- Date posted
- 6y ago
- Date posted
- 6y ago
I’d say do the erp until the 3-4 drops down ever further. I’m happy that you’re anxiety has gone down, though! Remember that intrusive thoughts are normal and you may still be obsessing over them because you’re brain is used to it. Try Jeffrey Schwartz 4 steps, label it as an intrusive thought, remind yourself it’s not you it’s your ocd, and then focus on something more mindful and in the moment. Good luck!
- Date posted
- 6y ago
Once ERP lowers your anxiety levels you gotta keep doing your ERP even tho you no longer experience distress or anxiety with your intrusive thoughts. The goal is to bring the intrusive thoughts on purpose when you are not thinking about them in order for your mind to move on from the obsession.
- Date posted
- 6y ago
@bookworm if I’m being completely honest I haven’t been doing my ERP for a long time. I’ve relied on medicine to take away the anxiety and hoping through that the intrusive thoughts don’t become bothersome and go away. Unfortunately I think I’m going through a bout of depression so its somewhat split. I see my psychiatrist on Friday and am going to ask him what med changes we can make so I’m working on the OCD (and depression) but also functioning (I avoid and isolate as my job has weird hours and schedule).
- Date posted
- 6y ago
haven’t experienced that but i don’t think the goal is to get rid of the intrusive thoughts. if they don’t give you any anxiety then wouldn’t you be better at forgetting them?
- Date posted
- 6y ago
I still have anxiety, but we are talking about 3-4 tops on a scale of 10. Their still constant obsessive thoughts.
- Date posted
- 6y ago
i don’t think you can do erp without anxiety depending on how long you’ve been using the strategies and meds. may i ask how long?
- Date posted
- 6y ago
Curious...what medication are you on? I’ve been through so many meds this past year...
- Date posted
- 6y ago
@AshleyLM I’m on Lexapro, Neurotin and take Xanax.
- Date posted
- 6y ago
@AYCArnold, didn’t even think about that. Thanks for the feedback!
Related posts
- Date posted
- 9w ago
I struggle so bad with intrusive thoughts. They can be so bad that I'll cry because I KNOW that's not how I feel or want to do. (Too embarrassed to say what they're about) I'll constantly try to figure out why I have them, and constantly figure out what they mean, causing me to constantly circle around and around. I had to get on anxeity meds, which helped a little but the thoughts still happen. How do you help yourself with this? How do you know that you're just not some physcopath? 😅
- Date posted
- 8w ago
These past few days I was fine. Minimal intrusive thoughts ,no anxiety etc(to add I'm on medication so maybe it's starting to work although it barely is 2 weeks) and today I got a sudden wave of anxiety and it started latching on some thoughts like" what if I'm in denial and I wanna break up with my bf? And what if erp doesn't work for me because I actually wanna break up with my bf?" But they didn't really stay long usually those thoughts would make me spiral for days or so, now they lasted for some hours. And now I'm trying to trigger myself into being anxious again because if I don't it means I don't have ocd and if I don't have ocd it means I don't love my bf and if I don't love my bf it means I have to break up. Idk if it makes sense but the lack of anxiety makes me wonder if I actually have ocd or not.
- Date posted
- 6w ago
Sometimes I notice my intrusive thoughts cause me to spiral and sometimes not. I've been practicing ERP for quite a while so it's a bit easier for me to not spiral. But I wonder why that happens. Does anyone else have it? Also I'm on medication idk if that plays a role.
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