- Date posted
- 6y
- Date posted
- 6y
Maybe as ERP, do the opposite of what your ‘supposed’ to do?
- Date posted
- 6y
You only have to do the ERP exercises that apply to your theme. If you aren’t obsessed with neatness, if having crooked pictures doesn’t make you anxious but is just a preference, you DON’T need to do those kind of exposures and they won’t help your OCD. Find exposures specific to your themes, not everybody else’s.
- Date posted
- 6y
When you have those obsessions, when you fear if you don’t habituate to certain things, do you do a compulsion to get rid of that fear? Then that’s the compulsion you need to stop. Not your thoughts. The reason why you’re having a hard time is because you’re fighting your thoughts, questioning and correcting them. That will never work. It’s irrational. If this purely just an obsession then you say “I’ll have OCD forever”. Remember obsessions are your thoughts. Compulsions are your physical/mental act in which you do to get rid of your obsessions and anxiety.
- Date posted
- 6y
I understand. I have that worry if I’m not doing the ERP correctly. But that alone is an obsession. You have to learn to be okay with the uncertainty that you’re not doing the ERP right. OCD is the doubting disease and throws things that you crave certainty for. You have to be okay with that uncertainty, the uneasiness. That’s the ERP. If you can learn to sit with the discomfort of knowing you might do it wrong is a successful ERP.
- Date posted
- 6y
The therapists ask patients to make a picture frame crooked to show that nothing bad will happen. Often times we do rituals to stop anxiety that we don’t allow ourselves to sit and stay with the uncertainty. But if you don’t have this fear don’t worry. What are some of your rituals? Your obsessive thoughts? What makes you anxious? Give us an example and maybe we can give you an idea of how to do your exposures. It’ll make more sense if we can apply directly to your particular symptoms. Everyone has different fears.
- Date posted
- 6y
One of my biggest fears is that if I don't make a picture crooked on purpose, I haven't habituated correctly & I'm going to have OCD forever/I'm not doing my best to get better. This is the obsession.
- Date posted
- 6y
Another fear is that if I don't habituate to having my hand in a toilet, I'm going to have OCD forever & I'm a bad person because I didn't fully habituate to having my hand in a toilet. I don't even have contamination OCD, but my mind is telling me that because ERP asks you to habituate to having your hand in a toilet & because I find that gross, that I've failed the therapy. Again, I don't even have compulsions around contamination, I just think it's nasty to put my hand in a toilet.
- Date posted
- 6y
Where everything falls apart for me around this recovery obsession, is the practice of exposure itself. A lot of exposure practices therapists have patients do, I wouldn't habituate to, yet, people with OCD are expected to. I have OCD. I had it around many things,checking for dropped money, aligning chairs correctly, having to have the "right pillow", etc. But this recovery obsession is something different. Something more sinister than the other obsessions. It's hard to describe, but basically, if I haven't habituated correctly like ERP asks you to do, then I haven't done therapy correctly.
- Date posted
- 6y
Which is the goal of ERP, right? So if I don't meet that goal, then I wouldn't be doing therapy correctly.
- Date posted
- 6y
I get confused because the practice of exposure doesn't line up with logic. The rationale behind exposure isn't logical. I was told by medical professionals to sit with a crooked picture & habituate. I was told to do things backwards on purpose and habituate, like putting my hand in a toilet, or making things off center on purpose. Because I don't want to do these exposures anymore, then that would be going against the therapy, would it not?
- Date posted
- 6y
I was supposed to habituate.
- Date posted
- 6y
And so now, when a picture is straight, I freak out. When something is lined up correctly, I freak out. Anytime something is the way I like it, I feel like I need to mess it up for an exposure. It's hell.
- Date posted
- 6y
Who were these medical professionals? ERP specialists? Wrong type of guidance can make things worse. Did you explain that you’re obsessing from these thoughts and not the content of your thoughts? From what you’ve explained your obsessions are “if you don’t habituate to crooked pictures and your hand in the toilet, then you haven’t done the ERP right and will have OCD forever. “ this is the content of your obsessions, your intrusive thoughts. You can’t do anything about that. You need to stop focusing on the content. Now if you have pure o and only obsess about this thought, you can do the ERP (which is to cut out the compulsion) by telling yourself “I’m not doing this right. I’m going to have OVD forever” and habituate to THAT thought. You’re not habituate go to putting your hand in the toilet or a crooked picture. If you do a physical or mental compulsions like reassuring yourself that you won’t or maybe clean to neutralize the thoughts then you need to cut that out. I have a feeling your doctor thinks your actual compulsion is to fix the picture frame with some kind of fear attached if you don’t or that you have a contamination fear and so suggested you to do the toilet thing. But you HAVE to realize that is just the content and OCD has many different contents for intrusive thoughts. It’s like if you see a pink carpet and if your mind tells you if you don’t change it to yellow you’ll have OCD forever. This is your thought. Now if you do change the carpet then that’s the compulsion you need to do the ERP for. You need to habituate to your discomfort of your thought of not doing it right and you’ll have it forever.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 24w
I'm really struggling to figure out where my OCD ends and where I begin. I’m scared of most things—not in a panicky way, but in a deep, cautious, worst-case-scenario kind of way. Example: I haaaaaaaaate my spectacles. I’d love to do Lasik, or even just wear contacts, but the idea terrifies me. I’ve heard about the tiniest risk of blindness or infection, and once that thought is in my head, it takes over. I picture the worst, and then I don’t act. TRIGGER Also Lasik involves cutting TRIGGER which petrifies me. I’m stuck between wanting change and being too afraid to make it. The same goes with wanting to travel but being scared I'll be trafficked or someone will plant something in my bag & I'll get arrested overseas. No amount of praying will fix it. Does anyone else feel like their OCD makes them freeze in everyday decisions? Like you can’t tell if you're just being practical or if it's the OCD gripping the steering wheel again? Maybe it's just me. Maybe it's not OCD but my personality, that's what I'm trying to figure out.
