- 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
- 12w
Does anyone have any advice for how to know the difference between ocd and real feelings/thoughts? Sometimes an intrusive thought will come in and I immediately know it’s ridiculous and I can just leave it alone and it won’t bother me but other times I really really don’t know. It’s when ocd hijacks and twists my real feelings and thoughts and tries to manipulate me into believing they’re something they’re not or something that doesn’t align with my true morals or intentions. But since it’s twisting and mixing with real feelings I get so confused and scared. Everything gets jumbled and I feel like I can’t trust myself or my own mind. Yet other times and other topics I can laugh off and push away just fine. Make it make sense. And then I start to think well maybe I don’t have ocd at all and I’m just in denial because I don’t want to accept that these scary/concerning things are true about myself. Or maybe that’s just the ocd talking.
- Date posted
- 6w
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.
- Date posted
- 28d
I haven't been able to read about experiences similar to mine when it comes to my perfectionism OCD so I was wondering if anyone had any "uncommon" experiences.
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