canigetawitness1992
- Date posted
- 5y
ocdillustratedocdillustrated
- Date posted
- 5y
Can you explain a bit more about where you're getting confused? People often have problems with thinking of creative exposure tasks, and with eliminating rituals. Those require different troubleshooting strategies though
canigetawitness1992canigetawitn...
- Date posted
- 5y
Hi, I'm currently struggling with a reoccurring "Recovery OCD" theme. It revolves around feeling like I need to expose myself and habituate or else I won't get better. As an example, if I first get the obsession of "What if dropped some money over there?" And my compulsion is to check to make sure I didn't, my mind quickly jumps to this new thought of "Now go drop $50 and habituate to that. Make it your new reality. Get 100% comfortable with it, or else you're doing treatment incorrectly." It's like the OCD has switched from the initial trigger/obsession/compulsion to this new fear about how to expose and habituate. Basically feeling like I need to prove to myself that I'm 100% comfortable with dropping moderate amounts of money on the go. There's a lot of anxiety, guilt and shame around this new fear.
canigetawitness1992canigetawitn...
- Date posted
- 5y
@canigetawitness1992 So I guess my question is how would ERP address this OCD scenario?
canigetawitness1992canigetawitn...
- Date posted
- 5y
@canigetawitness1992 Thanks ahead of time :)
Toledo2017Toledo2017
- Date posted
- 5y
I’m right there with you I don’t know how to stop the compulsions or rituals ??
ocdillustratedocdillustrated
- Date posted
- 5y
It's like OCD is trying to make you one-up it. Perhaps you could commit to just do planned exposures that you decide on in advance. That way your ritual prevention in the moment is to just act like everyone else would. It'll be a double whammy. OCD doesn't get the satisfaction of you doing your regular compulsion it a compulsion disguised as an exposure
canigetawitness1992canigetawitn...
- Date posted
- 5y
Thanks, that makes sense. I'll try that. I haven't actually dropped $50 yet, because that'd make me uncomfortable just to throw money away on a whim. Of course OCD is playing with that though. "Because it bothers you, do it & habituate to it" seems to be the twisted tagline of OCD right now. And this can be attached to anything in my life really.
ocdillustratedocdillustrated
- Date posted
- 5y
@canigetawitness1992 OCD is hanging onto the belief that feeling uncomfortable is a problem to be solved. Luckily, we know better. Doing behaviors that interfere with functioning when we feel uncomfortable is the actual problem
Toledo2017Toledo2017
- Date posted
- 5y
@NOCD Advocate - ocdillustrated Sooo true
canigetawitness1992canigetawitn...
- Date posted
- 5y
So I do need to habituate to dropping $50 and make that the new norm?
ocdillustratedocdillustrated
- Date posted
- 5y
No, the opposite. You need to habituate to feeling uncomfortable and not trying to make that feeling go away. Dropping fifty bucks would definitely count as an anxiety driven behavior that negatively impactz your life
canigetawitness1992canigetawitn...
- Date posted
- 5y
@NOCD Advocate - ocdillustrated Oh, okay. I got it now I think. Thank you.
canigetawitness1992canigetawitn...
- Date posted
- 5y
@NOCD Advocate - ocdillustrated Now my mind is doing the same thing, but in the shower. Initially my thought was "What if I didn't rinse all the shampoo/soap off" and then I went back to rinse once to make sure. THEN my mind jumped to "Now Everytime you get out the shower, put pumps of soap/shampoo on yourself, leave it to dry, and never rinse it off. Habituate to it. This is your new reality." I hate this, I don't understand what my mind is doing. Now I'm trying to figure out if I have alot of soap on my body dried because my mind demanded me to do that. This feels like it's never going to stop.
ocdillustratedocdillustrated
- Date posted
- 5y
@canigetawitness1992 It really is frustrating how OCD can twist things
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hbocd
- Date posted
- 23w
ERP Therapy
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hestia
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 22w
I Need Help
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Anonymous
- Date posted
- 15w
Need help right now
So been trying to do erp with my therapist for a while now, and tis really hard and feels like it's not working. Il get this weird sensation or feeling that makes me feel"gay" or as if I'm attracted to someone, and I know my therapist keeps telling me" you don't have to put meaning into the thoughts or feelings" but that seems impossible to do because and I'm sorry to say, it makes me feel that specific way. And I'll use the Erp quotes, "maybe maybe not" or"the more I struggle, the worse it gets" or"these feelings and thoughts are here, but I'm choosing to let them be" and I'll do nothing and try to let it be here but it's so distracting and feels very real, and it's like this sensation, small or big and it last all day, and even just sitting with it isn't working. And my therapist will tell me"you don't have to believe in it" and I'm sorry I feel like if it were that easy, OCD would have never been a problem in the first place, or live with uncertainty, however it doesn't feel like uncertainty, but feels very truthful or valid. Idk what I'm doing wrong tho
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