What does Pure O look like for you?

[Workinprogress30]

Posted a few times lately, struggling a lot and starting to explore the possibility that this is more than depression and anxiety. I obsess over my past. And I mean obsess. I will go over and over in my head things people have said and done. This being one example, but I just wondered if people could share their experiences of Pure O so I can see if it rings true for me? There isn’t massive amounts of info online from what I can see. Thank you x

What is Pure O?

Sorry purely obsessional OCD

I've been through periods of "just" O, to be honest it doesn't feel that difference to when the "O" is part of OCD, just for some reason some obsessive thoughts come with a suggestion of what I can do to quieten them down temporarily and some don't.

I'm no expert in MH conditions other than having suffered with a fair few, but overthinking and obsessing over past events sounds more like anxiety?

Sorry, one other thought. Have you ever heard of "small t" trauma? I'm going to assume that you're not a trauma survivor, huge apologies if I'm wrong. But if I understand correctly this doesn't necessarily mean that you're not getting a trauma response.

Hi OP, sorry you're going through such a difficult time.

This doesn't answer your question I'm afraid but I understand a lot of autistic people have similar experiences with past conversations etc. Anxiety is also a massive issue, especially for people who've spent their lives having to "mask" to fit in. That's a long way of saying - If you feel OCD doesn't quite fit your experiences, it might be worth exploring other areas of neurodiversity too if you haven't already.

I really hope you get to the bottom of it OP.

Sorry not to be any help to OP, but my DH has been wondering if he has OCD/ autism due to obsessive thoughts, but he did have a traumatic childhood. I read the above message by @Fortheloveofscience and wondered if this might be trauma.

I have OCD and used to think it was pure O, as my condition is around intrusive thoughts with no obvious compulsions, such as hand washing or checking appliances are turned off.

As I learnt more about it I realise I do have compulsions, for me these can look like:

Asking for reassurance from others
Checking my body for responses (raised heartbeat, nausea)
Checking and ruminating on the thought - is it real, what does it mean etc
Turning the ‘bad’ thought into a ‘good’ thought
Avoiding a situation (ie when my children were babies I’d fear being alone with them in case my intrusive thoughts came true, so would arrange for others to be around)

None of these work of course, they might temporarily relieve the obsession for a moment but reinforce the cycle.

This is quite useful I think; www.ocduk.org/ocd/pure-o/