OCD - wedding

[partydownseason2]

Hi all,

I’ve had some great support with my OCD here and need some help more reassurance. I’m getting married in a few months and this has caused a spike in my intrusive thoughts and fixations. I tend to worry overly about people close to me and their moods and convince myself I’ve done something against them if they’re not in a good mood. This is especially for my mum. She’s been helping me plan the wedding and has her own mental health challenges. She recently suggested something to me that was a great idea but I initially needed some time to think about it. She sent me some messages today saying it was a stupid idea and I don’t need to do it. I feel disproportionately awful. I am trying to resist the urge to overwhelm her and make her tell me it’s not my fault (even though I may have actually been insensitive).

No question here really, I just needed to write it down any maybe hear from anyone who has been though this? Thank you for reading!

Hi,

Weddings are so stressful. Much of what you type is relatable. I had a spike in symptoms in the months leading up to the wedding, not OCD for me but crippling, crippling anxiety, lots of overthinking and some weird physical symptoms as well which looking back I think were all related to the overwhelming anxiety of it all.

One thing that springs to mind from your post is that messages in typing (SMS, WhatsApp, IM and so on) are particularly bad for triggering overthinking of others' emotional reactions. Are you able to call your mum and have a conversation, or meet her in person? For me this helps a lot whereas conversations by typing can give me a headache. There are some topics which are better discussed when you can get a better sense of what someone's non-wordy expressions are.

Otherwise, hang in there.

Honestly thank you so much for this reply, you really pulled me out of a tailspin. I called over to see her and it was a much smaller deal than I interpreted it as. Again, thank you!!!

HTH, glad you got it sorted.