Did anyone have any progress doing talk therapy? Because I have no OCD specialist near by so I'm just going to talk therapy. And my therapist is mostly trying to figure out why I have these obsessions. I don't think it's helping but maybe I just have to be patient
My experience with 11 years of talk therapy before I got the diagnosis of ocd is that it did not help me. Sometimes I would feel a bit better for short periods of time, but for me It didn’t last long term & reinforced my compulsive behaviors. For me talk therapy made me super dependent on my therapist for some to stay feeling better.
Talk therapy helped me with other things than OCD. If you really have no access to a therapist who knows ERP than at least let them read up on it so they don’t say things that will make your OCD worse (like reassuring you, for example). I think figuring out why you have OCD is tricky, because it’s probably mostly a combination of genetics, circumstances and/or the way your brain developed. (They’re still unsure what exactly causes OCD and what specifically goes “wrong” in the brain) Experience will have influence, for sure. But OCD is not a matter of healing emotional wounds or try and change your thoughts (that especially should not be done in ERP). We need to change our behaviour to show our brain nothing will happen and that we can deal with whatever comes our way. ACT and other forms of CBT are sometimes used as complementary treatments to ERP. If she at least knows some of these you could work on your self confidence so you dare to do ERP yourself. (Maybe the online course from Nathan Peterson could help support you with setting up your own ERP treatment). Make sure your therapist knows how to support you in doing ERP. Let them focus on what you can actively do to help yourself, NOT focus on the obsessions. The obsessions aren’t the issue here, the compulsions are. THAT’S the stuff that needs to change. Your therapist shouldn’t, in any way, relieve your stress around stopping the compulsions but encourage you to keep going with ERP. Unfortunately the therapist needs to be strong in this as well (because they will see you in big fear when doing exposures and they might want to fix that), and not every one of them are, if they don’t fully realize what ERP is. They also need to realize when your OCD is doing the talking and call you out on that. It’s a tough situation. I hope you can find a solution.
Personally for me I have two therapists for different sets of issues. I find on the overall for me with my own results talk therapy has a high therapeutic value and benefit. As with most things in life individual results vary significantly.
I’ve been having cbt whilst doing my own ERP and she has really helped me. She has been helping me break down my core fears around my theme and giving me a safe space to share my intrusive thoughts. I have defo found it beneficial, she does have experience in Ocd and doesn’t offer me reassurance.
Not with OCD, no
I started CBT and it works somehow, but i tried talk therapy before that and therapist told me that she prefers just talking, than critics of the thoughts,(CBT)because we are always trying to control ourselves and our thoughts anyway with OCD and it is overwhelming,and it’s better to just relax sometimes,that makes sense also for me
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@bxygenius Yeah that's how I feel. I just want to be exposed to my fears and how to deal with them. But we mostly just talk about how it makes me feel and why it's okay to be afraid of these things
Hello! What a journey this ocd thing is! After 17 years with one therapist, I knew I was no longer making progress, so I changed to a new therapist. After just 6 months with her, she suggested I might have ocd and to look into getting diagnosed. She was right and I was diagnosed with ocd last summer. Meds are making a big difference but I still have lots of unlearning and re-learning to do. I’ve been struggling with whether or not to switch to a therapist who specializes in ocd. I have no issues with my current therapist, but she doesn’t specialize in ocd and I sometimes think I need someone who does specialize in it. But of course, I have Pure O, so I can think myself in circles til the cows come home. Can anyone share experience about switching to a therapist who specializes in ocd?
What does a therapy session with an OCD specialist look like for y’all? This is something I’ve always wondered because I’ve only had one OCD therapist through NOCD. Our sessions always looked like sit there and “reduce anxiety” meaning don’t think for a few minutes and take a few deep breaths and rate your anxiety level every couple of minutes. AND that was it. Is it supposed to look like that? Because I haven’t seen anyone on this app talk about this or how their therapy sessions go. I’m considering restarting therapy but I want to know how therapy goes for you guys before I go back to the same specialist. Any input would be appreciated :)
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?
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