It could be possible to treat a severe scrupulosity OCD without taking medication and asking guidance from the psychiatrist? I can't afford for professional consultation 🥹. Can anybody give me some advices on how to deal with these intrusive thoughts? 🙏
While of course therapy is preferred, there is nothing stopping you from doing ERP by yourself. In fact, I would say that one of the major goals of ERP therapy is to prepare you to do it by yourself. The therapist just helps you figure out how to do it effectively and can identify blind spots. If you really want to do it yourself, do some research. Identify your obsessions and your compulsions. Make a heirarchy of fears that cause you anxiety. And expose yourself to the worst fear you can bear at that moment for a set amount of time and avoid doing compulsions despite any anxiety that arises. Then, once you've habituated and your anxiety has lessened (after a couple of weeks on that exposure), do a more aggressive exposure, one that is higher on your heirarchy of fears. Eventually, with practice, you'll be exposing yourself to things you never thought possible. There isn't a set schedule or plan, but this is a pretty good outline for how to approach it. I would recommend just searching up OCD specialists online and watching their videos on how ERP therapy is done.
@Iceberg Climber This is really good. How do you do it with real event ocd?
@slippery_salad Real Event OCD sucks and I've had it and I've had it bad. To do ERP with Real Event, you'd do it like any other ERP. Find what makes you most nervous. Are you afraid you hurt someone? Assaulted someone? Ruined someone's life? Whatever it is, find out what your worst fear is. Then, slowly expose yourself to it. For example, if I was afraid I ruined someone's life because I was emotionally abusive when we were teenagers, I would begin by telling myself that I did ruin their life. And I would tell myself that for maybe 20 minutes. This would make me anxious. I would then avoid any compulsions during this time. No telling myself it's not true. No trying to figure out exactly what I said. No running through scenarios. Float past the anxiety. And slowly it will improve. Once I'm good with that, I'd imagine all the ways their life is probably now ruined. Then, I'd tell myself that I wanted to ruin their life because of the way I am. And so on and so on until I confront my worst fear. Slowly, with time, it will get easier to face. I understand this is very confusing, but that's how OCD works. It helps me to remember that the actual truth is unknowable. What actually happened is unknowable. It's uncertain. The reality of the situation is not changed by your thoughts. And no amount of thinking/ruminating is going to change that. Do you deserve a life sentence of worry because of a mistake? No. Of course not. So move past it. Make yourself anxious and then go do something else and try, as hard as you can, to avoid any and all compulsions.
@Iceberg Climber What if the core fear is like the consequences of stupid decisions or mistakes. You just tell yourself that those consequences will happen?
@slippery_salad When possible, yes. For example, maybe your fear has to do with failing a test because you didn't study and so then you didn't get into your dream college and your whole life is ruined. Eventually, yes. I would tell myself that my whole life is ruined because of my stupid mistake. However, it's important to remember the point. The point is to deal with compulsions cause by obsessions. So really you want to be evaluating based on your obsessions. What are you ruminating about? That's where you should start. Whatever fear keeps popping into your head, that's what you should expose yourself to. And avoid doing compulsions. Ruminating is a very, very hard compulsion to stop, but it can be done with practice.
@Iceberg Climber You should consider becoming a therapist. This is really helpful❤️
@Iceberg Climber Howabout when the anxiety doesnt subside. Does that mean Im doing it wrong or maybe Ive engaged with a compulsion? Like sometimes the anxiety makes me go irrational and feel like lowkey insane. Like it lasts all day haha
@slippery_salad That's where therapy can help. You shouldn't feel anxious all day. You should be exposing yourself gradually. But unfortunately, sometimes it just doesn't fit neatly into this ERP box. If you are anxious constantly, non-stop, then you may want to explore options like medication. Also, it could be underlying stress from something else that is exacerbating your symptoms. There are many different possibilities and I understand how confusing it can all be. And I certainly don't have all of the answers. Sometimes, I've found, however, anxiety is just anxiety. Sometimes it's not tied to anything specific and you just need to breathe through it. Hopefully my comments are able to help you some even if I just offer you understanding and encouragement.
@Iceberg Climber They help a ton. I think my fears have to do with my moral standard being so high and yet I can’t meet that standard at all according to my past. Ive done things that could be seen as horrible depending on how you look at it and my mind just jumps to the worst possible scenario if everything were to go wrong and then convinces me that this is most likely. Its also guilt that tugs me down yenno
Maybe try But soon you will see that ypu need experts also But its possible
I don’t take medication, I see a OCD specialized therapist. I did do TMS a year ago because they tried meds and it did not work. What I will say is learn all you can about ERP, sometimes you might need someone to pull you from an exposure if you are at panic level and find different exposures to build up kind of a baseline tolerance. Like leveling up. I started with just right compulsions by getting honey on my hands while I ate and taking pictures of things without adjusting them. Then I worked on making story exposures to exposure myself to the story OCD wanted to tell. Some of those were very hard. You got this!
