- Username
- Rylieraz
- Date posted
- 4y ago
Hello Rylieraz, Be careful of asking for reassurance. This post can lead you into a rabbit hole of pain. The best way to use the app is to get specific advice about treatment, and give support to others. If you get into reassurance, you will be feeding the rat and making life a lot worse for yourself. Have you had any experience with ERP and therapy? Its It's the only way your symptoms will go away. Medication helps for a while but not on its own.
Thanks for the advice! I really had never thought about that before. I have been in therapy for about a month but I feel that it’s just making my symptoms more obvious to myself and it makes them feel more intrusive and impossible to get over.
That's good to hear. Is your therapist experienced with OCD? Are you going to do exposures? I had a couple of negative experiences where the therapist didnt know how to treat the condition - it was interesting, there was a good chance to talk about things, but my symptoms got worse and it set me back a year or so. Are you alright asking your therapist for evidence they've treated OCD successfully? It can be a little awkward, but you might need to do it to get better.
I’m actually not entirely sure. All I can do right now is the free weekly therapy that they offer at my college. I just barely got off the waitlist for it and it isn’t permanent- I’m in the process of setting up another therapist at a practice for once the free therapy is over. I am not quite sure what exposures entail but I will have to ask next time I see him. I’ll also be sure to ask if he has experience with OCD- I can definitely see how if they don’t have experience that it could set me back and I definitely don’t need that this early on.
@Rylieraz Basically no matter how much you are suffering, to recover in a serious way you need to commit to a process, and see that process through. ERP is a process. A qualified therapist will get you recovered. It will be like rocket fuel. It depends how serious you are about getting better. If your brain is kidding you, telling you it doesnt really matter, you can sort it out later, or that there isnt help available - OCD attacks its own treatment - then it's likely you wont properly seek help and commit to the process. If you can get your proper realistic self care attitude focused, find a qualified therapist and get going with ERP, then it doesnt take long to shift. It will also help you with your studies, job prospects / income level and other elements to your quality of life. Bear in mind, OCD tends to get worse in mid 20s into 30s. Left to it's own devices, the prospects are not too pretty.
i feel like i could have written this post! i have dermatillomania and i also worry about something bad happening to the people i love. it was also what led to my friend's OCD diagnosis—she would imagine bad things happening to her family every night before bed and it was so distressing that she went to therapy. so you're definitely not alone. i wish i had some good coping tips, hopefully we can work on this theme and find some peace.
Hey @dandy my derma is really bad rn. Any tips for stopping myself from picking? I’m almost home after being at college for four months and I’m worried that I will be tempted to lock myself in my bathroom and pick away like I did before I left to college.
@Rylieraz my derma's really bad right now too, i'm sorry to hear that you're struggling so much. :( i buy non-latex nitrile gloves off of amazon and wear them almost all the time, because my hands look disgusting (i've had people make mean comments before). it also makes it hard to pick other parts of my body, since no part of me is immune to wandering OCD fingers lol. i also try to refocus my thoughts and lay my hands flat or keep them still every time i notice that i'm picking. i do some breathing exercises during that, too. i wish i had better advice, i'm still really struggling. please let me know if you ever want to chat, it sounds like we have some similar fears and i'm happy to support you!
Hi I also suffer from dermatillomania. It can be really debilitating. Keep trucking through therapy. I got my picking down from twice a day for several hours to a few times a week.
Look for this woman I've been messaging on here. I think you all have an OCD theme in common, about worrying about others. Her name is Dinou.
I wish I could have a therapist better trained for working with OCD, but I don't have the luxury or privilege or something. I don't have much choice.
I don't even have much choice in what therapist I see because of my insurance being Medicare.
Because not everyone in the office where I go can see Medicare people.
People with Medicare, I mean.
I always have thoughts not to harm anyone. My biggest fear is to cause them something that is coming from me, I know the feeling. I think more or less, we all seek for reassurance here and that’s very bad for us. I do it all the time and it always makes me worse. Believe in your therapy and you’ll get better someday.
