Stuck in a loop

[Murray]

I was just wondering of anyone else ever sort of gets "stuck in a loop". Not sure how else to describe it. There are times when I can't decide what to do and it is usually something fairly minor like making a phone call or something stupid like that. Anyway, I will agonize about it for hours and hours thinking of what could go wrong if I call, what could go wrong if I don't call. I just end up going round and round and round and essentially getting stuck. It is so frustrating and I don't know why I do this. Even if I can manage to do something else while I am worrying about this, it is still a constant stream of thought going through my mind.
Is this some sort of OCD type thing or something else?

 

[forgetmenot]

I often go there wanting to call someone and just cant seem to get things done push it aside or just can 't get enough courage to call. It sounds like ocd i don't know though really i know if i haven't dealt with something it will stay stuck in my mind until i do deal with it. It will drive me crazy Your worrying is a thinking pattern i guess of yours and it is hard to get out of that pattern without help. It is awful your right because in all that time worrying the task could have been done i truly do understand and hope your bring it up with your therapist next time so he can give you some skills to break the loop take care

 

[Daniel E.]

It is so frustrating and I don't know why I do this

Some possible, partial biological explanations:
The OCD workbook: your guide to ... - Google Books
http://forum.psychlinks.ca/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-ocd/8629-when-worry-hijacks-the-brain.html
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Biology

The book Brain Lock talks about this when it refers to OCD as like having a manual transmission when everyone else has an automatic transmission. So it takes a lot of practice to be able to shift gears manually, but less effort is required with additional practice:

During a normal day, we make many rapid shifts of behaviour, smoothly and easily and usually without thinking about them. It is the functioning of the caudate nucleus and the putamen that makes this possible. In OCD, the problem seems to be that the smooth, efficient filtering and the shifting of thoughts and behaviour are disrupted by a glitch in the caudate nucleus.

As a result of this malfunction, the front of the brain becomes overactive and uses excessive energy. It's like having your car stuck in a ditch. You spin and spin and spin your wheels, but without traction you can't get out of that ditch. With OCD, too much energy is being used in a frontal part of the brain called the orbital cortex. It's as if the orbital cortex, which has an error-detection circuit, becomes stuck in gear. This is probably why OCD causes people to get a "something is wrong" feeling that won't go away. You have to do the work to get it out of gear--to shift the gears. You have a manual, rather than an automatic, transmission. In fact, the person with OCD has a sticky manual transmission; he or she must shift the gears. This takes great effort because the brain tends to get "stuck in gear." But, whereas an automobile transmission is made of metal and can't fix itself people with OCD can teach themselves how to shift gears through self-directed behaviour therapy. In doing so, they can actually fix this broken gearshift in the brain. We now know that you can change your own brain biochemistry.

http://forum.psychlinks.ca/obsessiv...our-steps-dr-jeffrey-schwartz-brain-lock.html