- Date posted
- 6y ago
- Date posted
- 6y ago
I’ve been living with terrible for many years now and am only now starting to understand all of it and I haven’t even started actual therapy yet, but I’ve been fighting my worst compulsion of skin picking since I was a preteen. One thing I’m finding that actually helps is meditation, try downloading the “headspace” app, it will start you out with sessions as short as three minutes just focusing on your body and your breath. I know it almost sounds too simple to do anything, but it really helps.
- Date posted
- 6y ago
Thanks. I’ve meditated before and it helped, I need to get back in the habit.
- Date posted
- 6y ago
I had never really meditated before, that app has been great for me to get started and they have all kinds of guided meditations, I’ve been having a lot of fun with it. That and my yoga practice, which has helped with my staying with it even when things get really hard, both in my practice and in life. I never realized how much something so physical could help with my mental and emotional issues, but I’ve been feeling much better in the weeks since I started.
- Date posted
- 6y ago
Hi, I don’t want to offer reassurance and just feel sharing my experience may help you reground because it sounds like you are feeling overwhelmed by this. For me the first major spike I had was post partum and it took weeks of therapy before we could even properly begin ERP because I was so distraught, after that it took again weeks/months for it to feel like it was working. It took every ounce of strength I had to apply what I was learning and to start with it was literally a moment here and there that I’d feel like the OCD was loosening it’s grip and those moments gradually got longer and more frequent. Even when I reached a place I recognised as recovery from that spike where I was functioning again I still had this lingering weighted feeling like I was tainted somehow, I still had to keep working at it but I got my life back and felt like I was managing again. This was over a year ago, fast forward to a few weeks ago a new theme starts and brings me to my knees again, I start therapy again and like last time there is no relief to start with, yes I hear what the professional says but I just cannot take the leap of faith and fully trust that my brain is ill at the moment and not working as it should. So again it took time, weeks for therapy to sink into my brain and for me to truly trust my therapist and husband and to believe that this is not me but OCD misfiring messages in my brain. I began feeling much better but now I feel it trying to pull me down with another theme. I am reminding myself this is OCD, I am ignoring it as best I can, I am accepting I have OCD and experiencing these thoughts and feelings are part of that and I am refocusing my attention on constructive things in my life. It is not easy and by no means am out of this spike yet, but sitting with that doubt, the uncertainty, the fear, the anxiety and carrying on with your day anyway is where the recovery happens. You are doing amazing! I know the battle and I know you are incredibly resilient. You’ve got this x
Related posts
- Date posted
- 19w ago
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.
- Date posted
- 18w ago
I've been bedridden with anxiety and haven't eaten much. I tried going on a walk and broke down halfway through to cry. It kind if helped my physical anxiety but hasn't helped my ocd much. ERP is so difficult. It just makes me exhausted and anxious and cry. And I don't even feel a little better afterwards, so what's the point? I get I'm supposed to build up resilience but when? when do I finally feel some reward? I'm suffering, I don't have the energy to fight these thoughts when all the thoughts I have are rumination or intrusive. Medications haven't worked for me either. Maybe I'm not going to get better. Happy new year to me.
- Date posted
- 17w ago
I feel so freaking scared. I know I’ll have an intrusive thought/urge and whatever I know I’m going to fight off another compulsion until I eventually give in bc I’m still so new to this. I am petrified and I feel like I cannot for the life of me relax. I’m sleep deprived, in a terrible place hormonally, withdrawing from meds, and being treated like a burden by people around me. I literally feel like I can’t do this. I keep thinking about those posts where people talk about the hypothetical scenarios where you learn your death date. I feel like if someone told me I’d die soon, I would cry of relief. I would never hurt myself but boy do I not want to experience this anymore.
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