Childhood trauma
Is it necessary to go back and heal childhood trauma issues in order to fully heal from anxiety and depression? My therapist (not thru nocd) always wants to go back and address this stuff and idk
Yes, absolutely necessary. You take on each mental illness as needed. I did trauma therapy for my PTSD, then did ERP for my OCD. The other 2 mental illnesses I have, I worked on those with my therapist but they EXTREMELY decreased in symptoms because I handled the 2 main mental illnesses that were causing the most issues for me. I’ve been recovered for 3 years now. It took 6 years in intense therapy.
Omg so recovery is possible ?? Like fully recover ?? That’s what I want so bad but sometimes I’m scared I can’t and my Brain is just ruined. I haven’t tried meds yet but thinking about it . I definitely have trauma to work thru. Ugh. So you feel like therapy really helped you ?
@NrseKris Of course it’s possible. Recovery doesn’t mean cured though; I still have all my mental illnesses and my brain is physically different than those without mental illnesses. I still have issues but they don’t affect my life because I know what to do whenever an issue pops up.
@Nica If there’s one tip you could give me on recovery what would it be
@NrseKris Start practing mindfulness and reading all you can about it now. It takes a while to rewire your brian, but it’s worth it.
@Nica Thank you 💕if there’s any specific books about mindfulness that you recommend please share
@NrseKris There aren’t specific books, just teachings on mindfulness. The best person to go to is Thich Nhat Hanh.
I did EMDR for trauma then later ERP for my ocd
I’ve heard of EMDR, how’d it go for you
I know that they say on here that past trauma isn’t really discussed for ocd treatment. But I’m my opinion having at least an idea of why your certain anxieties exist make me feel like I’m not so crazy, and I can give myself more compassion when I’m having a hard time. That’s my experience. Trauma has a huge effect on who we are and in some cases it really drives a lot of anxiety and depression. So I wouldn’t discount that therapy. I don’t think it helps to dwell on it continuously though.
Yea I agree it kinda helps me feel less crazy to know there’s probably a good reason behind my anxiety. I just wana heal and don’t know the best route but I guess I could always work on things separate like the intrusive thoughts and also do past trauma therapy
@NrseKris I think thats totally fine, I suppose it might be problematic if you start constantly look back instead of forward and healing. This is a journey and I hope you find your way through
Just a vent but i deal with certain ocd themes and get anxiety over sexual intrusive thoughts But I heard research that it’s possible to have those if you have had any type of trauma and/or abuse in your life and I unfortunately cannot remember my past much so it’s very hazy I usually don’t like my bad thoughts bc they get in the way of my daily live so I can’t rlly dwell so much in the past
Core Fears I keep reading in articles that some say it is really important to know what the core fear is and I keep thinking that i need to get to this to really move forward. This hasn’t been explored much at all in my therapy with NOCD. How do I get down to my core fear and is this really needed? I know my triggers, avoidances and compulsions but I don’t think I really grasp what I am truly scared of. Is it hurting my partner, rejection, embarrassment? Won’t ERP just be prolonged torture until I get to the root of what I’m afraid of so that I can tackle that? Would trying to find my core fear be a compulsion or something worth trying to find out?
My ocd was weaponized by a therapist who wanted to do trauma work. Against my wishes. She told me “why are you in therapy if you don’t want to do the work”. I didn’t know about my childhood trauma. But she found it, and judged me for it. And then put intrusive thoughts in my head. It wasn’t until this week that I realized that I might be suffering from ocd. My family is getting sick of me. I’m stuck in a negative tape loop. After therapy I started having panic attacks and now am faced with dealing with anxiety and depression almost daily. I’m so pissed at her. I think I’m traumatized by going to therapy. She taught my brain to look for trouble. She also put unhelpful thoughts in my heads. Oh, and when my lizard brain found the guilt and shame of childhood. She told me to imagine a golden box to put it back in. My inner child wants to burn my house down and has no plans on leaving. So, I feel stuck.
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