ruin my day and would be one of the biggest challenges i faced. Thank you so much 😊
I have the opposite problem lol I have the most intense intrusive thoughts about converting to Catholicism, and my brain LITERALLY tells me I have no choice. I wish I was caught up in existentialism. I'd rather that, then the hell of feeling like I have to give up who I am, and detach from my friends and family because they are worldly fixtures, and I should be subservient to a higher order.
@@moonmama95 I think there's a lot of good that can be found there! I wouldn't dissuade anyone from converting, its just not something I see as being compatible or necessary for me.
I tried tried doing the exposure to this by saying, “Yeah. It probably IS true that this reality is fake and I’m in a trauma. And that train blowing it’s horn IS a sign of something calling me home, to the actual reality.” And I get afraid I’ll kill myself to get back to the actual reality. For obvious reasons, this creates a LOT of anxiety and I feel like I don’t know up from down when I’m in this mentally anxious place. I’m not sure what to do from here. It seems like believing my thoughts only reinforces that they’re true which puts me in a really bad place.
You’re not alone brother.I’m experiencing the same thing. I’m here for you you. God loves you and there’s hope. Would you like for us to be friends. We can talk about it more. Don’t worry my friend. God bless you.
Thanks for the support everyone. Just wanted to give y’all an update and let you know I’m doing MUCH better. I still have the occasional feeling of this reality not being real, but it’s usually easy for me to dismiss now. It’s pretty crazy to me to see what I wrote back then (and remember believing so strongly) to where i am now.
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Coming back to this video 4 months later to say that I’ve finally recovered! No more DPDR or existential OCD, I get to live my life again! So thankful to have gone through this because thanks to all of it I’m stronger now. Sending love to anyone currently struggling with this. I know firsthand how scary it feels, but you can absolutely go back to how you were before, just live your life holding hands with your fear and give it space to leave naturally. Thanks for reading this, you are strong enough to handle this.
Did you ever believe you were the only human on earth?
@@tjkeegan470 I didn’t get this thought but I had similar ones a couple of months ago, like being stuck in a dream or a high trip or that I everything I was looking at was an ilusión. So very existencial . As soon as the anxiety started to get less severe the thoughts became only thoughts , and now u rarely think about it, and when I do I literally right away associated with just an anxiety thought that once went trough my head. So it does go away but it takes time , you need to get rid of the anxiety as a whole , for the thoughts to go away .
@@tjkeegan470yes, but that was just another symptom. Analyzing each thought on it’s own will keep you stuck. It’s all just OCD.
@@tjkeegan470are you afraid to be the only real person ?
Thanks you so so much for your comment! This really gives me hope... I am really struggling with these thoughts. Can you please describe the top 3 things that helped you get over it? Thank you once again
I have read a lot in the forums about how much Existencial OCD is hard to get through, but that's not true. I have been there, with DP/DR 24/7, I had suicidal thoughts not knowing where tf I am, why I'm here, I once passed out because of my overwhelming fears.
After 3 months of Therapy, I can say that I am almost 95% cured, and will tell you what, they key is actually ACCEPTANCE, rather than exposure.
If you keep exposing yourself to the idea that nothing might be real and we're all gonna die, this is gonna creep out almost everyone, even normal people who don't have OCD.
But when you learn to accept, that ok, we're gonna die, and just continue what you are doing: work, gaming, whatever.. things will get more real, and you will no longer feel overwhelmed by it.
NGL, without my antidepressants I wouldn't have reached to this point, they have been a major contributor in this journey, they actually stop panick attacks and helps in being more acceptable, and with time, things will get more normal.
You will get through this, just like I did.
Peace and love my friends
This is a great comment! I feel like I am stuck in this. I also have Suicide ocd which makes it even harder. I try to accept everything as most people told me. But it seems pretty hard in the beginning like the anxiety gets even worse. Was it the same for you when starting the process of recovery? I have constant thoughts of “what’s the meaning of life, we’re all going to die and forget about everything so what’s the point anyway?” And this makes me feel depressed and doomed 🥺
Thank you for this comment. I’m currently struggling with the nature of reality and if all this is real, and while my logical brain knows I’ll never quite know, the thought still keeps me up at night, or when I’m out. This gave me hope, so thanks again.
@@Havana428 I believe aerobic exercise is an important part of getting better. It plays a key role in changing your brain. Stay strong and keep fighting. Things will get better without doubt
@@Havana428 I have the same thoughts. Somehow it feels comforting knowing that someone else understands and has those same thoughts. I am beginning to meditate, aiming to do this daily. It helps ground me and shows me who I really am, detaching 'my' thoughts from my actual self. I am the observer of my thoughts. Likewise, you are not your thoughts; simply the observer. Love
@@ScottJ_Moses do you still struggle with it? Are you afraid that other people are not real?
Damn. Never seen a video on this before. Sounds similar to what I’ve been going through the last few years. I’ve always had these questions, but it’s only been the last few years that they’ve been so frequent and accompanied with anxiety/panic attacks. Finally decided to see a Psychiatrist. Fingers crossed. Thanks for speaking about it though.
I hope you can discover what you're going through! I wish you the best!
Question Was it around August of 2016 ? Would really like to know. But my friend you Are Not Alone Believe Me
Omg I watch your coding videos. Going through the same thing right now. Small coincidences like this scares me though. :-(
How are you doing? @Corey
I'm really hope you're doing better.
Hello everyone, I just wanted to share something: I've been dealing with existential anxiety and OCD my whole life (As long as I can remember), and I want to let everyone know that even though these fears and triggers are things that can be hard to reassure, they are just as weak as all other OCD thoughts. They can be defeated, make sure to say this out loud, they are things that can be defeated. My suggestion is going onto youtube as a start and just look at thumbnails of videos that make you anxious, which is what I have been doing, and it's so rewarding once your done. My suggestion is you play music to hype yourself up while you do it, and make it feel like you're winning, because you are. Imagine it as a boxing match lol. Good luck everyone, remember that OCD can be defeated.
I’ve found that answering my ocd thoughts with something logical helps. If I ever get the thought of “what’s the meaning of life” I tell myself “there is none but that’s doesn’t matter. Life’s only meaning is the meaning you give it.”
It does help but I worry if we are just enabling the OCD by doing that.
Thank you for sharing. This is a good response.
This is actually a good response
That became compulsive for me
Then my brain asks me, "what if you are giving it the wrong meaning?"
Then I say there is no wrong meaning, but what if there is?
I wish you were my therapist. I love that humour man!😂😂
Haha. Thanks so much!
@@ocdandanxiety while I think most what you said is accurate I felt it came off in an offensive tone. I’m not sure why you had to elongate every word with an exaggerated tone. It felt kind of belittling.
@@Maniac45864 I think it’s just his style. Plus I know from my OCD I perpetually feel like a child trying to get control, he’s talking to the OCD often.
This came to me all of a sudden during COVID and was quite exhausting - I’ve now let those ‘noises’ (thoughts) just pass by with a shrug of the shoulders and allowed my focus to switch to quite frankly much more interesting topics.
It takes practice and persistence and it takes time to learn to not react to a thought - now there is no difference between thinking ‘isn’t existence bizarre and isn’t that really scary’ to ‘what do I want for lunch today’
Enjoy your recovery
this helped
Thanks mate this is really helpful. I’m struggling at the moment but I know I can get better.
