# Is anyone else very easily disturbed?



## RoarOfTheMemphisBelle (Aug 4, 2011)

I don't know whether this comes from the social anxiety, but I personally believe it to be very closely linked to some mild form of OCD, at least. I am very easily disturbed. It can be by an image, something someone said, something I read. I tend to mull over that which has disturbed me and continue to ruminate incessantly. This can last for days, weeks, months. It can go on and off, from one year to the next.

Sometimes a song or a word or a memory will trigger obsessive thoughts about the problematic thing that originally disturbed me, hence restarting this vicious cycle. During the periods of time in which I am having what I call an obsessive "episode", I continually confront myself with the words/webpage/thoughts that have disturbed me and consider it a victory if I can come away (literally or figuratively) from said thing without feeling uncomfortable in the last moments I am looking at it/thinking about it.

Most people would self-regulate against what has disturbed them and move on. I don't. It becomes a need. I MUST make sure my defence against what has upset me is still there. And so it goes on and on and on... always there in some way but _so_ difficult to describe properly. If anyone can relate, at all, I would be grateful for a few words on the matter.


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## tehuti88 (Jun 19, 2005)

I'm not sure if it's the same, but I just mentioned something similar I do in another thread...



tehuti88 said:


> Ugh, those in bold, I do those same things. Sometimes when I read about a situation that upsets me, I'll go over it in my head over and over and over again, not necessarily seeking solutions, but just "living through" the victim's pain...it's so weird. When I first read about the Kitty Genovese case, and sometimes about 9/11, I just kept doing this over and over and it was insane.
> 
> Eventually, I evolved some fictional ideas based on such scenarios and let them out in writing, which seemed to help, as those obsessions faded...granted, more took their place, but at least it helped somewhat, to fictionalize the situation and "resolve" it in writing.
> 
> Bizarre, though, how hung up I can get on something awful that happened to someone I don't even know. :|


I don't know if "disturbed" is the word I'd use, since I can easily look at many gruesome pictures and whatnot without getting upset or disgusted or alarmed by them...but rather, it's the stories BEHIND such disturbing things that get in my head and refuse to get out. I see or read something disturbing and handle that just fine. But then I start thinking about the circumstances BEHIND what I've read or seen and it niggles at me and starts to wear constantly on my mind. This is one reason "shock sites" frustrate me; they'll have all those gory and disturbing pictures, but they often don't include the story BEHIND the images. Meaning I'm left looking at this image and wondering what the deal is with it.

Case in point, the Kitty Genovese case I mentioned above. Read the story of it, wasn't technically disturbed, but then started thinking about it. How she felt, what was going through her mind, what the witnesses saw, how it played out, what could have gone differently. I had to keep re-reading the story over and over again, looking for more info online...I even buy books when any are available. (I did this in regards to 9/11 and the Hillsborough soccer disaster.) Sometimes this happens even in regards to fiction, as in a story of somebody's I read once, it had a depressing ending and I kept dwelling on it and dwelling on it...

As I mentioned above, sometimes after enough time spent mulling these things over, I come up with fictionalized versions of the events and can "resolve" them by putting them in writing. It purges the thoughts, somehow. But it only seems to work after I've spent quite a while mulling these things over, first.

Not sure if this is quite the same as what you mentioned, but thought I would share it.


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## Mea (Nov 11, 2012)

I've had OCD for as long as I can remember, and if I see something repulsive, I can't eat. I just can't get the repulsive image out of my head. I once went 2 weeks without eating anything wholesome because it would make me gag. I never really knew it was related to OCD until my psychiatrist mentioned it. I remember when I was maybe 7 years old and I saw this swamp monster on TV puke up swamp sludge. I couldn't eat any fruits or vegetables for quite a while.


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## ChrissyQ (Apr 15, 2009)

I'm very easily disturbed


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## Rossy (Jan 15, 2011)

Nope its takes something pretty bad to disturb me.


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## The Sleeping Dragon (Sep 29, 2011)

Yep. Not always though it depends what my mood is.


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