- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 3y ago
Hi! I’ve definitely had this fear many times and still do. I’ve completed my NOCD treatment (I do go monthly for maintenance sessions), but thoughts pop up still and this was one of them for sure. I live in an apartment and I’m not sure if people can hear my therapy sessions. ERP, to outsiders, may sound like some wild stuff right? Lol. But, I think it’s best that you sit with the uncertainty here. Maybe people can hear your sessions and maybe they can’t. After all, you’ll never know who hears any conversation of yours whether it’s therapy-related or not. Maybe this is something you can practice with your therapist and do an exposure with it! Good luck, you got this!
Yup for sure! I'm currently getting treated for SOCD and quite often my wife is home in the other room. I was also super paranoid when doing ERP and recording a loop tape on my phone, which i am worried that might get heard by someone. But it's all about learning to sit with and be comfortable with the fear, instead of avoiding it.
The walls of my apartment are paper thin and I’m pretty sure someone has heard something at some point. But I’m going to disagree with the above poster, respectfully. Therapy is supposed to be a safe space where your privacy is protected. I think it’s worth bringing up with your therapist first So you can decide if it’s a genuine concern or a symptom of your OCD, but if you have a genuine concern that voices carry, you might want to have a conversation with your family about respecting your privacy.
Sorry if my post was misunderstood, as I certainly wasn’t suggesting that it’s ok for other people to hear your sessions. I would be mortified if I found out anyone heard mine.
I am wanting to go to therapy to hopefully lower my OCD symptoms but I am terrified to tell anyone else, like a therapist, about my intrusive thoughts. Has anyone else had this experience and if so how did you get over it?
Anyone ever have a conversation and think you said a intrusive thoughts out loud. Then you panic and go over and over the convo , reviewing it and remembering people's reactions,to see if they noticed your thoughts or read your lips? Sometimes it feels like I have to look away when talking as the thoughts could be shouted out if we make eye contact .such a powerful erge to say thoughts out load . . It's like the more you fight off the thoughts the louder they want to be . You can feel your self bubbling up inside . Then you get one and boom ,you think you've said it out load.
So you got to ask me anything… Now I’d like to ask you something! I’ve heard from Members that they were so scared coming to their first ERP session. They were terrified that I would think they were crazy, that I would tell them their worst fears were true. That I would confirm they are some form of a terrible person or have them hauled off to prison for their thoughts. I’ve also had Members share how they’re very scared to begin ERP treatment because they’ve researched enough to know it means facing the fear, without the compulsions that have kept them feeling safe (but not really safe) this entire time. They struggled to see how they could be capable of doing this, while simultaneously acknowledging that they did not want to live like this anymore. If you have had your first session, what were your thoughts before? Did you have any hesitations or fears going into it? How did it turn out? If you haven’t yet begun to work with an ERP specialist, what is holding you back?
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