Really encourging. I suffered from it since i was a kid, and now i'm in my early twenties. But never thought of the possibility of ocd until recently. Now when i start to panic, i just try to calm myself by thinking that 'hey, it's just my brain being weird again. Move on.' I wish i could have therapy but my country is in a dangerous situation so i can't really go to a psychiatrist. Reading words from survivers really comfort me.
@@lotusrain4102 I look at it as an emotional sneeze. An involuntary hiccup of fear. Just chill, it's your body, not you.
thank you
I'm so scared this wont ever stop and I won't ever believe in reality again. I feel paranoid that people don't actually recover from it in the way I hope.
Dont worry, I had the worst panic attacks of my life because of this, but now I can think about existential questions literally for as long as I want without feeling any anxiety. Trust me, if you don't let your ocd make a big deal out of this, you will genuinely stop feeling like it's a big deal. Good luck with your recovery!
@@meringue3288 I'm scared the anxiety will go away, but the thoughts will still feel true... I feel like everyone I love is just gone.
@@Megan-zp2rb Oh that exact thought was the scariest thing about my ocd, but now I see how it's something you REALLY don't have to worry about.
I don't know how else to say this, but the part of you that thinks about existential things is NOT the same part of you that loves your loved ones. You have the side of you that wants to protect you from perceived danger, and the side of you that wants to live life, and one of them doesn't affect the other. You need to learn that the protective side of you is just a tool that you need to learn how to use effectively, and nothing more.
You can be terrified for your life in a minute, and in the next minute be full of bliss while you're with your loved ones, and if your train your mind for that you can concentrate only in your current state whenever you want.
I promise you will get better soon
@@meringue3288 Is it like in the video, it's back to being just a thought?
@@Megan-zp2rb Yeah, but actually, the best way to fight this is to prevent reaction no matter what you feel. You feel anxious? It doesnt matter, dont react to the thought. You feel like the thoughts will never go away? It doesn't matter (because ocd always makes you feel that anyway), just keep trying not to react. You feel like this technique isn't working? Keep trying not to react.
That's the key to cure ocd
I get questions like: “what is life?” “What is feelings?” “Do I really love my mom?” “Who am I?” How do I exist?” It gets so overwhelming that I just start crying. I’m scared of life itself! How you overcome this? It’s nuts
Hey, I’m the same. How are you now? Can we talk somewhere?
I have the questions. What is my brain. What i am. What am i seeing. And i get anxiety. Are These thoughts also normal exictentiel ocd? I feel like in the only one with this questions.
@@Rrrmmmmmsame here, but its actually fueled by anxious feelings, primarily caused by anxiety overall, because if your not anxious, these thoughts are not that scary, the anxious feelings makes the brain find for answers to calm down your anxious feelings. Just stop the loop as it is just caused by your anxious feelings, I manage my anxious feelings overtime and these existensial thoughts do not bother me anymore.
@@Rrrmmmmmi got those same questions, domt worry you are not the only one haha
have a purpose and meaning in life so that in your death bed, your existence make sense because your existence CHANGED SOMETHING so in the last moment you''ll be like ""ahhh so that's the reason why I existed", justification of your existence is what you need to fill the void between your anxious questions and everything,
just wanted to express my gratitude, natan
when I was struggling really bad I used to watch your videos.
applyed all the tools,I was able to cut out my compulsions
and now I love living,hardly get anxious.
thank you❤
hope you keep saving lives
Comecei a ter esse tipo de OCD no primeiro ano de faculdade. Acho que por ser uma pessoa bem analista e o meu curso (Computação) desenvolveu ainda mais esse lado, cheguei a ter ataques de pânico e de ansiedade por causa dessas questões, minha vida saiu completamente dos trilhos, saí da faculdade, terminei com a minha namorada, não consigo comer direito, tenho vivido péssimamente nos últimos anos, o seu comentário me dá um pouco de esperança de que dias melhores virão. Que esses dias melhores venham logo para nós!
@@pedroduartedovale
Com certeza meu amigo!
Fiquei num estado extremo de ansiedade por anos.
sinto muito pelo que você está passando agora,tem dois canais no TH-cam que me ajudaram demais q foi o Ocd Recovery e o Mark Freeman,recomendo muito.
se vc quiser eu tenho uns livros mt bons em pdf.
posso te enviar por email
É necessário bastante esforço e dedicação mas é possível ter uma mente tranquila de novo.
Were you also afraid to be the only real Person?
@@beeberry8055 that wasn't one of my fears,but with ocd you need to deal with any fear the same way.
It's about cutting compulsions and accepting that even if the worst scenario you could imagine happens,it's not the end of the world.
@@Diegolima-ui1uz thanks
This channel makes me feel more safe with uncertainty, I've always felt that I have to have the right answer to everything or I won't be safe. Weirdly enough the statement 'I'll never know the meaning of life, that is awesome' made me feel extremely happy for some reason. Kinda cool 🤔
I've never been so proud of me in my entire life. I suffered a panic attack 2 months ago who gave me DPDR and an existencial OCD and after that EVRYTHING seem so meaningless. But, instantly I started to accept the syntoms and uncertain...that's why today I can say I'M FREE. Makes me want to cry because I proved myself that I'm SO STRONG
You are SO strong!
You are very strong!! Thanks 4 sharinf
I can’t believe you are real to believe that
@@bxnkxvva they are real and you are too. Just relax
Same
This month I’ve been dealing with health OCD. I took some antipsychotics and they really messed me up. Had my first panic attack and thought I was gonna die or dying. Now after going to the ER my OCD has jumped over to this. This video made me breath. Thank you
While I went through all this day and night 24/7 back in my 30s - after turning 40 I noticed that it didn't really bother me anymore. I accepted my mortality and came to peace with the idea that one day I'll die. It's actually helped motivate me to work and study harder than I ever did in my youth. Even hitting the gym harder and eating healthier foods. My life may not be super exciting but overall I"m doing all right.
me obsessively trying to figure out if my mental health disorders are diagnosed properly, "do i really have the symptoms i have"... "did i really experience what i experienced"... on and on and on!!! its so frustrating and stressful
I take the approach that existential thoughts and associated anxiety are the symptoms of a state of mood. Only when you are in a depressed and anxious state do you have access to these intrusive thoughts and fears. When you are healthy and enjoy your journey, you don’t even care about these questions. So I try to do all the physical things I can to get my body and brain well again. Fake it till you make it. Good sleep, diet, enough sunlight at the right time, vitamins, doing my job, some exercise, enough water. It works for me
Are you also afraid to be the only real Person?
I struggle with this when my anxiety and depression are out of control.
Wow that is a great advice. I havent been strong or discplined enough to "fake it" but seems to be a good way to forget all this intrusive thoughts and get back to normality. How has it been for you?
Yes, obviously not the solution for everyone but this helped me a ton… certainly options like being outside, pushing yourself mentally and physically to accomplish fun and meaningful goals is worth trying if you feel stuck. But like this video said no one knows how you feel but you. I don’t know you better than you know you, and if you don’t know yourself, then no one knows you. Which gives you the power to be whoever you want. You are not beholden to be the same person you were 5 mins ago. Someone said that in something, and it resonated ❤️
@@beeberry8055 I haven’t had that thought before. I have felt like I was dreaming for a good solid month though a few times. I found out it was depersonalisation
I used to have this for a couple of years and it plagued me. The more you think about the deeper you go down the rabbit hole with no answers. I woke up one day with no fear or care of wether we live in a simulation/mass experient or or if the world is round or flat. As Long as my family is safe and I have peace in this life
I have suffered for a long time from this condition. Your advices are really helpful. Thank you very much.
