- Date posted
- 5y
- Date posted
- 5y
OCD is wickedly clever. It will look for the smallest window or crack to find a way into your thoughts. It also makes you question whether youāre getting better and if you will ever be free. As soon as you make progress in one area, it finds another to make you obsess about. It does whatever it has to keep your mind in chains. Thatās why itās so important to acknowledge even the smallest progresses you make. āThoughts donāt stay as long as they used to but...ā No buts! The fact that you can resist a compulsion and the obsession goes away in shorter time, even if it doesnāt feel like much, is a success and improvement. Whether itās getting physically or mentally healthy, the people who are doing the work often have the hardest time recognizing progress. I know itās agonizing and frustrating to feel like youāve been doing the work but still struggling. I had been doing well during my treatment, finally felt like I had my life back, and then bam! Something happened that made me feel like I was back at square one. But, although it was a challenge, I realized that it wasnāt as devastating as my mind made it out to be, and Iāve come through better than before. My advice: 1. Be kind to yourself 2. Recognize and celebrate even the little successes 3. Accept that OCD will do whatever it can to make you ignore tips 1 and 2.
- Date posted
- 5y
Handling the thoughts well 65% of the time after just 5 weeks indicates very good progress. When I was where you are, I tried to avoid the black-and-white mindset in which I judged treatment success more by how many times I did not successfully manage an intrusive thought than did manage it well. I think you are on the right track. You are still on that upward climb in the process. But, you will reach the mountain's apex and the downward side will provide you with the momentum to take on the OCD on your terms. These ten weeks are teaching you how to confront the OCD bully. It takes practice. After the 10 weeks, you will continue to use the tools you have learned and become more and more proficient as the weeks and months pass. Keep up the good work!
- Date posted
- 5y
Are you recovered?
- Date posted
- 5y
@Diego?? I describe my current state as managing my OCD well. Not trying to split hairs, but I do not want to suggest that I am cured from OCD.
- Date posted
- 5y
@Fear Strikes Out Oh that's great, Congrats!
- Date posted
- 5y
I would say that I went so bad in January until May I couldnāt go out of my house, take metro, go grocery store... Now Iām going to my appointments to my therapist on my own and Iām able to go shopping on my own. So it is improving definitely :)) Happy to hear Iām on the right path !
- Date posted
- 5y
That's great to hear that you are making such great strides as you have described. ?
Related posts
- Date posted
- 24w
I can remember the day I started having intrusive thoughts. I was so confused and scared. Itās been almost 3 months- does it get easier to manage? Currently taking medication and going to therapy, but this is all still very new, and very scary. Please tell me thereās relief in recovery..? I tend to isolate myself from my family, often. Iām tired, so so tired. :( Most days, I just stay on the couch or in bed. I donāt quite get as anxious, but like a āheart stoppingā gut feeling when a thought pops up. I miss the me I was before the diagnosis. HOCD is scary and harder when it attacks the loved ones, spouse, in your home. :( My heart hurts.
- Date posted
- 18w
My theme is suicidal OCD. Iāve been doing ERP since last year November and the overall intensity of my thoughts have not reduced at all. I have these thoughts 24/7 and my life feels like a living hell. Not two minutes goes by throughout the day where Iām not suffering from relentless thoughts. I donāt want to take meds because of the side effects and my insurance is coming to an end so itād be difficult to ween off them by myself. Iām starting to feel so hopeless because Iāve done the toughest of the toughest exposures and Iām not getting better at all. My life is a living hell and I donāt see my condition with OCD getting better anytime sooner.
- Date posted
- 16w
Hey everyone itās been a while since I posted on here. Honestly, I try to stay off of this app unless I really need advice because I find it triggering at times. But right now Iām feeling pretty down and just would like some hopeful and helpful advice. Has anyone ever felt like theyāre just not capable of getting out of this? Has anyone ever felt like ERP therapy isnāt working or that they just canāt get itās a click? . Iāve been in ERP therapy for over a year just about a year and a half actually and I literally feel so stagnant and stuck still. I show up every week I do my exposures, but my body is in such a chronic fight or fight all the time that it feels almost impossible to apply the tools. Iām super sensitive to begin with and I feel things very deeply and because of that it feels like Iām not gonna be able to ever change. It feels like no matter what I do or experience Iām just gonna always feel it so deeply and itās gonna just rattle me all of the time. Iām honestly so frustrated. Iām tired and Iām overwhelmed. I so badly wanna change these patterns that I have and grow and be out of this OCD spiral, but everything just feels impossible. Iām just wondering if Iām alone here?? Has anyone ever felt this way? Has ERP taken a long time for anyone else or am I the only one that just canāt get my brain to click with it? Any encouraging and helpful words would be greatly appreciated thank you š
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