- Date posted
- 5y
- Date posted
- 5y
This sounds like terrible advice for OCD. Is this person actually trained to treat OCD?
- Date posted
- 5y
i dont think theyre specifically for OCD
- Date posted
- 5y
@Duck I'm sure someone else with more expertise will chime in soon, but in my opinion your therapist seems well intentioned but is actually giving very bad advice.
- Date posted
- 5y
Yes, I had an ocd therapist have me do this for a few sessions and for me it was very effective but it may not be that way for others.
- Date posted
- 5y
For me, when I did that, it became a compulsion of reassurance and it didn't help me get over the fear. How do you see this yourself, how do you react to it? For me, the rationality comes after I've done some extensive ERP, since the ERP makes my own brain come down from the anxiety, instead of listening to others' logical opinions etc, it's my own opinion that comes to the surface once I'm more logical and less emotional.
- Date posted
- 5y
for me i feel like i do mental compulsions a lot, such as trying to fight the thought. i feel like this is fighting the thought but just on paper
- Date posted
- 5y
@Duck It was the same for me, I was fighting the thought with logic to try and not feel uncomfortable and stressed and guilty etc. So I labeled it a mental compulsion.
- Date posted
- 5y
Agreed that something I naturally did to combat OCD is very similar to this, but that for some people it might be difficult or worsen OCD, but maybe while working with a therapist is the time to try it to find out. Good luck!
- Date posted
- 5y
This does not sound like good advice. I had a therapist who did not specifically specialize in OCD, and she told me to write the intrusive thought and then rationalize it by explaining why it is true. This did not help at all, though I did it for almost a year. in fact it probably kept the ocd obsessions alive by giving reassurance. Please seek out a therapist who actually specializes in OCD, using ERP, if this technique doesn’t seem to be changing anything. ❤️
- Date posted
- 5y
*by explaining why it is not true
Related posts
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 22w
I find while doing exposures, rarely does my anxiety lessen. It usually amps up and stays that way for the remainder of the day. I could be having a fairly decent day, but dutifully do my exposures and then the rest of my day is anxiety filled. I guess that’s just how it is now? Also, I’m wondering if my therapist even believes I have OCD. I totally understand my therapist cannot provide reassurance. But it’s to the point it seems my therapist acts like I actually did the thing I fear. I feel so isolated.
- Date posted
- 22w
So, my brain brought up a question that really affected my worldview. I solved the obsession, and gained some good wisdom on that could be useful towards unconditional loving self acceptance. Maybe I was being OCD about recovery, and tried to find logical reasons for why progress is important no matter the outcome when I should've just embraced uncertainty. So now I have an answer to the Obsession. But this obsession took me to a pretty dark place. And I know OCD is just gonna throw and equally Bad one at me if I use this information to my benefit because it will essentially be reinforcing the OCD cycle. "Oh, he got the solution he needed to now I need to throw a new obsession at his way." So what do I do with the wisdom I gained from ruminating here? It's useful and practical information, so I don't want to throw it out. But I can't reinforce the ocd cycle.
- Date posted
- 20w
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.
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