I have been struggling with DDD (depersonalization and derealization disorder) for years and the obsessional part of the disorder is the hardest to deal with for me and probably what keeps it going. The feelings of unreality of my self makes me think about thinking itself/my thought processes because it seems very strange and unfamiliar. Everytime I tell myself ''it's just a thought'', then my mind asks ''but what is a thought, how weird is it that you can speak inside your head and see pictures within yourself, how weird is it that you are self-aware?''. Thinking seems meaningless and like I've just ''realized'' that I do it or like I've just ''acquired it'' (even though I know logically that I've been thinking my whole life). I don't feel like I need to find an answer to all this, it's more like a constant realization of my own existence that I can no longer be comfortable with, a hyperawaress of my self. I feel more like a need to know that I'm the same person and that my inner reality is the same as before (even though I know that DPDR can't change me and how my brain work) I feel trapped inside my head with thoughts that don't feel like mine. How do I let go when my main obsession is about the process of thinking itself, fueled by feelings of unreality and the intense anxiety it constantly gives me?
Hey, I’m dealing with this EXACT thing right now. How are u feeling?/ doing?
I know this so well. I had it many years ago for many many months and many setbacks, but it's crazy that you stay indeed the same person...it's really just intrusive thoughts and as you say hyper-awareness and thoughts about yourself that keep the loop going. Sometimes I now get flashbacks when I am super stressed and I think: wow, it's crazy, I remember it was so intense but now I barely remember why I was even so scared...keep going, it will all be back to normal :)
You need to stop caring about those thoughts thoughts are like airplanes that fly over your head you can choose to disregard them(takes practice )when you choose to engage those thoughts you basically tell the planes that your mind is an airport
Update: Still struggling but I've had good weeks with minimal DP, anxiety and obsessions. I also had more positive emotions.
@@jayb9717 Thats amazing. Keep on going and it will eventually fade. :)
I feel like I have a lot of overlap between existential and magical thinking OCD. My anxiety about my existential questions is SO BAD I’m convinced that even speaking about my worst ones (d*ath) might make it a reality.
life saving channel
Omg I never knew this has was an OCD subtype, thank you! This bothers me al the time
Are you also afraid to be the only real Person?
I've had SO many themes when it comes to my OCD. I didn't know that this was one of them, and it explains why I have felt like I'm going crazy for the past few months! Good to know that it's just my OCD so that I can just add it to the list of things the stupid little OCD voice in the backseat of my brain car likes to annoy me with!
Are you also afraid to be the only real Person?
I love this comment, it’s funny and good to label it in this way, I hope you recovered
@@beeberry8055 I'm also here, don't worry. :)
you may have just saved my life
The obsession makes me feel like I’m being torn in two. There’s really no sense of enjoyment anymore because I feel like I can’t enjoy life without knowing for sure. I am constantly obsessing about the afterlife, specifically NDEs. While some people may find them comforting I am utterly confused by even minor inconsistencies between them. I really wish there was a cure or a way out of this.
Hello brother. Would you like for us to be friends. We can talk about all of it my friend.
I’m struggling with the exact same thing, NDEs. They freak me out to no end and I can spend hours upon hours watching/reading/thinking about them, just going over them in my mind trying to make sense of them (though now that I’ve been diagnosed with OCD I’m trying to resist). It’s such a relief to see someone else mention them by name since I’ve never seen anyone else mention them while talking about existential OCD. Best of luck to you!!
@@soph_8491 I’m feeling the same right now. Every time I wake up it feels like the feelings come back and the thoughts pressite.
If you want a friend I’m here. God loves us.
@@soph_8491 I’m so sorry but yea I know what your going through. My first word of advice is you definitely have to stop watching them, they will only make things worse!!! I stopped watching about 2 months ago (yes I know the urge to watch can be really strong but once you sternly pull away for a while the temptation DOES die down). I am still struggling but since I stopped watching them they’ve faded a bit into the back drop and I’m able to focus on other things better. I’m also taking antidepressants which I think is helping somewhat. Still severely depressed though and numb no emotions. It sucks having this kind of OCD but let’s fight through this!
@@pault9544 Thanks for the advice and kind words - I’ve been avoiding them as best I can. It gives me hope to hear you’re doing better.
Im 25 and you just described my life since 16 , i never knew i was suffering from that, there isn't a single day that i dont spend about 8 hrs aday thinking about my existential existence, every time i figure a solution out i overthink it over and over again until at one point i realize it is no more working that solution and enter the loop again... Thank you, you don't realize how much helpful this video was 😭 it was a relief to know i have a condition and finally figured it out.
I was pretty obnoxious with this in high school, constantly asking classmates and teachers, "does truth exist?" I didn't know how to move forward with planning my life before I knew the meaning of life. Got diagnosed with depression and GAD back then and eventually ended up landing on absurdism as the closest thing I'd get to an answer. Diagnosed with OCD now, thanks to other themes. Finally realized that was probably OCD back then about this time last year when I was feeling a lot of distress over Poe's "Dream within a Dream."
Final year of school, Scrupulosity, religious ocd back then along with existential issues. Everyday I would be engaged in conversation with people at school and in general, people of various beliefs. I would be asking them non stop about what their views were on heaven and hell. About what they thought happens when we die. Expressing to them that I feared I would go to hell. Asking the religious ones how can I be sure that I am not secrectly a satanist. Asking how can we endure eternity. Asking about reincarnation. Asking how can we be sure that you are you and I am me.I feel you deeply.
@@alexanderfridayeagle9146 I have this right now, how do I fix this?
I'm really struggling with this so bad. It's terrifying
@bobdotjs Do you still struggle?
??
I had a few things going on and was low key stressed, I had a panic attack, the first & only one i've ever had. I woke up the next day and felt detached and my mind was running a million miles per hour. I thought I was on the brink of insanity. I just wanted to feel normal again and constantly checked my emotional state, this is when hyperawareness OCD started/Depersonalization.
I blamed the stress on my job and asked myself "what do I want to do with my life?" Well well well, this triggered existential OCD. I didn't know I may have been suffering from OCD at the time, I just thought I wanted to figure my life out and make sure that I wasn't going crazy. I had a deadly cocktail mix consisting of existenital ocd & hyperawareness ocd with a dash of depersonalization....it was hell.
I finally recognised that it was probably hyperawareness OCD/DP and I wasn't going mad. This helped me realise I wasn't going mentally insane.
However I didn't realise I still had Existential OCD, I thought I was going through an existential crisis, I ruminated for around 2 years trying to figure out the meaning of life and what my purpose was. 2 whole years non stop to get basically nowhere, the question is unanswerable. I thought I'd come to a satisfying conclusion a few times but I still couldn't shake the urge to know. I then I accepted it's probably existential OCD. It's so difficult to be aware and accept what you are doing could be meaningless? This is what drives me to figure it out. I get one life and could live it pointlessly - that frightens me to death. On the flip side, i've wasted 2 years worrying about wasting my life - very ironic.
