Have anyone tried erp for soocd? How does it look like? I heard that it's about not caring or exposing yourself to the trigger or many other things. I'm a little confursed now how it all works
Hello! I’ve had SO-OCD for 2 1/2 years now. I’ll give you an example with my specific situation. I identify as heterosexual but my OCD tries to convince me that I might be Bisexual or become Bisexual in the future. It causes me intense anxiety that my whole identity could change after 27 years. Whenever an intrusive thought comes up like “oh you’re definitely sexually attracted to her” I say “maybe I am, and maybe I’m not.” Continuing to say this gives my OCD less power over me. I also do exposures of being around female friends and saying “maybe I am sexually attracted to her, or maybe I’m not.” What ERP is trying to do is expose you to the things that make you anxious, lean into uncertainty, live by your values, be present, in the presence of OCD. I know that was a long explanation but I hope it helps! You got this. 🩷
Thank you so much! Take care too
@Anonymous See below ⬇️
you’re basically exposing yourself to triggers to what soocd may attack. so if youre straight, worrying about gay, then exposing yourself to gay triggers is one way i believe. erp is supposed to be uncomfortable in the way that holding a spider may be uncomfortable but eventually those heightened fears should dilute the longer you hold the spider
I did see a NOCD Therapist for a few months before I turned 26 and my insurance no longer covered them. I am now seeing someone new! I am not recovered, however, I have learned so many new skills to help manage my OCD better. I also have contamination, health, and Orthorexia themes. So these new skills help me manage them all! I would suggest leaning into uncertainty. Whenever you get an intrusive thought, practice saying “maybe, maybe not.” It was also helpful for me to make a two column list, one side with my values, and the other with my OCD’s values. It’s good to be able to recognize OCD and separate it from yourself. Overall, take it day by day, live in the present moment, lean into uncertainty, live by your values, and know some days will be harder than others, but that’s okay! Each day is a new opportunity to practice your skills and loosen the grip your OCD has on your life. 😊
@OCD_1day@aTime ✨ thanks! Are you still suffering from the bisexual ocd? False attraction feels real
@Anonymous I am yes. It gets bad around my roommate because she is the closest female I interact with on a daily basis. My OCD keeps telling me I’m sexually attracted to her and it makes it really difficult to be around her. So I feel you on the false attraction part!
@OCD_1day@aTime ✨ mine went away! And now it’s back after I went to get erp for my harm ocd. I’m constantly mental reviewing because I thought one of my coworkers was so sweet and SO nice and sooo pretty so my mind made me think like oh you like her and are attracted to her but I forgot about it went away. It’s back after two years ….
@OCD_1day@aTime ✨ Hate my life lol
@Anonymous I know OCD often jumps from theme to theme, even if one hasn’t been prominent for a while. But that just proves it’s your OCD because when you’re stuck on one theme, you forget about the others until the current one subsides.
@OCD_1day@aTime ✨ so how would I do erp … because harm ocd was my scariest one and now it’s this… which one do I do erp on and it’s relating to my therapist :( . I’m trying to do erp but I’m scared doing it w my current therapist. I want to be straight not bi. I don’t want anymore flare ups in my life esp when I’m married w kids :(
If the SO-OCD is creeping up again I would do exposures for that subtype. Does your current Therapist not make you feel comfortable?
@OCD_1day@aTime ✨ She does… she’s so sweet but I randomly got a thought that I’m attracted to her and that’s why my SOCD is popping back up again. This happened yesterday :( we were doing exposures for harm ocd but I’m scared if I continue sessions w her I’m gonna fall in love w her. I’m always wanted to be initimate w a boy tho and my mind is telling since I have crushes so often … I like everyone including attracted to girls 😩
@OCD_1day@aTime ✨ Idk how to do any exposures for that… I don’t really have compulsions it’s mostly ruminating and fear of the future and uncertainty grosses me out
@Anonymous If you like her as a Therapist and she is helping you, I would recommend telling her. If you switch Therapists that would be avoidance which feeds your OCD. I know telling her what’s going on will be difficult. She isn’t going to think any differently of you. That is what she is there for, to help you through those thoughts. You got this!
@OCD_1day@aTime ✨ Yep I don’t wanna switch her cus it’s avoidance … I told her briefly that theme is back , but I kinda feel grossed out admitting it. It’s like I’m scared I’m gonna think about it in the future and mention I confessed my love for her… I can’t even find a girl super pretty now 😀😀
Been struggling with existential OCD lately. Very hard to describe the thoughts/feelings, but it is a constant feeling of being stuck in my head. Like what is consciousness and where do I think from? Like I think it’s OCD, maybe it is maybe it isn’t. But if it is, what would be good ERP exercises? Just existing (lol)? And what would be my response prevention? I’m not even sure what mental compulsions I may be doing.
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 !!!!!!
I have, alongside my other OCD themes, an intense fear of insomnia. Although this has been improving somewhat — partly thanks to medication and The sleep school on YouTube — I still find myself ruminating about it throughout the day when I have something important the next day, I get stuck in the fear that everything will be ruined — for both myself and others — because my mind is so preoccupied with sleep. + a fear of depression coming back. It honestly feels like a form of sleep OCD. I'm not sure if that’s an official thing, but that’s how it feels to me. A form of erp is the idea of befriending wakefulness. That works great tbh. Things like sleep hygiene, meditation, etc. — tend to backfire because my OCD latches onto them and becomes too obsessive about “doing them right.” I’m genuinely wondering whether ERP — for example in the form of a worst-case-scenario audio loop (imaginal exposure) — could be helpful in this case. I’m hesitant to start unless I know it can actually help. Is there anyone who has experience with this or thoughts about it? I’m not looking for reassurance or tips to fall asleep — only for ideas on how ERP might be applied in this situation.
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