What are some ERP exercises I can do about meaning/worth/reality? For example these last couple of weeks I’ve been struggling with intrusive thoughts about if this life/what I’m experiencing is real, intrusive thoughts such as “this doesn’t mean anything” or “what’s the point” Etc when I’m just trying to live, etc. I feel like if I’m thinking about it and searching for an answer too much I’ll go into a panic :(

Existential OCD Trigger Warning: What is the best ERP for the “What if I’m not real?” thoughts? I’d been doing better-ish, and today I’ve been freaking out. Okay, so truthfully, every day has been a form of a living hell on earth, it’s just some days aren’t quite as tormenting as others. I hate DP/DR, which came right along after I saw a post about a year and a half ago, from someone who acted like we can’t prove our existence. I know there isn’t any evidence to think I might not exist, but this is torturing me. Help! I need to do self-help because of finances at the moment.

*Huh!? Whats the point in doing that?* WHY? My mind has decided it will ask me this question whenever i'm doing ANYTHING! For instance; *I'm at work* - Why am i here? To earn money - For what? House, car, clothes? - For what? Well i dont want to have no money and live on the streets? - Why? Coz i'll starve and i dont want that - Why? Because evolution has taught me to survive - Why survive? I DONT FUCKING KNOW Like obviously when you look at life in the big picture, thousand years from now my life won't matter. I love my family, friends etc but what am i here for? To work, have a couple holidays and nights out a year and grow old and die? Since i had this awakening i can't seem to dismiss this belief. Anything i do seems pointless, because i look right through it to the core and say why am i genuinely doing this and the true reason is never justified. Whether it be for fun or health...what does it matter in the grandscheme..NOTHING. 'So why do anything' is my brains new logic. Anyway, i know ERP would be to except that lifes probably meaningless and i'll never get a minutes peace in my life because i'll always be reminded by this fact but is anyone dealing with anything similar? Cheers.

I can’t tell if this is existential OCD or if something else is going on, but I’ve been having a serious existential crisis-type episode for the past week. Starting with the realization of my own mortality and an impending sense of doom, hopelessness, pointlessness, and despair, which led me down a path of spirituality (mix of Buddhist and Hindu beliefs). That’s in the realm of “normal” for me, and I was feeling amazing afterwards, I felt like everything finally made sense, like I was at peace with the world, nature, and my soul. But then the intrusive thoughts started(about when I realized technically anything is possible in this seemingly endless universe). At first they were about this whole world being fake, that everyone was in on it except for me, that I was being tested to see if I had learned enough/been a good enough person in this life. Soon realized that this wasn’t logical, since I was going off the idea that nothing was real, but if no one was real they wouldn’t be able to lie to me. Then it transitioned into pure solipsism, which terrified me to the very depths of my soul, at which point I felt suicidal (basically “if nothing is real what’s the point?” Kind of thinking) but after a couple of days of ruminating, I realized the flaws in this logic, as well, and was comfortable in the idea that this was false. Which brings me to now. It’s sort of a mixture of the two, I now have an intrusive thought that there’s some force that created this world to test me, but that no one is “real”, that they have the appearance of being conscious like me, but are being controlled by an outside force, that they’re like robots with the appearance of having a soul, but are just programmed to seem that way, that I’ll not be able to see them again when I die and return to the pool of consciousness since they never existed in the first place. I know in my rational mind this isn’t true, but it just keeps pounding in my head that it’s possible, so I can never assume it isn’t the truth, and it’s making me feel so hopeless. What’s the point if everything is a lie? I feel like my world is crumbling beneath my feet, like I’m drowning. The worst part was that I was fine this morning, but was triggered by an existential question I saw posed online, and wound up back here. I’m terrified that I’m going insane.