How to deal with dangerous harm ocd without a therapist… I’m on anxiety medicine and I’m on Zoloft, but I haven’t been able to get a therapist yet still saving money I try to just like ERP sit with the fears. I’m very weak in this moment cause I’ve had a breakdown mentally I went to hospital and when I try to sit through the fears usually becomes too much for me. Any suggestions?
If you have insurance they can send u a list of in network therapists for ocd, I would do that since ERP is really the only way to go about this
Idk if this will help but with me who also has harm thoughts and I’m in erp I take erp slow so for things that are too overwhelming you may not want to confront right away cuz that can actually make things worse with sitting with it start smaller with erp and with bigger thoughts sometimes compulsions are needed and coping skills are needed to be able to deal with them until you get to a higher level and are able to handle the smaller things first just remember to give yourself grace and even the smallest progress is still progress
@Anonymous So would it be fair to say that if my major compulsion was to harm myself and I’ve came close.it’s better to just kinda ignore that one just keep my focus off it till I have a ocd coach and I’m not near a mental breakdown???
@j@ im not a Professional so im hoping i don’t lead you astray I’ve been through the same stuff I used to just sleep through it if it got bad but I would probably still do whatever compulsion helps until you can get a therapist for it or until you work your way up by doing smaller things for erp and can handle it to the point where you aren’t at serious risk it just because your safety id say is more important but also idk if that feeling will ever go away im not to bad with my harm as much but still whenever it pops up it always feels like I’m never gonna get through it I have harms toward other people but when I was having harm towards myself I tried to be around people because idk why that helped me a lot also for my harm ocd I use a pain stem fidget because it helps with bodily sensations like it helps the urges to do stuff
@j@ I heard from my therapist that if you work on things too soon that are too much you can regress back
@Anonymous So what to do till with my self very dangerous ones till I get a specialist? Please any suggestions? I’m on meds
@Anonymous So ur saying to do the big ones? Idt that’s an option as it will seriously harm me … I’m looking for a way to deal with it till ocd therapy
@j@ I’d just say do the compulsions for the dangerous ones for now until the thoughts aren’t as distressing maybe look some stuff up on YouTube and google to help I went through that stuff by myself and eventually it did go away for a while I know there are people that don’t have therapists that are able to find a way to get through it so maybe look at some articles or videos as well until you get a therapist
@Anonymous Thanks bro I should have mentioned by compulsion I meant doing the actual harm ocd impulsivity… like should I ignore it what
@j@ Im so sorry I don’t know what you mean. All I’m saying is DO NOT hurt yourself if you have anything that you can say or do to not hurt yourself then do that unless it’s harmful in a different way. For instance instead of sitting with the thoughts I used to go to sleep or tell myself I don’t want to harm myself giving myself reassurance that I don’t want to harm myself and things like that until you get a therapist or until the thoughts aren’t so dangerous. But yea like I said I’d look some stuff up to help I’m sorry if that doesn’t make sense I hope the best for you tho!
Oh also for me having support helps a lot so if you have someone who you know that can coach you through it doesn’t have to be a therapist you can just inform someone about ocd and help you with response prevention messages and remind you of them when you may not remember them while you’re in that state
I had to cancel my therapy because it was no longer available with my insurance. And I just kind of feel hopeless with OCD. Even when I was doing therapy, I think my OCD started getting too complicated for my therapist and she didn’t even know what to do. My fears are so complex it’s crazy. So my big fear is my OCD being bad and being super depressed again like I was a few months ago in high school. I attended a public highschool for a semester and started the worst flare up I’ve ever had. I was harshly bullied for no reason whatsoever, and not accepted by anyone. I am an athletic kid who usually keeps to himself so I didn’t understand why people targeted me, especially when I wanted nothing to do with them. From August to now ( March) I CANNOT grasp hold of my OCD. I am very hard on myself about it. Going into dangers anytime I see one so I can expose myself. But constantly obsessing about if I’m doing enough for my OCD. And comparing myself to how I use to be, before the flare ups. From the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep I’m obsessing about my OCD and if it’s bad and comparing. Another HUGE fear of mine is being treated differently because I have OCD. So being bullied for so long I always assumed it was because I was shy and didn’t want to stand up for myself - due to my OCD- so I blamed myself for everything that continued to happen, . from people bullying me in the past . The people at that highschool were downright crazy. Even the teachers and coaches had major issues and I’m so glad to be out of there, but I still obsess the same everyday and hold so much resentment for that school and when I try to let it go, I just feel more passive pain and obsess even more about it weather my ocd is okay or not. I feel mentally sick. Please someone give me some advice for my fears, because I feel like I’m doing everything in my power to expose myself to everything but nothings working.
I’ve been through a lot of trauma the past few months and years and had an anxiety breakthrough where I can’t stop having panic and anxiety attacks. I used to be a horror movie addict and one night during an anxiety attack my brain went “Kill your sister” My sister is my whole world. It all went downhill from there. I can’t even be around her when were home alone anymore. Every single day since then my brain is trying to tell me a bunch of different ways to harm her. Its getting to a point where its involving others now. “Kill your sister.” “What if you finally go back to your boyfriends house and kill his family?” “What if you kill mom?” “Kill that lady walking down the aisle at work.” “What if you killed yourself?” “You’re a bad person for thinking all of this.” “You shouldn’t be allowed to sleep, eat or relax. Bad people don’t get to do those things.” “These thoughts are in your head 24/7 because you WANT to do these things!” Its causing me so much anxiety and racing thoughts and I don’t want to become anymore depressed. SSRIs dont work. My doctor wants me to go on antipsychotics but I’m afraid to and I feel like I don’t actually need them and it will cause more damage. My goal is to become the person I was before all of this. Not to change completely. I tried buspirone once and I stopped due to increased health anxiety and often found myself saying “remember when you wanted to kill your sister?” and then brushing it off. It helped in some sort of way. I was only on it for a week. My whole life has changed since then. I dont go to my boyfriends house anymore, I dont see my friends, I can’t play video games anymore. All I do is ruminate and I cant stop. I cant even hold a conversation anymore. The compulsions are horrible. I’m so scared that theres no coming back from this. Its all adding to the anxiety that I don’t want to become severe depression. I just want to be me again. I’m starting off ERP and if it doesn’t work I dont know what to do. Can someone please tell me they have been through similar and have gotten better. I just need to save my life. Its getting to a point where this is convincing me this is all real and its going to happen and that im gonna become a psychopath. Its been going on for 3 months. I used to be so bubbly and happy!! (I am not schizoaffective)
my ocd has severely flared up the past 2 weeks while I’ve been on spring break, probably because I’ve had nothing to do and I’ve been bored and boredom is a big trigger for my ocd/anxiety. I usually go every other week for therapy but the past two weeks I feel so lost and confused on my own and feel like I need to go every week but my therapist is booked and can’t get me in until 2 more weeks. My ocd hasn’t been this bad in years, and it’s been so isolating and I feel so alone at home with my thoughts. Every 2-3 days my obsession changes, first it was health ocd after I got really bad allergies I convinced myself I was dying. After that it was harm ocd and I feared I would hurt myself, then it changed to me fearing harming others and I’ve felt scared to be around others even family. I’ve stayed up sobbing because I’ve felt so bad, so terrible. My therapist told me even though she can’t get me in, that if I really need to come in I should call her office and see if she has anything, but I feel like that would be pointless since she quite literally is booked- I’ve been clinging onto the few things I have from my last 2 therapy sessions but feel like it’s not enough. does anyone have any techniques to deal with specifically harm OCD that I can use for the next two weeks?
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