"If you enjoy the time you wasted then you haven't wasted any time"
Great video 👍
Holy crap the same thing happens to me I had a extreme panic attack and I woke up and everything was completely different it was like I had an extreme awareness of everything that was going on around me and I had slipped into a crisis about life itself and I got extremely delusional and developed an extreme amount of anxiety and discomfort and at first I was wondering how is anyone supposed to live without knowing.i thought I was on sum sort of drug trip it is the worst thing I’ve ever experience I thought I tripped out on sum sort of drugged and I was stuck like that forever and got extremely suicidal and got taken to a mental health hospital,it took months for me to even calm down in the slightest,it takes a bit of time to be okay from this,as I was getting better certain thoughts from your first experiences come and go but will get a lot better over time and the thoughts themselves get less debilitating and the anxiety will start to slowly lower and lower and lower,and as time goes on it gets easier to go about your day and won’t always be thinking about it and then when your almost completely recovered the thoughts you are having will start to be thoughts just like they would have been before the extreme panic attack,the best thing you can to is just relax and stay calm no matter what and it will get better and never research any questions you might have and try not to analyze the thoughts you were thinking as much as possible,I’m glad I’m going threw this now at 15 then to be going threw it later down the road anyone who is going threw this just no it’s going to be Okay :)
@Anthony Mazzullo I am literally experiencing the exact same thing!!! Just like you explained. First I though I had depersonalization or smth but now I think it could just be existential ocd. What helped you overcome it and did you fully recover?
@@ellilasaridou5769 How do you feel? As if you're trying to get back to your "old normal" self? And you can't stop trying to figure out how to just be yourself again and never think about any of this again?
@Dave Burns yes Kind of. I feel so much better now That I realized it was ocd all this time bc I have dealt with different types of ocd in the past so it would Make sense but it also started all of a sudden when I woke up and it felt so real that I convinced myself it was dp.
@@ellilasaridou5769 hmm DP does come with existential thoughts. What are your existential thoughts if you don't mind me asking?
I got existential ocd over the summer when I was working in busy food service. I had no time to think about anything while I was fixing food. Intrusive thoughts hit me with thinking “what if I’m not real and I just haven’t disappeared yet.” I got through it but it comes back sometimes.
This is rough. I've turned towards meditation which is helping me a lot.
What meditation if you don't mind me asking?
Recovery is possible I promise you guys,I recovered fully from ocd my life back to normal
This was my most recent theme and it was paired with suicidal OCD. When I first started having the obsessions, I thought I was depressed and then started getting really worried that these thoughts were indications that I didn't care about life, etc. This was also a very difficult theme to work through because it's everything! But my greatest success has been making scripts that end with something about never knowing the true meaning of life and never finding my purpose. I also have made major strides with just allowing the thoughts to be there and not giving them the time of day. For anyone suffering with this- it's difficult, but you can get through it!
For me, these thoughts brought on a sense of impending doom and a very intense fear. Lots of anxiety, lots of worrying about the meaning of the thoughts.
@@taylorerickson9994 how'd u recover i'm rly struggling with it rn
@@graciegavin745 Sorry that you're going through this. It sucks. Unfortunately I have no specific plan that I followed outside of just accepting that the thoughts exist and riding the waves of anxiety that accompany the thoughts. Eventually, your brain learns that they are not threats. I would recommend checking out the work of Mark Freeman. He has great tips for cutting out compulsions (mine are mostly mental like rumination and assessing EVERY feeling) and explains that anxiety will amplify before it gets better. But it DOES get better. I also recommend finding your "why"...why do you want to get better? Why do you want to go through the hard work of recovery? ANY reason is valid if it aligns with what you value as a person (though I'm sure OCD likes to make you question that... what a turd!). Finally, educate, educate, educate! I feel like I turned a corner when I learned how OCD operates in my brain- I recommend Reid Wilson's work, The OCD Stories, Catherine Benfield, Shala Nicely, Peace of Mind, Jon Hershfield, Steven Hayes, and Jonathan Grayson... among so many others like this channel! Good luck. You've got this. Don't let OCD tell you otherwise.
OMG Taylor i am dealing with the exact same thing! My first theme was Suicide OCD and then this one hit. These 2 togheter are tormenting. I always check if i am depressed. I am terrified of Major Depressive Disorder and everytime i get existential thoughts from the EOCD it triggers my SOCD and i start to think that i am suicidal and there’s no much time until I kill myself. I am crying everyday. I am doubting myself a lot. Do you ever felt like this? Do you feel better now and have some advice for me? Thanks a lot in advance 🥺🤗
I'm going through something similar rn...
This channel is so underrated thank you so much.
Me, thinking back to friends in the philosophy major in college: wait a minute, did we all have OCD? [Telling OCD to shut it, "Who cares, move on!"]
🤪🤪
It really seems you made this video based upon my life. Now I understand so many things about me. Thank you.
Oh my God. I have never had anyone describe my suffering so accurately. All my life people have seen me as if there's something wrong with me or I am crazy. But for now at least I know there are more people out there going through the same and I am not alone in this.🥺🥺
I couldn’t agree more!!!! It’s so relieving and terrifying all at once!!! Glad to not be alone, hate that we all feel this way…..it’s putting my stomach in knots thinking about it all now and can’t sleep.
@@nadiadalleh4940 I too had sleepless nights when I first read about it. But I feel I am in a better place as I know the what and why about these feelings. I feel validated.
Are you also afraid to be the only real Person?
@@nadiadalleh4940 are you also afraid to be the only real Person?
@@beeberry8055 what do ya mean real person? Like if it’s a simulation? That would definitely freak me out!! Is that your fear?
thank you for this!! i’ve been obsessively thinking about the philosophy of solipsism for the last month and it’s been getting in the way of my daily life and i didn’t even know this was a subtype of ocd. i’ll make sure to mention this to my therapist when i see them for the first time next week
hi! i’m actually going through the same thing :/ are you feeling better now?
I know you may not believe me but I promise I'm alive, breathing, anxious as hell, and also continually worry I'm the only human in existence 😂
I know how that feels..
Hugs 🫂 my solipsistic brother
How are you feeling now? Did you take any medication?
This was the most helpful video I've seen so far thank you
Are you afraid to be the only real Person?
Please don’t ever delete this video you’ve just explained everything that goes on with me meticulously
For me its the fear that life is a trick being played on us. When we die we'll be mocked and humiliated for our lives and how pointless it all was.
Think about how much you would be mocked and humiliated if you spent your entire life wondering this. Go and live your life. Be happy.
"What is the purpose of life ?","Life is meaningless" all these kind of thoughts and questions constantly comes in my mind. These thoughts are really eating me.
It's only meaningless if you don't ascend.
@@aneeholyyea thats the problem tho theres nothing after death so life is meaningless im literallt going crazy
if he was my therapist, i d have been cured the day it started
Haha. I'm not sure I'm that good. 😃
Are you afraid to be the only real Person?
been there and fully recovered..it just faded honestly..the DP/DR was the worst of it..but im doing so good right now..
Even this video feels like or is apart of a simulation or dream. I hate feeling this way because it makes me feel so stuck and hard to get out my house because I feel as though I’m in a trapped bubble or glass bowl. It’s gotten so bad that i even feel this video is all apart of the simulation feeling and thoughts. Is this normal to think about because it feels like my answers are answered but it’s not enough bring myself back from the thoughts making me think I am living in such a dream or simulation. It makes me feel miserable and want to run away from my own body because I overstimulate what I’m feeling which makes my body feel weird and makes me have crazy thoughts.
I understand you. I feel the same. What you described sounds similar to Depersonalization also. It is a brain mechanism of protecting yourself when dealing with lots of anxiety. You might want to check that out. I really hope we’ll recover! 🤗
IRINA COMȘA Im scared I’ll tell my doctor and he’ll brush it off because that’s happened before and I was suffering so bad until they put me on a combo of meds and found one that worked but only for a little bit
@@danielgrant9861 try another doctor? i don't the situation your in maybe that's not an option for you but if it is, and you fear he'll brush you off you should try going to another doctor
I don't know where you're at now, but I really feel the same right now, and despite the feeling of unreality, I relate so much to what you said. I hope you're felling better now, as much as I hope I'll feel better soon. If answering my comment is not a huge trigger for you, don't hesitate to tell me how you're feeling rn ! Sending you love and strenght as much as you might need
@@EstelleBoobzhow are you now?
