Treatment time

@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.