Yobi
- Date posted
- 2y
ERP while depressed
Any tips? I've been terribly depressed the last few days and lost almost all motivation to do it because it seems way too painful right now. Plus I'm thinking I wont get better anyway.
ListenToTheWindListenToTheWind
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 2y
We all have ebbs and flows of emotions and that’s normal. Sometimes my ocd gets caught on thinking through or noticing the depressive emotions similar to anxious ones. Kind of sucks. But the good thing is the process is similar, don’t give into the depression. Allow the feelings, notice the thoughts but don’t engage or get entrenched too much if you can. If you’ve been diagnosed with OCD, and have a therapist ask them about that. Perhaps you need to revisit your why with them, or come up with a different version of ERP on depressive days. Move forward even if just a little bit.
ListenToTheWindListenToTheWind
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 2y
@ItWillBeOkay123 **this is just my experience by the way
frosty9frosty9
- Date posted
- 2y
Totally agree with the above! I work on writing down why I’m doing erp and what my values are. Honestly at times it was just “this is the last resort” and even that can be enough to try. If you are in therapy, you can also check in on the time you are spending on exposures vs other things. I noticed when I was in intensive treatment that spending all my time in treatment and also seeing result so slowly or not at all or backtracking would really effect me. I would still do exposures then but my team and I would decrease the amount and work on things like behavioral activation. It sucks and is so hard. When I started erp I was convinced I would never get better. I did. I know everyone has different experience. For me, I still have ocd but I am able to enjoy my life in a way I never could before erp. Good luck!
Alya AzizAlya Aziz
- Date posted
- 2y
Thank you for this. I just had an intake with intensive treatment and was thinking I would never get better. Could you please give me some information on how your intensive treatment was structured?
frosty9frosty9
- Date posted
- 2y
@Alya Aziz Totally! I did a php (partial hospitalization program) followed by a iop (intensive outpatient program). For the php, it was 6 hours of treatment a day and a 30 min lunch. For iop it was 3.5 hours a day My day in php was like this: Check in with therapist group Individual time (meeting with therapist, meeting with nurse when needed, meeting with psychiatrist once a week) and doing exposures and other assignments for example I did worksheets on self compassion and distress tolerance and more. After that I had lunch and then I had group. Two days a week was processing/mindfulness group where we would either do a mindful activity or share with other patients about our experiences/ask questions to each other/talk about our treatment and how we were doing and how ocd effected our lives/etc. Two days a week was cbt/
frosty9frosty9
- Date posted
- 2y
Group where we would go through learning different topics. For example we would learn about different kinds of exposures or do exercises and learn about cognitive fusion/defusion. And then on Friday our group was weekend planning. After group I had more individual time which akways included a therapist check in. Then we checked out. Iop was the same schedule without the afternoon (so no group). Good luck in your program! It was so hard but so worth it
frosty9frosty9
- Date posted
- 2y
@frosty9 Oh! Also we had homework assignments to do and then report back in the next day at check in :)
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