Is this right?

ERP is considered the most effective treatment for OCD, so in that regard, you’re on the right path. When you do exposures in session, or outside of session, how high is your anxiety? Do you tell yourself during the exposure that this is only practice? If so, that may be a compulsion that brings relief. I would definitely suggest asking your therapist, to help you come up with actions to take. Hang in there! I’m proud of you for seeking help, it’s not easy. ❤️

I would talk to your therapist about that! They can definitely help you identify it! But I would also just be really strict and assume things are. Compulsions instead of letting them slide! But that’s just my opinion!

I’d have a conversation with your therapist about your concerns- and have them help you identify if something you’re going is engaging in a compulsion or not. I’ve been doing ERP for a few months too, and I think a lot of it has been just building awareness around my ocd and I’m still learning to recognize whether a behavior I’m engaging in is OCD or not, same as if a thought is ocd or not. I sometimes do have the thought “what if ERP won’t work, what if I don’t get better?”- when I catch myself thinking this, I do an ERP response message( I think it’s what it’s called haha) So for example, I think “oh I noticed the thought that ERP won’t work for me. Maybe ERP won’t work, I’m choosing to lean into that uncertainty.” I try to remember that my brain might just be trying to protect me from future harm, pain, or disappointment. So sometimes I’ll think “thanks for trying to protect me from being disappointed in the future, but I got this covered”

I also have to check myself because I also do a lot of self-soothing compulsions without realizing it. My therapist and I call them out when I do them during my exposures during sessions. The homework is where you really start making progress because you’re doing it alone. I hope you can get to a point where you feel up to doing exposures outside of your therapy sessions. Good luck!

I have a similar experience a lot of times! The best thing I’ve found is to be sure im aware and stopping compulsions in the real world situations! The exposures, even if they aren’t as distressing (which they won’t be as distressing as a random event in the real world) are practice to teach you how to respond in the real world!! Watch for compulsions, maybe even keep a list on your phone of which compulsions you’re typically most tempted to do and that way you can watch for them and make sure you don’t do them when you encounter real world triggers!! You’ve got this!!