isssss93
- Date posted
- 5y
irish_and_ocdirish_and_ocd
- Date posted
- 5y
I know it is really difficult. It is so distressing and comes with so many other feelings too like shame and guilt. I have been in therapy about 6 months now. I still have the occasional day when things are pretty bad but generally my quality of life has improved so much it is amazing. I am not saying it only takes 6 months to recover. I am still in recovery doing exposures every day. This is just my experience. For actual exposures, I don't know what type of sexual thoughts you have but I have HOCD so I started off simply researching/reading/looking at facebook profiles of people part of the LGBT community. I started with Glennon Doyle. Then, as that gets easier, move onto someone more challenging etc. Then I watched documentaries or movies or series with gay characters, like Queer Eye and basically just keeping moving to more difficult stuff. Now I am reading novels with gay characters. Does that make sense? I hope everything goes well for you. Keep pushing through. You owe it to yourself
isssss93isssss93
- Date posted
- 5y
Yeah, it does. For me it's basically anyone around that I see I have Those type of thoughts.
irish_and_ocdirish_and_ocd
- Date posted
- 5y
@isssss93 I know it's so tough. Nobody understands unless they have experienced it. I'm so sorry you have had to go through this. I hope that you can recover in time. Are you in therapy?
isssss93isssss93
- Date posted
- 5y
@Praise Yeah. I have gotten much better, but staying home is not helping. Like a lot of anxiety feeling locked up
irish_and_ocdirish_and_ocd
- Date posted
- 5y
I get that too. I feel similarly. I have been feeling like I am backsliding slightly and am just trying to stick to ERP and remember everything I've learned so far
Carl CornettCarl Cornett
- Date posted
- 5y
Yes. Exposure therapy can work with whatever theme of OCD you happen to be combating at the moment. There’s specialists available via NOCD if the service is currently offered in your state. ERP therapy has a 70%-80% efficacy rate. Success can depend immensely on your willingness to engage in treatment. One of the things you’ll learn in treatment is that it’s not about eliminating thoughts. You may still have them, they just won’t have the same impact on your quality of life as they are now. But sometimes, as a byproduct of that experience, people do note that their thoughts decrease.
isssss93isssss93
- Date posted
- 5y
I keep reassuring cuz I feel guilty
Related posts
Squishyseasp...
- Date posted
- 20w
Idk if therapy can help me.
Whenever I have a non flirtatious, friendly interaction with a male my brain accuses me of cheating. I go into a full panic attack until I tell my husband then it goes away Same thing with intrusive thoughts. I'll have a random sexual thought about someone and my brain tells me that since I thought that it must be what I wanted and accuses me of cheating. Sometimes these thoughts come with actually physical feelings of what intruded. Thoughts of "what would it be like .." but I stop myself and then freak the flip out. With erp am I just supposed to let the sexual thoughts or accusations play out in my head?! It's excruciatingly painful. Also if I sit there and give into a sexual thoughts paired with the "mood" feelings how is that not mentally cheating 😵💫
RW95
- Date posted
- 7w
Has anyone gone through this, or currently going through it, need to know that I am not alone in this (18+)
I can't look at 18+ videos, comics, etc. I am straight, but SO-OCD tries to make me think I am not And the thoughts turns to feelings, and makes me scared, uncomfortable, sad, because I know this is not me. And when I try to imagine myself being with the woman on adult videos, and comics, my OCD gives gronal response not at the girl, and it fills me with fear, and anxiety, I always loved, and was attracted to women but I can't and it caused me to be depressed, and I keep ruminating I keep trying to focus on her, but it's so bad that I avoid those all the time now. I am wondering has anyone gone through something like this, or currently is, and wondering how you have done to combat this!
hbocd
- Date posted
- 5w
ERP Therapy
I read about ERP and have seen information about it on here. One of the goals is to say, "maybe I am this or that...ect." That terrified me. The thoughts and images that go in my head are disturbing and upsetting. I don't want to even think about saying, "maybe this or that." It's devasting to have these thoughts and question why you're having these thoughts. Doesn't the "maybe" make it worse? The one thing that helps me is that is to remind myself that these are just thoughts and I know I'm not a monster, even if I feel like one. Is ERP not for everyone? Has anyone else had a problem with the techniques used in this kind of therapy? I had cognitive therapy for years with an OCD specialist and that seemed to help a lot. Writing out the worst case scenarios would make me suicidal. Im having a difficult time not obsessing over the "maybe" after intrusive thoughts now. It doesn't make it better.
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