Q&A About OCD w/ Someone’s Who’s Subclinical

@OneDayAtATimee Hi there! I remember all the hard work you’ve done and huge congrats 🎈 1. I don’t usually feel strong urges anymore, but when I’m really stressed out (like the past few months) my OCD and other mental illnesses will act up. But I know myself very well after lots of years of soul-searching and researching my mental illnesses/disorders, so I can pinpoint what’s going on fairly fast and not give into my OCD. If I do, then I’ll catch myself and immediately stop. 2. I wasn’t able to go outside of my room because I’d have panic attack after panic attack all day until I wore myself out. That hasn’t happened in 9 years! Big difference 👏🏻

@Nica Wow that’s super awesome 👏 I’m so proud of your progress 🥳 Thank you for explaining, Nica ❤️

@Anonimus ME 🦋 Yep, all the time! But I don’t take it seriously because OCD, I like to say, is like an internet troll. Thoughts, images in your mind, and even feelings don’t mean anything until you assign meaning to them. Let your OCD be present as you go about your day, letting it float in and out of your mind.

@Nica considering that it's about my sister, and I'm not gay or anything like that, I have these sexual images and feelings that I can do something, and that I feel exactly, everything about her triggers me, even the movement of her hands and mouth.. that's why I label it as ocd, but immediately a feeling of misery, guilt, sadness starts in my head and then I fall into some kind of derealization, it lasts for a short time.. but that feeling of despair lasts a long time..

@Anonimus ME 🦋 I’ve had every OCD theme you can think of. It doesn’t matter at the end of the day—you treat OCD with ERP and you don’t engage with it. OCD gets worse and worse because you’re interacting with it. You have to learn to let it be.

@Nica and if it seems terribly realistic and a "desire" or a possibility?

@Anonimus ME 🦋 It’s OCD. You need to work on not practicing in compulsions.

@Nica thank you dear, I hope I will succeed.. I so want to enjoy beautiful days and moments again without that shadow... thank you means a lot to me ❤️

@Anonimus ME 🦋 I practice ERP every day, multiple times a day simply by living my life and not giving into OCD. I do the opposite of what OCD says and I expose myself to things that make me uncomfortable and that’s self ERP.

@Nica Oh, and my therapist is in favor of your approach, but I decided on my own to go out intentionally with thoughts and photos, say 15 minutes a day, in order to strengthen myself for other situations, but it's very difficult, maybe I'm wrong... thank you, I definitely have to find something in between. Sometimes I don't work every day, it's really hard for me...

@Anonimus ME 🦋 You build it up over time and by simply living your life without giving into OCD is self ERP all the time.

@Nica thanks Nica, I don't know how long it will take, but I have no other choice...