- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 3y
Question
Out of curiosity, why do you think people with OCD don’t see an ERP Therapist?
Out of curiosity, why do you think people with OCD don’t see an ERP Therapist?
For one thing, I think it’s really hard to figure out if you have OCD because the many misconceptions out there. Additionally, if a health care provider doesn’t have special knowledge of OCD, they might either misdiagnose a patient or they might not know that ERP is the gold standard for treatment. Even if someone with someone with OCD has done their research, it might be hard to connect with an ERP provider in their area and/or within their means (the healthcare system is f*cked). But also, sorting through mental illness is confusing and scary. Even if you know you could use some help and you know where to go, you might be lacking the behavioral motivation to take action or have fears about what it will feel like to be in therapy or how your life will change.
@redcushion That’s okay! I think knowing you need help is an important first step. Take your time as you figure out the rest. I’ll say that I knew I needed some help or to change something for probably the last year. I’ve been in a relapse of sorts for the last 2 months. It’s somewhat subsiding in intensity, but I know I don’t want this to continue without developing tools to help me cope. A switch flipped, and I was ready to reach out to an OCD therapist for assessment. There’s no good reason why I didn’t do anything a year ago, and there’s no good reason why I did something now. You will find your way.
@redcushion What do you think is worse: a lifetime of suffering with ocd and all the unhappiness that comes with it or getting help from a licensed therapist that specializes in ERP.
@redcushion Sounds like you should accept uncertainty and get a diagnostic from someone who is trained specifically in OCD.
@redcushion Why don’t you book one through this app? They are available in the UK.
@smsmith_14 NOCD Therapists could get you in tomorrow.
@redcushion Oh I did the payment plan for a portion of time. I pretty much generated a balance and paid off a percentage of it every week (kind of like how I do for my car…. But on a much smaller scale).
Fear, money, or you don’t even know where to start.
If you wanted to find an ERP Therapist that was affordable, where would you start looking?
Good question, I guess NOCD because most don't take insurance.
@Anonymous Got it
I’ve had an ocd diagnosis for over a decade and I only heard of ERP recently. Previous therapists would just have me tell them what my compulsions were and how often I did them.
Barriers to healthcare
I had my second session with a therapist and they told me they don’t think I have OCD. They think that I have just intrusive thoughts. They also said they don’t do diagnosis. I also noticed they did not ask me questions about my different themes.This has made me so confused. Even though I had a terrible fear that a therapist will tell that I don’t have it, (which is the main reason why I had not gone to one) I did suspect I had it because I identify with many of the symptoms. On the website it says that they treat it but I don’t think they are like a specialist. On the first session they described OCD mainly as needing to have things symmetrical and fear of contamination. I have a feeling that they don’t know much about it. I also didn’t mentioned all the themes I think I have because I’m scared to be misunderstood. I am not sure what to do. I can’t afford seeing an OCD therapist at NOCD. Can anyone give an insight, has something similar happened to you? Thank you!
I had just posted a summary of ERP for a group member, and I thought it might be useful for everybody. Here it is below (with a little extra added)…. ERP therapy is researched-based. Most other therapies don’t work. There have been people who have been literally stuck in their houses (from their OCD) who gained their lives back through ERP therapy. NOCD does ERP therapy exclusively. You can find it in other places too, but you have to ask around. There are two tenants of ERP therapy: The first one has to do with the repetitive thoughts inside our heads. These thoughts are actually defined as “obsessions”. You are not supposed to do anything with the obsessions. You are supposed to let them run through your head freely, without trying to fix them or stop them. Imagine a tree planted by a river. The leaves fall off and float down the river. You can see the leaves falling, but you don’t try to stop them or pick them up. You don’t try to fix them. You just let them float away. This is really important to do with your obsessive thoughts. The more you try to fight them off, the worse they get. I used to have blasphemous sentences running in my head 24/7. I felt like I had to put a “not” next to each sentence in order to “fix” it. But this just took hours of my time every day, and it was very scary, because I was worried that if I messed up, that I would go to hell. It was very freeing to learn later that I could just let those sentences run freely through my head without trying to fix them. The second part of ERP therapy is all about “denying your compulsions.” Every time OCD tells you that if you don’t do things a certain way that something really bad will happen, that is a compulsion. Once you recognize what your compulsions are, ERP therapy will have you practice stopping doing all of those things. For some people, that will mean stopping washing their hands or touching lights switches or, in my case, putting “fixing” words in their head. Compulsions are safety behaviors. During ERP therapy, you will practice stopping engaging with safety behaviors. All this is very hard to do and scary, so during therapy you will be given tools to help you deal with the fear. Often ERP therapy will take people from being non-functional to functional. I highly recommend it. ————————————————- PITFALL #1: After you have been doing ERP for a while and become somewhat successful, the OCD will try subtle little tricks to bring you down again. The first one is to tell you that your thoughts are REAL and not OCD, and therefore you can’t apply ERP therapy. Don’t fall for this trick! All thoughts are just thoughts. They are all meaningless. Don’t try to figure out what is real and what is OCD. Just treat all thoughts with ERP therapy. PITFALL #2: The second pitfall is that OCD will tell you that you can’t move forward unless you have absolute certainty that you will be safe. Hate to tell you this, folks, but there is no certainty in life. You will never know for SURE that you or your loved ones will be “safe” from the OCD rules. Therefore, you have to move forward in the uncertainty. It’s hard, but it gets easier with time and practice. We got this, guys !!!!!!
What would I do for ERP if my OCD says because I didn’t do something correctly or remember something I will have panic attacks that don’t end?
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