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How do you stop yourself from obsessing?

Fluttershy

Fluttershy

Well-Known Member
If you find yourself obsessing over something in an unhealthy way, what helps and distracts you?

I have a tendency to get really absorbed into certain social things. So if someone I like doesn't reply to me I can't do anything else but wait. I'm ok with not badgering them but it's still the only thing on my mind. Or like, if I want to do something (like go out with people) that's all I focus on. I get really distraught if things don't go how I imagine. I can understand logically why it's a problem but I can't break it.
 
I took the anti-depressant Venlafaxine for about a year, it really helped clear up the circular thinking and obsessive thoughts (mine are typically daydreams about past events and how I wished they had transpired, around and around).

Unfortunately, it also took away some valuable things. I was far less creative, I started to not care about things that had been important to me, and I became pretty uninspired in my speech and the subjects of conversation. It was perfect if all I wanted to do was sit around and not do much, but that is not an option for me.

It was a marvelous vacation from the circular/obsessive thoughts, though.
 
On the Inside said:
I took the anti-depressant Venlafaxine for about a year, it really helped clear up the circular thinking and obsessive thoughts (mine are typically daydreams about past events and how I wished they had transpired, around and around).

Unfortunately, it also took away some valuable things. I was far less creative, I started to not care about things that had been important to me, and I became pretty uninspired in my speech and the subjects of conversation. It was perfect if all I wanted to do was sit around and not do much, but that is not an option for me.

It was a marvelous vacation from the circular/obsessive thoughts, though.
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I started an antidepressant recently. It's definitely helped the depression, but not anxiety/obsessive thoughts. I'm sorry yours made you so zombie like. Maybe it was just the wrong one for you. Prozac made me feel very numb when I was on it.
 
Sometimes I find it helpful to identify the motivation for my wanting 'x' event to happen or to do 'x' activity.

Distracting my mind with activities that take a lot of concentration can also be helpful.

The obsessive, fast flowing thoughts can lend themselves to solving design problems or coming up with ideas for creative (art/craft) projects.
 
I guess I try and trade one obsession for another. Buying something online is usually a good one because I can't help but thinking about getting it. A rather childish sort of behaviour but it works. It only works when you have disposable income of course though.

I don't really have a great solution though. My social worker is trying to get me to stop reading about conditions like Asperger's but I can't help it. Few things now interest me in the same way as that. And if I could switch it off, well, it wouldn't be called an obsession now, would it?
 
Fluttershy said:
I started an antidepressant recently. It's definitely helped the depression, but not anxiety/obsessive thoughts. I'm sorry yours made you so zombie like. Maybe it was just the wrong one for you. Prozac made me feel very numb when I was on it.
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I am taking Lexapro now. Not certain how helpful it is, it's only been two months, but no negatives other than...still have circular/obsessive thoughts, though not as much.
 
The short answer is: I don't.

If I am obsessing about something, often it is easier to "get it out of my system" than to try and steer my brain away from something it doesn't wish to be steered away from.

I tell myself, fine, do this for another hour or two. But then you must do something productive with the rest of the day. That is, if my mind is behaving rationally enough for me to reason with myself. Sometimes I'm far too gone into obsession land and am only brought back to reality by needing to use the restroom or eat...
 
Fluttershy said:
If you find yourself obsessing over something in an unhealthy way, what helps and distracts you?

I have a tendency to get really absorbed into certain social things. So if someone I like doesn't reply to me I can't do anything else but wait. I'm ok with not badgering them but it's still the only thing on my mind. Or like, if I want to do something (like go out with people) that's all I focus on. I get really distraught if things don't go how I imagine. I can understand logically why it's a problem but I can't break it.
Click to expand...

Usually listening to music helps me
 
I never took happy pills/antidepressants. I had conversations over the years sometimes with co-workers who had run the list. They had quit the prescription pills and were using Vitamin B. I have taken a Vitamin B for decades for other reasons. Vitamin B in large dosage may be a minimum-side-effect antidepressant.

The Vitamin B version was called "B-100" almost forever. Now it seems to be "Vitamin B Maxi." I also take Beta Carotene which is another 'B' vitamin. One pill of each every morning when I get up.

Beta Carotene seems to help my old eyes cope with the computer monitor screen.

Vitamin B in the massive complex may act as an antidepressant; contribute to heart and circulatory system well-being; and one of the 'B' vitamins in there makes mosquitoes [often/usually ???] think you smell too bad for them to want to bite. No promises on any of this.

If you buy those vitamins, try adding a "Vitamin D" 2000 IU pill also. None of us gets enough Vitamin D from "natural sources." Which is being out in sunlight for several hours a day. Vitamin D may act as a catalyst for everything else. I am sure it helped me a whole lot. You cannot overdose on the water-soluble B vitamins but Vitamin D can build up in fatty tissue and can get into "too much of a good thing." There is an easy blood test. The medics in the US like your Vitamin D reading from the blood test to be about "30." Whatever that means. It is better if it is near "50." But when it gets close to "100" or higher it is causing problems and needs to be dealt with.

Buy the cheapest versions you can find. I use mostly store-brands in the pharmacy sections of my local grocers.

Monitors: If this violates policies Please just delete it. Thanks.
 
Impossible to stop, at least that is what I have discovered, when I realised I get into obsessions and it was my husband who pointed that out and just the other night said: you really an obsessive person, aren't you?

Right now, I am obsessed with a cross stitch project; well to find the colours and how to store them, because when you have 50 colours, it gets pretty difficult.

Some obsessions I love though. I am obsessed with reading a chapter of my bible very night and it has to be one chapter; no less or no more.

I can stop myself sometimes from getting in too deep and that is called: self awareness, but with other things, I am unable to stop.

I am obsessed with our wood pile, for burning; they must be in a particular order and I hate it when my husband takes over, because he puts kindling in with other stuff and in truth, IT DRIVES ME MAD; it is like a complete insult to my sense of order.
 
This is a tough one. I guess working out. I work out too much but if I do not, I am afraid i will go Cato on myself.
 
How? I don't. After all, comorbid to my autism is my OCD.

"Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a common, chronic and long-lasting disorder in which a person has uncontrollable, reoccurring thoughts (obsessions) and behaviors (compulsions) that he or she feels the urge to repeat over and over."
 
When I had an unhealthy obsession my therapist told me to try to obsess over something healthier. So I tried to get involved in a new hobby. It didn't really work for me but maybe it will for you.
 
Obsessions are like fire they need fuel to continue to burn. If I feel I am starting to become obsessed with some thing I try a limit they time I spend on the obsession, if I give in the obsession can over whelm me and then it is very difficult to stop.
 
Man this has been such an Issue with me at times, whenever I have a task that should be compleated but because of some small thing I have to wait, Or if I have to wait for an answer to something or If I have a problem I need to solve (this one I get stuck in looking at all possibilities sometimes for hours or even days)

Wish I had an answer for this one because these things can keep me from moving on to the next thing that needs to be done or at least makes the next thing requires a lot more energy for me to compleat
 
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