- Date posted
- 41w ago
This is my OCD and I choose not to engage with it at this time. Also that OCD is a liar, a bully, a leech and a thief! And I can handle each one!
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 41w ago
You can TOTALLY handle all of those things. You're stronger than OCD - thank you for sharing this encouragement!!
- Date posted
- 41w ago
The concept of “ride the wave” and face my feelings and embrace uncertainty. “Live uncertain.”
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 41w ago
“Live uncertain.” >>> such a great reminder.
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 41w ago
That I can handle feeling anxious, that the anxiety might never go away- but I can still choose for myself and live my life regardless.
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 41w ago
Knowing you can handle anxiety makes OCD lose its power!!! Keep it up!!
- Date posted
- 41w ago
Learned the tool of treating my unwanted thoughts like junk mail. It's like when you scroll through your emails and see a message saying you've won a free iPhone. You know it's not true, so you acknowledge it, mark it as junk, and move on without letting it affect you. Then you look back and find it kind of funny how ridiculous it sounds because of how untrue the “junk mail” (ocd thoughts) are. This approach has been a game changer for me!
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 41w ago
Love this!
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 41w ago
The realization that there is no “solution” and life’s questions will always remain unanswerable. Life = ambiguity
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 41w ago
Uncertainty is HUGE in OCD recovery!!
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 41w ago
Definitely the fact that ERP pays off! It can be so so hard, but when your OCD is bothering you, do ERP, and get ahead of its games! You’ve got this!!
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 41w ago
It definitely takes time and hard work, but we agree that ERP can totally pay off!!
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 41w ago
Sassing my OCD right back - no, I don’t have to spend my precious time engaging these thoughts. They are not protecting me. I can cope. OCD is a liar and a trickster.
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 41w ago
"They are not protecting me" YES
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 41w ago
@Brenna - NOCD Team Member It’s still very hard to remind myself that my anxiety and rumination isn’t protecting or preparing me. It feels so engrained - but I just have to keep listening to my own voice, not OCD’s!
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 41w ago
Let the thoughts be there. Resist engaging in them. Accept uncertainty.
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 41w ago
Keep it up!!!
- Date posted
- 39w ago
@Anonymous66 Engaging with the thoughts is one of my main compulsions and not engaging with them feels almost impossible
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 40w ago
don’t get discouraged if it feels hard right now. Our brains are used to a certain way of responding, so when we challenge our usual response, it takes time to retrain our brain. What we once saw as a threat, we are now showing our brain it actually isn’t. And that takes time. Show plenty of compassion and love towards yourself in this time. But also know that you can do hard things and see changes when you stick to it. Like working out a muscle at the gym, hard at first but over time you see muscle definition.
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 40w ago
Yesss, this is awesome!
- Date posted
- 36w ago
I needed that! I have a hard time being kind to myself, thinking I should "be better" at resisting compulsions. This is hard work.
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 41w ago
To approach my fears - never run from them
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 41w ago
Yes!!!
- Date posted
- 40w ago
@dirholly Yes I did the same thing!!
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 41w ago
Learning to distinguish the “ocd voice” from my own inner monologue
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 41w ago
Be scared and do the thing anyway!
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 41w ago
Yes, live the life you want to live!!
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 41w ago
Leaning into the fearful thoughts and feelings. Don’t try to make them go away, allow them to be there and even hoping for those negative thoughts and feelings to arise so I can practice feeling anxious without pushing it away. This is so important for OCD management. It’s probably the hardest thing I have ever done but the most effective by far.
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 41w ago
100% agree with you on this. Trying to push away thoughts never works in the long run!
- Date posted
- 40w ago
Never stop doing exposures 🙌
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 40w ago
Great reminder!
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 41w ago
Do the response prevention and do it often. Never slack on the response prevention.
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 40w ago
Love this!
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 40w ago
ERP helped me rediscover my strength-to tolerate uncertainty, work through my fears, and live a life according to my values.
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 40w ago
YES!! Great encouragement!!
- Date posted
- 40w ago
I did ERP therapy at home not knowing even what it was. I deal with harm ocd, existential ocd, suicidal ocd and I brought myself to get a blade and stick it to my arm and showed myself I didn’t want to harm myself and now I am no longer scared of these thoughts !!! I’m 16 years old.
- Date posted
- 40w ago
@ysabelleveloz1 that takes a huge amount of bravery 😭 im proud of you 💗
- Date posted
- 40w ago
Sit through your uncertainty. It’s part of life and you’ll always need to. ERP is about handling the uncertainty instead of fixing/acting. I think ERP lets us stop acting on our impulses and compulsions so that we can act on our goals instead.
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 40w ago
LOVE! "ERP is about handling the uncertainty instead of fixing/acting." This is great!
- Date posted
- 40w ago
That thoughts themselves can be compulsions, and that I fit the pattern of someone with OCD even though I don’t act these out physically.
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 40w ago
Spreading awareness!!! This is great.
- Date posted
- 40w ago
@Anonymous Yes!
