[sastre]

since about 8 years ago, ive been repeating positive affirmations in my head, such as, "i have a lot of friends," or "people like me,". since doing this my personality would change drastically and id become a seemingly better, more outgoing person. i would since then feel obligated to do so constantly, in fear that i stopped, id go back to being shy and reserved. ive since stopped doing it, as it causes a lot of distraction and clutter in my mind, but i feel like in not doing it im not the best i can be, even though id rather not do it all together, but im not sure of this is a form of ocd or anxiety.

[Skeezyks]

Hello sastre: I see this is your first post here on PC. So...welcome to PsychCentral! I hope you find the time you spend here to be of benefit.

I'm sorry I cannot comment with regard to your experiences with affirmations. However here are links to some articles, from PsychCentral's archives, on the subject. In looking through the archive, it appears there are differing opinions on the subject of whether or not they work. So I've provided links to articles reflecting both points of view:

https://blogs.psychcentral.com/relat...ings-for-love/

https://blogs.psychcentral.com/life-...-say-each-day/

https://psychcentral.com/blog/depres...tions-to-help/

https://psychcentral.com/blog/how-to...ive-self-talk/

https://psychcentral.com/blog/why-po...ons-dont-work/

https://psychcentral.com/blog/when-p...ork-this-does/

My bests wishes to you...