- Username
- @Lulu
- Date posted
- 4y ago
I suffer from a similar problem but I haven’t been able to start ERP yet. I would imagine the groinal response will take longer to get rid of than the anxiety because your obsessions have conditioned your mind to view children in a sexual way which elicits a sexual response and the goal of ERP is to recondition your brain to treat children like you do anything else. The fear that you have is irrational it doesn’t actually prevent you from doing anything. Do you have this same fear with adults? No, and you’re not abusing nor are you worried about abusing adults. I know how difficult it is to differentiate between real attraction and the false sexual responses that come from ocd. I wish you luck ? and hope this brings some insight.
Thank you. It helps to know I am not the only one experiencing this. I think what you say is key but I had not discussed it this way in therapy. I will bring it up.
Are you doing ERP eventually?
Yes I understand I am in the same boat. I would watch family movies that helps me. I am so scared but I survive it and it gets easier every time.
I do ERP every chance I get. It is hard and it leaves me with a lot of anxiety and scary emotions that I don’t want but it gets easier every time. Do you do visual or mental ERP?
I do both, although I have an impossible time with the visual ones, given what I explain before. It feels almost like a phobia. I have not been able to decrease fear with a visual exposure because I can’t accept the groin response. I do not understand how to sit with uncertainty when my body is reponding in a way I do not agree with and is pleasurable at the same time. Is a paradox. All this said, there have been many times in my life where I am distant enough from my thoughts amd urges that I do not experience a groin response. Is just that this pandemic has exacerbated everything. I do not have a way to channel my anxiety, or entertain my mind and the obsessions have deepened
POCD need help Got diagnosed with POCD 3 years ago and find ERP really hard as it feels like I’m wilfully fantasising. Keep seeing pics of children and I don’t want to harm them at all but I keep getting thoughts that I’m attracted to them sexually / find their bodies sexually attractive and it sends me into a panic but it feels real like I can’t deny it and like I’m a non offending P.
I have this image that comes to my mind without a warning. In this Image, I touch a child inappropiately to an inappropiate area. Im not afraid of doing something bad to a child, but Im afraid of this image because it brings along the high anxiety as it makes me doubt if I d i d something bad. It feels almost true. Because of this I used to avoid changing nappies, washing our baby etc. My compulsion was, and somewhat still is, avoidance of certain situations+ rumination. Have noticed counting to be one as well (almost like keeping track of time, or mind busy when being in a situation that I know the image may pop in my head) Have learned to avoid both of these but after the image Im left with anxiety, which turns to sadness, feeling very low. I used to have these daily when our child was a baby and still when she was a toddler, now the image comes may be once in two weeks. Still every time Im left with this same lowness. I had this kind of moment yesterday and again it feels almost true- what if I did touch her. Does anybody have similar situation? Also, if there is professional on the line, I would like to start Erp. I don't know how to proceed without support. Thank you beforehand for any advice.
Hey! I’m a POCD sufferer and I was wondering if anyone who is doing ERP has any good suggestions for exposure heirarchies that I could take inspiration from? I’m starting CBT soon but I can only get it in a group and I don’t feel super comfortable talking about the details of POCD yet cos it feels really embarrassing. So far I’ve thought of going to the pool/park, or writing down my thoughts and looking at them, but my OCD really goes wild if I try to masturbate or if I feel aroused at all...at the moment I’m avoiding anything like that because it’s so distressing, but is that something I should do exposures for in the future?
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