- Date posted
- 1y
Finally OCD free
Finally OCD free after struggling with HOCD for a little while. Just posting this to show that freedom is possible if you keep doing ERP.
Finally OCD free after struggling with HOCD for a little while. Just posting this to show that freedom is possible if you keep doing ERP.
Congratulations!! I hope the best for you
@Emmanonymous Thanks
I feel like I’m 70 percent there , w same theme
@68273 Been with nocd for 6months now ,it’s been tough and I’m still having a hard time but I keep trying
@68273 Keep going girl, you will get there one day I’m sure of it, we both will 🤞🙏
Can you give me some insight on backdoor spike and feeling like you want it? I’m on the end of backdoor spike, like what does it mean that I don’t have anxiety? What does it mean that it feels like I would be ok with it etc etc. I’m just accepting all thoughts and feelings as much as possible but I still find myself doing some mental compulsions
@68273 I mean if he lying if I was saying I can give the best advice Bcz I’m knee deep in this shit right now, but what I do know is that I know many many many people have recovered from this and that the stage ur currently in is like the final hurdle. Jus stick with it
@Anonymous Ok that’s what I’m doing right now , maybe maybe not .
@Anonymous I ain’t lying
@68273 If you are doing ERP consistently, that’s great. It’s all about time. This thing just takes time that’s all. As long as anxiety is trending downwards then your good.
@Anonymous I am doing exposures but sometimes I fall back to compulsions
@Anonymous No I meant “I’d be lying” 😂
@68273 The way you worded it “it feels like I’d be ok with it” hits home for me. That thought and feeling makes it seem so real and true right? And then you get stuck cos you think you’re just denial? It’s horrible :(
@gp Yup, like am I really ok with it? Why am I ok with it if I’m not ok with it? Lol and so the cycle continues
@68273 Yep, that’s exactly the same process my mind follows
@gp So exhausting
Can u give some examples of exposures?
Yea I would like to know also
@Anonymous I’m not gonna say them bc it’s kind of bad to say on this app, but basically doing extreme exposures over time is what worked for me. Basically embrace the thoughts. It sounds counter intuitive but trust me it works.
Just wanted to give some hope to those who are having ocd spikes, spirals and worries. This past year I have regained my life back. I went from beginning to isolate myself, being convinced by my ocd that my hobbies are bad and that I should avoid things I enjoyed, and having constant panic attacks. With the work of IOP, psychiatry and nocd, I have made great strives towards my future. I now don’t avoid things and instead embrace my life and ANY possibility that may come. Don’t let the ocd bully you. Yes, I have intrusive thoughts still but I am able to go about my day instead of obsessing over them. You can find this too. I encourage anyone on the fence to please seek help if you are in a tough time, it can literally save your life.
Feeling hopeful. Pasta days I’ve felt pretty much myself. My attraction to the opposite gender has come back in stages. False attraction to same gender is there but not as near strong as before. It’s like my brain knows it’s OCD. I have been through hell in the past months, really really severe SOOCD. But I see the that this does not define who I am and my values! Keep strong and fight on.
I had just posted a summary of ERP for a group member, and I thought it might be useful for everybody. Here it is below (with a little extra added)…. ERP therapy is researched-based. Most other therapies don’t work. There have been people who have been literally stuck in their houses (from their OCD) who gained their lives back through ERP therapy. NOCD does ERP therapy exclusively. You can find it in other places too, but you have to ask around. There are two tenants of ERP therapy: The first one has to do with the repetitive thoughts inside our heads. These thoughts are actually defined as “obsessions”. You are not supposed to do anything with the obsessions. You are supposed to let them run through your head freely, without trying to fix them or stop them. Imagine a tree planted by a river. The leaves fall off and float down the river. You can see the leaves falling, but you don’t try to stop them or pick them up. You don’t try to fix them. You just let them float away. This is really important to do with your obsessive thoughts. The more you try to fight them off, the worse they get. I used to have blasphemous sentences running in my head 24/7. I felt like I had to put a “not” next to each sentence in order to “fix” it. But this just took hours of my time every day, and it was very scary, because I was worried that if I messed up, that I would go to hell. It was very freeing to learn later that I could just let those sentences run freely through my head without trying to fix them. The second part of ERP therapy is all about “denying your compulsions.” Every time OCD tells you that if you don’t do things a certain way that something really bad will happen, that is a compulsion. Once you recognize what your compulsions are, ERP therapy will have you practice stopping doing all of those things. For some people, that will mean stopping washing their hands or touching lights switches or, in my case, putting “fixing” words in their head. Compulsions are safety behaviors. During ERP therapy, you will practice stopping engaging with safety behaviors. All this is very hard to do and scary, so during therapy you will be given tools to help you deal with the fear. Often ERP therapy will take people from being non-functional to functional. I highly recommend it. ————————————————- PITFALL #1: After you have been doing ERP for a while and become somewhat successful, the OCD will try subtle little tricks to bring you down again. The first one is to tell you that your thoughts are REAL and not OCD, and therefore you can’t apply ERP therapy. Don’t fall for this trick! All thoughts are just thoughts. They are all meaningless. Don’t try to figure out what is real and what is OCD. Just treat all thoughts with ERP therapy. PITFALL #2: The second pitfall is that OCD will tell you that you can’t move forward unless you have absolute certainty that you will be safe. Hate to tell you this, folks, but there is no certainty in life. You will never know for SURE that you or your loved ones will be “safe” from the OCD rules. Therefore, you have to move forward in the uncertainty. It’s hard, but it gets easier with time and practice. We got this, guys !!!!!!
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