Hi! I come on here now and again to be a support to others suffering :) I am recovered from my horrible ocd through intensive erp! By recovered what I mean Is I accept that I have ocd and that intrusive thoughts will and do happen to me... however, through the techniques I have learned I am able to live a normal and even wonderful life with ocd hanging out in my brain... on the days I do have ocd I easily disarm it within seconds and it does not bother me or create anxiety, most days I might have ocd but because I trained my brain to ignore junk msgs I don’t even realize I had an intrusive thought and some days it feels like the ocd that was destroying my life never even existed... i sometimes now do exposures to just keep up and am honest that I might relapse one day but that’s ok... recovery is learning just how strong you really are, recovery is being okay with ocd taking up some brain space.. so if you have any questions for me about erp or the process please feel free to ask! I want to help others xo

Hi, That’s amazing that you dedicated yourself to doing erp, I know it can feel so hard at times! Did you do erp with a therapist or just on your own? I know how you feel because after a few months of erp (a year ago) I thought I was doing better only to relapse one night and end up feeling 10 times worse with stronger ocd... after that happened I went back to the drawing board... I recreated my hierarchy of fears and broke them down and started tackling them one by one by writing out erp fear scripts.. I reread those scripts 30 times a day... if you feel like you have made progress just remember that ocd likes to mess with us, it can ulter and change especially as you are making progress.. I can’t tell you how many times my themes changed as I got over each one.. my best advice would be to remember how far you have come, and start from the top with what ocd is Giving you now... treat it like just before, “oh hi ocd it’s you again, well let get back in the erp” the thing about recovery is not to want the ocd to be gone, because it probably will never go away but to learn to live with it without it bothering you! You can only do this through constant practice.. you have the erp tools so go back to basics and keep kicking its ass :) a few things that help me when the ocd comes out to play are 1. Labelling it, oh hey that seems like an ocd thought... 2. Deep breathing and telling myself it’s ok to have this thought 3. Letting my brain have the thought while continuing to do whatever I was doing... like reading or cooking etc, showing my brain that I can have weird thoughts come and go ... I know it might feel really intense at first but the more you do it the easier it gets... I hope I went into enough detail with that answer.. if not please let me know! Good luck! You got this!

@deemajical Thank you !

@nocduser12 No problem! Good luck with everything!

Hi, I had really intense harm ocd, existential ocd, and a fear that I would have a medical problem like if a bug bit me I’d go into panic that I had an infection also the same with feeling like it’s more then ocd like I might have other mental illnesses and constantly trying to rule them out... so a nice lil bundle of ocd :)

@deemajical I have moral scrupulosity and real event OCD. I feel like I cant cope because theres and element of something real :(

@MJocd I’m sorry you a suffering.. I think the best thing to remember is that everyone’s theme feels real and like it’s the worst.. when I was having harm ocd I really felt like I could stab my husband in his sleep if a knife was in my hand, so much so that I hid the knives at one point... it’s so hard I know, ocd is such a terrible life destroying disorder because you feel like there is not a single moment of peace... I think you would benefit from listening to dr. Philipson on the ocd diaries podcast on YouTube there is one podcast about ocd themes, it was such an amazing thing to listen to, dr. Philipson is one of the best ocd therapists in the world so I highly recommend checking that podcast out... also, it can help to remember that ocd can change its themes, it doesn’t matter what the theme is the ocd will pick and choose what bothers you the most at any given time, but fundamentally it’s all the same, at ocds core it’s a fear and anxiety disorder.. I suggest making a hierarchy, a list of all the fears that ocd gives to you, rate them from worst absolute fear to less distressing, and start writing scripts or recording yourself saying those fears outloud, reread them or listen to them several times a day.. expose yourself to these fears so your brain will learn there is nothing to fear just thoughts... I know it sounds crazy at first but it works... I had 10 scripts written about stabbing my husband while he slept or cutting my hand off while cooking and I read them over and over again, eventually I was able to build it up to reading the scripts and holding a knife and feeling no fear at all, I even slept with butcher knives beside the bed at one point which ended up being more funny then fearful .. don’t start with the hardest one just take baby steps and work your way up... your not harming anyone your just letting your brain think about your worst fears! I hope this helps! Feel free to ask more questions if you need more details! Good luck you got this!

I’m so sorry that you have suffered for so long, I can honestly empathize with you as I know how it feels! I am going to go right to the basics with this answer... erp daily like 30 time’s a day helped me recover, with the help of a therapist in the beginning, though most if not all of the heavy work was on my own... I had a solid support system with my husband which helped... erp if you don’t know about it I suggest reading online about erp therapy, there is also a section on this app that helps with it.... it’s all about accepting your ocd fear and exposing yourself to the thoughts that destroy you.. it is hard and can take time to get better... your brain gets stuck in a loop of freaking out when you have a thought or sensation through erp you learn to reprogram your brain so it understands that there is nothing to fear from a thought or sensation etc... you can’t just tell your brain to stop because this part of the brain does not listen to reason... you can only fix it by showing your brain through exposure... my biggest helpers were a podcast called the ocd diaries and intrusivethoughts.org i heavily suggest taking a few hours to check them out as they are heaven sent! If worst comes to worse and you are feeling hopeless it might be time to reach out to a doctor or therapist... unfortunately there is no magic pill (though I wish there was) it’s just a lot of exposure therapy that will help you get through it.. if there is anything you want to know in more detail please don’t hesitate to ask.. I hope that answer helped! Good luck!

No i did not ... however, I wanted to and tried a few snris unfortunately I am just one of those people who get the worst ever side effects from medication so it just wasn’t working for me... if I was able to though I would have, my husband is on snris for depression and he feels great with no side effects so it’s different with everyone! If that’s the route you think you should go then I would take it! Medication + therapy are shown to have the best results! Best of luck!

Hi, I am so glad this helped you! With scripts I started off with a hierarchy listing off the fears I had from most distressing (at the top) to least. I then would write scripts based of each fear one fear at a time. So I would write a script that went something like this (I had harm ocd for context) “ I can’t handle it anymore and I finally snap, I stab my husband while he sleeps. I am so upset because I hurt the one person I loved, my worst fears come true and I am arrested” I would read this script 30 times a day day after day until the feared thought no longer bothered me. Then I would move into the next fear and repeat. The goal is to get your brain to habituate until it realizes that there is no danger in thoughts. I did scripts for almost 3 months, the first week was very difficult but after 2 weeks I could begin to see progress and it got easier. If you search erp scripts online there’s lots of info on how to do them properly :) good luck, I wish you all the best! Don’t hesitate to ask any other questions!