- Date posted
- 1y ago
Treatment time
How long were you in treatment before you felt that you didn’t need treatment anymore?
How long were you in treatment before you felt that you didn’t need treatment anymore?
It took 6 years of intense therapy to recover from all my mental illnesses.
@Nica Thank you!
@Nica Gosh that’s a long time! We’re you getting better throughout? Which mental illnesses do you have? (If you don’t mind sharing) I have PTSD, OCD and major depressive disorder.
@emilytravelswild You and I have much in common. I have ptsd anxiety and recovered from depression. Also diagnosed with ocd later in life (thought it was anxiety).
@emilytravelswild I had a debate with my therapist over reducing therapy - and she said something unhelpful as a result, and I realized so much in that interaction.
@AfraidOfFood Oh no, I’m sorry to hear that. I also had to switch from my first therapist. The one I have now is a lot better but she really pushes me. I’m just worried because I was told the PTSD can retraumatize me if not handled first. How are you managing the PTSD?
@emilytravelswild Mine never mentioned anything about ptsd cross diagnosis. Meditation has helped me with the ptsd and it works most of the time. I think it also depends on what your triggers are as well and how intense each trigger is- there are some for me that are more mild.
@emilytravelswild Yes, I was. I had to tackle PTSD first, then I did everything else. I have PTSD, OCD, depression, GAD, social anxiety, tackled a few phobias (still working on one right now), and ADD.
@Nica See that’s what I’m worried about. They are having me really dive hard into ERP but the PTSD hasn’t been dealt with yet. I’ve just started with therapy for that as well.
@AfraidOfFood My trauma is around my mom dying from breast cancer. And because I have health OCD it’s very intermingled, which makes it tricky. I just don’t know how to deal with the trauma at all. Even with therapy. How do you get past it?
@emilytravelswild If you’re doing it at the same time, then see how it goes. If it isn’t working, then just Work on trauma therapy for a bit.
@emilytravelswild Go at your own pace and listen to yourself. They are intermingled and sometimes it will be obvious oh this because of this and it’s easier to sort, but there will be times where it’s more complicated and messy. No one knows what it’s like for you to have experienced what you did, and people might have similar experiences but only you know your lived experience. I have been working through Ptsd with a talk therapist, and many times we talk about nothing, but sometimes the trauma comes up a little bit and I process it. After my trauma I coped by disassociating (without realizing) and it has taken about 5 years to reconnect, and I still check out emotionally from time to time but now I’m aware that I’m doing it. Meditation and mindfulness has been very helpful for me, and learning to accept and be ok with whatever arises has been helpful. If YOU ever feel like it’s too much, any part of the therapy, please remember this is YOUR therapy and YOU are always in choice. I share this because we own our own power. How long ago did you lose your mom? I’m going on 5 years since losing mine.
@emilytravelswild I am so very sorry you lost your mom to breast cancer and sending you a virtual hug.
@Nica When you were doing erp for ocd, did you eventually get to a place where you didn’t feel anxious and then you started to feel like you wanted the thoughts/like the thoughts ? And then it caused you panic
@68273 Yup, it’s called a backdoor spike. Still treat it like OCD.
@Nica Ok 😬thanks! Ben hitting this roadblock over and over and over again, it’s been three years and I keep having backdoor spikes every single time.
@68273 My therapist says it’s part of MetaOCD, it’s so hard , whack a mole between hocd, relationship ocd and now metab
@68273 It’s definitely tough! But maybe don’t see it as whack a mole and instead just let it be present and work on not only what your therapist assigns you but self ERP.
@68273 Me too! This last round threw me into an absolute spiral that feels impossible to get out of.
About a year
One year, although I didn't feel confident to be on my own. However, my therapist said I was ready, and she was right. It doesn't mean I don't have bad days or do compulsions every now and then, it's just I know what to do, and I can pull myself out of the cycle. I would say I knew how to do this after 6 months with NOCD, however, I needed to practice. Everyone is different, though, so try not to compare too much.
Curious about this too
If you suffer from taboo themes, and deal with groinal responses… Do you feel they have disappeared? Do you still notice them? For myself, they have become so engrained/automatic , so while i do not get “anxious” by them anymore i still can clock them & it can feel discouraging … What are your experiences?
Those of you who have overcome at least a bit, if not all, of your OCD. When you went through the CBT and ERP, did it feel like the end of the world? And how did you face the fact that your fears and uncertainties might actually come to life?
December 14, 2024, marked two years since my first ERP therapy session with my NOCD therapist, Mixi. And October 2024 marked a year of being free from OCD. It was not an easy journey, confronting my fears face to face. Exposing myself to the images and thoughts my brain kept throwing at me, accepting that I might be the worst mother, that my daughter wouldn’t love me, and that I deserved to be considered a bad person. It was challenging having to say, “Yes, I am those things,” feeling the desire to run, but realizing the thoughts followed me. At the start of my therapy, I remember feeling like I couldn’t do this anymore. Life felt unbearable, and I felt so weak. I longed for a time before the OCD, before the flare-ups, before the anxiety, the daily panic attacks. I thought I’d never be myself again. But I now know that ERP saved my life. The first couple of sessions were tough. I wasn’t fully present. I lied to my therapist about what my actual thoughts were, fearing judgment. I pretended that the exposures were working, but when the sessions ended, I went back to not sleeping, constantly overwhelmed by fear and anxiety. But my therapist never judged me. She made me feel safe to be honest with her. She understood OCD and never faltered in supporting me, even when I admitted I had been lying and still continued my compulsions. My biggest milestone in therapy was being 100% transparent with my therapist. That was when real change began. At first, I started small—simply reading the words that terrified me: "bad mom," "hated," "unloved." Then, I worked on listening to those words while doing dishes—not completely stopping my rumination, but noticing it. Just 15 minutes, my therapist said. It wasn’t easy. At one point, I found myself thinking, “Will I ever feel like myself again?” But I kept pushing through. Slowly, I built tolerance and moved to face-to-face exposures—sitting alone with my daughter, leaning into the thought that my siblings might die, reading articles about my worst fears, and calling myself the things I feared. Each session was challenging, but with time, the thoughts started to lose their grip. By my eleventh session, I started to realize: OCD was here, and it wasn’t going away, but I could keep living my life despite it. I didn’t need to wait for it to be quiet or go away to move on. Slowly, it began to quiet down, and I started to feel like myself again. In fact, I am not my old self anymore—I’m a better version. OCD hasn’t completely disappeared, but it’s quieter now. Most of the time, it doesn’t speak, and when it does, I know how to handle it. The last session with my therapist was emotional. I cried because I was finishing therapy. I remember how, in the beginning, I cried because I thought it was just starting—because I was overwhelmed and terrified. But at the end, I cried because I was sad it was ending. It felt like I had come so far, and part of me wasn’t ready to say goodbye, even though I had already learned so much. It was a bittersweet moment, but I knew I was walking away stronger, equipped with the tools to handle OCD on my own. If I could change anything about my journey, it would be being open and honest from the beginning. It was the key to finding true healing. The transparency, the honesty—it opened the door to lasting change. I’m no longer that person who was stuck in constant panic. I’m someone who has fought and survived, and while OCD still appears from time to time, I know it doesn’t define me. I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments. Have you started therapy, is something holding you back? Is there something you want to know about ERP therapy? I'll be live in the app answering each and every one today from 6-7pm EST. Please drop them below!
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