I feel so guilty all the time😔

@Tea and Honey Just some up, your intrusive thoughts don't mean anything, no matter what they are.

@Tea and Honey LOL, I meant to write "To sum up" above

@Tea and Honey Okay thanks, I’m just struggling with the guilt and feeling like a monster weighing me down, it’s the worst I’ve ever felt😔

@Fcukocd The guilt is the biggest LIE of the OCD. You don't have to feel guilty. Let me put it in another context. I care about God, so all my OCD was focused into negative thoughts and images about God. You obviously care about people and kids and morality. So all your OCD is focused there. I had to learn to allow my blasphemous thoughts to run freely through my head, without trying to fix them or stop them. I learned I didn't need to feel guilty about them because they aren't even REAL anyway. The OCD will always try to mess with you and tell you that you "desired" the thoughts or you gave yourself "permission" to have them, blah blah blah. Don't listen to any of that. When you have OCD, you have to practice strict ERP techniques--no matter how your OCD tries to "reason with you". So, in your case, ERP therapy means that you ALLOW the thoughts to run through your head. Imagine a tree planted by a river. The leaves fall off and float down the river. You don't try to stop them. You don't pick them up and examine them. You just allow them to float down the river. It is the same with intrusive thoughts. It doesn't matter if they are sexual or violent or blasphemous against God. The intrusive thoughts DON'T MEAN ANYTHING. So you have to allow them to float down the river. In the meantime, you have to practice going on with your life. That means you go pick your kids up from school and make dinner and go to meetings and go to work. You have to practice living your life exactly the same way you would if you didn't have the intrusive thoughts. This is the way to beat the OCD. We can talk more!! If you take this a approach, your life can get A LOT better.

@Tea and Honey The lie of the OCD is that we are monsters for having these thoughts. But nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, the OCD thoughts don't mean anything. And we are just the tortured victims of a disease that throws intrusive thoughts in our brains. The way to freedom is to realize that the intrusive thoughts don't mean anything --and then you have to keep living your life despite the fact that you might feel icky inside for a long time. We have to learn to ride out the uncomfortable feelings that happen when we stop fighting the thoughts and just move on.

@Tea and Honey Thanks for your comments, I’ll try my best to do what you said and not let it define me, it’s just extremely difficult, I’ve never felt anything like it and I feel like a broken man

@Fcukocd It takes a lot of practice. You are going to feel icky inside for a long time. That's the nature of OCD recovery. Just remember, the longer you practice, the easier it gets. When you look back over time (even months and years), you will see your progress. But you need practice moving on with life and not feeding the guilt. Just keep doing the dishes and watching movies and playing board games, or whatever it is you would normally do. Just keep practicing, even though the guilt will want to sink you in the background. Just remind yourself, the more you practice this, the easier it gets. Now go out and have a good PRACTICING day!! You got this!!! 😄😄🤗👍😄🤗

@Tea and Honey It will get better and better with time.

@Tea and Honey I hope so; thanks😔

@Fcukocd It will!!!! Progress is very slow. Just focus on WHAT YOU ARE DOING for the day. In other words, just focus on how you are practicing for the day and don't worry about the timeline. The timeline is usually very slow, and we are not in control of it. ERP therapy is very effective. But it's like learning how to play the piano. You have to start out with exercises for weeks or months and even longer. You have to just sit down at the piano and work on it. But the more you work on it, the more songs you can master. And soon you'll find that things that used to really bother you don't bother you anymore. It's the same with OCD. You will have more difficult "songs" to master later on. But you will find that some of the initial songs have become easy after months of practice.