Exposure therapy leading into doom scrolling

So I tried practicing my exposure therapy this morning but it backfired big time. I look up a certain topic to trigger my OCD and all it did was lead me into doom scrolling on my phone. I didn't catch myself until much later. Ever since I think I had a seizure from stress due to my OCD I feel like I can't practice without spiraling or getting frustrated. It's one topic in particular that causes me to spiral but my therapist said avoidance only makes things worse later on. I wish I could mention the topic but I don't want to start a verbal fight. What does anyone think? Should I avoid the topic or keep trying until my therapy sticks?

Harm OCD

al01

Date posted: 17h

Hi! Person here with ADHD, OCD, generalized anxiety disorder & panic disorder. Keep doing the exposures. I fall into the same exact issue during my exposures because I am very easily distracted. When you realize you’ve started doom scrolling, acknowledge that you got sidetracked and go back to the exposure. A lot of times OCD likes to lock you in to a doom scroll as a way to avoid the uncomfy thing you’re trying to expose yourself to. The other thing you might try is find a way to do the exposure without using social media or other apps to accomplish the task. If you know you’re prone to scrolling, maybe find a way to print out an image or an article that you know would trigger you, keep it in a therapy journal and use that as your tool(s) instead. But no matter what, keep doing the exposures. It’s the only way we heal. 😁

Anonymous

Date posted: 16h

Thank you. Question how do you resolve the problems the doom scrolling may have put in your head then? Do you do the exposure therapy for that and then go back to the original topic?

al01

Date posted: 16h

@Anonymous Great question. Typically I get into doomscrolling when I’ve “researched” a specific topic that my OCD has latched onto. So for example, one of my worst themes is Health OCD. So I’ll start with an exposure centered around a health concern — lately it’s been that I’m recovering from RSV & am very hyper aware of some chest and back pain I’ve been having. So I might start by looking up a video about someone going to the ER from having these pains and will read about their diagnosis. I’m supposed to sit with the discomfort that I may or may not experience something similar and so I’ll run through my RPM’s while I wait out the distress. I’m not supposed to google, symptom check, ruminate or seek reassurance. But sometimes I get this itch that the video has to be “just right” in order for the exposure to work so I’ll start scrolling looking for one to trigger me the right way and before I know it, I’ve completely missed the mark on what I should’ve been doing. So when I realize what’s happened, I’ll jump back to the original exposure. I won’t restart a timer or anything like that. I just accept that I’ve gotten too far down the rabbit hole and will revert back to the original assignment. If I happen to get caught up in the details of other topics, I might take a moment after I finish the original exposure to create a new exposure for the new obsession.

Anonymous

Date posted: 14h

Okay so I need to be more careful then and do more practices then. I tend to do an exposure that works but then thought comes back. It's really frustrating at times but I guess it's the only thing that works.

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