- Username
- MelissaRose
- Date posted
- 5y ago
Pureolife, thanks for the insight! I wasn’t sure what to expect starting out. I have only been to 2 sessions so I will try and stick it out. I just want to get healthy and I just kept getting this feeling that I was doing things backwards, like I should be addressing the trauma first even though the OCD symptoms are what effect me on a daily basis. Knowing that trauma is typically addressed separately helps me know how to proceed. Thanks!
Thanks FernandoV! Makes a lot of sense when you put it that way. I was concerned because my trauma is so intertwined with my OCD symptoms since I mainly suffer from emotional contamination OCD that is directly related to the trauma. It is good to hear from other people that have experience with this so I know what to expect. Thanks everyone!
I also had both - At Rogers, my therapist, who was a behaviour specialist, actually used my trauma as exposures and had me write worry scripts to process with her. But she did tell me that it would be better to do it with someone specialized in PTSD. I know in our case they are related but they do need to be tackled separately. OCD first then PTSD. Why? Because when you overcome your OCD theme you will be able to see more clearly.
OCD specialists tend to focus just on OCD. I think you should stick to it for awhile (ERP usually takes about 2 months to see noticeable results). Addressing your OCD will make dealing with your trauma easier and more fruitful. But also vice versa. So if you see that you aren’t making progress in a few months because of unaddressed trauma, find a therapist who specializes in trauma. Everyone is different, and either of these issues could hold back progress for the other. But I think learning CBT and ERP first will actually aid you in addressing your trauma after. You may be able to find someone who does both, but I can see why this would be hard to come by. I haven’t personally seen any available in my area.
Hi, this is my first time posting here, though I have been looking at the app for support for a while already. I have pretty bad social anxiety which unfortunately extends to even being in forums online as well, so I have been putting off sharing on here. I am in my early 40s and have struggled with OCD in various forms since I was a child. In my mid-teens it exploded into very tormenting Pure O. It is complicated by some comorbidity with other diagnoses — social and generalized anxiety, depression, and CPTSD. The sad thing is that I’ve actually experienced so much harm over the years at the hands of uneducated mental health professionals who didn’t have a clue about OCD or how to work with it, and i feel like I carry this extra burden of shame and trauma from those bad experiences on top of the grueling daily struggle I have with my mental health diagnoses. I am set up to have an initial consultation appointment soon with a therapist who is a psychologist in private practice. They seem kind and very knowledgeable, and so I am very hopeful that we will be a good fit for working together. But I am still haunted by those past bad experiences, and so the whole process of starting with someone new is nerve wracking. Has anyone else had bad experiences with therapists who didn’t understand OCD or who had only a superficial understanding of it? Thanks for reading!
When and how did you first discover you may have OCD? I'm beginning to think OCD is one of the most understudied, misunderstood mental health issues ever. I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder about 6 years ago after I started suffering from panic attacks, but only just recently discovered my condition could be much more specific than that. I've been suffering from intrusive thoughts and complusions since I was a teenager with a variety of themes. And honestly this app and amazing community has opened my eyes to it. I'm curious if anyone else has had an experience like mine where they were just thrown into the general diagnosis category of just having anxiety and/or depression and is only just now coming to terms with having OCD? What has been your experience with the therapists on this app? I'm using another popular, pricey app for talk therapy at the moment, but so far 4 therapists have ghosted me on it so my confidence is feeling pretty shot. Has talk therapy and working with a therapist on here been successful for you?
I'm currently visiting my third therapist in the last three years and none of them have helped me so far. None of them have given me any type of diagnosis so I'm not even sure if I actually have OCD, and it's driving me mad. The last session I had, I even felt like it made things worse rather that it helped. I wanna feel that trust to my therapist that you should feel to be able to share your emotions but I don't. I feel like its not going anywhere, like it's useless. Lately I've been thinking about finding a therapist here at NOCD, I've even looked up some specific people and they all seem really nice and sweet.
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