- Date posted
- 5y
- Date posted
- 5y
My experience was really positive. I guess if my OCD was at a 10 out of 10 severity, it is now at a 2 out of 10 severity.
- Date posted
- 5y
I went through ERP for about 7 months. It was my first time doing ERP and working with an OCD Specialist, so it was scary at first. But once I got into the swing of things, it became my new normal. It significantly improved my symptoms. I’d say by about 80%+. I was reaching the top of my hierarchy when covid hit, and I stopped doing therapy then. I think with the final push of the top of my hierarchy I could see even further results. I’m going to try to tackle it on my own, but understandably the pandemic made me take a break. I plan on restarting on my own soon where I left off. The experience has been invaluable. It had changed my relationship with my thoughts completely and I now understand so much more about myself and how my brain works. I feel better equipped to tackle problems now and in the future.
- Date posted
- 5y
I’ve been doing ERP for over 2 months now. It’s the only thing that has really helped with OCD I can not recommend it enough. Before I felt I was barely functioning, in constant fear, thoughts would wreck me. Now I’m able to not only get though my days better but actually enjoy them more. OCD is sneaky and will try to get you from new angles, but with the techniques learned from ERP you are able to smother them more easily
- Date posted
- 5y
I'm just starting it atm but we haven't really gotten right into it yet. But I did a think which is pretty similar to ERP using a book called Letting Go by David R Hawkins, which is about processing strong emotions in your body before acting on them or giving them meanings or drawing conclusions. I got past a very dark time in my life using that and it does work well for OCD so far (I was using it for strong feelings like fear and guilt from OCD before I knew I had OCD) but it's important to also address core beliefs which was at the bottom of the obsessions, so you can prevent getting more and have less strong belief in black and white ideas that the OCD presents you with.
- Date posted
- 5y
So...it has helped me with my obsessive thoughts, but I think I had too many high expectations for it. I thought it would make my feelings come back z(I have relationship OCD) but for me it has actually not done that, just lowered my fear.
Related posts
- User type
- Therapist
- Date posted
- 23w
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) isn't always easy, but as one of the most effective treatments for OCD, it's worth it. If you've started ERP, what has been the biggest surprise you've experienced in learning to resist compulsions? If you haven't started ERP yet, what is holding you back from starting?
- Date posted
- 16w
I had just posted a summary of ERP for a group member, and I thought it might be useful for everybody. Here it is below (with a little extra added)…. ERP therapy is researched-based. Most other therapies don’t work. There have been people who have been literally stuck in their houses (from their OCD) who gained their lives back through ERP therapy. NOCD does ERP therapy exclusively. You can find it in other places too, but you have to ask around. There are two tenants of ERP therapy: The first one has to do with the repetitive thoughts inside our heads. These thoughts are actually defined as “obsessions”. You are not supposed to do anything with the obsessions. You are supposed to let them run through your head freely, without trying to fix them or stop them. Imagine a tree planted by a river. The leaves fall off and float down the river. You can see the leaves falling, but you don’t try to stop them or pick them up. You don’t try to fix them. You just let them float away. This is really important to do with your obsessive thoughts. The more you try to fight them off, the worse they get. I used to have blasphemous sentences running in my head 24/7. I felt like I had to put a “not” next to each sentence in order to “fix” it. But this just took hours of my time every day, and it was very scary, because I was worried that if I messed up, that I would go to hell. It was very freeing to learn later that I could just let those sentences run freely through my head without trying to fix them. The second part of ERP therapy is all about “denying your compulsions.” Every time OCD tells you that if you don’t do things a certain way that something really bad will happen, that is a compulsion. Once you recognize what your compulsions are, ERP therapy will have you practice stopping doing all of those things. For some people, that will mean stopping washing their hands or touching lights switches or, in my case, putting “fixing” words in their head. Compulsions are safety behaviors. During ERP therapy, you will practice stopping engaging with safety behaviors. All this is very hard to do and scary, so during therapy you will be given tools to help you deal with the fear. Often ERP therapy will take people from being non-functional to functional. I highly recommend it. ————————————————- PITFALL #1: After you have been doing ERP for a while and become somewhat successful, the OCD will try subtle little tricks to bring you down again. The first one is to tell you that your thoughts are REAL and not OCD, and therefore you can’t apply ERP therapy. Don’t fall for this trick! All thoughts are just thoughts. They are all meaningless. Don’t try to figure out what is real and what is OCD. Just treat all thoughts with ERP therapy. PITFALL #2: The second pitfall is that OCD will tell you that you can’t move forward unless you have absolute certainty that you will be safe. Hate to tell you this, folks, but there is no certainty in life. You will never know for SURE that you or your loved ones will be “safe” from the OCD rules. Therefore, you have to move forward in the uncertainty. It’s hard, but it gets easier with time and practice. We got this, guys !!!!!!
- Date posted
- 14w
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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