Hi LoonyLoveGood (I like your screen name by the way)

OCD thoughts are a hard call. In my case they are always memories of the worst things in my past life, reliving horrible moments of emotional isolation, mostly in my unhappy birth family.

I'm not sure how much of my looping thoughts are pure OCD and how much they are a kind of post traumatic thing. It would be really helpful if someone could share their experience with me over this, and describe just what the nature of their thoughts is like (subject, frequency).

Re - dealing with it. One strategy I have found is learning to ignore the thoughts, using Buddhist meditation methods. Instead of trying to push the thoughts away, we let them be, like a noisy neighbour nextdoor. This way, it doesn't matter how many thoughts there are, as they all pass anyway. It's a bit like living next door to a busy motorway; eventually you stop hearing the traffic. The cars go by, but we don't have to flag them down. I used this technique to deal with tinnitus and now I don't even notice it.

The thoughts are harder than the tinnitus, but there is a big improvement with meditation, so I would recommend this . Also, Ozzie recommended treating the thoughts as a TV channel and making a conscious effort to change channels (this advice came from a therapist).

Any method which helps us to distance ourselves from the upsetting pattern will be of some help, as I think it is getting caught up in the pattern which tires us out so badly. We are all looking for some space to be peaceful in. To have some peace of mind.

I hope it gets easier for you.

Myzen,