I can't cope. I don't know what is going on in my head so I don't know how to do response prevention. My therapist won't reply to me. My biggest fear is not being able to control ocd. Someone help me please. I can't live with this

I know it will pass but I can't deal with it now

No, I mean my biggest fear is that I'll be stuck in my obsessions and unable to utilise erp

@Mary Hinchliffe I understand… So what found extremely helpful in my journey of recovery was- realizing 2 very important things. 1 is realizing you are not your thoughts. Ever since I was little, I always thought whatever happened in my head was of great importance. I always thought that defined me in one way or another. If I had a thought that I labeled as “bad” or “intrusive” than I had to do something to alter that thought. I HAD to feel better. I didn’t like anxiety, so I have to do something to feel better. I would talk to myself and ruminate how to change my thought or seek mental reassurance. I would ask others what they thought of me. I would constantly check to see if my anxiety was still there. We know these are all compulsions. But when I was younger, I just thought that was completely normal. Through therapy and research, I’ve realized that thoughts are simply just thoughts. They are something your brain is naturally going to do. There is actually no such thing as an OCD thought. When you are driving down the road and have a thought about swerving onto the other side of the road and crashing into someone… realize that is a thought. You label that thought as something bad and terrible. But now realize you labeling that thought is a compulsion. You don’t have to label your thoughts. There’s no such thing as an irrational thought or a rational thought. They are all the same. It’s your actions that matter in life. You have the choice to act. You have the choice to perform a compulsion or not. Your brain knows you don’t like the feeling of anxiety, so it’s going to do the thing it knows to do best.. and that’s to perform a compulsion to make you feel better. Your brain is just trying to be helpful, and protect you. That’s really what an anxiety disorder is in a nut shell. The 2nd concept I found helpful was realizing what actually is acceptance. You will here all the time, “You need to just accept the thought and accept the anxiety” That’s all great, but how do I do this!? I realized I was actually quite good at accepting things that don’t necessarily bother me, or that I find I like. For example- Go outside and accept the trees. How do you accept trees? You accept the trees by not doing anything, right? Acceptance is actually the practice of NOT doing anything. You’re probably really good at this, because I was too. You don’t go outside and label the trees as “bad” trees and spend all your time and energy on hating the trees. So don’t spend your time and energy labeling the thoughts in your head and giving it focus. So you being worried about being stuck in your obsessions and unable to utilize ERP is simply a thought. It’s ok if that makes you anxious. You can feel anxiety. It’s a perfectly natural reaction. Can you let that thought be there without reacting and continue doing what you value? Absolutely. It takes practice, but something you’re completely capable of. The road to great mental health is having any thought, feeling or sensation and continue doing what you value in life. 😊

@outdoorman Thank you so much. I really value what you've written especially as you clearly took the time to help me as it's a long message! I find myself having brain freeze which makes it hard to continue what I'm doing.