Is self-administered ERP for OCD effective before therapy sessions?

Hey! I’ve tried the same thing and I honestly think it’s best to wait until you speak with the therapist to try ERP! They can just help you better deal with all the things that come up during the exposures. I have found that doing the exposures without therapy can just make me more anxious and my ocd worse. Just know you are not alone and you can get through this!

If you can see a therapist do that, I’m 38 and can’t afford a therapist so I’m going to start erp alone as have no other choice, just hoping it works

What you did was brave! You are trying to help yourself! You gotta celebrate that win! But remember healing isn’t linear. I’ve been in ERP for almost 2 months now and I gotta say some weeks are better than others. Even when you do work out of sessions it takes a lot and it sometimes doesn’t go your way. But don’t lose hope! You just gotta keep doing the work. Remember, OCD is just doubt. It makes you doubt everything and when you least expect it, it makes you doubt something else or another aspect of your subtype. ERP hopefully helps you deal with that doubt, moreover, you gotta build up your confidence as well! I’ll let you in on a secret my therapist taught me. With ERP, you gotta expose yourself to the uncertainty of your thoughts, and you gotta make peace with it. But you need to build up confidence at the same time, so you tell your OCD to shut up. EX. You get the intrusive though to hurt a child. You spiral, you do exposures, but while you question if you would and try to accept that, you throw in confidence, I am uncertain but I have no desire, or you can say shut up OCD, or say that’s wack. Then you drop it there. If you need to say it over do it but from the perspective I was shown, you stop OCD in its tracks and don’t engage further. You’re gonna do great and ERP will help you! Just give it time. Unfortunately nothing is a quick fix but it will be worth it!

NOCD can be done online. They may be able to work with you on the finances. Reach out to them. I think they have a healthcare system in the UK and ERP therapists there also. Maybe not NOCD but other therapists.

Great job for giving it a try! It’s definitely not easy especially with taboo themes like POCD. So don’t be so hard on yourself! ERP takes time - sometimes it can take months or even years of ERP to recover. This also depends on the severity of your OCD and how long you’ve been experiencing it for. Rewiring your brain is a hard and difficult process so don’t be discouraged by the ups and downs along the way - it’s totally normal! Since you’re actually facing your fear, OCD thinks you’re in real danger and will increase your anxiety to alert you to go to safety. And usually, it tends to get worse before it gets better especially when you’re first starting out. ERP is highly effective and can improve your quality life in so many ways and I’d recommend reaching out to an OCD specialist if that’s an option for you 💗