Anyone have suggestions if I cannot find a therapist trained in ERP?? I have a therapist currently, she is not trained in ERP. We do CBT

I cannot find one who is licensed to do that in the state I live

@melwocd May I ask what state you live in?

@NOCD Advocate - Kerry Osborn West Virginia

Thank you

Thank you

Can you please give some tips or the exercises you did?

@TS Bring your worse fear or fears into your head, then deliberately compulse for a while and then stop and allow the anxiety to work it’s way through you. This worked for me. Or when you get triggered randomly, do not act on the spike of anxiety that strikes you. Just let it be. It is hard, I can’t say it isn’t because it had me laying in bed for hours and thinking the worst was going to happen. But it never. I’m a better person now for doing ERP and mindfulness though.

@TS But you need to let the intrusiveness be in your head without the urge to severely act on it. It is the only way you can deal with this disorder. I still get urges in my head, but I don’t act on them. I go about my day-to-day business as a standard living person does, without the intrusion of OCD diverting my ways

@JS?? Wait, so I should compulse??

@TS Trigger your ocd and anxiety and then don’t act on it, let it be. That’s ERP

@TS Learn to sit with the feeling in your head

@JS?? If I watch TV or go out and hang out with friends would that count as avoidance of the thoughts

@TS Fighting or avoiding the thoughts doesn’t rid them. You need to allow the thought to be there and not act on it. Allow it linger in your head, just don’t compulse on the thought. You can’t fight the thought nor avoid it, so learn to accept it and develop compassion for it. It’s the only way you can deal with it.

@JS?? No I get that. I'm saying will just going along with daily things like watching TV or playing the game count as avoidance

@TS When it comes to ERP, compulse on the thought or if you subconsciously compulse just go along with and then sit with the anxiety

I read as much as I could on OCD, and came across ERP. And put it into practise. In a short time I started to realise how I could trigger my anxiety and how to not react to it. Because I suffer with Pure O and ROCD, my way of conducting ERP was to internally trigger my fears as opposed to externally doing. So I would whimsically bring up my fear and make it worse than what it was projecting, and so sky rocketing my anxiety. I kept on doing this over and over. I’m at the point now where I don’t get triggered by ridiculous notions anymore. I can cope with the urge and not compulse. I began to practise, acceptance, compassion and mindfulness as well to combat OCD and Anxiety, and guess what, it works.

It’s actually not difficult to learn. If you are extremely struggling with OCD then I would suggest a therapist, but, if you think you have the willpower to do it yourself, don’t hold back, go for it!

@JS?? I’m currently experiencing images almost every minute did you find that with your ocd?

@Gers123 At one point in time I did, yeah. But when I learnt how to handle the disorder the constant barraging of images and made up scenes I would play in my head all dissipated. The method which worked for me was to find peace of mind. I meditate everyday now for 30 minutes, on top of that, allowing the horrid images and videos to simple dwindle in your mind without acting on them. Believe me this is crucial way on coping with this. You simply need to let go and allow the uncertainty to plague your mind. Because deep down urges seem to be a way of not wanting you to find out what the uncertainty of letting go truly is. It’s not nice, it’s hard and it’s extremely scary. The amount of anxiety I have suffered fighting ocd made me doubt my existence at times, but guess what, I’m still here. It hasn’t beat me and it never will.

@JS?? Excellent advice thank you

Self therapy for OCD works a treat. Some people need the guidance to direct them in the right direction though.

@JS?? They do but I got absolutely no guidance and its it's crazy that OCD therapists charge $250 plus without insurance for services.

@Heythere I seen two therapists and both of them were useless and charged 40 pounds per hour. I thought I’d take matters into my own hands. I’m doing pretty alright right now, I’m the best I’ve ever been since having this disorder.