- Date posted
- 23w
Hi this is my first time posting on here. I wasn't sure if I should because I want to make sure I'm not seeking reassurance because I heard that makes ocd worse. I don't want to talk about what my ocd problem was, but basically I was really upset about a religious ocd problem that I know isn't true. I'm feeling a lot better about it now, but when it was bad I decided to try and get better on my own. I read about ERP therapy and how you're supposed to make a list of your ocd problems, from least distressing to most. So I wrote them down on two pieces of paper. At first I started with the simple ones, like looking for spiders before leaving the room. I have a tendency to look for spiders before leaving a room but lately I've been trying not to anymore. Then I decided to try and do one of the hard things. It was a religious ocd problem. I decided to start simple, and just write the problem down on a piece of paper. So I went downstairs and got some paper. But then I thought, oh no, my ocd is probably not going to like this. What do I do with the paper once I write it down? If I think what I wrote down is bad and going to upset God and I will go to hell, (even though I know logically it's not), my ocd is probably going to freak out if I throw away the paper. It probably won't calm down unless I erase it. So I just decided to not write it down on a paper, and just type it on my phone instead. So I did, I typed it on my phone. So, even though I didn't write anything down on the paper, now it feels like that peice of paper is bad. I feel like it's connected to the problem I was having, and I was so upset I called my mom crying asking her what to do. Eventually I decided to just put the paper back with the rest of the paper downstairs, but I'm still upset. I feel like I have to throw away all the paper downstairs, the pencil I was going to use to write down the problem, and the eraser I was going to use in case I needed to erase anything. It feels like if I use any of those items I will make God angry and go to hell. I know I shouldn't do this though, so I'm not going to. I don't know what to do with the papers where I wrote down my ocd problems. They are on my desk and I'm too afraid to move them. And if I put them in my desk I'm afraid they will get mixed up with other papers. I guess I can do whatever I want with them. I think I'll put them in a folder or binder and if I make any more ocd papers I can just put them in there. I'm just really confused on how to move forward. Right now, I'm too afraid to use the papers, pencil, or eraser for anything. I feel like I can't write on them, draw on them, or anything. It's even making me feel like I can't make digital art. It's making me feel like I can't do a lot of things. I guess what I have to do is just do whatever I want to, because I know the ocd isn't true and doesn't make sense.
- Date posted
- 23w
I never heard about people with OCD who have messy living conditions. Maybe this is why it took so long to accept my diagnosis. Although I really dont like how OCD is percieved at by the majority of people, I feel like Im weird or something because I dont fit into that stereotype. I understand that a lot of people with OCD have this issue, but why do I feel so different? If anybody else has/had this belief, what helps with feeling more comfortable? Everytime my mom points out my room, and how its messy- Its like I feel so lazy and useless. So then I often plan out everything I was going to do, step by step, always having a reasoning behind everything, because logic always comforts me. When I start tidying up my room, I go full out (Sheets, Laundry, Clorox, Candles, Vaccuming, Then I start going through the guinea pigs cage to rearranging all of their stuff) Yet always somewhere after doing a few things, I start feeling disgusting and almost shameful of myself. 99% of the time I end up laying on my floor sobbing, noting every little thing about my room. How my furiniture doesnt match, how i would rather have solid floor like hardwood or vinyl instead of the carpet, usually things i cant change… and then barely anything gets done in my room. I start to have a meltdown and often dont take care of myself even more afterwards. A piece of me feels like my thoughts are just me being a spoiled brat and wanting everything i dont have- meanwhile others dont even have a roof over their head. The other piece of me is just tired, just emotionally exaughsted. Please comment any thoughts or recomendations to maybe improve motovation and attitude towards doing long tasks.
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