- Date posted
- 9w
Does ocd ever get better without a therapist?
So I've had ocd for about 9 or 10 months so I'm wondering will it ever get better without a therapist
So I've had ocd for about 9 or 10 months so I'm wondering will it ever get better without a therapist
Thank you for sharing your question. OCD can be very challenging to manage on your own, and while some people may notice changes over time, research shows that working with a therapist—especially one trained in evidence-based treatments like ERP—can make a significant difference. If you’d like additional support, feel free to book a free call with our NOCD team. We’d be happy to share more information and explore ways to help. No one has to live in fear of their own thoughts. Also here are some helpful resources: https://www.treatmyocd.com/blog/how-frequently-should-i-do-erp-with-a-therapist/ https://www.treatmyocd.com/blog/why-therapy-for-ocd-isnt-needed-forever/ https://www.treatmyocd.com/blog/why-does-nocd-have-sponsored-posts/
I would encourage you to be active on a lot of social media platforms that have OCD communities on them, (Reddit, Twitter etc) and be very honest and open about your experiences because there will always be people who have been through what you went through, you’ll never be alone, being vocal about your struggles even if it’s to your reflection can help ease the pain, guilt, shame and stigma you feel within yourself for having those struggles, I was once in your position and while things still do get hard, I will always remember how strong I really am for managing to get through it even when it might be one step every day, you will always have ocd but you will also always have the strength to get through it, you managed to make it through 9-10 months of it, that’s incredible, celebrate yourself for being strong.
Have you noticed progress independently?
No I haven't because for a lot of time I didn't know I had ocd and I just started erp yesterday
I recommend a book called “brain lock” by Jeffery Schwartz. He gives a 4 step self treatment method which almost immediately starts helping you calm your intrusive thoughts and understanding your mental condition with neurological scans and other helpful demonstrations
Thanks
I have been working through “Freedom from OCD: A Personalized Recovery Program for Living with Uncertainty” by Jonathan Grayson. Could help you too
I’m so scared I’ll be stuck in this forever soo soo scared
Im still searching about pure o ocd while I still look for a specialized therapist so that's why I'm asking the following thing lol Is normal to have months and/or years without an ocd episode? I noticed I had a considerable amount of episodes in all my living years but sometimes they took a year or a bit more than a year to appear, in worse scenarios I noticed the took just months to appear once again Is that normal? Im kinda feeling guilty about it because I notice some people live 24/7 with ocd since they are kids while my thing is more like, episodically, not 24/7 since I was born? My last episode started in August of last year and is still haunting me but I know people had it worsened since their earlier years of life
So I've been working to address my OCD for about a month now. So far, I haven't been working on it with a therapist and have instead been trying to create my own exposure exercises. The primary obsession I'm working on is the fear that I'm somehow flawed or invalid on a fundamental level. The best way I can describe it it is that its similar to the feeling you get when you have germ OCD and you feel contaminated, except my whole existence and being feels contaminated, so to speak. I've identified a list of triggers, and a list of compulsions (pretty much all mental) that I've noticed myself performing. I started out by doing imaginal exposures and scripts where I'd write out triggering fictional scenarios and read them over and over, combined with mindfulness techniques to focus on my breath and bring myself back to the present when I noticed myself performing compulsions mentally. At first it worked to some extent, but eventually I started to feel like the stories I was writing about this obsession weren't triggering any anxiety anymore or a very low level. So I stopped reading them and focused solely on improving my ability to stay present and identifying compulsions as I perform them, and disengaging. Now, I'm at the point where it seems like my general anxiety levels throughout the day are lower, and the triggers I've identified are producing noticeably less anxiety. But that makes me wonder if somehow I'm just secretly doing mental compulsions without knowing it? Is only a month of rather disorganized and unstructured ERP enough to produce this much improvement? To avoid giving me re-assurance, I'd appreciate if you guys don't directly answer those questions, maybe just provide some possibilities or your own experiences so I can get a better idea of where I'm at. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks!
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