has anyone ver tried this?

sunny27 · Post by **sunny27** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 5:17 am

Hi, I wanted to ask everyone here someting.

I started to get what I think is OCD as my anxiety worsened. I think it is my warped way of trying to control something, when everytihg seems out of control.
I have never been diagnosed though, but I started to count sporadically at first it was always by 3's thinking 3 had some power at controlling my anxiety. Now i know this just made it worse.
I did my own little experiment since this is so annoying and slows me down. I really wanted to know how much I could change or was this something I needed med's for. So when I felt the need to count I changed the # to 4. Of course it made me anxious because my irrational brain told me 3's did something special but after about 3 weeks I was counting by 4 without realizing it and not thinking about the 3. Odd and interesting so I did it again and changed the # to 8, again the same thing in a few weeks I was counting by 8. This tells me all this is, for me anyway, is a bad habit. I figure I am going to try for a mo. to eliminate all counting and any other OCD rituals and thoughts ( i have learned to recognize them fairly well because I know they are irrational)I started and it is so hard to ignore them and continue to do what i was ,my anxiety is high because I believe in my irrational mind they do something even though I can sit there and say this is not right. I believe if I can get through a few weeks they will be considerably less or the urge will be less. I am realizing anxiety too is just a habit along with my agoraphobia, the only way through is through the fear. Eventually new habits will form.

Just wondering if anyone else has tried this?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 3:54 pm

Until I had read your message, I hadn't thought about my counting very much; I just did it. I realized, after reading what you had written, that I usually count 5's on my fingers, or 4's with my tongue on my teeth.

I now find that I am catching myself doing this, and stopping. It seems that I've been spending a lot of mental energy on this counting. When I catch myself and stop, I find that I'm more relaxed, but wondering what to do next with my thoughts. I guess the counting is a way to deal with stress. If I stop counting, then I need another way to deal with the stress. I hope that the new way turns out to be cleaning. God knows my apartment needs it.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 4:07 pm

I forgto to answer your question. I have never tried changing the numbers that I count.