Hi guys! I’m new to the community and I’ve recently received my OCD diagnosis (tho I’ve known about it since childhood). I’ve been somewhat spiraling lately as I wait for my first ERP session (hooray!) I was just wondering if any of you guys have received ERP for existential OCD and if it was successful? My existential OCD compulsions are more so mental and have been affecting me in the sense of dream/memory flashbacks and giving me a sort of “uncanny” feeling about everything around me. Any advice is appreciated! Thank you❤️
Hello everyone. I was just wanting to post on here regarding a situation that I have been dealing with for a few months now. I have been taking my walk with Christ seriously for about a year now and ever since I started I’ve noticed a bunch of intrusive thoughts and it’s caused me much distress. It all started back in June of 2024. I missed a church service because my wife and I were taking care of our daughter and I went to a Best But store and upgraded my old Apple Watch to a new one. I felt like doing so I committed idolatry because I went and bought that instead of going to church. I felt immense guilt for doing so and the next day I cancelled my order. I thought that maybe I was over thinking the entire thing so I went ahead and placed a new order and got the watch. For two weeks after getting the watch, I ruminated about whether I should keep it or not. It didn’t feel right with me and was overwhelmed with guilt for having it and it was debilitated with anxiety and stress. Eventually I decided I would just give it back so I went to go return it on the last day I could do so only to find out I could not. I thought that was a sign from God that I could keep it. I felt the most relief after that that I had experienced in quite awhile but then the next day after I started have thoughts again thinking that I didn’t try hard enough to return it and that I’m some how putting it before God. Well eventually I came to terms that there was nothing I could do about it and I was able to stop worrying about it being an idol. Well my mind jumped from that to another thing in my life and this one has been harder to get over. I have been on hair loss medication for 7 years and I had a thought one day telling me that “if I’m a true follower of Christ, then I shouldn’t take the medicine because I’m placing too much importance on my looks” I again felt immense anxiety and dread and tried fighting these thoughts away but could not help but think” what if it is and this is conviction of the Holy spirit”? I would constantly look up online any answers I could find to help relieve my anxiety but I can’t. I pray to God all the time for his will to be done in this situation and sometimes I feel better but then it all comes back. It’s hard for me to read the Bible because there’s so much about idolatry I always feel like it’s God talking to me like it’s a sign or if I’m just taking it that way? I asked God to show give me an answer about this situation and a day later a YouTuber I follow posted a video about removing idols from our lives. I felt that was God speaking to me or wasn’t sure maybe it was a coincidence? I just feel so cornered and out under so much pressure on what to do. Of course I would like to keep taking my medicine because it has helped me but then I have thoughts that tell me it is an idol because I am not able to give it up. I cut back taking the medicine a lot more often over the last months but I don’t know if this is God telling me to do so or my own mind. Like if I want to keep my hair I believe God allows healing through medication and it’s a gift. But these thoughts are telling me that I rely on taking it and it’s an idol and that unless I give it up completely I’m not following God’s will and it’s an idol. It’s caused immense doubt because then I read Romans 14 and it says anything you do with doubt is sin because it’s not of faith. I feel like I’m being attacked and cornered because I’m forced to stop taking something that has helped me. Now I have thoughts telling me to stop wearing my retainers every night because I got Invisalign a few years back to fix my teeth and that unless I stop taking my medication and wearing my retainers I’m not authentically following God. I don’t know what to do at this point. I don’t want to go against God and I don’t want to commit idolatry. I know God is all loving so I doubt this is all coming from him. I have to take/wear these things daily for them to work and the ocd will twist that in saying they are idols because of that and I just feel so cornered and defeated. I try to find things constantly online to see if anyone else has similar issues but I can’t. I know this is a long post but just trying to get some clarity on the matter. What should I do to help my situation?
I’m starting NOCD. I had several years of cbt as a child (well over 20 years ago) and I see a trauma therapist. But now I’ll be seeking further help for OCD and just really scared. CBT wasn’t helpful for me. How has ERP been helpful for you? Do you feel like you’ll finally get your life back? I’m consumed by my obsessions 😢 Would love others feedback if ERP helped you ❤️
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