Nick,

This symptoms of repeating things in thought is an anxiety issue. Yes, the term is OCD but not the normal variety of OCD. I call this symptom LOOPING. I can get stuck looping very easily. I need to avoid exposing myself to repetitive auditory stimuli.

I take paroxetine at maximum dose (60 mgs per day) specifically for this symptom. Before the paroxetine, I could get stuck looping for as long as a day or two. Sometimes, I could push the loop aside to do other thought tasks but it would return. I could also "juke box" between different songs to lessen the fatigue of looping the same song.

I would get stuck looping a license plate number, the words to a song, the spelling of a word, etc. I learned to let songs on the radio finish before getting out of the car otherwise, my brain would keep trying to finish the song.

It was exhausting and disabling.

Oddly, I have learned to use music to interrupt the looping. I have a few CDs that I can play that will become background sounds for my brain.

How long and often have you struggled with looping?