Confession compulsion

I feel this SO much, except mine is with my mom. I’m a 30 year old female and I still to this day feel like I need to tell her every detail of my life and about every conversation I have…hopefully someone else on this app can share some advice with us!

If you can even delay the compulsion, try to. It’ll feel very intense in the moment but I just try and distract myself as much as possible and always surprise myself when it’s been some time and I either didn’t confess, or even waited way longer than intended. You don’t have to confess everything, this is just a symptom of the condition. Working with my therapist on this really worked.

Hi there! Confession compulsions can be really tough. I hear how much of a struggle this has been, especially when you feel that the confessing could cause more harm than good. To answer your question - It's possible to "just not" confess, but it's likely not possible to do this, at this stage, without feeling at least some discomfort or worry. This is where a steady ERP practice comes in. Exposures help you practice triggering the obsessions that lead you to want to do compulsions, and actively practice not doing compulsions, despite the discomfort. The discomfort is anticipated - you learn to build up a tolerance to it. This way over time, you learn to notice urges to do compulsions, recognize all the familiar signs of distress, and still make the conscious decision to practice response prevention. If you are struggling with this on your own, I hope you know that help is available - feel free to reach out to us here at NOCD to see how we might be able to assist. In the meantime, here are some resources that may help! https://www.treatmyocd.com/blog/ocd-compulsive-confession-vs-healthy-sharing https://www.treatmyocd.com/blog/when-compulsions-backfire

This post is so relatable, especially if you’re someone who has a very strong conscience. It’s just hard to sit with anything that your conscience could perceive as “bad” or “unfaithful.” It’s hard to hold that stuff inside. I just wish that your partner would be more compassionate around the fact that you’re being completely honest and transparent with her. And not many humans do this (they lie out of fear of being judged if they *did* tell the truth). If I were in your shoes, I might just try to journal about the confessions and try to act as if that journaling session is a confession in and of itself. Maybe that will alleviate you from feeling as strong of an urge to confess in person to your wife, because you would have already gotten it out on paper, at least.

ERP is your ticket out of this. Just keep practicing ERP, and it will get easier and easier to stop confessing. Here's the upshot. You practice denying the compulsions despite the anxiety that comes. When you deny the compulsion (refuse to confess), the anxiety is going to flow over you like a wave. It may get higher and higher before it eventually subsides. We have to practice "riding out the wave." In other words, you just let that anxiety roll over you, no matter how bad it gets, and you continue to refuse to do the compulsion. Eventually, with practice, the waves get smaller and smaller. So keep practicing refusing the compulsions, and keep riding out the anxiety until it--eventually--subsides. You got this! I also think Nathan Peterson is very helpful for topics like this. You might try his videos. Here's a sample!! https://youtu.be/QO2w-iO4Uj8?si=07-1ol4Rc5y4FVSc

Yessss I needed to see this my boyfriend getting annoyed like I feel like ima lose him if I keep confessing every thought