- Date posted
- 2y ago
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 2y ago
I watched a lot of Ali Greymond’s videos on YouTube, and I thought they were great. I think watching her videos were most of what I needed.
- Date posted
- 2y ago
Were you your own therapist?, did you succeded?
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 2y ago
@Anonymous Yes, I was my own therapist, and yes I succeeded. Eventually, I went with NOCD, but by the time I got there, by listening to Ali Greymond’s YouTube videos, I was really 80% of the way there and moving to full recovery. No reason you can’t also do that. I’m a fan of having a therapist, but put it this way - only you can get yourself out of this at the end of the day. The therapist will help guide you, but this comes down to how you’re willing to change your ways of thinking. Through Ali’s videos, I learned how my compulsions (a) don’t provide any resolution to my fear and (b) only serve to add fuel to my fear. Compulsions include mental ones, like analyzing, trying to “figure it out”, “trying to solve it”, seeking closure, expecting an answer / resolution, ruminating, using logic, weighing pros and cons, self-reassurance, Googling, researching. You need to learn how to trust in just letting go. Stop getting caught up in trying to answer questions concerning your fear - let it go, you’re not going to find an answer. The more you abandon your need for resolution, the more you’ll recover. I learned this exclusively from Ali and didn’t need antidepressants even to get the message across. And—this is very important—be willing to change how you go about “fixing” your problems. Do NOT try to use your OCD way of handling things to try to get out of OCD. You need to learn how to cope differently. This requires fundamental change. Your message here is somewhat driven by OCD thinking because you’re seeking reassurance, which is a compulsion, to confirm what you already know: you don’t absolutely need a therapist to recover. But it doesn’t matter how many times I say that, because you have OCD, you will always have a doubt and another “what if”. Be willing to change.
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 2y ago
I am sorry to hear that you are struggling. I wish everyone could have access to this needed care. I would suggest Nathan Peterson as someone to look up on youtube (he does a lot of education surrounding OCD) also following NOCD on social media platforms is a good way to get education about ERP, we also have lives and provide lots of support through support groups and this community. Natasha Daniels is another good one to look up. Having a therapist well trained in OCD and ERP is recommended and would help with extra support and to ensure things are being done correctly- but until you are able to do that I think following some of the OCD specialists online is a great start and really educating yourself about the illness and how ERP works.
- Date posted
- 2y ago
I really thank all of you for your comments, words of empowering, and all of the resourcew that you provided me, this means a lot to someone that is going through a hard time.
- Date posted
- 2y ago
So I made this post 251 days ago, and I will have to say that I’m deeply surprised by how 9 years of carrying this burden were basically over after almost a year of therapy. And the answer to the question I made 251 days ago is no, I didn’t succeded on being my own therapist, it actually sucked. People can’t treat themselves just as no one can’t do their own surgery. At the end of the day you will be responsible for your progress but proper guidance is fundamental. Even though I didn’t enrolled with a NOCD therapist due to differences between our time zones, I had the privilege to get a job to pay for my ERP therapy while my parents supported me fanancially to cover the rest of my bills. Sadly it is not everyone’s cases and sadly we live in a world were money facilitates happiness if we translate happiness info “access to health care”. Right now I’m deeply focused on my career and I made a promise to myself that I will sponsor someone with their ERP therapy whenever I am financially stable enough. Cheers to those 251 days ago.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 24w ago
is there anyone that is not on meds for ocd and is recovering? im really trying to stay away from meds
- Date posted
- 6w ago
Looking back, I realize I’ve had OCD since I was 7. though I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 30. As a kid, I was consumed by fears I couldn’t explain: "What if God isn’t real? What happens when we die? How do I know I’m real?" These existential thoughts terrified me, and while everyone has them from time to time, I felt like they were consuming my life. By 12, I was having daily panic attacks about death and war, feeling untethered from reality as depersonalization and derealization set in. At 15, I turned to drinking, spending the next 15 years drunk, trying to escape my mind. I hated myself, struggled with my body, and my intrusive thoughts. Sobriety forced me to face it all head-on. In May 2022, I finally learned I had OCD. I remember the exact date: May 10th. Reading about it, I thought, "Oh my God, this is it. This explains everything." My main themes were existential OCD and self-harm intrusive thoughts. The self-harm fears were the hardest: "What if I kill myself? What if I lose control?" These thoughts terrified me because I didn’t want to die. ERP changed everything. At first, I thought, "You want me to confront my worst fears? Are you kidding me?" But ERP is gradual and done at your pace. My therapist taught me to lean into uncertainty instead of fighting it. She’d say, "Maybe you’ll kill yourself—who knows?" At first, it felt scary, but for OCD, it was freeing. Slowly, I realized my thoughts were just thoughts. ERP gave me my life back. I’m working again, I’m sober, and for the first time, I can imagine a future. If you’re scared to try ERP, I get it. But if you’re already living in fear, why not try a set of tools that can give you hope?
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 6w ago
My earliest memory of OCD was at five years old. Even short trips away from home made me physically sick with fear. I couldn’t stop thinking, What if something bad happens when I’m not with my mom? In class, I’d get so nervous I’d feel like throwing up. By the time I was ten, my school teacher talked openly about her illnesses, and suddenly I was terrified of cancer and diseases I didn’t even understand. I thought, What if this happens to me? As I got older, my fears shifted, but the cycle stayed the same. I couldn’t stop ruminating about my thoughts: What if I get sick? What if something terrible happens when I’m not home? Then came sexually intrusive thoughts that made me feel ashamed, like something was deeply wrong with me. I would replay scenarios, imagine every “what if,” and subtly ask friends or family for reassurance without ever saying what was really going on. I was drowning in fear and exhaustion. At 13, I was officially diagnosed with OCD. Therapy back then wasn’t what it is now. I only had access to talk therapy and I was able to vent, but I wasn’t given tools. By the time I found out about ERP in 2020, I thought, There’s no way this will work for me. My thoughts are too bad, too different. What if the therapist thinks I’m awful for having them? But my therapist didn’t judge me. She taught me that OCD thoughts aren’t important—they’re just noise. I won’t lie, ERP was terrifying at first. I had to sit with thoughts like, did I ever say or do something in the past that hurt or upset someone? I didn’t want to face my fears, but I knew OCD wasn’t going away on its own. My therapist taught me to sit with uncertainty and let those thoughts pass without reacting. It wasn’t easy—ERP felt like going to the gym for your brain—but slowly, I felt the weight of my thoughts dissipate. Today, I still have intrusive thoughts because OCD isn’t curable—but they don’t control me anymore. ERP wasn’t easy. Facing the fears I’d avoided for years felt impossible at first, but I realized that avoiding them only gave OCD more power. Slowly, I learned to sit with the discomfort and see my thoughts for what they are: just thoughts.
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