Hi sj,

As we've mentioned before here on PC, it's not always possible to get completely away from the mental rubbish, but it is possible to stop paying so much attention to it.

I suffer from tinnitus, which is a noise in my head, and it's a physical problem with the eardrum. Over the years it had been possible to ignore it to the extent that I don't even think about it most of the time.

I also suffer from negative OCD thoughts, which are always waiting for me when I wake up in the mornings, and then come up again with triggers during the day. Slowly but surely I have been learning to ignore the thoughts. IMHO the secret here is to stop regarding the thoughts as 'special' to me in any way. They are not.

I have convinced myself that the thoughts are a condition of the illness and not some hurtful knowledge that I have about myself.

As soon as we stop believing the thoughts, they just become a kind of background noise and are no longer the representatives of some special truth about us. That's the key, putting the thoughts in perspective with the illness. It's probably one of the hardest things that a person can do, but it is achievable. I believe that.

Peaceful thoughts, M