I’ve been researching a lot, and have been thinking. At the moment I can’t afford therapy (plus my country doesn’t really have the best support for mental health at the moment) and I feel like I need to find a way to at least get used to these thoughts. But I’m still wondering if it would be good or not, I have some worries. If I shouldn’t do ERP what can I do instead?
100%! A huge majority of ERP actually relies on us. Therapy is only 1 hour out of a day so the other 23 hours- we have to put all the work in. It’s definitely possible to do ERP on your own. I suggest learning about ERP, ACT (which teaches how to accept thoughts & let them float by), mindfulness, and behavioral activation (if you have depression). All of those strategies are commonly combined when doing ERP therapy
@Love1another<3 I think I’ve been doing ACT (I did some research but not a lot) it has helped me for a few days now but I’m still struggling. If you don’t mind me asking, do you have any tips on how to handle ERP on your own?
@Pinni Sure thing! Here’s some tips that have helped me in my journey: - In the beginning of ERP, you should do exposures everyday several times a day, until you are bored from them. Start with your easiest exposures on your hierarchy and then save the harder ones for last. - Ocd isn’t a thought problem, it’s a feelings problem (not being able to tolerate the feeling of discomfort). Everyone has intrusive thoughts (even people without Ocd). We get thousands of thoughts a day and ppl without Ocd just shrug them off and go on with their day. What makes us with Ocd different is that we react to those thoughts with anxiety and compulsions such as rumination. We go- “what does this mean about me if I had this thought? Did I like it? Is this thoughts true? Let me find a way to prove these thoughts wrong. Etc.” We have to change our reaction by not trying to figure anything out. Instead we just let our intrusive thoughts float by like clouds. - Our OCD obsessions go against our values- that’s why we care so much. For example, if you care about your loved one- your OCD is going to make you fear hurting them. That’s totally expected and your mind will feed you similar variations of that thoughts on repeat. - compulsions aren’t only physical, they are mental as well. Try to identify all of your mental and physical compulsions so that you can eliminate them. If you do any compulsions (even small ones), they can snowball and power up your OCD. Everyone accidentally compulses now and then but we never want to purposefully do a compulsion. - Re-direct your mind everytime you notice yourself ruminating. You can’t ruminate if you aren’t spacing out. So to not space out, fill all of your empty time with doing things you value like hanging out with loved ones, working, or going to the mall. Mindfulness is key. - Dark humor helps a lot. It’s better to laugh than to cry. Making fun of your intrusive thoughts removes the heavy weight from them - Try not to judge your thoughts. No thought is “good” or “bad,” it just “is.” Having a thought about winning the lottery is no different from having a harm thought, because neither exist in reality. It’s all imaginary.
@Love1another<3 Thank you so much! This is so helpful!
@Pinni Aw good you’re so welcome! :D Always happy to help 👍
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