Therapists - What do you Wish They Knew About OCD?

@Bee. Yes, my “main therapist” ignored my thoughts/obsessions and just acted like I should just accept the thoughts.

My therapist noticed I was having OCD symptoms and immediately tried to find someone qualified to help. It's the best thing she could've done.

@Bee. Talk therapy was one of the worst things that my previous therapist did for me regarding my relationship ocd. It made me so panicky because I felt like I had to break up.

@Bee. By talk therapy you mean psychoanalytical type of talk therapy ?

@ChangeisKing This comment is so true , everything is tide into our theme . It’s like at moments no escape . If we breath the wrong way , the thought may become reall , if we sit the wrong way . If we look at something for to long , if we don’t look at something at all , if we eat the wrong food , if we don’t eat at all or eat to much , if we think we came in contact with something they may make the thought become real . If we take our medication , if we don’t take it … it’s like a battle of losses some days …

@Kayla37 ^ It’s all overthinking. I believe people with OCD are the smartest thinkers on Earth. But then it turned on us.

@Kayla37 A lot of the time I call it a good day when the fear I'm stuck on is less agonizing and my anxiety is not literally making me not want to get out of bed or stand or sit or walk. I swear I'm going to get a six pack because of how constricted my stomach is every second. The what if thinking is unbearable sometimes. It's so hard to live life when there's another life your living in your head

@SomaticSun🌤️ Lol right , we were blessed with so much thinking that we now have ocd . The ultimate “thinker” who try’s to outthinks us daily ! Lol 😂

@ChangeisKing Yes ! I definitely agree ocd is like living two lives ! I’ve realized some days I literally will ignore OCD to the point where when I finally sit down & realized I had a good day & then OCD will unload all at once nick picking my every move that day . It’s truly exhausting, but here I am just swimming along lol 😂

@Kayla37 Right? 😂

@Lavender Fields!! Then How do we stop it some of us got worse then better not in a way as to harm people or one’s self but why do we keep taking it out on others for what happen to us and sad part is it’s been many years like 45 years how can this Hang on so long is it that much Problem s built up in side that we can’t let go??? I need this ERC more than ever but can’t afford it Covid has killed me I ran my self so far in to det no one will or wants to Help and me thinking I can do it all and fix everyone else in the process I need to have God Come Back and Fix everything Amen……..

@BettlesBailey I ment ERP sorry for the confusion

@BettlesBailey Make it your friend & don’t see it as a threat. You can accept/acknowledge the thoughts but not agree with them & let them go by not engaging or fighting with them. It takes practice & it a difficult but with time it can be done. Also, my meds are very helpful & a close relationship with God has helped to live a better more fulfilled life. 🙏❤️

@Lavender Fields!! Meds can you drive truck on them???

@rachelpevsner Same. The dangers of encouraging mental compulsions and facing them until they don’t bother you. They are compulsions. They are to be ignored, not messed with.

I agree. So many years down the drain ...and they should really have referred me out

@Dee C Agreed! I just don’t know where I should put my efforts, in either allowing it, or working on ignoring it (which can be done, but requires mental muscle 💪.) Many times, it goes on autopilot and I panic.

@VGH Wow I think I have this same issue of confessing. Since being in a relationship I've been mostly facing ROCD and always confessing to my boyfriend my obsessive negative thoughts about him and our relationship which obviously puts a very big strain... but whenever a thought comes I just don't know how to escape it and trying to ignore it feels impossible and trying to face it is just scary. The only thing that helps is talking to him about it but then it hurts our relationship because he takes it personally and then im left feeling guilty after I get relief from the compulsion and the cycle starts again 😥

@VGH I to did this with my talk therapist before I got a NOCD therapist. I felt like each session was just a reassurance session and when I left I felt like a weight had been lifted and then a week or two later all the weight was back.

@SomaticSun🌤️ Hey, your comment resonated with me as in the past I was in a similar conundrum. A rule of thumb that works for me: what’s the function of the behavior? If it’s to feel better, relieve uncertainty, relieve an “urge” that I feel I must do, I assume it’s a compulsion and I don’t do it, then I practice being willing to feel uncomfortable with the feelings that I’ve left something “important” undone. If, as part of an ERP exercise, I’m exposing myself to a behavior to ramp up anxiety to practice non-engagement, then I set a time limit where anxiety goes up, then stop counting and move on with things I value (taking that uncomfortable feeling with me).

@VGH Hi @VGH I see you’ve battled this as well. It is awful. As a Somatic OCD sufferer, of course paying attention to breathing is a big one. Particularly when trying to sleep (for me). Over the years, I’ve realized I can successfully fall asleep even while focusing on breathing, so then it just went away. But when my mind automatically started counting each breath, it has now brought the breathing back into focus, by counting each time I inhale. That DOES keep me awake, because counting is something you actively do, the number gets higher and higher, yet it can also go on automatically in the background. I hate it so much. The only way to make this stop, is by forcefully not letting my mind do it, but that, in itself, feels like a difficult job. You know how they say don’t think of a pink elephant? It’s like don’t pay attention to the fact that you’re counting each breath. And believe it or not, I can do it. It just takes so much mental discipline, and sleep becomes this tug of war. I don’t even know if the counting part is a compulsion, or just an “add-on” to the original breathing game, so it can make a comeback with counting each breath and that right there has brought the focus back to an OCD game that I’ve conquered- the breathing game. Now it has counting attached to it. It’s hard to postpone it, when all you’re trying to do is fall asleep. You see how tricky this one is? Thank you 💖

