[jbug]

Those of you with OCD. Does watching T.V. or listening to the radio bother you? An example is I was watching "The View" this morning and Whoopie sang a song she learned at camp as a child and it got stuck in my head. That is until they played music from Mamma Mia and now that music is in my head. That will be in my head until I get in my car and turn on the radio and whatever is on will be in my head for awhile and then something else will replace it. Does this happen to anyone else or is it just me?

Jbug

<font color="purple">I've never been diagnosed with OCD (even though I do have a symptom or two) but I know what you mean. I love music but songs get stuck in my head for a looong time. It used to drive me nuts as a kid, but now I sort of use it to my atvantage, make an internal radio, and litsen to one of my favorite songs before school (when school is in session of course) so I can have it stuck in my head for the rest of the day. </font>

[Cmara]

My OCD totally is reflected in how I listen to music. I will put a CD in the car and play the same song over, and over again. Last weekend I had to drive an hour away and I played the same song at least 10 times. Crazy, but I can't help it. I do it all the time. I think it's comforting because I know what is happening. It's like at night I can't fall asleep without watching tv. But, I have to watch the same series every night. I've seen each episode a trillion times so I can close my eyes (and still visualize what is happening), while I am listening. That is how I fall asleep everynight. I recently started taking trazadone which also puts me to sleep. My T told me that now that I am on meds for bedtime I should try to not watch tv. I haven't tried it though.

[romanjames2004]

I have OCD and that happens to me so much it gets really bothering I just want to shoot my self sometimes lol. I kjnow exactley how you feel.

[jbug]

I'm glad I'm not the only one. The jingle that gets me the most and I'm probably jinxing myself because they will probably show it when I go back in the other room just to show me LOL. But it's the one for Western Unioni where the young man is singing to his aunt about getting the money for the guitar. After hearing that I sing it for days. I even see the Western Union sign and I start to sing it. But it helps to know that I'm not the only one.

Jbug

[SerenitysWave]

No you are not alone in this one at all.... Happens to me all the time... not just music but phrases, thoughst, ideas, words, numbers....get repeated in my head over and over...

My younger son was into commercials when he was young and when we went shopping he would sing the commercial song for each product in every isle that he knew and those would get stuck in my head , so that even when he wasnt with me I was singing those dang commercials when I shopped! LOL

[Perna]

I don't think it's just OCD; happens to me and I know others, a lot. The songs and jingles are supposed to do that :-) They want you to buy/play the music or buy the product, etc.

[mak62184]

Yeah, it isn't just OCD that causes it. What will happen is you get the song stuck in your head, and it will be the same thing over and over again because you don't know the rest of the song, so it's like your brain can't finish the thought of the song. My mom told me this.

And I do not have OCD either, but I find myself having to play the same stuff over and over again sometimes just because I enjoyed it that much.

[digdug]

I remember once my family took a trip to Syracuse. We happened to stop at this mall that had fallen on hard times...basically 3/4 of the shops had been shuttered. We had been to this same mall a couple of years earlier, and it was thriving. This was the early 90s recession time.

Anyway, I remember the state of the mall was depressing me, and then God Only Knows by the Beach Boys started playing on the loudspeakers. It's such a haunting song and the sound of it coupled with this depressing mall struck me so hard that I was in a funk for the rest of the day.

That image, with the music playing, has stayed with me 14+ years later.

I tend to think of this as a bit of a blessing as well as a curse...keep in mind that most people in the world can't feel things so deeply. Of course it doesn't seem so great when you can't get some stupid new jingle out of your head!

[ECHOES]

I have explored this a bit in therapy recently.
I've found that it definitely has some obsessive/compulsive components to it and so I have been making myself aware of when it happens and what happens when a song is stuck in my head. (Lately it's been Joni Mitchell's songs from Ladies of the Canyon CD).
What I found is that having the songs, or bits of the songs, playing over and over in my head were a way of avoiding thinking about other things in my life that needed my attention. When I can shut it off, I feel calmer and clearer-headed, more present / in the moment.

I now try to keep it from happening and it helps me stay grounded. If I'm actively listening to it, that's one thing, but if I'm anxiously listening to it in my head then it's time to pay attention to what is going on.