Tough living with OCD

@Iceberg Climber Thanks! I’ve taken meds in the past many years ago with some success. Ssri’s to be specific. I recently tried Paxil and that was absolutely horrible. Thought I was going crazy and it took my anxiety from a 10 to 100. I know it’s a process to get through this and it’s definitely better than it was. I’m also seeing a therapist. I’m thinking of seeing another therapist for just OCD and CBT.

@baseballfarter CBT can make OCD worse https://iocdf.org/expert-opinions/ineffective-and-potentially-harmful-psychological-interventions-for-obsessive-compulsive-disorder/

@24ozpersephonenoice Awesome, another thing to worry about 😂😂😂

@baseballfarter If you read the article, it depends on the type of CBT. Make sure your therapist has had specific training on OCD. ERP and ACT contradict some CBT practices, but they work so much better for OCD brains. For example, anxiety therapist and OCD therapist do “worst case scenario” exercises where they ask you “then what” “then what” “then what” until you reach the absolute extreme. The purpose for normal CBT is to then realize “ooh ok ya none of that is actually going to happen. I’ll stop worrying so hard.” But OCD therapist would say “now, this worst case scenario might happen. It might not. You don’t have to deal with that right now though.” And then for homework, you would be asked to read out loud the worst case scenario narrative. The repetition would lead to habituation, and eventually it wouldn’t seem as daunting. See the difference? For OCD, it needs to go BEYOND just recognizing cognitive distortions. Someone with OCD is not going to automatically make the connection of “this is blown out of proportion and ridiculous, I don’t need to be stressed about it.” Some obsessions and compulsions can feel larger than life.

@24ozpersephonenoice Thank you!

@baseballfarter Also, I know you put 😂, but I feel actual distress underneath. It is COMPLETELY OK AND NORMAL to change therapists if something doesn’t click. They are trained to not be offended by that. Even if you told your therapist, “you remind me too much of my 3rd grade teacher, I’d like to find someone else,” they would 100% not be offended. I’ve been in therapy since I was 11 (now, I’m 30), most of it has been CBT making things worse. Whenever I wanted to switch therapists, they never made me feel bad. Don’t be too afraid to advocate for what will really help you. I’ve really liked the NOCD therapist I’ve been seeing.

@24ozpersephonenoice CBT might feel good at first because there’s so much reassurance, but I promise that it can just make it harder later on to break that habit. I’m not going to sugarcoat ERP. It’s hard. However, the triumphs feel so much greater than anything I’ve ever felt in normal CBT. Self-reassurance of “wow! I can face my trigger and actually calm myself down afterward. I’ve done it once, I can do it again” feels light years more meaningful than the temporary relief of external reassurances. I can’t emphasize that enough.

@24ozpersephonenoice “You’re a great father, you’re a great employee. You’re just catastrophizing.” Vs. “Maybe you’ve been a bad father, maybe you’ve been a bad employee. Maybe not! Reading into the “why” for those feelings is just going to lead to rumination and spiraling. It doesn’t have to be that deep! All you can do is focus on the present and how you’re going to act today.”