Iām very early in my ERP. I tried being brave and jumping right to eating a food that I was afraid of (fear of allergic reaction or bodily sensation) and I panicked really bad and dissociated. I feel like I made a mistake and it backfired on mešI feel really ashamed and scared and just exhausted by this stuff.
It will be ok. I understand those feelings as I have had similar occurrences myself. Just try to calm yourself down and don't think to far ahead. Just take everything one step at a time right now until you start feeling like you are getting back where you were. Meditation has been helpful for me, but its also good to try and treat yourself to something you enjoy tonight. Be kind to yourself. This is hard and even though it feels like you made a mistake, I promise you did not. You took a step, and sometimes those steps slide out from under us and take us back a step or two. By taking things one step at a time, you will gradually get back to where you were abd you will be better off when it's time to take that step again. You were brave and you deserve to be proud of that. All the rest of us going through this understand and we're proud of you.
@Student of my mind š§āāļø Thank you so much for your kind reply š
You ate the scary food. Doesnāt matter that you panicked and that you dissociated. What matters is you ate something scary and survived!!!!!!!!! Next time you can just remind yourself that you survived this last time, you can survive it this time as well!!
Wooo! You tried!! Thatās awesome! What would be an easier food or way to eat it next time?
I havenāt had my first session with my therapist yet, but after reading up on ERP and everything I can about OCD I started trying to expose myself to my triggers and do the tips I read on how to handle it. I thought I was getting slightly better these last few days but today I kicked it up a notch and now, hours later, feel terrible and feel like Iām back in square one and have made no progress. My POCD thoughts are horrible again and Iām scared ERP isnāt gonna work on me because of it. I want to get better now but I also donāt know if trying to ERP myself is a good idea when I havenāt met with my OCD specialist yet, can that make it worse? Am I not doing it right? What should I do?
I havenāt posted here in a while. Iāve been in ERP therapy and itās been slow but I feel better, even though itās only been a few months. The problem is, weāre starting slow because my trigger is sharp objects, and I think I made a mistake. The guy iām seeing is at work and asked me to prep dinner by cutting the chicken and I thought even though i havenāt used a sharp object to cut meat in MONTHS, I thought I maybe could do it. Well, I cut the chicken and it was extremely thick, and made me have the worst intrusive thoughts. Did I mess up? Iām kind of freaking out. Did I get satisfaction from cutting into a thick meat? Iām scared
How do you deal with setbacks?? I was doing great for a couple of weeks, feeling so empowered. Then, I was watching tv and saw something that triggered all of my thoughts to come back and now I feel like Iām back to where I started. I suffer with real event OCD and itās with mistakes I know Iāve for sure made. But for a while I was able to just sit with them and realize Iām a human being who has made mistakes and thatās ok. But today Iām back to feeling the need to confess all my past mistakes to my future partner and feeling like Iām a bad, creepy person:(
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