I know everyone is different, but I want to hear about your recovery journey. How long were you in ERP before you started to see results? I’m three weeks in and struggling!
6 years of intense therapy for all my mental illnesses—and I have 6 mental illnesses.
@Nica That’s amazing that you stuck through it all and persevered because I know that’s not easy. That’s inspiring! May I ask if you take any sort of medication? (You don’t have to say what you take, of course) but do you find it to be necessary? I’m personally debating on whether I want to go back on meds or not. I like to hear about people’s experience with meds alongside therapy.
@Tee10 No medication works on me.
I started therapy in June 2022 and just ended it in January 2023. It was a lot of back and forth between feeling better for a few days and then back to feeling downright awful. Each time it spaced out a little more though and I was able to conquer things I wasn’t able to before. Keep at it and don’t give up. Don’t beat yourself up if you give into your compulsion. This takes time and healing isn’t linear. It’s hard to say how long it will take for you or anyone to heal from this. I was struggling a little bit today, but I did my best to not give in. It’s hard and takes a lot of practice. You can do it. ❤️
I’m also 3 weeks in and struggling. My therapist said it is different for everyone and it’s about building the muscle memory of this new practice we are learning. I’m frustrated because I wish it was quicker but a lifetime of this ocd prior and those brain groves of how to handle the anxiety (compulsions) are deep and will take time to revert to a new , healthy behavior - we can do this , I feel you
@smyers02 Same! I’ve had OCD since I was 12 and just got diagnosed last year. I have a lifetime of telling my thoughts to “stop” that I have to overcome.
When you become a “conqueror” does it mean you’ve completed ERP or you’ve just gotten to a good place with it? If so, how long did it take to finish therapy and how did you finally make progress? I’m having a hard time sticking with it right now as it feels unproductive. I’ve been in ERP for about 2 months and I can’t wait to be done.
Has anyone else had a rough start? I’m 4 sessions in and have had no actual ERP work happen, I have 2 different therapists because none have availability to meet 2 times a week. Both those therapists are not available for the next 2 weeks so now I’m going to see a new 3rd one. Each time I’ve seen a new therapist I feel like the whole first session is spent with them re explaining everything. I’m paying for this out of pocket because they don’t accept Tricare which is my insurance as a Retired Marine. So I’m 960 in, and honestly feel worse than when I started. I get zero suggestions on what to do between sessions and feel so incomplete after my session finishes. I feel like I’ve gotten more help asking chat gpt questions on EPR and how to deal with ROCD than I do in my sessions . Does anyone have any insight or helpful advice here?
Hey everyone it’s been a while since I posted on here. Honestly, I try to stay off of this app unless I really need advice because I find it triggering at times. But right now I’m feeling pretty down and just would like some hopeful and helpful advice. Has anyone ever felt like they’re just not capable of getting out of this? Has anyone ever felt like ERP therapy isn’t working or that they just can’t get it’s a click? . I’ve been in ERP therapy for over a year just about a year and a half actually and I literally feel so stagnant and stuck still. I show up every week I do my exposures, but my body is in such a chronic fight or fight all the time that it feels almost impossible to apply the tools. I’m super sensitive to begin with and I feel things very deeply and because of that it feels like I’m not gonna be able to ever change. It feels like no matter what I do or experience I’m just gonna always feel it so deeply and it’s gonna just rattle me all of the time. I’m honestly so frustrated. I’m tired and I’m overwhelmed. I so badly wanna change these patterns that I have and grow and be out of this OCD spiral, but everything just feels impossible. I’m just wondering if I’m alone here?? Has anyone ever felt this way? Has ERP taken a long time for anyone else or am I the only one that just can’t get my brain to click with it? Any encouraging and helpful words would be greatly appreciated thank you 🙏
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