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Help me, I don't know what to do, extreme ocd!

123flower

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When I was in bed trying to sleep i forgot to pray so I decided to pray in my thoughts while i was lying in bed. But I was already tired and I fell asleep. Before I fell asleep I think I've made a promise to God, but I'm not sure.

In the past I had extreme ''promises to God with terrible consequences if I did not keep them"
But for years my ''promise ocd'' stopped and I had other types of ocd like washing hands and checking things. Now recently, the ''promise ocd'' is sometimes coming back again.

The thing is, I have no idea whether this promise was ocd related or a real promise with a clear mind. I know God knows I suffer from ocd and that He knows I cannot help it to make this silly promises, but occasionally I make a promise without my ocd that sounds more valid.

So now I'm scared I've made a real promise to God in my bed during my prayer and I have attached a terrible consequence to it if i break it.

The thing is, I've already broke it, because I fell asleep and the next day I haven't tried fullfilling the promise, now, it seems like the consequence is happening in my life and I'm scared.

I also put a vague thought in my head about a rule that I cannot buy anything like clothes and makeup (food I can buy though), until I have fullfulled my promise to God. But for some reason I ignored my promise and bought clothes and makeup anyway.

Now I have this feeling I have to throw away or return everything that I have bought and fullfill my promise to God so that the consequence won't happen anymore.

Even though I've already broke my promise to God, for some reason I feel more relieved if I ''go back in time'' and pretend I've never bought the clothes and makeup and fullfill the promise.

The promise to God was actually just a prayer. But I had troubles concentrating because I was already tired so I might have said ''I will pray later, and if I don't something bad will happen, and also I cannot buy anything like clothes and makeup before I have finished my prayer''

I have done this promise 2 times that day and fullfilled that promise. I guess because it already happenend 2 times, I automatically make that promise that night in bed. It became a habit to make that promise with consequence.

I know you might be thinking, why would you pray if you're tired and almost falling asleep. But I also have this guilty thing that I have to pray before I sleep, even though I'm tired.
And because I couldn't concentrate on my prayer in bed I thought maybe I should give it a rest for 5 minutes and then try praying again. But then I ended falling asleep. The next day I had a difficult time thinking what I have done before I went asleep. So everything is vague. And I tried multiple times recalling what I have done, but I decided the safest bet is to fullfill my promise and return/throw everything away that I have bought after my broken vow.

I go to a psychologist, but we've dealt with other disorders I also have and I never mentioned this one because I thought it was already gone in my life, but now it's coming back.
She also said the therapy is over this year, so next year I wont have a psychologist anymore.

In the meantime, I dont know what to do, I was thinking throwing away my new bought clothes and fullfill my promise for the safest bet, but it sounds stupid and very ocd.

What am I supposed to do?
 

createdtoworship

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When I was in bed trying to sleep i forgot to pray so I decided to pray in my thoughts while i was lying in bed. But I was already tired and I fell asleep. Before I fell asleep I think I've made a promise to God, but I'm not sure.

In the past I had extreme ''promises to God with terrible consequences if I did not keep them"
But for years my ''promise ocd'' stopped and I had other types of ocd like washing hands and checking things. Now recently, the ''promise ocd'' is sometimes coming back again.

The thing is, I have no idea whether this promise was ocd related or a real promise with a clear mind. I know God knows I suffer from ocd and that He knows I cannot help it to make this silly promises, but occasionally I make a promise without my ocd that sounds more valid.

So now I'm scared I've made a real promise to God in my bed during my prayer and I have attached a terrible consequence to it if i break it.

The thing is, I've already broke it, because I fell asleep and the next day I haven't tried fullfilling the promise, now, it seems like the consequence is happening in my life and I'm scared.

I also put a vague thought in my head about a rule that I cannot buy anything like clothes and makeup (food I can buy though), until I have fullfulled my promise to God. But for some reason I ignored my promise and bought clothes and makeup anyway.

Now I have this feeling I have to throw away or return everything that I have bought and fullfill my promise to God so that the consequence won't happen anymore.

Even though I've already broke my promise to God, for some reason I feel more relieved if I ''go back in time'' and pretend I've never bought the clothes and makeup and fullfill the promise.

The promise to God was actually just a prayer. But I had troubles concentrating because I was already tired so I might have said ''I will pray later, and if I don't something bad will happen, and also I cannot buy anything like clothes and makeup before I have finished my prayer''

I have done this promise 2 times that day and fullfilled that promise. I guess because it already happenend 2 times, I automatically make that promise that night in bed. It became a habit to make that promise with consequence.

I know you might be thinking, why would you pray if you're tired and almost falling asleep. But I also have this guilty thing that I have to pray before I sleep, even though I'm tired.
And because I couldn't concentrate on my prayer in bed I thought maybe I should give it a rest for 5 minutes and then try praying again. But then I ended falling asleep. The next day I had a difficult time thinking what I have done before I went asleep. So everything is vague. And I tried multiple times recalling what I have done, but I decided the safest bet is to fullfill my promise and return/throw everything away that I have bought after my broken vow.

I go to a psychologist, but we've dealt with other disorders I also have and I never mentioned this one because I thought it was already gone in my life, but now it's coming back.
She also said the therapy is over this year, so next year I wont have a psychologist anymore.