@SomaticSun🌤️ I understand ❤️ and sometimes all of the trying to decide how to handle it adds to keeping it front and center in my mind. When I was in therapy my therapist very skillfully caught my subtle compulsions of wanting to be sure I was handling each trigger correctly. She would often tell me “you know what to do”. So I landed on telling myself I would do nothing and revisit it in a set amount of time. I started with 2 weeks. I decided I would not do any compulsions for two weeks. A funny thing happened, way before 2 weeks I had clarity🤦‍♀️

@VGH I see what you mean and I do that too.. trying to figure out which part is the obsession, which part is the compulsion, do I engage? Do I ignore? How can I relax when I’m trying NOT to do something? I think I do know what to do, like you said. And your therapist. Not do it. Even if it takes some effort. And when it wins, just go back to not doing it. Automatic mental compulsions are hard to beat, but that doesn’t mean they are unbeatable. Yes? Thank you so much. The advice to “purposely do it” .. that’s what almost landed me in mental hospital. Actively allowing mental compulsions makes you feel like your mind has total control over you. Thanks again

@SomaticSun🌤️ Thanks to you too❤️, it’s helpful to talk through it with someone else who has been through it.

@VGH What is the point of mental compulsions, if they don’t even bring relief? They only bring me stress. I’ve never understood that. Like I get mad at my own mind for wanting to repetitively check or review something by counting, (somatic stuff) -that’s not a normal mind. It bothers me so much. I wish there was just a way to make it g-o-n-e.

@SomaticSun🌤️ I know, I guess our brains like patterns and repetitions. The thing is it’s a lot more common than we realize, and it truly does get better over time❤️

@SomaticSun🌤️ @SomaticSun🌤️ Hello. I agree with VGH. Trying to find the perfect way to react to the breathing compulsion can in itself become a compulsion. It sounds like a lot of work. Somatic stuff like that can be really hard as I understand it’s like you don’t know what to do with your attention. There’s a nice metaphor which is like about the black chess pieces vs the white ♟️. At the moment it sounds like you are battling each other. But what if you could become more like the board? Observing the activity but not engaging with it? I wonder if you can make it OK for the automatic compulsions to be there at bed time? And have some compassion for yourself. Trying to force attention somewhere can do just the opposite like you said. The brain is so used to counting that it’s going to throw it up at bed time because it knows you engage with it. But what if you could observe your mind, like it’s a screen? Sometimes before bed I do a gentle meditation of ‘I am not the body, I am not the mind’. Etc. as long as it isn’t a compulsion lol. Meditation during the day could be useful. You can imagine the mind as an annoying person just yelling trying to get your attention. With OCD it’s not about controlling what the mind or body does. It’s about becoming OK with any uncomfortable thought or feeling. Anything somatic though, it’s good to get yourself out your head throughout the day too, so it’s easier at night, e.g doing physical excersise, doing chores, getting in your body etc. but as someone else said, sitting with the discomfort is what ERP is all about. good luck!

@spyro Thank you, very good info :)

@spyro Ok this sounds like something that I should try amen before I make every one crazy mad at me ….

Im sorry , this platform is really your best bet, honestly worked better for me than therapy anyway. You are doing the right thing

Yeah especially when the other things going on, like I also have ADHD so it's extra challenging

@Christy J True !

@gixmo I’m sorry to hear that. I just want to encourage you to keep moving forward. Recovery is hard work, but we are truly working toward the life we deserve to live (even if it doesn’t feel like it)❤️. Take care!

@tashk I agree, you should have had a message of positive closure. It is hard to trust after something like that. I hope you can explain it to another therapist & find what helps you. ❤️

@tashk I had the same experience and now with another NOCD therapist.

@tashk I understand how you feel, I was late to a few of my appointments I had just had a baby so sleeping had been very hard and sometimes would be hard to make it to my appointments on time, I scheduled only husband birthday and did not even realize I did and told my therapist and he threatened me with a fee and wasn’t understanding at all. The other time I had to reschedule my baby was sick, as if I could’ve predicted that would happen after I had already scheduled, and than soon after I got sick….. so I say they need to be more understanding!!! This was why I left my therapist. Apparently I was at the end of treatment anyway and was doing great all of a sudden so it was time for me to leave him but I need another therapist who understands I also have anxiety, oh and a therapist who also doesn’t blurt out to me in the middle of talking “this is not talk therapy this is NO OCD therapy” find me a decent therapist not like this on this app I will definitely be happy!

@Itzjuzash This makes me really sad, as if having a baby isn’t a tough enough experience! I can imagine how little time you had to do the ERP and also it took me so long to engage with it as I was so frightened of my feelings so it was more like talk therapy for a while and that’s exactly what I needed! My husband told me to be careful as they would be money driven and I refused to believe it at the time. Sadly he was correct. Hope you find a more caring therapist xx

@tashk Thank you I’m searching for a therapist that can give me talk therapy