applied for therapy but they don’t take my insurance lol!!! not quite sure what to do anymore, does anyone know anything that i can do to cope or self erp while im waiting to find another therapist?
look for therapists in your area using psychology today. i unfortunately was on the same boat as you (places i wanted to go to either didn’t accept my insurance or had a long waitlist) but i was able to find a therapist that specialized in anxiety disorders and OCD. on the website itself, you can tweak the filters to find therapists that specialize in specific disorders, insurance they accept, whether or not they have a sliding scale, etc
@ToniTulipTree oh wow i’ll definitely check that out thank you!!
@figgymarie of course! hope you get the help you need ASAP! stay strong
Take baby steps to live your life as you would, stay away from the triggers maybe? Talk, talk to someone too!
@Viny i will definitely try to keep doing that! it’s just the thoughts and rituals are so life consuming yk? and i feel like i can’t really talk to anyone in my life because they wouldn’t understand what im saying
@figgymarie I totally understand, the mental and physical compulsions are a pain and yeah I feel isolated too, and yes is hard to explain but finding people who will support you even if they don't totally grasp the concept of what is happening to you is also very important, not only that it's necessary to not let the OCD stop you from living and doing things you enjoy.
@Viny thank you i’ll try to keep that in mind:)
@figgymarie And if you want to talk I'm here too
If that’s still not an option, look into Nathan Peterson’s online OCD course which is a fee.
@Nica yeah sadly i’ve checked most places out here and if they do take my insurance there’s a wait list, and i’ll check out the ocd course thank you!
AGONY aghhhh that freaking sucks... I'm not sure what specific themes/symptoms you're experiencing, but what helps me is making my intrusive thoughts as silly as possible. A big one for me is that there will be a murderer in my house the second I walk in. I tell myself, okay, yes. But the murderer will come at me with an inflatable hammer. And they have a big "I LOVE MY MOM" heart tattoo. And they're eating soup with a comically large spoon. And they have a parrot that's mimicking their slurps. Now the intrusive thoughts are a little less scary.
@hemlocctea that’s such a good idea i have that murderer thought whenever im home alone, so i’ll definitelyyyyy be using that method! thank you!
Look for a therapist in your area if you haven’t already done so.
@Nica sadly all of the ones that do take my insurance are booked out for monthssss
hi. so one big factor of my OCD is rumination. i met a guy who i have a crush on the idea of (idea bc there are red flags). my biggest fear is not finding true love, my ex told me no one else would deal with what i have (my ocd, specifically reassurance seeking and getting overstimulated after intimacy). a few weeks ago, my friends and family all gathered and tried to give me advice that sounded like “you’re shy and you’ll never find someone.” after that, i’ve felt off. i’ve been using an unhealthy coping skill, daydreaming, and i’ve just felt unbalanced. my ocd makes everything feel different sometimes, i can’t explain it. life, myself, almost like being in a dissociated state. has anyone else experienced that? i don’t know how to remain balanced during my off times and i know pms exasperates it all. i take ashwaghanda and omega 3s in a multi vitamin daily. i take them all together in the evening but i’ve missed three days recently and also messed with my rocky sleep schedule because of fun times with friends. i hope these supplements work, because i don’t know if i’d be brave enough for medication. i had a bad reaction on prozac and often am forgetful. i just have been battling my OCD consciously for almost ten years now and unconsciously for longer. i am so tired, as my mental health extends beyond my OCD. i’m in talk therapy with some cbt aspects but i only see her twice a month. i’ve broken down so many times and promised myself id get on track or that certain things would work, but it’s like i am stuck in a circle that gets smaller when i’m able to help myself. i just want to be normal. i want to be able to mess up my sleep schedule to enjoy good times and not suffer horrible consequences or fear that i will be entirely thrown off balance. i don’t want to worry or doubt or feel so dissociative that i squint my eyes for a moment and wonder why i feel so unreal. i will never understand why god has allowed me to go through this. i cannot let it be for nothing but i don’t know how much more to bend and contort my body and brain to get somewhere stable but how lovely it would be if i could. i don’t have much of a schedule right now, i get apathetic and give in with things from time to time. one thing can trigger me and i am back to square one wether in a week or month. any advice, any and all is so helpful. your stories, your thoughts. maybe feeling less alone and knowing what has helped you is exactly what i need right now. thank you 💗
I feel like in some ways receiving a diagnosis for OCD has in some ways made things worse. I’ve always had what I called “phases” throughout life, which I now know were ocd episodes, but I didn’t really make too much of them and even if it was over several long difficult months, they’d always seem to kind of just pass. Recently I’ve begun my worse flare up in the last few years and now that I’m older I seemed professional help which led to my diagnosis. This all sounds great of course but I can’t actually afford therapy right now so I kinda just have the diagnosis but not the support so now that I realize these phases are actually this incurable mental illness I just feel like I’ve lost all hope that I’ll ever be happy and I feel like I basically obsess about obsessing at this point and it just sucks. Has anyone else had this or a similar experience?
Hi everyone. I'm feeling kinda scared because I have to wait a whole month to start ERP therapy, but I feel like I need to start doing exposures now because the longer I wait, the more anxiety I get. It just feels like the OCD monster is getting worse. One thing that helps me is asking one person about an obsession I have...asking a person that I trust, and then doing an exposure after I get the "ok" to do it. I feel like I do need 1 reassurance and then I can go ahead and do it. I know i'm not supposed to ask for reassurance at all, but i dont think you're supposed to do ERP on your own right? Does anyone have any suggestions for what to do while waiting for therapy? PS-the reason there is a wait is bc she's on vacation. After she's back we will meet regularly.
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