Do you have to do erp?

In my experience, OCD doesn't care if you are "refusing" to think about it. OCD is persistent. My understanding of the whole point of ERP is to accept the discomfort not to banish it.

Yes, you should absolutely do OCD and with a specialist in OCD.

I went through this phase, too! I felt like I didn't need to do ERP because I'd been feeling a lot happier over the recent break, but my OCD has spiked again. It's important to practice ERP, so if we're triggered in the future or have a spike like this, we'll know how to manage it!

ERP is the gold standard for OCD treatment. It is very effective, but at first can be scary because you are exposing yourself to your obsession and compulsions. But you are not doing it alone. You'll have a trained OCD therapist who will gently guide you through the process. Compulsions feed the pig, OCD, so you need to find a way to avoid them. It takes time and discomfort, but you can do it. Again, you'll have a trained coach. You'll learn to accept uncertainty and stay in the present. Uncertainty scares everyone, myself included, when I began. I remember thinking, "You want me to do WHAT???" But one of OCD's mojo tricks is to make you think something so distasteful that you'll get on the rumination treadmill and spend all day searching for absolute certainty that you are not really the thought and/or the thought won't happen. Then, you get the FEELING, the feeling that that it feels so real and you're back on the rumination treadmill. By learning how to stay in uncertainty, you take away OCD's mojo. You accept the uncertainty, no matter how remote, that the hideous thought may happen, because you don't know the future, BUT you're not doing it now, or it's not happening now. That's the part about staying in the present: you're not doing those What-If ruminations. So, you accept uncertainty and stay in the present and, over time, you defang OCD. You'll get to a point where if you have an intrusive thought, no matter how vile, it will be annoying like a gnat buzzing around your face. You'll have the thought and then blow it off and move on, because you've learned to become indifferent to them, which is a very good thing. I suggest that you contact NOCD to arrange a free consultation. They can hook you up with a really good OCD-trained therapist and you're on your way. Hope this helps.

The thing about brushing your thoughts under the rug is, while it may feel better for the time being, you're not actually dealing with the problem by ignoring it. Thats actually kind of a compulsion in itself, because you still have to acknowledge the thought and focus on "not thinking about it". So it still requires some concious effort. Put simply, you're still allowing the thought to control you. ERP teaches you to let go of that and deal with your thoughts in a healthier way. For awhile it'll be pretty uncomfortable, but you'll get to a point where your thoughts are just thoughts and have no real control over you or your actions.

This is a great question. While I understand the urge to ignore your thoughts, I would recommend using ERP instead. Let me explain my reasoning: When you ignore a thought, you're not actually DEALING with it. As you said, you're "pushing it under the rug". And pushing it under the rug isn't solving your problem; it's just setting that intrusive thought aside for later rather than ripping it out at its root... With that in mind, I'd like to use a metaphor: If you have a leak in your roof, you could ignore it... You could pretend it's not there, you could not fix it, etc. But, if you choose to ignore it, is the leak still there...? Of course, it is! Regardless of what you tell yourself, the leak is objectively there and always will be until it's dealt with. Not only that, but ignoring this one leak could inadvertently lead to more leaks forming, and if you don't have the necessary tools, this situation could become very overwhelming... Using ERP, on the other hand, not only gives you the tools to fix the leak(s), it also empowers you to effectively manage and even patch the leak(s). Beyond that, once you have the understanding and confidence to use ERP effectively, you'll be able to rest easy knowing if/when another leak comes, you'll know how to confidently address it (and yes, I promise I will not use the word "leak" again in this post). Instead of pushing your thoughts under the rug, face them head-on, because the more we face our fears, the less scary they become... I hope this was helpful, but if you need further advice, here's a link to a great article detailing some more info on ERP: https://www.treatmyocd.com/blog/should-i-first-try-erp-on-my-own#h-what-is-erp-and-how-does-it-work Break a leg!