ERP

Best decision I ever made! It’s hard…very hard at times. Learning to sit with the uncertainty of whether or not your fear/subtype will come true is difficult at first, but a trained professional will work you up to it slowly. It might feel harder at first while you’re working on the fear, but I promise it’ll help immensely in the long run.

I was really nervous going into it. -And like Vanoojac said- is hard sometimes. I've cried a few times. But it's the best thing I have ever done for myself. My advice: Do it. Do it scared. Do it nervous. Do it crying. Do it however you're feeling.

It’s probably thehardest thing you will do, but will be the most rewarding at the end. The best decision I ever made was to be ok sitting with the uncertainty and the uncomfortable feelings to required how my brain sees everything. Like they say, if it’s easy - anyone can do it! But it gets easier I promise

Thank you guys for replying, it gives me so much hope. I’m starting ERP soon and of course OCD is trying to convince me that I won’t get better. This gives me courage to continue with starting it

Hello!! I have a question about ERP! How to do it? Like it’s a little bit difficult. I tried to do it thanks to a work book but time ago I used to mistake Compulsion for Exposure. So if it “Reassurance us” isn’t an exposure, right? Thank you and sorry if this isn’t clear

It is worth it. ERP is supposed to be scary. If it’s not then you’re not confronting the right triggers of your anxiety. What I’ve learned about ERP is that you’re supposed to scare the snot out of yourself and learn that it’s OK to feel scared and be comfortable with uncertainty. Sooner or later, through ERP, those thoughts become less and less scary. Eventually, those thoughts aren’t scary at all and you’re just able to push them aside without any anxiety or fear. I think everybody is skeptical going into it. My own experience is that it has worked tremendously for me even though it really really sucked for the first 2 to 3 weeks.

I’m still having a hard time doing ERP. What’s your process like?

Following this thread for reassurance. Still terrified of opening up about this with my therapist in my first session.

I like to compare it to this analogy: It’s throwing away the keys and lock your self in a cemetery with everything that scares you. It will be scary, but if you accept the fact that things are scary and we can sit with it, you can make friends with those scary things and they won’t phase you anymore