OCD safe words? With OCD comes great responsibility to flat out avoid the obsession that leads to the anxiety that leads to the compulsion that eventually leads to temporary relief that feeds the OCD just so you can obsess again and cycle through all this distress in good looping fashion. Greeeat!
With this tremendous amount of pressure to avoid this cringe worthy cycle also comes built in tactics. What do I mean by built-in-tactics? Self made rituals so that you can say “Hey, it’s alright, you don’t need to obsess over this” to yourself.
One of my built-in-tactics are safe words. I use safe words to try to convince myself that the obsessive thought never intruded to begin with. I also use safe words to beat OCD to the punch.
This is what I mean, with examples.
Safe words like ‘Merger’, ‘LeBron James’, ‘Healthy’ are a few.
Merger:
Intrusive words like ‘murder’, whether it be heard from the news, read in a book, talked about in a movie, mentioned in a song, said in casual conversations – can lead to disturbing images or thoughts that are just unwanted.
This type of intrusion to those with OCD can easily start that uncontrollable cycle of distress. Once you tell yourself so emphatically not think of something so horrid, it is very difficult to not think about said specificity.
When you build up these obsessive habits just to feel some temporary relief, you begin to anticipate these triggers. So I built a bank of words that could possibly hold more value then money at times, because it convinces me that the intrusive thought was not ‘murder’, but it was ‘merger’ instead.
The compulsion is then in my head and nearby observers don’t get the chance to see my physical compulsion of putting whatever item in my hand down just to pick up again pleading for a better image at the next grasp. Imagine that in the store while picking out bubble gum.
LeBron James:
I am from Cleveland, and like most people, I hold different celebrities and public figures to different fandoms. For me, I’ve placed LeBron James at the top of that fandom pole. He’s brought me joy in bringing a championship to the city I grew up in, he embodies greatness and high standards, so the mentioning of his name makes me feel greatness.
I personally want greatness, so I use the word ‘LeBron James’ as a safe word to combat other intrusive thoughts. I’ve had days where I speak softly, mumble, or constantly think ‘LeBron’ to avoid thoughts or images of perhaps sickness.
Healthy:
A lot of OCD is centered around yours or someone else’s well being. Whoo, bare with me, this one is difficult. But I told myself I was going to be transparent with this blog, so here we go.
This disorder is not healthy. But maybe, just maybe, when my mother tells me of her or my dad’s health issues and I utter thoughts of ‘Healthy’ or ‘LeBron’, my OCD tells me that’s better than uttering thoughts of ‘death’.
Whoo… I am so tempted to go back an erase that. Fellow OC-Doers, you know what I mean.
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There would be cases where someone is talking about their own health or someone else’s health and I would miss the majority of what they were saying because in my head I am trying to protect them by repeating ‘healthy’. I might even respond out loud to them afterwards whispering to myself ‘healthy’. The conversation doesn’t even have to be about anyone’s health. This is a word that I deemed safe. I’d rather think of the safe words then unsafe words.
OCD Safe Words:
They feed OCD. They are like pre compulsions. It is still a way to try to control my thoughts. In other words, safe words are just another obsession that leads to anxiety that lessens the physical compulsion for a quicker relief. It’s still something I have to work on.
Thoughts are constantly bouncing around in our minds and a lot of OCD revolves around controlling what we think so that we don’t obsess so much. Instead of controlling our thoughts, it’s the behavioral reaction to those thoughts we need to work on.
UGH OCD, safe words are still just a frenzy for you to feed upon.
Check out one of these posts where I discuss my OCD in depth: My Top 10 Triggers For Compulsive Behaviors and My OCD Then and Now.
Let me know if you found this helpful. I am curious to hear your opinions. Leave a comment or find me on Twitter @UghOCD or Instagram @brentleybigkid.
