Hi! I'm in therapy right now, my therapist is fine but she doesn't do ERP... I'm always afraid I will get worse, but unfortunately I don't know what else I can do. For all of you who are in therapy with an Erp specialist, may I ask what do you do during sessions? Do you do exercises together? Do you have to do some exercises at home? Thanks to everyone who will answer!♡♡
Here are some articles on ERP and why it works: -What is ERP therapy: https://iocdf.org/about-ocd/ocd-treatment/erp/ -What’s An OCD Trigger? https://psychcentral.com/ocd/what-is-an-ocd-trigger
-The Hidden Power of Swearing at Your OCD: https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/beyond-the-doubt/201711/the-hidden-power-of-swearing-at-your-ocd -Taking The Power Away From OCD: https://www.treatmyocd.com/blog/taking-the-power-away-from-intrusive-thoughts
It exposes you and makes you vulnerable. It'll be scarey and tough but remember all that feeling is because of the ocd. It won't feel like that at the time but you're going through it so you don't feel it again. The more you do it the stronger you get. Healing is not linear so if mistakes happen, just get back up and keep moving. I wasn't set homework when in therapy but I understood how it worked and went out of my way to do it with multiple things in my life nearly every day
For almost every exposure you just tell yourself it may be true. It may happen but you can handle it. You accept uncertainty of your fear happening. Don't do anything to avoid the fear. We call that a compulsion. That's all ERP is.
It gets much easier after the first time. For each fear the first time is the hardest then it's much easier as long as you don't do any compulsions. Compulsions will prolong the process.
Thanks to everyone who answered!♡ I think I'm already doing erp then... my problem is rumination, I'm still learning not to do that compulsion. I'll keep trying!
How do you do ERP? I'm not asking generally, but rather how do you, the person reading this, do ERP? I'm at the point where I'm trying to work out how to do ERP for myself (largely self-directed as I don't see my psychologist more than once every few weeks), and I'm trying to get an idea of what it looks like on a practical level. Do you try and do ERP every day? Multiple times a day? How long do you spend on each exposure/session? Do you do ERP at the same time every day, or do you change it up? What do you do after you've done an exposure, do you do any self-care once the exposure is finished? I see things online saying that it can take upwards of an hour for distress to decrease when doing an exposure, and I'm wondering what are you allowed to do during that time? If the goal of ERP is to sit with the distress, do you literally just sit there for an hour doing nothing until the anxiety goes down? That's a long time to sit doing nothing but feel anxious, especially if the goal is to do this every day. Right now I'm struggling with implementing ERP into my routine. I currently do ERP sporadically, and not on any kind of schedule. I'm struggling to find exposures that distress me sufficiently, and when I do find something I'll still find myself feeling anxious hours later even after I thought I'd acclimatized. I'd really appreciate hearing from other people so that I can get an idea of what good ERP looks like in practice.
Hello, So I am On the waiting for list for ERP. I have looked into it , as I am nervous for It however I’ve heard that it’s quite difficult and can be mentally straining. I am quite stubborn in myself , as like I don’t want to change myself . As I am scared , worried, and I have been managing for a while now. Why do I need to change. However , I know it’s for the best. Basically I am asking. Has anyone done ERP - how did you feel. Also , how many sessions is there. As I’m worried if it s a maximum I feel like I’m being rushed.
Anyone here who tried doing ERP themselves? How is it? Is it effective? Is it even possible??
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