ERP for existential ocd

My recent theme has been time and time passing. I’m so aware of time passing and nervous about it. I’m nervous that we all die eventually. I’ve always been a normal amount of nervous about this, but it has definitely been more time consuming and anxiety inducing. Anyone have any ERP tips I could do for this? Right now I’ve been telling myself “ya time is passing super quick and you are gonna die eventually” but I want to know if there is anything else I could be doing? I don’t meet with my therapist till next week so thought I would ask on here

Dee C

Date posted: 2d

I can relate. I’m probably much older than you. For me and I think for others, the thoughts come along of death and the afterlife. However, when they do I’m reminded of Dr. McGrath saying - Do you want to live life as a rockstar or pay attention to what OCD is telling you? Although I don’t live my life as a rockstar, neither do I pay attention to the lies of my OCD. As for the afterlife, I know that I don’t know and I accept the uncertainty. And if there’s one, I hope to see & party with the love ones I’ve missed and have gone before me. In other words, I acknowledge the OCD thoughts but waste very little time going into the rabbit holes trying to figure it out. I rather live in the present moment and move forward in-line with my values. And so can you. Hope this helps you!!!

Anonymous

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 2d

Notice the irony of your worry; you are worrying about time passing, but while you are worrying time is passing you by. Accept that time will March on regardless of what you to, and strive to do your best to take the time you can. You don't have to be perfect, and it's ok to worry--practice accepting that time is being lost. A good ERP movie for you would be "In Time". Would also suggest songs relating to time passing you by ("Time in a bottle" is one that comes to mind, but I bet ChatGPT could name a few)

username323

Date posted: Yesterday

I never thought I’d see someone else who deals with this theme, but here you are! Especially about a year ago, I had this BAD. The good news is I got better, and you can too! Something that works for me is meditation—like a whole lot of it! When you start to get the hang of it, you will realize time doesn’t pass at all. You’re always now! Another thing that helps is sometimes I’ll try to sit and do something I enjoy with the sound of a clock ticking in the background. If I notice it’s ticking, that’s fine, I just do the best I can to focus on being in the moment and enjoying what I’m doing. You’ve got this :)

it's just a ...

Date posted: Yesterday

Hey friend this is something I struggled with for pretty much my entire life, from long before I had an OCD diagnosis. One thing that helped me was to realize that it wasn’t so much death that bothered me anymore as much as it was the thoughts and triggers related to it. So for ERP I would really dive in and expose myself to articles and videos that dealt with death and dying that I knew I would otherwise have avoided. I would re-watch and re-read them multiple times and generally that would be enough for the anxiety to start to go down, just by habituating the brain to this content. Definitely something you will want to do with the guidance of your therapist, especially when first starting. Something else I’ve found helpful when I feel the anxiety start to creep in as to tell myself something similar to the phrase you mention above, but for me it would be “You’re going to die someday, don’t know how or when, don’t have control over it, don’t have control over anything.” As someone who always wanted to always be in control my whole life, I found the epiphany that I’m not actually in control to be incredibly liberating and comforting.

Turtle

Date posted: Yesterday

@it's just a thought Thank you! How are you doing now with it? Do you see an improvement and not thinking about it all the time everyday?

it's just a ...

Date posted: Yesterday

@Turtle Yes, much better after going through first round of ERP therapy a few years ago. It did spike back up a few months ago but quieted down again after resuming therapy for just a few weeks. When thoughts do come up I generally just let them happen and sometimes defuse them with humor. Like I will look in the mirror and see some grey hairs at my temples and say “Look! It’s my mortality!” and just start laughing. It’s just an entirely different relationship to the thoughts.

Ericseal18

Date posted: Yesterday

Do you feel like time passes in 10 min also you feel like you’re on a 10 min day and it’s on repeat?

Sosa2loud

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 22w

Kind of Spiraling

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❤️

djflorio

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: 18w

How ERP helped when I was afraid of existence itself

I used to get caught in a loop with existential thoughts very frequently. Every question made my stomach drop: (TW: existential questions) … … ... "Why does anything exist at all? What will death be like? Is anything even real? Is there any meaning to this? Is the universe infinitely big, and if not, what's beyond it? Are there multiverses? Has the universe been around forever? Will the universe end for good, or will it keep going forever? What is forever like? What even IS reality?" It would get so overwhelming that I remember lying on the floor in a fetal position for hours because I felt like there was no escape. I spent most of my days reading articles and watching videos about theoretical astrophysics and philosophy in a desperate attempt to "figure it all out." Of course that only made me more anxious, raised more questions, and kept me trapped in the cycle. Things started to improve once I learned to turn TOWARD reality, rather than away from it, and ERP really helped me do that. I learned that these questions weren't the problem. I learned that I can actually handle the anxiety that arises when exposed to these ideas and concepts. I don't have to figure anything out to make the anxiety go away; it arises and passes away on its own. Ironically, bringing myself into the present moment and becoming more aware of reality helped me escape the cycle of existential dread. Because of that, this topic no longer takes over my life. If I'm triggered by something I see, hear, or think, I may still feel a little twang of anxiety, but then it just goes away. "Maybe, maybe not" has been the single most useful phrase of my life. Do you ever get trapped in a cycle of existential questions? Are you worried that the ERP approach would be too scary to handle? If so, I'm happy to give my advice.

Existential OCD

Draykewampler

Date posted: 15w

fear of death and ocd

so i have ocd but this is the main theme ive been dealing with for the last few months, im obsessed with my mortality and i feel trapped by the reality of death. i dont really believe in an afterlife which makes it scarier, not that i dont wanna my brain literally just wont let me. but i have daily panic attacks thinking about death all day, its honestly the toughest thing ive ever dealt with. does anybody have any tips on how they manage this if they have ever dealt with it? not looking for reassurance, just some non compulsive ways to kind of lessen the grip of the fear.

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ERP for existential ocd

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