Hey all! I just joined this app and wanted to ask for your thoughts and encouragement on something I’ve been experiencing lately. (*long post ahead*) I’ve had an OCD diagnosis for about 2 years now, along with generalized anxiety, depersonalization symptoms, and depression diagnoses since my teens (I’m 24). Been lucky to have great family and healthcare that have helped me get out of some very dark places. I’m currently on a very high dose of Prozac, a smaller dose of Wellbutrin, and have been in therapy pretty consistently since my late teens. Life is pretty good....I’m in grad school and am doing well socially and academically. I am moving out to another part of the country to do an internship for 10 weeks, starting this Friday. But with all of this great and wonderful stuff in life, I have definitely noticed my OCD getting worse, despite my meds and self care. I’ve been having more obsessive fears and doing the rituals and compulsions to soothe those fears. It’s taking up much more of my mental space than it had for the past 2 years or so. I think part of it is the big change of moving to a new place temporarily, finishing my first year of grad school, and going from being insanely busy to having a month of downtime that is just now wrapping up. I’m getting scared that things are going to get really bad again — so far I’ve been managing with mindfulness and acceptance, and reading up on tactics for managing intrusive thoughts and accompanying compulsions. But I am so afraid that things will get to be into the dark and horrible place they were in 2 years ago. My OCD has been really mild the past few years, since I started the meds, and to feel it flare up again is really REALLY distressing. It makes me scared that the meds aren’t working, or that all the thoughts and fears are real. I know this isn’t the truth, logically, but my OCD and anxiety are running with it. I’m just wondering if anyone else has experienced this (change-related flare ups and the fears accompanied by them) and has tools to manage relapse or flare ups. Thanks in advance :) :)
Hi everyone. I hope you’re all well. Thanks for the space in the community ?? I’ve been diagnosed with OCD in the past month. For the past 2 years, I’ve had obsessive thoughts related to religion, existentialism, health, numbers, and harm. I have mainly mental compulsions, and a few related to numbers. In the past week, the harm thoughts have got out of hand. I want to share the particular thoughts I’ve had recently, but I’m worried that these are not normal, or not OCD. I’m worried that I’m going act out on these, or that it’s actually want I want to do. I’m scared I’ll be judged. I didn’t want these thoughts, but I worry that it’s happened because of my past mistakes and negative emotions. They feel horrible. At the moment, the anxiety is there, but I feel more numb and depressed. I‘m doubting whether I’ve lost emotion or insight, as it’s becoming harder to rationalize. Before I share the thoughts in a separate post, I’d like to ask: 1. How bad, in terms of thought content, can OCD get? 2. Does anyone else question whether it’s something worse than OCD? 3. Is it normal to feel numb and low after feeling anxious, by OCD? 4. Does anyone take Escitalopram (Lexapro) for their OCD? Any help or conversation would be much appreciated
I’m trying to be vulnerable and share here about my experience. I’m just gonna let myself write and not think I’m crazy or try to delete.. I find myself feeling alone a lot, feeling crazy, being unsure why I can’t just snap out of it. I know my past caused this in me (I experienced 2 large traumas - sexual abuse by a parent and parent death) But i find myself obsessed with asking myself why and trying to change the past in my mind. Trying to move on. Thinking maybe if I find out more I’ll feel better. It feels like I can never have a complete good day like I can never feel good. i have happy moments, but if it’s not perfect which I logically know no day is.. I feel upset by my day. Somethings always wrong in my head. I can’t get through a day without thinking my husbands mad at me, or he’s not the actual one for me (we’ve been together 11 years…) or that I can try to solve what I’m feeling by just keeping my house clean, exercising, eating healthy, journaling, meditating. It’s almost like my compulsions have become healthy ones. I feel safe not doing some of them, but if it’s been more than a couple days - I begin to feel bad about it and say “well this is why I feel bad - I’m doing it to myself” Lately, I’ve been experiencing outbursts where I hear the thought telling me to think rationally, but it’s as if I can’t control it and then I’m in a yelling fight with my husband who’s simply trying to be there for me.. I just feel so scared to trust him because my intrusive thoughts tell me he’s out to get me, he’s gonna die, a lot. I’m on Zoloft and have been diagnosed with depression and anxiety, buT OCD was never brought up. It wasn’t until I searched something in July of 2022 trying to figure out why i had such intense thoughts about leaving my husband but no desire to actually leave that I started to realize I might have it. Since then I’ve improved and I’ve gotten bad. My OCD is around work. Around things being perfect. Around my relationships - always afraid I’m not acting right or I’m going to hurt peoples feelings. Even coming here and interacting feels scary - my ocd wants me to feel alone I guess. I also feel nervous that I over share and people will think I’m crazy. I really don’t want to post this.
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