- Date posted
- 7y
- Date posted
- 7y
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
- 7y
Thanks. I’ve meditated before and it helped, I need to get back in the habit.
- Date posted
- 7y
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
- 7y
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
- 22w
Hey everyone, just wanted to post an honest update on where I’m at in my HOCD recovery. Right now, I'm stuck in what feels like a 24/7 spike — nonstop thoughts, intrusive sensations, identity doubts, and hyperfocus. The worst part? It feels real. Like I’ve “lost,” like I’ve accepted it, like I am gay. The thoughts don't feel like anxiety anymore — they feel like truth. I’ve been trying to do ERP, but the spike has been so constant I don’t even have to “do exposures” — the thoughts, feelings, and sensations are just there all day long. It’s like living inside an exposure. And it’s exhausting. BUT — here’s what I’ve been doing (and what I’m sticking to now): I say once: “These thoughts and feelings are welcome to stay for as long as they want.” I let the doubt, the feelings, the hyperfocus exist. I don’t check, test, or analyze — even when it screams at me. I live my life anyway — folding clothes, watching TV, eating, walking — with the storm in my head. Even when it feels 100% real. Even when I’m fully focused on it. I’ve stopped trying to feel better. I’m letting it all burn — and just not fixing it. It doesn’t feel good. It doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t feel like progress.
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 19w
I’m trying to do ERP therapy, but I keep thinking my subtype of ocd is the worst there ever is. I tried going on a walk tonight and the adrenaline in my body along with the shakes and the burning in my chest got so overwhelming. I felt like I was just about to lay down in the gutter along the sidewalk. I’m not trying to be super negative. I just don’t know what to do anymore. If it’s not one thing it’s another and I just wanna cry so bad and I want it to go away but it won’t I almost feel like I have to call a crisis line or something even right now while I’m writing this I’m crying so bad. I can’t enjoy a single thing. I joined a support group tonight, but I just feel like I feel so bad for everyone because of how awful it is. I know what I’m writing right now doesn’t make a lot of sense but I just don’t know what to do anymore. Part of me wants to quit ERP therapy so bad cause I don’t think it’s gonna ever help. if anyone has any advice or suggestions, that would be greatly appreciated.
- Date posted
- 12w
Hey everyone it’s been a while since I posted on here. Honestly, I try to stay off of this app unless I really need advice because I find it triggering at times. But right now I’m feeling pretty down and just would like some hopeful and helpful advice. Has anyone ever felt like they’re just not capable of getting out of this? Has anyone ever felt like ERP therapy isn’t working or that they just can’t get it’s a click? . I’ve been in ERP therapy for over a year just about a year and a half actually and I literally feel so stagnant and stuck still. I show up every week I do my exposures, but my body is in such a chronic fight or fight all the time that it feels almost impossible to apply the tools. I’m super sensitive to begin with and I feel things very deeply and because of that it feels like I’m not gonna be able to ever change. It feels like no matter what I do or experience I’m just gonna always feel it so deeply and it’s gonna just rattle me all of the time. I’m honestly so frustrated. I’m tired and I’m overwhelmed. I so badly wanna change these patterns that I have and grow and be out of this OCD spiral, but everything just feels impossible. I’m just wondering if I’m alone here?? Has anyone ever felt this way? Has ERP taken a long time for anyone else or am I the only one that just can’t get my brain to click with it? Any encouraging and helpful words would be greatly appreciated thank you 🙏
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