Is ERP therapy making you feel worse instead of helping?

How long have you been doing it and are you giving into your OCD’s whims by doing compulsions, seeking reassurance, and ruminating? And not doing your homework? Because all of that will also hinder your progress and make things worse even if you’re seeing a professional.

Hi. You might consider looking into ICBT. (Inference based cognitive therapy). I would recommend finding a therapist to help you with it, rather than doing it on your own. You can find information, practicing therapists,etc here : https://icbt.online

Of course it’s going to be difficult but are you seeing an OCD specialist or doing this on your own? Because without professional help and guidance, you could be making it worse, not better, and that’s why you wouldn’t think it’s helping. Or if your therapist isn’t a specialist or just starting out, also not ideal if your OCD is bad.

I am sorry that this has been your experience. I will say that I have heard this sentiment before. What I say when I hear it is this, the idea isn't to accept that you are a bad person or to accept that the thoughts are true- it is that OCD feeds on demanding that you always feel "certain" and that 100% certainty is the only thing that brings relief from the anxiety that the thoughts cause- but the problem is, that when you have OCD- you can never meet this requirement that OCD sets. The idea with ERP is to accept that you cannot ever feel certain enough for OCD about anything- you have a false alarm system in your brain that goes off when you are not in actual danger- it feels like you are- that is the anxiety and discomfort- the more you search for the reason, to solve what or why you had the thought, the more you are reinforcing the idea that the thought needed your attention. Think of it like a computer- your brain isn't filtering SPAM properly- so the thoughts get stuck. People with OCD often feel as if they cannot tolerate the feelings of discomfort, distress, and anxiety- it is important to learn that we can tolerate them, we don't need to like them but we can feel them and get through them. A large part of ERP is allowing the intrusive thoughts to be there- not trying to avoid them and also not trying to engage with them- they just are there. They don't need our attention, they don't need us to assign any meaning to them (that is where people feel upset/anxious- when they try to apply meaning to them- for example: (this must mean I like it or want it because I thought it). The truth is that people with OCD have thoughts all the time that don't mean anything. I am sorry for the long post, it is hard to explain it in writing, I want to add that for me, personally- and everyone will be unique- I have found a combination of ERP and medication to be the most effective for me. I have also done many years of CBT/talk therapy which was helpful to a certain degree. I am sending you my thoughts and best wishes as I know that this disorder can be so hard to go through. But you can do this.

I will also say I think ERP takes time to be effective. How long have you been doing it for ?

I've recently learned something that has helped me with my understanding of acceptance that hopefully can help you, acceptance is not agreeing, for instance if someone tells you the sky is purple no matter how silly that sounds there is a possibility even if its most minutely possibility we can accept that, it doesn't mean we have to agree with it. With ocd we have issues with uncertainty so naturally when we are doing erp and get triggered we want to fight that possibility and refuse to accept it but there's no 100% guarantee at all in life, it's highly not probable that you are not what you fear but there's always possibility which is where living the with uncertainty comes in.

I've been attempting it a couple of months. It simply makes me feel more depressed. How does one not feel bad if they tell themselves "maybe I'm a (insert immoral person here)"? Makes me feel like garbage. Maybe feeling like garbage is someones idea of dealing with OCD, but I'm not interested in that. It doesn't work for everyone and I'm in that category unfortunately.