Nathan, I just want to say from someone who has been suffering from this type of OCD, THANK YOU for putting this out. You described everything perfectly. Living with this debilitating feeling like what if I'm in a simulation, or what if I'm really alone and this is all just projections of my mind have caused me IMMENSE anxiety, feelings of terror, depression, you name it. But these tools you described are exactly what is needed to help recover from this. Thank you for all you do for us living with OCD.
I've been going through the exact same thing, that fear of being the only one!
I deal with the same thing. You’re not alone in this! It’s hard but I keep telling myself it’s only temporary. I am safe. We are safe. A year later, I hope you’re doing amazing rn
5:30 oh yeah, this is so true. You got the answer perfectly figured out, you wake up next day to some random thought and you are like "well sh*t, I didnt think about this...."
👉👉Do you struggle with Existential OCD? What questions do you think about?
I'm always wondering if i really do exist or not?
I do, and it's pretty much the questions you mentioned 😅 am I in a dream? Do we see the same colors? Is this real? Do we live in a simulation?
But I try to think that no matter what, I experience what I experience and I'll try to make the best of everything :) no matter if it might be real or not
if we live in simulation and what is real all not, it is killing mr
Do we remember everything we see....how we choose our memory our thoughts...how we priority
I spend hours and hours researching/thinking about the possibility of an afterlife and what it might be like. Ever since I read about “near death experiences” I’ve been wracked with anxiety and terror over what will happen to me when I die, scared I’ll go to some sort of biblical hell or a void where I’m taunted that it was all a cosmic joke played on me and the the void is all there is. It combines with bouts of anxiety over religion as well, to the point I sometimes get badly triggered by certain religious imagery. These thoughts completely debilitate me. Thank you so much for your video, I wish more people talked about this very crippling type of OCD.
This is sheer misery. Therapists are woefully largely uneducated about this.
Does this fall into existential anxiety? So sometimes people will be talking about normal, everyday things and suddenly it all starts seeming bizarre and foreign to me.. and then panic arises and I start to question things deeper about existence and what not. Let me know
Don't forget to exercise guys. I had a rough day and then went for a run. It opened my eyes to how important it is to exercise. This relaxes you and gets you out of the thought loops :)
i experienced this for the first time when i was 16. it just popped into my head. i panicked and lived in a state of DR for a few weeks. it was horrible and i didn’t even know it was ocd. i should have known though because i have struggled with ocd since i was 5. but i just didn’t know. i asked my father (he’s studied physics) for answers, ALL the time. it helped for a bit but i always doubted his answers. what if i just imagined him saying that? what if that is not true? how does ANYBODY know what’s real? i researched SO much, all the time. my family got so annoyed to the point where they didn’t want to answer my questions anymore. and that kind of helped. i am so glad that i now know what it is and how i can accept it. uncertainty is the key :)
Were you afraid to be the only real person?
@@beeberry8055 yes i was. all the time. it was horrible.
@@roselia7354 how did you overcome that fear? Did you take any medication?
I get that "you need to accept the uncertainty" part but at the same time it is not possible to me to do that because it's the reason why I'm so scared. I can't tell myself "maybe it's all real maybe it's all fake that doesn't matter" no that does matter, it doesn't help me at all, it makes me even more anxious. I want to be like I used to. 100% sure that everything around me is real, that I'm not in a Truman show or matrix type of situation. I can't accept this uncertainty. What am I supposed to do????
Whew chile, thank God I found JESUS!! His word and truth set me free!
I had a full recoveryand I'm so happy about it. I used to think that we're in a simulation when I was 15 and I couldn't bear the thought. I didn't know it was OCD. My therapist told me it's OCD but I just couldn't see how since I was just a child. Until one day I saw a video of someone explaining the matter without saying anything about ocd and he said "I guess we'll never know, so who cares" something along those lines and I immediately had relief and since then I never thought about it again. Basically, I went through ERP without even knowing it lol 😂 Now I can easily go back to videos o what ever trigger I had and feel absolutely no fear or anxiety/panic and I couldn't be happier about it.
Stay strong yall we are stronger than our dissorder and it's lies. We are all brave warriors❤
thank you buddy so much for this video because i have depression and anxiety as well . also this video is helping me out a lot so thank you buddy because it’s teaching me so much on how to control my anxiety and depression plus this staring habit that i have been trying to get rid of . ps helps a lot 😇
Are you also afraid to be the only real Person?
I watched this to educate myself and ended up #triggered by 3:55 😅
Thank you for the information tho🤣🤣def talking to my dr tomorrow
Ahhh. Sorry about that! 😃
I've been having intrusive thoughts about the afterlife, I can't stop thinking about it and trying to find answers.. It's making me unable to enjoy anything.. I have derealization too and it makes me feel like the whole world is frozen and I'm the only one aware of it..
If you can’t know truth…how can you say that you can’t know truth. It’s a direct contradiction. To make the statement that you can’t know truth is to affirm that you know truth. Probability is what we base our beliefs on. There are a few things that are certain about reality. But as an OCD patient you have to accept that you’re going to encounter existential certainty on only a few concepts and not others. That’s hard because OCD is a doubters disease. Acceptance is still key.
Does existential ocd bring to depersonalisation/derealisation episodes?
I think so cus I have both. First it started with harm ocd an well I smoked weed an it made things worse. The thc made me feel unreal an I got depersonalization / derealization disorder. My questions right now that are making my ocd worse I won't say because it's irrelevant and I don't want to trigger anybody. I just hope we get through this all of us.
I'm in the same situation, and I've done quite some research, so here it is.
Dp/Dr and existential OCD, in my experience, have a one-to-one relationship: ex ocd elicits existential thought which trigger the sensation, the sensation can trigger existential thought.
So what we have to do: while we have episodes, remember that the way we think is "altered" by the sensation of unreality, which poses the existential doubt over everything.
So first of all you have to accept and familiarize with this sensation, remembering it's just a SENSATION, understanding why, in the first place it's there (usually as a emotional numbing from stressor), and then realizing that those existential thoughts are just thought, which acquire credibility thanks to the underlying dp/Dr.
The more you fight, the more it becomes seemingly unbearable. Because it's the same like trying to rationalize an emotion: you can't. It's just a feeling, live it, let it flow through you, and remember it's the right-hand man of anxiety.
On the other hand, treats ex ocd like a common existential crisis: let it be there and do its job.
@@user-tl6he1mn7sdid you recover from everything?
It’s just a relief to know that others go through this.
I didn't even know this was part of OCD. Nice to finally have a name to this.
Are you afraid to be the only real Person?
I can say just "wow" thanks a bunch
This is a super helpful video! I've been feeling very tortured and isolated by my mind lately and I intend to stop caring so much about unanswerable fears and I choose to start living and enjoying my life instead. I can appreciate the mystery of life. Thank you thank you thank you!
This man always understands my problems 😂😂idk why I'm laughing when I'm traumatised
I once became super aware of my consciousness. It was like a second degree of consciousness where I am conscious that I am conscious and breathing. This gave me panic attacks and spirals of anxiety. Led to constant ruminating thoughts which goes ‘ I am the person who is seeing this world’ , ‘ I am the first point of view and rest of them are different entities’ , why am I me?