- Date posted
- 40w ago
My OCD tries to protect me from being hurt emotionally by making sure I don’t reach out for help and making sure I feel insecure or unworthy. It’s hard to remember that these aren’t good either, I guess because OCD feels so reliable.
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 40w ago
OCD's a liar. You're stronger than it!
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 40w ago
Thoughts are not facts!
- Date posted
- 40w ago
Being able to catch negative/intrusive thoughts and work through them by checking their cognitive distortions
- Date posted
- 40w ago
I have my first ERP appointment tomorrow and im scared 😭😭
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 40w ago
There's so much hope for recovery!
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 40w ago
@weregonnabeokay Rooting for you!!
- Date posted
- 39w ago
@weregonnabeokay Same
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 40w ago
Honestly just learning more about what OCD really is! Coming to terms with my diagnosis & finding more compassion for myself 🩷
- Date posted
- 40w ago
Can ROCD make you think you don't like your boyfriend anymore and like someone else. It's really distressing:(
Related posts
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 9w ago
December 14, 2024, marked two years since my first ERP therapy session with my NOCD therapist, Mixi. And October 2024 marked a year of being free from OCD. It was not an easy journey, confronting my fears face to face. Exposing myself to the images and thoughts my brain kept throwing at me, accepting that I might be the worst mother, that my daughter wouldn’t love me, and that I deserved to be considered a bad person. It was challenging having to say, “Yes, I am those things,” feeling the desire to run, but realizing the thoughts followed me. At the start of my therapy, I remember feeling like I couldn’t do this anymore. Life felt unbearable, and I felt so weak. I longed for a time before the OCD, before the flare-ups, before the anxiety, the daily panic attacks. I thought I’d never be myself again. But I now know that ERP saved my life. The first couple of sessions were tough. I wasn’t fully present. I lied to my therapist about what my actual thoughts were, fearing judgment. I pretended that the exposures were working, but when the sessions ended, I went back to not sleeping, constantly overwhelmed by fear and anxiety. But my therapist never judged me. She made me feel safe to be honest with her. She understood OCD and never faltered in supporting me, even when I admitted I had been lying and still continued my compulsions. My biggest milestone in therapy was being 100% transparent with my therapist. That was when real change began. At first, I started small—simply reading the words that terrified me: "bad mom," "hated," "unloved." Then, I worked on listening to those words while doing dishes—not completely stopping my rumination, but noticing it. Just 15 minutes, my therapist said. It wasn’t easy. At one point, I found myself thinking, “Will I ever feel like myself again?” But I kept pushing through. Slowly, I built tolerance and moved to face-to-face exposures—sitting alone with my daughter, leaning into the thought that my siblings might die, reading articles about my worst fears, and calling myself the things I feared. Each session was challenging, but with time, the thoughts started to lose their grip. By my eleventh session, I started to realize: OCD was here, and it wasn’t going away, but I could keep living my life despite it. I didn’t need to wait for it to be quiet or go away to move on. Slowly, it began to quiet down, and I started to feel like myself again. In fact, I am not my old self anymore—I’m a better version. OCD hasn’t completely disappeared, but it’s quieter now. Most of the time, it doesn’t speak, and when it does, I know how to handle it. The last session with my therapist was emotional. I cried because I was finishing therapy. I remember how, in the beginning, I cried because I thought it was just starting—because I was overwhelmed and terrified. But at the end, I cried because I was sad it was ending. It felt like I had come so far, and part of me wasn’t ready to say goodbye, even though I had already learned so much. It was a bittersweet moment, but I knew I was walking away stronger, equipped with the tools to handle OCD on my own. If I could change anything about my journey, it would be being open and honest from the beginning. It was the key to finding true healing. The transparency, the honesty—it opened the door to lasting change. I’m no longer that person who was stuck in constant panic. I’m someone who has fought and survived, and while OCD still appears from time to time, I know it doesn’t define me. I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments. Have you started therapy, is something holding you back? Is there something you want to know about ERP therapy? I'll be live in the app answering each and every one today from 6-7pm EST. Please drop them below!
- User type
- Therapist
- Date posted
- 9w ago
So you got to ask me anything… Now I’d like to ask you something! I’ve heard from Members that they were so scared coming to their first ERP session. They were terrified that I would think they were crazy, that I would tell them their worst fears were true. That I would confirm they are some form of a terrible person or have them hauled off to prison for their thoughts. I’ve also had Members share how they’re very scared to begin ERP treatment because they’ve researched enough to know it means facing the fear, without the compulsions that have kept them feeling safe (but not really safe) this entire time. They struggled to see how they could be capable of doing this, while simultaneously acknowledging that they did not want to live like this anymore. If you have had your first session, what were your thoughts before? Did you have any hesitations or fears going into it? How did it turn out? If you haven’t yet begun to work with an ERP specialist, what is holding you back?
- Date posted
- 9w ago
Can I hear some examples of specific parts of ERP that has helped you? I've been doing talk therapy for a few years and the major issue I have with it is that I already have analyzed all of my problems from every angle, so I'm kind of just sitting there yapping about it for an hour. I need solutions and things that make me feel better.
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