- Date posted
- 36w ago
Fear of myself and its thoughts. That Iam not my thoughts! I lifetime of getting to this small but large stepđ„°
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 36w ago
Incredible! Keep it up!
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 36w ago
Being able to use a large kitchen knife around my family and myself. đđŒ
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 36w ago
Amazing!! We know how challenging that might've been at the beginning - keep it up! You're so much stronger than OCD.
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 36w ago
the unknown, i still struggle sometimes but erp had been an amazing tool
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 36w ago
Agreed! ERP is a great tool when faced with the unknown.
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 36w ago
I used to be triggered by the very word âdevil.â Not anymore! đ
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 36w ago
Love the progress!
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 36w ago
@Brenna - NOCD Team Member Thank you â€ïž it has been louder than usual today because Iâve been doing hard exposures. Sometimes I need to remind myself not to take the content too seriously
- Date posted
- 36w ago
@dirholly So proud of you!!
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 36w ago
@MrBobaBear Thank you đ„°so am I, of you
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 36w ago
Enjoying my freedom as a Christian rather than an he fear of condemnation.
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 36w ago
Yes - living the life you want to live, not the life OCD wants you to live!
- Date posted
- 36w ago
Yes!! Working on this myself!!
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 36w ago
Being able to take a bath, wash my hands fewer than 5x per day, touching items outside my home without the use of barriers, pumping gas without gloves, leaving the house without hand sanitizer, going to public places like the grocery store again
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 36w ago
Wow, so much progress! Keep it up!
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 36w ago
Fear of something happening to my husband. I have obsessive worrying for sure.
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 36w ago
You're not alone!
- Date posted
- 36w ago
Not believing my fears and thoughts any more.
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 36w ago
A lot of times, thoughts are just thoughts. Nothing more, nothing less!!
- Date posted
- 36w ago
Fear of possibly snapping and harming someone I love. I've learned through erp thought do not equal actions. Thoughts are not manifestations. I cannot control my intrusive thoughts but I can control my reactions
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 36w ago
That last sentence is so true! Keep it up!
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 36w ago
I donât fear my thoughts like I used toâŠ. I can live with them.
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 36w ago
YES! Being able to live alongside your thoughts without much reaction from you is awesome!
- Date posted
- 36w ago
Flying in an airplane âïž
- Date posted
- 36w ago
If my dog is sick, it probably doesnât mean heâs dying.
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 36w ago
Living in the uncertainty can be challenging but so worth it!
- Date posted
- 36w ago
I feel comfortable around my boyfriend now and donât ruminate often :D
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 36w ago
Incredible to hear!
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 36w ago
Fear that my identity isnât what Iâve always known it to be (SOOCD). This has changed my life!!
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 36w ago
You aren't alone here!!!
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 36w ago
The my Unwanted thoughts have resulted in my soul being lost forever
- Date posted
- 36w ago
Any one overcome the fear of disease and going to a new physicians? Working on this but not quite there yet. Thank you
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 36w ago
You're stronger than your OCD!
- Date posted
- 36w ago
@mazzy I am also working on this and telling my doctors (and dentists) about my OCD. Some have been amazing allies in my health care.
- Date posted
- 36w ago
@gixmo Thank you. I am going to a new doctor tomorrow and I am going to tell him.
- Date posted
- 36w ago
@mazzy Thatâs great!
- Date posted
- 36w ago
Fear of cheating on my wife even though I know itâs irrational and not cheating. Iâd spend hours searching on google if it was
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 36w ago
You're so much stronger than your obsessions!
- Date posted
- 36w ago
Driving and getting my license after 4 years with a permit đ
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 36w ago
INCREDIBLE! Congrats!!!
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 36w ago
I no longer ask family if they are seeing and hearing the same things that I am đ
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 36w ago
Keep it up!!
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 35w ago
@Brenna - NOCD Team Member I kind of went back to it the last couple of days. So discouraging
- Date posted
- 36w ago
Soccer intense university camp! I had so many thoughts because I had been sick for the previous month and my energy was low but I knew it would be a good experience. My thoughts told me I mine as well not even try because Iâll be so bad and die of embarrassment and shame. Observing my spiral of thoughts and looking at them over and over again in a paragraph helped me to see them as just words. Although I struggle with these things a lot still Iâm so glad I went! OCD is scary because IT knows that anything is possible and uses that to its advantage. It always asks âwhat if?â But âwhat if not?â
- Date posted
- 36w ago
@marisacobbb *but I like to ask âwhat if not?â
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 36w ago
"It always asks âwhat if?â But âwhat if not?" What a great perspective.
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 36w ago
Oh...that's still a work in progress..
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 36w ago
You got this!
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 36w ago
Uncertainty around health related topics. After spending a lifetime with health anxiety, therapy with a NOCD therapist gave me the tools to handle these fears. Forever grateful!
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 36w ago
Amazing to hear!!! Keep it up!
- Date posted
- 36w ago
emetophobia and agoraphobia!!
- User type
- Staff
- Date posted
- 36w ago
Woohoo! Those can be challenging, you've shown a lot of bravery by using ERP to help manage them!
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 36w ago
@emmagrace i struggle with the same thing. iâm glad iâm not alone
- Date posted
- 36w ago
The Big Garbage Can IYKYK
- Date posted
- 35w ago
I used to have obsessions about my orientation. That was a few themes ago, but I noticed my progress last night when watching a TikTok about someone who was born male but transitioned to female. I truthfully thought damn, both versions of this person are hot! No anxiety, and so in love with my hubs!
- Date posted
- 33w ago
Being able to get and accept bad news
Related posts
- Date posted
- 19w ago
Those of you who have overcome at least a bit, if not all, of your OCD. When you went through the CBT and ERP, did it feel like the end of the world? And how did you face the fact that your fears and uncertainties might actually come to life?
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 8w 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 wouldnât love me, and that I deserved to be considered a bad person. It was challenging having to say, âYes, I am those things,â feeling the desire to run, but realizing the thoughts followed me. At the start of my therapy, I remember feeling like I couldnât 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 Iâd never be myself again. But I now know that ERP saved my life. The first couple of sessions were tough. I wasnât 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 smallâsimply reading the words that terrified me: "bad mom," "hated," "unloved." Then, I worked on listening to those words while doing dishesânot completely stopping my rumination, but noticing it. Just 15 minutes, my therapist said. It wasnât easy. At one point, I found myself thinking, âWill I ever feel like myself again?â But I kept pushing through. Slowly, I built tolerance and moved to face-to-face exposuresâsitting 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 wasnât going away, but I could keep living my life despite it. I didnât 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 anymoreâIâm a better version. OCD hasnât completely disappeared, but itâs quieter now. Most of the time, it doesnât 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 startingâbecause 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 wasnât 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 honestyâit opened the door to lasting change. Iâm no longer that person who was stuck in constant panic. Iâm someone who has fought and survived, and while OCD still appears from time to time, I know it doesnât 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
- 8w ago
So you got to ask me anything⊠Now Iâd like to ask you something! Iâve 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. Iâve also had Members share how theyâre very scared to begin ERP treatment because theyâve 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 havenât yet begun to work with an ERP specialist, what is holding you back?
Be a part of the largest OCD Community
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond