- Date posted
- 3y
- User type
- NOCD Alumni
- Date posted
- 3y
Hello Emma! I know that this theme can seem so heart wrenching and tiring. Hang in there because there is HOPE! Are you currently practicing ERP? If you do not have a therapist NOCD can help. They helped get me out of my bed and out of being stuck in my house and into the world functioning again. There are also great groups NOCD offers and I find it so helpful to relate to other people with the same OCD struggles as me. Let me know if I can help and check out NOCD or have your parents check them out since you are 17. Good luck!
- Date posted
- 3y
Thank you!!
- Date posted
- 3y
Hi , I’m so sorry you’re dealing with it I currently am to and it’s awful so exhausting like you said I hope the best for us and everyone else ❤️
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 3y
Hi Emma. You are so right that dealing with OCD is exhausting, and it is very natural to want it to stop. I have had OCD for many years, and through ERP therapy, I have been able to retrain my brain on how to treat intrusive thoughts when they enter into my mind. I am able to accept the thoughts, and do nothing with them, i.e., no compulsions. That does not mean I do not feel anxiety, I do, but I do not allow OCD to be in charge. If you are able to do ERP therapy, that is the gold standard for treatment. I will also emphasize that compulsions will only make the OCD STRONGER. Yes, it may help in the short term, but doing a compulsion tells the brain that the intrusive thought is important - when in reality it is a false alarm. I hope this helps. Please feel free to respond if you need some clarification.
- Date posted
- 3y
I have done ERP and it has definetly helped in the past but it seems to come back eventually anyways
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 3y
@Emma17 I would encourage you to Continue to do erp. OCD is manageable not curable.
- User type
- NOCD Alumni
- Date posted
- 3y
@Emma17 - It is recommended to do a scheduled ERP daily even when in recovery and to continue to do response prevention- no compulsions anytime you are triggered to maintain your recovery. So I encourage you to think of some ERP you have done in the past or come up with some new ones you think you can handle and give it a go.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 23w
back in october i made my first post about my specific type of ocd, how it mixes in with my day to day and how i “deal” with it. i talked about the starting point, how it gradually got worse, and then how it was going just a few months ago. i always think it’s insane how much can change in just the course of a small to a large amount of time. right now, i honestly feel like garbage. to be quite sincere i really want to give up, i’m barely holding on by a thread. and if i cut that thread, i really doubt anyone would care. i’ve never considered myself to be a suicidal person, and i still don’t consider myself that right now. it just gets to a point where it’s just, a lot to deal with. i don’t really enjoy things a lot nowadays. sure i have good days like everyone does, like today, when i was just enjoying my day without worries. but then it all comes crawling back twice as bad the following days. i take online college so i’m usually just stuck at home most of the time. but, when i do decide to actually go out and leave my house, my ocd just explodes because i have this whole routine i need to do or else i feel like i’ll contaminate wherever i end up going. i’m not going to go really deep into my compulsions because it’s hard enough to live with them, much more having to type them all out in detail. but when i go out my compulsions go from wiping down all my stuff i’m going to use after showering, to washing my clothes/cleaning the washer + dryer. i also have separate things (or two of the same thing) i use specifically in my house, and items i use when going out. such as shampoo/body wash, deodorant, lotion, hair curler, etc. as if that’s not draining enough, i also feel the need to fast a couple days prior to any plan i make because i’ve forced myself to believe i need to feel empty in order to be clean. i’m not sure if that’s my past eating disorder talking, or my ocd, but my brain can’t help but think any food in my house is utterly and completely contaminated. i’m so tired of this feeling, feeling like nothing will ever be clean again. feeling like my ocd is trapped in my childhood home. feeling that wave of diseases rushing through my veins the moment i step foot into what’s supposed to be “home”. and i’m so scared of therapy because what if i do get healed, and then everything comes rushing back the second i step into my room. i’m planning on moving somewhere far from my current house in this next coming year, so sometimes i feel like just waiting it out. but it’s insufferable when going to hangout with someone. i miss my friends, my family, and my partner. it’s crazy to me that i’m dealing with all this at the young age of 18 but, i’m sure lots of people have it way worse. i just want to find a way out, any possible way. but i keep pushing myself deeper and deeper that when i finally find a way, it will no longer exist.
- Date posted
- 8w
WHY is it so bad?? who was gonna tell me 16 was just DREAD, my ocd has flared up worse than ever and i can’t go to therapy weekly anymore. im getting worse and i can’t do it. I just want to give up.
- Date posted
- 6w
I’ve recently been struggling a lot with OCD. I have had OCD for a long time I just didn’t realize it until more recently. About seven months ago I developed panic attacks one day randomly at work. I thought I was having a heart attack and went to the hospital where they told me it was just a panic attack and I assumed I would snap out and be better within a few days. However it didn’t. Here’s where it gets scary, I was staying at my then boyfriends house while dealing with blurry vision, anxiety attacks everyday, and more (unsure of what was going on). But at some point I saw my bfs (pew pew 🔫) on his table and it sent me into an anxiety attack after sudden thoughts that I was going to hurt myself with it. I begged him to put it away when I’m not looking so I didn’t know where he put it. He did. These thoughts lasted for about four days but began to go away. (I thought that was it and I would be back to normal). Unfortunately though I ended up moving back in with my family when we couldn’t get my panic attacks under control in time for me to get back to work and pay bills. However, coming home brought up a lot of trauma from when I was kid. My anxiety got worse but I didn’t have those thoughts again. About two and half months ago though, I got sick and went to the hospital where they gave me steroid pills and a steroid shot but sent me into some kind of psychiatric event. Ever since then though, I have been suffering from harm OCD, I have had moments of intense anger that I usually have to completely walk away and go on my own because of how intense they are, and it feels like it’s getting worse. Today I felt fine until about and hour and half ago where I started to dwell on the fact that my suicidal thought was influenced by my OCD and at the moment my OCD is at the worst it’s been. This caused me to get suddenly really depressed and I started crying thinking about how I can’t handle this. I then saw a post talking about how suicide rates are high for people with this form of OCD and it made me question if I am mentally strong enough to pull through this. I fear that at times I’m getting worse. I have good days but I have a lot of bad days. Unfortunately this sent me into such a bad panic attack I went over to my nanas crying about how I can’t deal with this. I took a 0.25 mg Xanax which helped calm down the panic attack portion of it but my brain is still uncomfortably active. I guess I just need hope. I’m so saddened by this. It’s like my life took a total 360 in 10 months and got even worse since the steroid shot. Idk what to do about it. I can’t stop the spiral. I talk to two different therapist weekly and start more next week, making it 5 times a week. I feel no improvements…
Be a part of the largest OCD Community
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond