- Username
- Anonymous
- Date posted
- 1y ago
I have this same problem. Maybe try starting very small so that you’re at least doing some of it instead of none of it
I struggle with this all the time! Just tell yourself you are going to do an exposure for one minute. OCD is exposing you to distressing content basically every day anyway. Do it and then do something nice for yourself. I have a routine I do after where I smell a comforting scent and take deep breaths and sometimes I like to clean up my room a little bit. It makes me feel like I'm really taking care of myself. (By doing exposures you are taking care of yourself too!) Good luck. I'm about to do mine right now!!
I feel like this new exposure is unsafe and I don’t want to do it! I have been triggered with making noise with glass and thinking that I have broken/chipped the glass. This latest glass exposure was to break glass and put into a tin box and shake and turn the box over. Glass shards fell all over my kitchen counter and increased my anxiety when it was suggested by my therapist to not wash my hands until I prepared dinner later that night.
So you were worried that there were glass shards on your hand and your therapist said not to wash your hands?
@Anonymous Talk to your therapist about this. Sometimes an exposure is too much and needs to be dialed back and other times pushing the fears pretty hard really helps.
Ok will do! Drinking wine and and watching the football games with my husband and kids. Thanks for your input
I think @Erin P has a great point where the exposure just may have been too much. I'm sorry that I totally forgot about this thread! My therapist has not had me go beyond what a normal person would do yet but it makes sense from a therapy standpoint. I hope you were able to talk to your therapist about having a rough patch with compulsive behavior. Remember recovery from OCD has ups and downs and not to beat yourself up about it!!
Thank you! I actually changed therapists. My therapist really helped me but this latest exposure was way tooooo much for me to handle.
@Anonymous I hope you have a good experience with the new person.
Me too! I’m doing so much better from where I started but still want/need to continue with therapy
Did you touch any glass with your hands, or did you just sweep it up?
There were glass shards on my hands and shards all over my kitchen counter where my kids eat! He suggested that I only wipe up the shards with a dry paper towel. I have learned so much from my therapist and have really become desensitized to the thought of broken glass but I feel that this is an extreme exposure. My therapist eventually would want me to shake this tin box with shards of glass over my head and shoulders and go on with my day with the uncertainty that I might have glass on me( the tin box is not airtight and spills glass shards when shaken).
@Anonymous Therapists often have people go beyond what someone without OCD would do in order to really break the OCD fear. Not to trigger you or anyone else but an example would be to have someone with OCD re: fecal matter eat a cracker after putting it in a toilet seat or touching a plunger without hand washing. The glass exposure is a similar going beyond if that helps.
Is there a “blueprint” for the various OCD subtypes or is the plan of care therapist dependent?
@Anonymous My guess is there are a huge set of typical exposures for each subtype but therapists frequently come up with their own based on the specific case.
I get that my therapist is doing a great job of challenging me with my OCD trigger of breaking glass but I feel that this latest exposure is too unsafe. In fact I landslided back with compulsive behavior after our session. I completely deep cleaned my kitchen, which he told me absolutely not to do!
@Anonymous That’s called flooding when the exposure is too much which is why I suggested you talk to your therapist about this. Try to be kind to yourself about backsliding. It sounds like you are working really hard at this. Take a break tonight and do something you enjoy if you can,
Hey! I’m a POCD sufferer and I was wondering if anyone who is doing ERP has any good suggestions for exposure heirarchies that I could take inspiration from? I’m starting CBT soon but I can only get it in a group and I don’t feel super comfortable talking about the details of POCD yet cos it feels really embarrassing. So far I’ve thought of going to the pool/park, or writing down my thoughts and looking at them, but my OCD really goes wild if I try to masturbate or if I feel aroused at all...at the moment I’m avoiding anything like that because it’s so distressing, but is that something I should do exposures for in the future?
I’m scared of the exposures I’m going to be asked to do with NOCD therapy.
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