All such super weird questions which i could not even put into words. Over time, it passed. But recently it has again started to bother me. I don’t know if its because of stress or overworking, but it’s giving me anxiety spirals and making me aware and anxious about my own existence.
Did anyone else experience anything similar?
I hope I run out this thought and live a normal life.
I have gone through existential OCD 3 times in 5 years , it happens it comes back again and again, i also have very weird questions like what exactly is right what is wrong , what is the guarantee what I m thinking and doing is right , who decides what is right , how do I know what is right .... And so on , and many such thoughts it's really weird , i also have wasted so much time into it
I've experienced that exact phenomenon! Its been torturing me and following me for years everyday. I'm relieved to hear that I'm not alone regarding this specific obsession
I've been questioning exactly the same myself. It feels like I discovered something about existence, to me it makes no sense that I'm me, why am I the "preferred point of view" of the universe? It's such a strange feeling I never ever thought about before, never realized how weird this is, and I've been really deep into spirituality, trying to find the answers...
@@Rocio-wy2eg you're not gonna find answers unfortunately, you just find the opinions of others in the same position
Same here and it's so terrifying! I feel like I'm losing my mind just by thinking about it 😢
This has been one of my themes lately. Thanks for the video, I always come to your channel as reminder almost to keep my OCD in check. I fall into compulsions sometimes and don’t realize it until I come here. Thank you.
My brain keeps telling me that everything will pass, every moment will pass and i cant remember these moments. The thoughts just keep popping up and making me depressed. Is this considered existential OCD?
the more you ask,trying to know and be certain
the more you make the obsessions relevant to your brain.
Exactly 💯💯
Thank you so much for your videos. I am having those same thoughts 24/7. It's so relieving to know what it is. I'll try not to get reassurance compulsively, but, honestly, sometimes I have to fall because it feels SO lonely and SO disorienting... like I'm losing myself, like I don't exist. I know I'll get through this. I don't have anxiety anymore, that's good... but now I feel that reality is distorted, weird, like turned upside down. If like to see the world as I used to see it. Well, there you go, I ranted. Thank you for reading me, whoever you are.
Are you better?
How would I know if this is an OCD, or if it is my 'Awakening', my calling for finding spirituality or religion in my life? I am an agnostic, was brought Catholic. The first time I experienced this existential despair was shortly after I lost faith after developing critical thinking.
Now I am having it again, and just found out it could be apparently an existential OCD mixed with existential depression (lost interest in anything, as everything seems meaningless, stupid, futile).
How do I know if I should fix it psychologically, or if it's a thing that needs a spiritual answer?
Are you also afraid to be the only real Person?
@@beeberry8055 yeah, I am when I am having these anxieties
@@joanofjoy do you take any medication for your fear to be the only real person?
Last year during lockdown, I had (at 17) the first and worst anxiety and depression of my life with existential dread and fear constantly. When I went back to school, my symptoms faded, despite the tragic loss of one of my best friends. I stopped seeing my therapist. Now, after graduating and moving through half of the summer, I find myself stuck with these intrusive thoughts again, losing interest in the things I liked to do, constant fear and nervousness. I never sought a diagnosis, but with newfound knowledge that my Grandpa has been living with OCD, and my Mother with Anxiety, I guess I'll have to get help again.
Are you afraid to be the only real Person?
@@beeberry8055yes all the time
I didn’t realize these were OCD things whoops
🤪Each person's different. 🤪 Some love these questions and others feel anxious and fear because of them.
5 episodes of black mirror and here I am .__.
Don't watch this stuff.
Seriously.
I actually like that show. Sorry it caused issues for you. I wish you well! 😃
I just got this diagnosis a few weeks ago and I appreciate this video so much! It's so strange to hear exactly what I've felt for so long.
i used to wander why hands are hands or eyes are eyes , i know it sounds odd but i would wander about anything from the universe to reality itself..just me thinking on how i could think made me spiral out of control into panic and very bad DP/DR, life and existence freaked me out to the core its like even my freak out freaked me out..what a mess it was..its the frekiest thing ever but i look back and wander why i was so fixed on those thoughts..Very glad i recovered
My significant other is barreling this right now and I am trying to understand how I can help him through this when he has these episodes. I don’t want to say the wrong thing or make anything worse because I see how much it impacts him in a debilitating way. Any suggestions from those that do suffer from this ? Thank you
Battling rather *** sry auto correct
Hey how is he doing now? Hopefully much better. I would just tell him to accept it as much possible and IT WILL dissolve completely over time, and he will feel normal and calm again. Let him know that the fear is just energy and won't hurt him.
My ocd is about reincarnation I don't like the idea of losing the memory of my loved ones it makes life pointless. So my ocd keeps saying YOU NEED TO LEARN HOW TO NOT REINCARTE !!!! YOU MUST DO THIS !!!! So I look up things about it I look up proof an all that then I look up the illogicalness of reincarnation to help myself to disbelieve it, I honestly don't know what to believe I'm scared I don't care about anything materialistic and life all I care about is my loved ones I care about sharing love with other people I want to be loved and I want to give love to other people I understand that people won't always be there I understand but our memories of them will always live on through other people people will remind us of the people that we love. So losing memory to me is worse then dying. So my ocd keeps going like LEARN FROM BUDDHA !!! but then what about my family? My friends ? All the people I will learn to love ? How do I save them from this???? I'm living in hell right now Im trying so FUCKING hard to stop but it's hard when it's about this type of stuff. Plus buddhism says about suffering an how you can learn to live with it an mindfulness seems to me that some of it might be true do what's stopping reincarnation from being true. Then my ocd says we'll Buddha says it's attachments that make us suffer an we must detach ourselves from that. I'm so depressed I feel like there's no way out of this. I had harm ocd an it was horrible then I started smoking weed an then I got depersonalization disorder an started questing everything !!! I'm sorry I'm just in so much pain. An I try to stay in the moment but when I'm alone. It hurts me. My ocd just now just said Well you see the buddha is right ! Your not paying attention. Idk what to believe anymore. My ocd is also If I listen an learn to let go of this obsession will I reincarnate because I failed to learn the meaning of something in life ? An by doing this its accepting yup one day I'll lose all my memory of my loved ones. This hole thing has tought me alot I won't lie I try to be positive I've learned to care more for other people. I love you all here. I try to tell myself that people will die but there memory will live on in others other people will remind us of our loved ones meaning love everyone as they were your loved ones. I just wish I could talk to someone who knows how to treat this. But is that me asking for reassurance I don't know my OCD just keeps on asking these questions. My ocd always seems to attack my family. My loved ones pets you name it. I know that means my loved ones mean everything to me but it's hell when it's existential stuff cus there's really no answer to any of this but my OCD won't accept that. Ocd is like living in hell. Then my ocd thinks maybe this is my karma ? Or wow you probably don't understand karma you should look it up to find out. My googling is that a compulsion? Everyday my life didn't live with this I just want everybody to be okay I just want everybody to be happy you me everything so at least OCD you made me learn to love people in or out of your family. Maybe question is has anyone had this same theme? Or heard of this same theme? I might be asking for reassurance I don't know tbh. I think it would be reassuring to know I'm not the only one with this thought. Won't feel so alone. Idk
I’m experiencing the same thing brother. Very similar. I’m thinking about the same thoughts and what I can do. Sometimes I think maybe there’s a message I need to understand or something.
You’re not alone. God loves us brother and don’t worry.
Would you like for us to be friends. We can talk about it more.
