So Im doing Harm EPR. To expose the scariest thing im afraid of. I keep telling my self i would do it again and again and again. And my anxiety sparks. Fear arose. And im just gonna sit with it. Is this normal?

Danz, as someone who just started ERP for Harm OCD, you are doing almost all of it correctly. The only thing you don’t need to do is telling yourself you would do it again & again. Just sit with the anxiety without thinking about anything in particular. Write down your symptoms ( e.g. heart pounding, shaky hands) & note when they begin to subside. When your symptoms are either @ a tolerable level or hopefully gone!, return to your usual activities. Look @ your data & note the decrease in symptoms. This proves to your brain that anxiety does not last forever & it doesn’t have to control your life. Good Luck!!

( sorry my phone is goofing up!) And again. Just let your mind go wherever it wants without judgement. Write down any physical symptoms you have ( e.g. heart pounding, shaky hands ) & note when they decrease. When they decrease to a tolerable level or hopefully disappear !, resume your usual activities.

And note when they decrease. When they either decrease or hopefully disappear, resume your usual “normal” activities. Then read your data & note when your symptoms change. This provides proof to your brain that anxiety doesn’t last forever & it doesn’t have to control you.

Oops- read your data first & note when your symptoms change. This provides proof to your brain that the anxiety does not last forever & doesn’t have to control you. Then resume your usual activities.

And note when the symptoms change. This proves to your brain that anxiety doesn’t last forever & doesn’t have to control you. Then resume your ordinary activities.

And doesn’t have to control you. Then resume your ordinary activities. Do this daily twice daily, with several hrs between. Good Luck!

Danz, thank you! I’m glad my advice helped!! And of course I’m glad you were able to complete your job!!! It’s perfectly normal to have a spike in anxiety & feel fearful. I have been thru it. But I have gotten better. Just keep practicing consistently. That is the key to success.

And be fearful. I’ve been thru it. But keep practicing every day. Consistency is the key to success. ?

This is completely normal. It seems like you’re doing exactly what you’re supposed to with ERP. You intentionally trigger yourself, which causes anxiety, and then you just sit with the fear and not do any compulsions. Eventually with enough exposure the fear will subside. It seems counterintuitive, but it does work.

@ghostly thank you for ur time to reply. I have done my first time , so im basically doing it while working( i can better complete my job compare to when i resist it) as if i cooperate with it and noting the exposure in my head to agree what i have resisted before. i dont feel alot of distress, but the anxiety is not as much as when i resist. the fear and feeling of nasty is mildly fierce. uncertainty is normal. maybe when i do it during day time would have more anxiety. as when im doing my first time at night im already half tired. watched a couple of video to try to spike it up, thats when the nastiness arose. i felt disgust at the same time.

@Knitter U are awesome and thx for the reply. Well i havent really did a proper tracks for my symptoms yet. But i did try my first exposure. felt different. I could complete my job perfectly (atleast for the first time since 2months ago) compared to when i resist. i felt like im agreeing to the thoughts and there is no distress. but i feel more anxiety, mild fear and nasty. thx for the advise! i wont repeat the ‘do it again’ thing so frequent now. so i will just go by the flow. i felt my mind is abit clearer, confused at the same time. and less distress.