Anyone?

@Catlove9 You’re not alone ❤️ are you still in ERP?

@Anonymous 25# I am. And some days I feel like a failure because I see everyone else getting better and all I feel is like I keep getting new symptoms.

@Catlove9 Yes me too ! It’s just not clicking for me at all if anything it’s getting worse . Idk what to do anymore

@Anonymous 25# When you do compulsions, what do you do? Like rumination, reassurance-seeking, physical compulsions?

@Catlove9 My biggest ones are rumination, mental review, questioning, and reassurance seeking. They’re all mental and the mental ones seem impossible to me! What about you? What are your themes also?

@Anonymous 25# Most all my compulsions are mental! So rumination, review, reassurance. My main themes are harm, false memory, worried I’m gonna get fired, and existential I guess you could call it.

@Catlove9 If you don’t mind me asking what types of things is your therapist having you do to get through them? And how hard do you find it?

@Anonymous 25# I wish this thing had private messaging

@Anonymous 25# Ugh I know. They need it. And you can ask anything! One thing I’ve been trying is to look to see if my actions (reassurance seeking, rumination, etc.) are enforcing the “threat” or if they are showing me the “threat” doesn’t exist. If my actions are enforcing the threat, then I need to stop. One thing with mental compulsions, is sometimes we don’t realize we are doing them. So sometimes it helps to take a step back and try to recognize when we are. For example. Last night I was having horrible harm ocd. And i kept getting deeper and deeper into it. So I took a step back and asked myself “you keep analyzing this and trying to push it away and trying to figure it out. Is this showing you the threat is real? Bc if it is, you’re compulsing and it will feed the cycle.” So I tried to redirect my attention and not ruminate. It’s really not easy at all. But recognizing helps because then I can see I’m making it worse for myself.

@Catlove9 Mine feels so automatic that I can’t tell if I’m even engaging with it or not

@Anonymous 25# Mine does too! And mine is constant. But if you keep practicing, you’ll be able to see that even if it feels automatic, you can still identify it and try to redirect. I’m struggling with it but I’ve noticed how much I ruminate. I ruminate so much. And then the reassurance seeking? Omg I’m doing it all the time.

@Catlove9 Omg same ! I feel like such an idiot because I see people all the time talking about how much this erp therapy has changed them and I’m like wtf? Why am I not getting it??

@Anonymous 25# Same here! I feel like I’m incurable. But just try recognizing it. See if you can identify it. Just start there. When you’re in the throes of it and you keep thinking and thinking, ask yourself if you’re trying to figure it out. If you are, just tell yourself you recognize you’re ruminating and it’s only reinforcing the threat and you’re going to leave it be and go do something g else. You will still be thinking of it when you go do something else. So don’t feel like it’s just automatically going to go away. This is another problem I have. I think if I don’t do a compulsion, the thought and feeling will go away. But it doesn’t work that fast. So when it doesn’t work that fast, it’s almost like I give up

@Catlove9 I’m the same exact way !

@Anonymous 25# Yes! And it’s a crappy feeling and I come on here and feel worse about myself! But we aren’t hopeless. We may just have a sticker brain. And that’s okay. We just need to readjust a bit.

@Catlove9 I had a really hard day today. I felt so hopeless and done. Are you going to continue therapy ? Does your therapist think it’s fine that it’s taking you a little longer?

@Anonymous 25# What happened today? Yah. She’s encouraging. And she’s told me some people get it quickly and some people just take more time. But if we keep trying to figure that out, we’ll spiral because it’s also a compulsion!

@Catlove9 Yes that’s true! Honestly I’m just so drained. I constantly get triggered. I try to tackle one thing and then in a blink of an eye something else pops up. Recently, I’ve been dealing with sexual OCD and health OCD. I’ve been constantly uneasy around young kids and then in the next breath I’ve had this pain in my right rib/abdomen area for a while and it just completely amped up over the last few days. I got it checked, doctor wasn’t worried she believes it’s some muscular thing but all damn day it’s bothering me. My mind doesn’t stop all day everyday regardless of what content or pain I’m dealing with. Then I saw something where someone talked about highly sensitive people and how hard things are for them because they feel everything so deeply and i immediately thought of myself and started sobbing feeling like I was just never guna get out of this because I’m so sensitive. Just a lot today

@Anonymous 25# I’m really sorry. I identify with this so much. I am a VERY sensitive person. And I’ve had all the same things you mentioned. I even have a hard time with jokes. I take them too seriously.

@Catlove9 Awwww yes ! I just get overwhelmed easily and feel everything very deeply ! I want to believe I’m on this journey to learn how to let go of things but wow is it hard

@Anonymous 25# Same! And I think when it doesn’t come easy, I feel like something is wrong with me and I’m doing it all wrong. But that’s me giving into compulsions bc then I’m obsessed with ocd itself. Remember anything can be a trigger or obsession. Us worrying we can’t get better is one!

@Catlove9 That’s so true thank you so much for speaking with me ❤️

@Anonymous 25# Any time. You aren’t alone. I’m always here! I’m going through the exact same thing.

@Catlove9 I’m here also ! Message me anytime ❤️

@Anonymous 25# Same to you!