- Date posted
- 1y
Doing the "RP"
What differences did you notice when you started to actually resist compulsions? Are intrusive thoughts less frequent? Less intense?
What differences did you notice when you started to actually resist compulsions? Are intrusive thoughts less frequent? Less intense?
It'll get more intense and more frequent at first as you're stressing yourself out, and then will go down gradually to a point where its almost non-existent and intrusive thoughts are just like anything else running through your head. Time span is different for everyone
Thank you!!!
@Anonymous Always remember why you're doing it when it gets tough. You're not running away from ocd, you're running towards a better life. The perception helps massively. You're not doing it out if fear but out of hope
@Wolfram Thank you I needed that. I'm feeling so burnt out in the process.
@Anonymous It's OK to take little rests. It's tougher the faster you go. The more driven you are, the easier it is. I used to have a mantra I'd repeat pretty much every morning and every time I got to my limit with Erp. "I will get better. Nothing or no one will stop me"
@Wolfram I'm going to start doing that. I had that attitude at first, quit medication and had a bad relapse so I'm picking up the pieces now and unfortunately get negative thoughts like "what if this never gets better" but I know that's not the mindset to have!
@Anonymous Something I came across recently which I'm trying is replacing the "what ifs" with "even ifs".
@Wolfram Oh I REALLY like that thank you!! You've got great advice much appreciated
@Anonymous Np. You're heading in the right direction
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So is mine!
@Lovemyzachary102. Harm ocd! Ugh 🙄
@Lovemyzachary102. Thank you and I hope it does for you also!!
It’s the feeling of being in denial that I struggle to deal with when trying to not do compulsions
Apparently your mind realises the thoughts arnt as important anymore because your not trying to force them anyway and get less frequent. I’ve really tried today to not do my compulsions and my anxiety is though the root when I try!! My compulsions are repeating words and ruminating!!😭😭 hope it gets easier
I haven’t started ERP yet. But just curious from others who have, How do you sit with compulsions when they’re mental compulsions? Or just “let them pass”? It seems it’s going to be impossible since none of my compulsions are physical/tangible 😓
Hi! I've been on my OCD healing journey for about half a year and I have seen a lot of success. I'm reaching out for advice, I am very willing to do exposures because I know the more I do them, the more I get better, but I struggle with the response prevention part. I don't know how to control my brain when it comes to facing the fears especially since most of my compulsions are mental. I can tell myself the typical things "I am okay with the uncertainty of this happening", etc. but its like my brain doesn't believe them. I've been stuck in this disconnect for a while and would love advice you have heard from a therapist or learned that has really help you.
So I've been working to address my OCD for about a month now. So far, I haven't been working on it with a therapist and have instead been trying to create my own exposure exercises. The primary obsession I'm working on is the fear that I'm somehow flawed or invalid on a fundamental level. The best way I can describe it it is that its similar to the feeling you get when you have germ OCD and you feel contaminated, except my whole existence and being feels contaminated, so to speak. I've identified a list of triggers, and a list of compulsions (pretty much all mental) that I've noticed myself performing. I started out by doing imaginal exposures and scripts where I'd write out triggering fictional scenarios and read them over and over, combined with mindfulness techniques to focus on my breath and bring myself back to the present when I noticed myself performing compulsions mentally. At first it worked to some extent, but eventually I started to feel like the stories I was writing about this obsession weren't triggering any anxiety anymore or a very low level. So I stopped reading them and focused solely on improving my ability to stay present and identifying compulsions as I perform them, and disengaging. Now, I'm at the point where it seems like my general anxiety levels throughout the day are lower, and the triggers I've identified are producing noticeably less anxiety. But that makes me wonder if somehow I'm just secretly doing mental compulsions without knowing it? Is only a month of rather disorganized and unstructured ERP enough to produce this much improvement? To avoid giving me re-assurance, I'd appreciate if you guys don't directly answer those questions, maybe just provide some possibilities or your own experiences so I can get a better idea of where I'm at. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks!
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