The truth about ERP

It wouldn’t work because it wasn’t making me feel better right away. It gets worse before it gets better.

The RP is the most important part, not the E.

It wouldn't work on Pure OCD or just obsessive thoughts...I was wrong!!!

That it might not work for my specific case. My OCD is real. It’s not imagined.

I think I always used to think that ERP was meant to help me calm down or stop having bad thoughts, anxiety, or confusion when in fact it's all about letting those things be there all the same and learning how to manage them until they pass. And it happens all the time, not just when you're in therapy or practicing it, but also when it hits you out in the wild- especially then, really.

Not me, but my family. Doing certain exposures will make you a bad person (related to ROCD)

It doesn’t eliminate OCD, but it helps you live your life again.

That each session is going to be a massive rollercoaster that is going to be the scariest thing in your life. It's a process all about making new pathways in your brain and making the good pathways faster.

A. That my therapist had to specialize in ROCD. B. It wouldn’t work unless I knew exactly what we were doing. C. It wouldn’t work unless it was the same as what I have researched. Omg I was so wrong about so many things

A friend told me that “because it makes you uncomfortable it’s not doing you any good”

That it's torture. It's really hard, but its not torture because torture harms you. ERP will help you.

If I do ERP my ocd will get worse.

Writing out the worst case scenarios means they will come true

Some triggers are inappropriate for exposure like harmful dust but that doesn't mean it applies to all triggers and shouldn't be used as an excuse to not engage in it for triggers that are such as checking rituals. OCD is all or nothing. But the myth is that ERP is a catch all, perfect treatment which it isn't however it does have limited application.

That I would be judged for my obsessions

What is erp

That it is bad to feel uncomfortable in the process. The temporary discomfort is worth it for the long term results.

That one has to start at a high anxiety level for ERP to work. I think where I'm from, that's a widely spread misconception amongst therapists. It might work for some OCD sufferers, but for others, like myself, it made ERP impossible. I'm glad I did online therapy with OCD specialists from the US and Canada. Their approach is so much better in general, than any therapy for OCD I got in my country.

A big one for me is the idea that my exposures have to be extremely intense all the time in order to help me. Sometimes I will use a low-rating written exposure on a day I’m feeling anxious and it helps so much

Worried that it won’t work for REOCD, that it will make me so much worse, etc.

I thought it would make me give into committing the crimes I was scared about (i have pocd and zocd) but as i did it further i noticed myself less and less afraid to be around triggers.

That it’s “too mean”. It works!

I thought that the therapy would be easy but personally I don’t think I knew what was going on because it was kinda hard to find out what my OCD was doing to me

That is was hokum.

It will cause me to be a bad person

It fixes you, I'm broken forever despite therapy. Some of us aren't meant to be happy

My dad seems to think that because I'm doing erp it's ok for him to do "surprise exposures" like sending my pictures of things I'm phobic of. He thinks it's hilarious, but he clearly does not understand the level of trust it takes to do ERP

I had no idea how effective therapy could be.