I'm having a hard time understanding "overcorrection" in ERP therapy. For example, one of my obsessions is "What if I've smeared soap across my TV/ my body & don't know?" And my compulsion is to check. From what I understand, ERP is about letting myself have the obsession and then not do the compulsion. But for overcorrection, wouldn't you actually smear soap on the TV / your body and habituate to that. At the same time I like not having soap smeared on myself/the TV, so it gets really confusing about what ERP wants you to do. I've heard that for contamination OCD, patients are encouraged to lick toilet seats, and put their hands in a toilet and habituate to that. So if I'm not smearing soap on my TV / body, wouldn't I be doing something wrong according to overcorrection ERP?

If I were to actually smear soap across my TV, it would bother me, but not in an OCD way. More like a there's soap smeared on my TV and I don't like that way. Also, leaving soap on screens can actually damage and discolor the pixels underneath. I think my biggest problem is that I don't know if I've randomly done that or not. Of course I wouldn't be completely okay with soap smeared across my TV or on my body. The thoughts that are bothering my right now are "What if I have?" And "What if I need to?" And I don't know what to do. That's the biggest fear. I don't know what to do.

@canigetawitness Well. I’m no therapist. But to me it definitely sounds like the uncertainty of “what if it’s there” and “what if I should” bother you may more than the certainty of it being there or the certainty of putting it on. Sounds like not ritualizing looks like not checking and not smearing. Exposure sounds like anything that would trigger wanting to check. It also sounds like ruminating might be one of your compulsions. Have you ever had the chance to work with a therapist?

@Alyosha I don't know. I'm so lost in figuring out how to apply ERP correctly to my obsessions and compulsions. I like the simple approach of "let the obsession be there & don't the compulsion". It makes sense to me. But after learning more about therapy and what's supposed to be done, I get really confused on which approach to apply to my OCD. Some people say therapy is applied to the same way no matter what the content, others say different I have been to residential treatment twice and partial hospitalization. I've worked with outpatient providers too. I'm currently on the waiting list to see a new therapist because my last one wasn't reliable with scheduling & also we didn't have a plan.

@canigetawitness I could be wrong, but I think you’re obsessing about getting the treatment wrong. I’m curious: What’s the worst that could happen if you do ERP incorrectly? Also, is there a past therapist who knows you who would let you email them to ask for advice on this one particular question?

I can try to email a past therapist. I really feel like I need to talk to someone in person/over the phone, so that's a good idea.

@canigetawitness I hope you can find someone to contact about this. I think I remember you bringing up this question in Dr. McGrath’s QA a few weeks ago (maybe not—maybe was a different person with rinsing compulsions). It does sound to me that your OCD is trying to hijack you by getting you into “paralysis by analysis” over the treatment itself. I listened to Jon Hershfield talk about that issue but don’t remember where. If I find it, I’ll let you know.