@@Happys_Art That would be awesome! Do you have a playstation 4? I could add you on there. An thank you,,, I was dealing with things today an your message was amazing
@@user-tl6he1mn7s no worries brother. Here’s my instagram. Follow me.
Insta: happy_farhanalmajali
And here’s my Facebook.
Facebook: Farhan almajali
(Pic of a guy with dark hair and leather jacket side view.)
Also yes I do have a PlayStation 4. I’m not familiar with it yet so I will have to wait for my brother to ask him how to add.
We can be friends and we can talk about everything inshallah.
@@Happys_Art I don't have either of those unfortunately only a PlayStation 4. It's the only social media outlet I use but when you figure out how to add just message me here ☺️ when you have everything ready
I have been dealing with so many years now. I had dealt with all kind of ocd compulsion to instrusive thought .for whole 1year i was completely cured but again now im having philosophy ocd.
THANK YOU. SO MUCH. I have been struggling with OCD for the past 4 years now and this really helped. I have phases with OCD where I know the treatment but I just ignore it and bop there I am in the OCD circle/phase again. thank you! this really gave me insight into it and I think I'm ready to start working against it again. thank you. I will try my best.
I have phases too! I was just diagnosed with anxiety and depression, but no one ever told me about OCD!
Are you afraid to be the only real person?
@@lifeofh9824 are you afraid to be the only real Person?
Coming across this video has brought this massive sense of relief to me because I've been struggling to pinpoint why I've been spiraling so heavily lately and this gives me something for consideration to bring into therapy and a baseline to work with.
God, I've ruined the best years of my life (and some of my friends) dealing with solipsism!
Me too I need help bro
How are you doing now?
@@bifrost8832 Much more better, I've been undergoing therapy
How about you?
@@elionmarvel5544 Glad to hear that man. I don't have the means to get help rn, but I think I'm doing pretty good though. Hopefully, I'll get to see a therapist soon.
BRO SAME IT FUCKING SUCKS
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! I suffer from this and feel seen, heard, felt, and validated.
Edit 1: For me, what it looks like is this intense anxiety around not knowing what existence is and thinking that I’m inside of a trauma and everyone and everything is a figment of my imagination, and I’m going to wake up into the “real” reality one day once I’m brave enough to face the trauma.
I imagine that the “people” (because remember, to me some of the time, people are manifestations of my consciousness) will one day break the news to me that all of this is a dream and going on inside my head.
It’s incredibly destabilizing and makes me feel insurmountable loneliness. Because if I’m the only thing to exist, how can that not be anything but lonely?
Anyway, I really hope to explore this more and do some exposures to try and overcome this.
I started taking SSRIs and I FINALLY found one that is helping me tremendously. I’m a bit nervous it will stop working and I’ll fall back into the trap of my brain, but perhaps that fear is natural and to be expected.
I'm so glad it resonated with you. It's been requested for a while. I'm glad I was able to get it done. 👍🏻 I wish you the best!
You know I too have those ongoing obsessions about reality, bordering solipsism. Observing coincidences and feeling sometimes that nothing and no one is real and that everything is a subtle play set around me, and I compulsively research buddhism, and hindu gurus and try to find explanations from persons of seeming authority that will put my mind at ease and restore my faith in an objective reality. I have to find a satisfactory explanation before I put down the phone or switch off the pc. Of course the relief does not last long. When I am in heightened state of anxiety I do not observe my surroundings and actions well and that does not serve my memory, so then I doubt if I remember putting objects where they are or doing a certain action. Like did I close this window or is this a glitch in the matrix, did time just go backwards or I don't remember correctly the time from when I absent mindedly checked it? But whenever I have been in a healthy and serene state, and I could feel this in my body through my breathing and blood flow, you know a general sense of well being, I have always been naturally observant at such states and had no reason to doubt my memory or reality. Also consider this brother, if either me or you are in a matrix or a simulation, why are there two of us? Or rather thousands of us, all suffering and I stress the word suffering, from the same affliction? An affliction common enough to have a name and it is only a subset of a larger category.
@@alexanderfridayeagle9146 hello brother.
I would like for us to be friends. I’m experiencing the same thing and I would like a friend to talk with and maybe help each other. God bless you.
Hello my friend.
Can we be friends. I’m going through the same thing and I want a friend to talk with the is experiencing the same thing.
God bless you.
I was diagnosed with GAD some five years ago. It's crazy how accurate some of these videos are, I have booked a meeting with OCD specialist after watching a bunch if these, I think it might help me. Thanks so much.
THIS CHANNEL IS THE MOST UNDERRATED CHANNEL IN THE WORLD. HOW CAN YOU NOT ADORE THIS GUY
I feel so stuck with this theme. I had many OCD themes But this one is completely another level of hell. I experience Depersonalization also. I want to feel like myself again not asking these big questions I’ll never know. I am panicked and depressed everyday 24/7 😥 someone please tell me i won’t feel this way forever
it will pass
i am the exact same. it’s been on & off for period - on for periods of months.. it can go away.
Oof, I'm right there with you. Are you feeling any better lately? Have you found anything that works for you?
How are you doing now?
I was wondering about some of these stuff ever since I was a kid, especially the color and the dream ones, but thankfully I wasn’t “OCDing.” They were kinda scary tho
Oh I bet that would be super scary as a kid. Thanks for sharing your experiences! 😃
Me too! That colour thing creeped me out. Thankfully it’s never been more then intrusive thoughts - no compulsions just bugged me for a day or two and they faded.
@@abb7y *virtual hugs* I know how that feels!!!!! I’m so sorry it’s bothering you :( that thought sometimes pop up in my head but never lingers too long….
I don’t really have a good solution to deal with it either then telling you to shift the focus. I know it’s hard for ocd… I don’t have it but… for me I just take time to start hobbies, focus on something small, and concrete, that can fill up your mind
@@abb7y for me I try to do embroidery, learning ukulele or guitar, growing plants… something solid that you can hear, and touch, and you can mold it’s shape. And you have an outcome from this hobby that will stay with you, I find that help
@@abb7y another thing I do is painting… and do colour mixing and stuff. And focus on just the colours how they look, what colours you see, and know that it doesn’t matter if other people see the same thing or not. Accept that they might not, and to be honest it doesn’t matter and also you and I we will never know the truth.
I had this the other night, started believing the thoughts and that made me cry lol
Were you afraid to be the only real Person?
Made me come to the conclusion that I have this disorder and recently I have become so bad that I have derealization and depersonalization. This helped me not feel alone and see it from a different perspective
How are you now Alanna? How are you managing derealization and depersonalization? I have it too 😫 And i don’t know what to do anymore
@@Iarisap how you doing now?
