I’m feeling very scared and alone lately I’ve been trying to work through POCD and have spoken to a therapist about it but he keeps telling me it’s my inner child. I don’t think this is working and just making me feel worse. I have made an appointment with an OCD specialist and just hope this is a better approach because considering these thoughts are my inner child is bringing up even more trauma and making me feel like I’m completely messed up. It just feels like I will never get over this.

Yeah I think an OCD specialist is the way to go. He does speak a lot of stuff that’s making it harder to recover because you already feel broken inside. It’s so nice to see I’m not alone in this.

Lol, I remember one of my counselors I went to talking about my inner child and saying POCD was my past self crying out because did my parents arguing haha. Definitely get yourself to that OCD specialist ASAP! Unfortunately other therapists don’t know what they’re doing with OCD, they mean well but they’re trained in the wrong area for what’s effective for ya. Please don’t give up hope! I just started ERP for POCD and I’m feeling better already. A few weeks ago I couldn’t go 5 minutes without ruminating and really believed my thoughts were evidence of some deep dark identity. I’m still in the early stages, but shrugging off the obsessions is becoming easier even as they flip flop around and change into different specifics on the same topic! I’m thinking of you so much going through this, OCD specialists will do you a world of good, and there SO much hope! ❤️

Thank you so much its hard sometimes to find hope when you’re going through this. Mine says it’s because I’m trying to feel good because when I was a child I experimented like all kids do and he says because during this time I was in pain so I went to that to feel good. So now when I’m depressed I go to the thoughts of children to feel good. Wow typing this is making me feel like a monster and I know this isn’t the truth.

Thank you I’m definitely done with blaming myself or my inner child for this!

Yes it’s knowing that I have to live with uncertainty that’s scaring me but I guess that’s part of the treatment is learning to live with it.

Glad you are seeing an OCD specialist. Your current therapist sounds like a Freudian psychoanalyst.

Good for you! This is treatable with ERP.

It really is like looking at a new way of thinking about the POCD its stopping blaming yourself as an individual person and seeing this as OCD and treating it that way because for so long I was also told by my psychiatrist that I had a chemical imbalance and needed medication for the rest of my life and trust me the medication worked wonders for a bit now my POCD is back full force and I’m still on the medication but my thinking is the same, blaming,checking,self hatered.

Yep, medication is a nice compliment to ERP but not a replacement. Without treatment, it's a band-aid that will eventually fall off and expose your wound if not healed. You may or may not need medication for the rest of your life. That's a bit of uncertainty that you will learn to accept and not paralyze you.