In the meantime, I dont know what to do, I was thinking throwing away my new bought clothes and fullfill my promise for the safest bet, but it sounds stupid and very ocd.

What am I supposed to do?
A vow made to God is something that both of you know about. I don't think God would honor a promise made in a subliminal conscious state. Do not fear beloved. God loves you so much. He is for you, He desires you to succeed in life. He does not want to sabotage you and He never laughs when we fail but is the one to encourage us to strive for more. There is a few verses that really reveal the heart of God to me. "the bruised reed He will not break." And another verse that says "the smoking flax He will not quench." See God looks for the slightest bit of hope in our life and He works with what He has, if you are a broken reed, He nurtures you back to health, if you used to be on fire but now your a smoking flax, He stokes the fire within. God does this. But prayer is very important. Prayer can make all the difference in our lives. But God won't honor a promise you made when you are asleep. I would not worry about it. God bless you, and don't forget that God is your biggest motivator, your biggest cheer leader. He is so happy when we have a breakthrough in His spirit! Keep going, keep seeing your doctors and keep doing what they recommend. Don't worry about the stigma attached to mental health. If we are sick, we go to a doctor, but don't forget to pray that God can also heal you at any moment. Never forget to believe in the miraculous. God is a powerful God.

Do not fear beloved...


It says we are "beloved" of God over a hundred times in the Bible.... BibleGateway - Keyword Search: beloved
 
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NBB

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Just calm down, try to forget about these things?, reject them if you can, or ignore them, take it easy and relax, if you are going to feel sorry or concerned about something, let it be a real hurtful offense to God that you are sure you commited, those that are really obvious offences to God. And even then God is not there to punish you or curse you, actually he just expects you say sorry and try to do better with his help.
 
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Mari17

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When I was in bed trying to sleep i forgot to pray so I decided to pray in my thoughts while i was lying in bed. But I was already tired and I fell asleep. Before I fell asleep I think I've made a promise to God, but I'm not sure.

In the past I had extreme ''promises to God with terrible consequences if I did not keep them"
But for years my ''promise ocd'' stopped and I had other types of ocd like washing hands and checking things. Now recently, the ''promise ocd'' is sometimes coming back again.

The thing is, I have no idea whether this promise was ocd related or a real promise with a clear mind. I know God knows I suffer from ocd and that He knows I cannot help it to make this silly promises, but occasionally I make a promise without my ocd that sounds more valid.

So now I'm scared I've made a real promise to God in my bed during my prayer and I have attached a terrible consequence to it if i break it.

The thing is, I've already broke it, because I fell asleep and the next day I haven't tried fullfilling the promise, now, it seems like the consequence is happening in my life and I'm scared.

I also put a vague thought in my head about a rule that I cannot buy anything like clothes and makeup (food I can buy though), until I have fullfulled my promise to God. But for some reason I ignored my promise and bought clothes and makeup anyway.

Now I have this feeling I have to throw away or return everything that I have bought and fullfill my promise to God so that the consequence won't happen anymore.

Even though I've already broke my promise to God, for some reason I feel more relieved if I ''go back in time'' and pretend I've never bought the clothes and makeup and fullfill the promise.

The promise to God was actually just a prayer. But I had troubles concentrating because I was already tired so I might have said ''I will pray later, and if I don't something bad will happen, and also I cannot buy anything like clothes and makeup before I have finished my prayer''

I have done this promise 2 times that day and fullfilled that promise. I guess because it already happenend 2 times, I automatically make that promise that night in bed. It became a habit to make that promise with consequence.

I know you might be thinking, why would you pray if you're tired and almost falling asleep. But I also have this guilty thing that I have to pray before I sleep, even though I'm tired.
And because I couldn't concentrate on my prayer in bed I thought maybe I should give it a rest for 5 minutes and then try praying again. But then I ended falling asleep. The next day I had a difficult time thinking what I have done before I went asleep. So everything is vague. And I tried multiple times recalling what I have done, but I decided the safest bet is to fullfill my promise and return/throw everything away that I have bought after my broken vow.

I go to a psychologist, but we've dealt with other disorders I also have and I never mentioned this one because I thought it was already gone in my life, but now it's coming back.
She also said the therapy is over this year, so next year I wont have a psychologist anymore.

In the meantime, I dont know what to do, I was thinking throwing away my new bought clothes and fullfill my promise for the safest bet, but it sounds stupid and very ocd.

What am I supposed to do?
Don't throw the stuff away! That would be giving into the OCD. It makes us try to hyper-analyze every thought and every feeling, and makes us feel like we mean things (e.g. promises) that we actually don't. I've had this obsession before too. The best thing you can do with OCD is to disobey it. I'm assuming you've had some experience dealing with your OCD before - do you know about ERP, and/or helpful and effective strategies to use with your OCD? Also, I'd recommend letting your psychologist know about your OCD. It tends to come and go, so it's good if you can learn ways to deal with it for when it pops up. It might actually be good to get therapy for your OCD, although it's best to do that with a therapist who knows how to treat OCD using CBT and ERP therapy. Anyway, it's not something to ignore, because when we give in to it or don't treat it correctly, it tends to get worse, whereas if we learn the correct strategies for it, it can be quite manageable.
 
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