Let me share my story, please read it I would really appreciate it, since I am nearly hopeless and also excuse me for my bad English, it is not my native language: this shit is freaking me out I've got a pretty damn bad dp and dr. I remembered when I was a kid that I always would have the constant fear of having a stroke or hearth attack ( I was there 7 years old!!!!) and I got diagnosed with hypochondria ( the phobia or fear of any illness and getting them) and I was only seven years old! haha I even read by that age medicine lecture and learned the symptoms of those illnesses. So basically then I always used to question myself what happens after death, was fearing death extremely and what is the purpose of life and at one point i got stuck with this terrifying thougt with the purpose of life and from there on I developed DR I also remember that when I was concentrating too long or too much on this specific thought I would always freak out and nearly pass out nd getting dizzy af, since this all makes no sense and it's really weird, because there isn't actually an explanation and answer for this as I always thought. Nobody understood me and nobody understood my question they would always answer it with : the purpose of life is to make children and to make the best of your life. but that wasnt my question I always got missunderstanded and it was so frustrating. However, I still got this terrifying fear of what happens after death and so on, but altough I got by the years really religious and try my best to keep being religious I still cant get over my DR and this fear. Also I developed a pretty pretty pretty fu****ing bad version of DP, it is like DP but on antoher level, it is so bad, that I cant recognize myself and I always have racing thoughts and I am trapped in my head with this thoughts. Because of an stressful experience which happened this year I developed a super bad DP version with kinda like personalities, they would literally let me feel like antoher person (mostly persons from RL, which I really like and impressed me in a way) to push my extreme low self esteem or to protect me from awkward situations or feelings. It is crazy and I've got suicidal thoughts of this, If i wouldnt be that religious I wouldnt care killing myself because i dont got an "I-feeling" anymore it is literally splitted. Can maybe somebody relate or help, maybe you even got a similar story or the same version of DP with this personalities because I havent found somebody yet who has this, wish you all the best for recovering and stay strong guys and find God in your life!!!
I'm afraid of not choosing the right religion. Christianity purports to be the only path to some heaven. Accept Jesus or go to hell I have major issues with the Bible and other so called holy books. What do I do?
First get rif of the ocd. When your mind clears, you can then think about it later
I experienced obsessive thoughts about what if we live in a simulation and that I would not be remembered after I’m dead. It lasted months but I overcame it. Thankfully 😅
howww
@@ellalusk7036 I just tried not to figure it out every time the questions or statements appeared and overtime it went away.
Augusto Colman that’s rlly smart and i’ve tried that but it just went away temporarily, and then the unwanted thoughts just come back and i obsess over them. it’s almost as if ocd is subconsciously addictive😬
@@ellalusk7036 oh yes that happened to me too. It came back with same and other questions. Did the same, started to let them be without trying to respond to them. Try what Nathan says. Each time a question pops up you tell yourself I don’t know until you are ok with that answer
@@ellalusk7036 i'm having the same thing atm and rly need someone to talk abt it with that understands do u have a snapchat
The main one I’ve had is like are people real or a figment of my imagination. The reason it gets to me so much is because whenever I’m trying to talk to someone, have a deep conversation, whenever my partner says I love you or my mum and I are laughing and giggling - it comes into my head that they aren’t real which I don’t know if they are - no one does. It kills me to think the people I love don’t exist because I obviously want them to. It makes me push it away to talk to anyone because what’s the point if they aren’t real? It terrifies me.
And I know as humans, we focus mainly on the negative rather than the positive because it means we need to fix the negative - even thought we don’t, we just want to do bad. It kills me to think about it all.
I understand what you mean and I’m going through the same thing . If you want we can talk and become friends .
Here’s my instagram.
Insta: happy_farhanalmajali
Hey, im struggling with the same thing due to the fear that im trapped in a coma and my life iant real. It hurts so much. Were you ever able to get past these thoughts?
@@MORGUE88 hey! Yes. It took a few months but I found going to college helped and just getting on with everyday tasks helped. I know how scary it is to even fathom the thought of moving. You can do this, though.
@@emboslaybo thank you so much for responding! It means a lot. Im glad your feeling better :)
I frequently have thoughts about life and our existence. I frequently wonder how humans are real, how the universe is real. I thing about things like sound and how technology allows us to be able to record sound and replay it elsewhere and it all seems completely impossible to me. I’ve never had this in my 25 years and it’s terrifying me. I do have OCD but never had these kind of intrusive thoughts. The things I think seem as if there is no rational conclusion to them. Does this sound like existential ocd??
I watched a documentary about universe ,paralell universe ,mandella effect and stuff ,and it has been messing with head ever since ,i get questions like whats the truth ,did we shift into parallell universe,did i invidually shift into one without knowing it,ive also before this ive had thoughts,what if theres no god ,whats life about ,what were supposed to do,then it got worse and gotten to the point i showed u before,its so hard like for a minute i know nothing happend i lived like this 21 years without questioning anything,then obessions hit me again,im making my life hell for some questions that arent even considered science,for some conspiracies,i hope i get out of this loop,im.positive there will be some help for me,also i have had previous ocd themes,its not the first one,but so far the most reality shaking one.
⚠️ I'm struggling with it for 8 years. It comes and go. In the end, you want to know why you are here, what's my purpose ? What's after death ? Why do anything if everything is meaningless and sad ? 😮😮😮
Your videos are so great! I can’t stop watching them.
Thank you for this video. I relate to many of these thoughts + I have experienced anxiety around the concept of "not existing". In my thinking mind I know for a fact that not existing is a concept you can only think about in an existing mind, but despite of this the compulsion/thought of not existing after death keeps popping up. Could this be a part of Existential OCD?
I've been having the exact same thoughts myself
@@lifeofh9824 Nice to not be alone with thinking like this. Like with the other thoughts mentions in the video, the solution probably is to allow that thought to exists. I wish you the best 💕
@@lisatruedsson Have you found a way to feel better? Like medication or therapy? Or anything else?
@@lifeofh9824 Yes I'm trying some of the one's you mention above right now. I think when it comes down to it, the best thing to do is to do what he says in the video. Salut the thought and welcome it without attaching emotions to it. Or atleast try. It's the same for everyone so it's all we can do. Also... we can only think this thought while existing, which kind of takes out the whole concept of it... Good luck
Found this by accident, holy crap this is me 😳
I want to thank you so much for this video. I first got scared when my English teacher shared with me a story about a philosopher who is an existentialist and it freaked me out. I had these thoughts ever since and I had panic attacks afterward. I couldn’t sleep because of all the research I was doing and freaking out. For me, I might question why I’m doing something and if humans ever did this thousands of year ago and causes me anxiety. Then I would research about what people think online. This would ruin my day and would be one of the biggest challenges i faced. Thank you so much 😊
I have the opposite problem lol I have the most intense intrusive thoughts about converting to Catholicism, and my brain LITERALLY tells me I have no choice. I wish I was caught up in existentialism. I'd rather that, then the hell of feeling like I have to give up who I am, and detach from my friends and family because they are worldly fixtures, and I should be subservient to a higher order.
@@commentyoutube8002 I'm thinking about converting to catholicism to cope with existential OCD lol
@@moonmama95 I think there's a lot of good that can be found there! I wouldn't dissuade anyone from converting, its just not something I see as being compatible or necessary for me.
I tried tried doing the exposure to this by saying, “Yeah. It probably IS true that this reality is fake and I’m in a trauma. And that train blowing it’s horn IS a sign of something calling me home, to the actual reality.” And I get afraid I’ll kill myself to get back to the actual reality. For obvious reasons, this creates a LOT of anxiety and I feel like I don’t know up from down when I’m in this mentally anxious place.
I’m not sure what to do from here. It seems like believing my thoughts only reinforces that they’re true which puts me in a really bad place.
This is the same for me I get scared I might do something to myself and I might actually give into these thoughts of dreaming or imagining everything
You’re not alone brother.I’m experiencing the same thing. I’m here for you you. God loves you and there’s hope.
Would you like for us to be friends. We can talk about it more. Don’t worry my friend.
God bless you.
don't believe them, just humorously accept that maybe you are in a trauma, or maybe your not and then just continue with your day
Thanks for the support everyone. Just wanted to give y’all an update and let you know I’m doing MUCH better. I still have the occasional feeling of this reality not being real, but it’s usually easy for me to dismiss now.
It’s pretty crazy to me to see what I wrote back then (and remember believing so strongly) to where i am now.