Anyone wake up with intense anxiety? I can’t sleep at night. The minute I wake up I’m consumed with anxiety to the point I’m crying. It’s been like this for two weeks and I’m emotionally and physically exhausted.

I have headspace and I’ve been doing the meditations and sleep casts, but so far not helping :-(

@Nat922 Have you tried the sleep meditation? The head casts don’t believe me either. Usually I’ll listen to some Harry Potter audio books to get out of my mind and focus on something that isn’t my anxiety. The sleep meditation (10 mins) is super helpful cause it helps to rest your body and sort of turn off your mind:)

I called the today, my insurance doesn’t cover it. I have a therapist through my insurance right now but she doesn’t do ERP, so I’ve been trying it on my own.

@Nat922 I see. I’m so sorry you’re having to do this alone. Your therapist may not do ERP, but I hope they can help with mindfulness training and other CBT techniques like thought challenging so you can at least deal with the anxiety a little better. For doing ERP on your own, I really like this resource: https://iocdf.org/expert-opinions/expert-opinion-self-directed-erp/ Also, getting an OCD workbook can be really helpful. Or just books about OCD in general. These can be a good supplement to your other therapy. https://ocdla.com/ocdreadings

@pureolife Thank you for the information. I suffer from pure o. I’m having trouble applying ERP, because I don’t have triggers. The thoughts just pop up in my head out of no where.

@Nat922 Sometimes thoughts just pop up. Other times they may feel random but then if we reflect on what we were just doing/thinking about before the thought, we actually do find a trigger. Pure O is unique in that not many therapists even know about mental compulsions. That’s why working with an OCD Specialist can be so crucial. I know this app offers therapists and they are starting to take a few insurance options. I have Pure O too, and figuring out how to do ERP on my own was difficult so I went to a specialist for about 6 months. It helped a lot and I feel way better able to tackle obsessions now.

@pureolife I was reading online that to apply ERP for pure o , I can write a script of my fears and feared outcomes and keep reading it over and over. Did you try this ? What worked for you ?

@Nat922 Yes I did many script exposures. I would start with small with a story that feels like a 3/10 in terms of anxiety. Write in first person, present tense (ie “I realize that I am actually X and decide to do Y.”) write it out by hand. Make it about a page. Then re read it every day for a week. Each time, do NOT engage in any mental compulsions either during or after the exposure. Simply allow intrusive thoughts to happen and let the anxiety be there and leave on its own. Only respond with uncertainty: maybe that’s true, but maybe it isn’t; I don’t know and I don’t need to know. Write down a number that represents how anxious the exposure made you at its worst moment (scale it 1-10, 10 being worst.) hopefully by the end of the week your number has dropped. I read my scripts 10x in the morning and 10x at night. You could just do mornings or pick a different time or whatever. Once that script no longer makes you anxious: write a new one and repeat.

@pureolife Thank you so much for this information. I really appreciate your time and help.

I’m consumed with the worst ocd thoughts all day long. I started Lexapro last week ... I have a therapist, but she does not specialize in ERP. I called the app and my insurance is out of network so I would have to pay out-of-pocket which is not affordable for me right now because I’m already paying for my psychiatrist. I’ve been trying to do the ERP on my own.