- Username
- a77
- Date posted
- 5y ago
I’m not sure if you mean me Bob999, but sure! Let’s say you had a fear of being contaminated by door knobs. Your first job would be to stop avoiding situations where you would have to be the first one to open the door, or you would be by yourself so you would have to open the door. Then you would PREPARE yourself to not respond for as long as you can to the compulsion (washing your hands x times) to the exposure of the door knob. You would open the door and first make yourself wait 5 minutes until you wash your hands, and then 15 minutes, and then 2 hours and so on. While you are doing this you would also decrease the AMOUNT of time you need to wash your hands, gradually.
Hang in there. I don’t have suggestions since I’m struggling on this myself and I have tried less than you but I wish you the best.
I see:/ ACT is basically changing our relationship with our thoughts! It is usually added alongside ERP to broaden the scope of the treatment. https://iocdf.org/expert-opinions/expert-opinion-what-is-act/ Here’s an article explaining it- it’s worth looking into!
Thanks Leah and Bob super helpful!
Laurpln - I got a prescription for Prozac but cannot take it until finals is over. I am worried the tiredness or nausea or whatever that is will make my studying challenging and my grades drop
I felt slight nausea at first but that was the only side effect ! Feel better and good luck !
Hmm. I’m sorry nothing seems to be working for you!:( Just wondering, did your therapist practice Exposure Response Prevention with you? Also did they go over Acceptance and Commitment therapy and mindfulness? Trust me every time I would hear ‘mindfulness’ I’d think yadda yadda okay yoga whatever- until I realized what it really was and how it was basically what I was internally doing to beat ocd. Also I know Clomipramine is the most studied ocd medication and some have said it worked wonders for them, but I know it comes with the most side effects for some too. Maybe you could talk to your doctor about that one too. Just some ideas!
Bob999- any tips for situations where you actually got exposed to a major contaminant? I struggle with that.
The most important part of ERP is obviously the “response PREVENTION”. Which also includes stopping ‘avoidance’ of certain situations (which is a compulsion).
@Bob999 thank you for that, i’ve attempted but i can never do it i guess because of the fact that it scares me and no one is telling me too. but i’m going to try harder now so thank you for that!
@Lark thank you, we will both get through it i know it just takes some people a long time sadly):
@leah25 oh yes the mindfulness and ERP we did and it did help for some situations, but as some of my issues would go away, more would appear and id still be left with bad ocd if that makes sense. but I can’t remember Acceptance and commitment therapy. what is that?
Prozac worked well for me I know everyone is different
I have been suffering from OCD for many years. I am on numerous medications through my psychiatrist and have been in therapy for over a year. I don’t feel like things have necessarily gotten better. While ERP has been a big part of my therapy, it has become harder to trust in the process. Has anyone experienced treatment-resistant OCD? I take responsibility for not being as dedicated to ERP as I was when I started, but I am so frustrated with my lack of progress. Any feedback would be appreciated!
I’ve tried both Prozac and Zuloft to help treat my OCD and neither has worked. I was on 80mg of Prozac and now 150mg of Zuloft but have felt little to no difference. Is there a better medication anyone can suggest? Thanks
Like youre in a bad dream that you will wake up from at some soon? Of course I know I am not in a dream and that this is my reality and has been for 4 years. It's just so frustrating because I desperately want my life back. I've had 3 different councellors spread over this 4 year period which I've realised has just made the OCD worse and I had 10 sessions of ERP with a nocd therapist which helped a little bit but unfortunately I can't afford anymore right now. Does anyone have any solid advice other than ERP to overcome this horrible mental illness?
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