Lorelei
- Date posted
- 5y
WhatATrippWhatATripp
- Date posted
- 5y
For the first couple of sessions, my therapist went over the basics of mental health and exactly what OCD is doing both mentally and physically in my body. We went over the questionnaires to determine just how much OCD, anxiety and depression are affecting me. Talked a bit about my life (I have close to half a century of tales to tell), and over the next couple of sessions, made a list of my fears/obsessions and resulting compulsions. From there, she taught me some mindfulness exercises and gently moved to ERP (Exposure Response Prevention) therapy. We discuss how I feel when I'm doing the ERP exercises, and when I can do one with little to no anxiety, we move on to the next fear/obsession. It's not easy, especially when she calls me out for ignoring anxiety instead of sitting with it. But I'm learning how to stand up to OCD as a result, and she's gentle in her calling out. We also celebrate the victories and talk about everyday life, for me. As is appropriate, we don't discuss her life :) Just mine.
IcePenguin19IcePenguin19
- Date posted
- 5y
Yes I forgot to mention in my response that my therapist gave me a handout and had me fill out a few questionnaires to figure out the severity of my OCD, anxiety, and depression. He gives me homework too like to keep a journal and record specific things every week
WhatATrippWhatATripp
- Date posted
- 5y
@IcePenguin19 And I forgot the journaling! I have to do that between sessions, too.
IcePenguin19IcePenguin19
- Date posted
- 5y
@WhatATripp He gave me a list of "thinking errors" with explanations and examples and I have to record when I experience them
Lorelei Lorelei
- Date posted
- 5y
@WhatATripp i feel like i would cry if i had to tellher about my life
Lorelei Lorelei
- Date posted
- 5y
@Lorelei i cry easily and over trivial stuff 2 š¤”
Meof3Meof3
- Date posted
- 5y
@WhatATripp What kind of journaling do you do? I think I should start jounarling about my OCD.
WhatATrippWhatATripp
- Date posted
- 5y
@Sunflower 1234 I really don't like journaling, so this has been my least favorite part of therapy. I'm supposed to journal my exposures, planned or not, my anxiety levels, and how I dealt with them.
WhatATrippWhatATripp
- Date posted
- 5y
@Lorelei Crying is okay. I don't like to do it myself, but I feel better after I do. We keep being told to buck up and deal with the pain. That real men don't cry. That big girls don't cry. Don't be such a crybaby. No sense crying over spilled milk. But crying is one way our body physically gets rid of stress hormones (our tears). It's a time to acknowledge grief and pain and trauma. Sometimes even our joy. It helps let it go. And what better time to begin to let it all go than in the safety of therapy?
Meof3Meof3
- Date posted
- 5y
@WhatATripp Thanks for the reply. Journaling is probably very time consuming but might provide insight on how you are triggers and how you handle anxiety. What are the reasons your therapist recommends journaling?
WhatATrippWhatATripp
- Date posted
- 5y
@Sunflower 1234 For the reason you gave :) and for me, it also becomes a record of how far I've come.
Meof3Meof3
- Date posted
- 5y
@WhatATripp Yay. I am glad to hear you have made progress. ā¤ļø
Meof3Meof3
- Date posted
- 5y
@WhatATripp I just read your profile. I am also a christian, a mom and a wife. My children are the main reasons I want to get better. I want to be my best self for them. š
WhatATrippWhatATripp
- Date posted
- 5y
@Sunflower 1234 Thanks :) My kids are grown. One married and one stuck at home with us until her university open up campus. Poor dear has had to put up with me since spring break! I just want to be able to be around people again without being afraid of their germs. You are showing your kids some great examples of how to take care of themselves :)
ocdillustratedocdillustrated
- Date posted
- 5y
It's different with every therapist. Much of how a therapist runs sessions depends on which theoretical perspectives and specific therapies they are trained in
IcePenguin19IcePenguin19
- Date posted
- 5y
Usually the first and maybe second sessions are focused on basic things about you like where you grew up, your home life, how you do in school, and a basic overview of what is bothering you. My sessions usually start off by him asking me how my week has been and anything stressful that might've happened. When I tell him about things that make (or made) me anxious, he'll ask me how I'm feeling while I retell the story and how I felt at the time it occurred. He taught me a bunch of ways to be more mindful and ground myself when things get to be too difficult. We did some breathing exercises and meditation as well. He gives input on why I might be feeling the way I am and he gives alternative ways of thinking about each situation
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its_izzy
- Date posted
- 23w
Therapeutic journey
I am currently working with my second therapist. She does lots of somatic, emdr, humanistic therapy. We connected right off the bat and I was so happy to be able to be myself around her, VIRTUALLY anyways. Itās been about 4-5 months working with her, but the more we are meeting the more i still have doubts about her understanding where i am coming from or understand how my brain works, or being able to help me. And i feel myself closing off and just being superficial about everything, or just resisting my thoughts /feelings. Sometimes i feel like i can open up just fine, but itās starting to feel unauthentic. Sometimes i wish she would be like my first therapist, and help prompt me to talk or find a way to dig deeper into my issuesā¦sometimes i feel like she doesnāt say the right thing, or doesnāt point out things my first therapist would do and work that outā¦.idkā¦and the whole humanistic energy work freaks me out. Im a practicing Catholic and when we do certain somatic/emdr/humanistic work i start to think: what if i get possessed or what if what i am doing here is wrong, or this feels like its too much for my brain to handle and i might end up freaking out badly, or what if i something bad happensā¦.idkā¦any thoughts???
issphra š«¶š»
- Date posted
- 20w
Therapy Question
What does a therapy session with an OCD specialist look like for yāall? This is something Iāve always wondered because Iāve only had one OCD therapist through NOCD. Our sessions always looked like sit there and āreduce anxietyā meaning donāt think for a few minutes and take a few deep breaths and rate your anxiety level every couple of minutes. AND that was it. Is it supposed to look like that? Because I havenāt seen anyone on this app talk about this or how their therapy sessions go. Iām considering restarting therapy but I want to know how therapy goes for you guys before I go back to the same specialist. Any input would be appreciated :)
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emma345
- Date posted
- 17w
Is this normal for a psychiatrist?
17f So basically I went to a psychiatrist to get diagnosed cause I've been struggling with ocd since I was 4, I went through almost every theme and now my worst ones are real event ocd and POCD they made my life a living hell for the past 1.5 years, destroyed my life basically. I come in and my mother for some reason went with me even though I asked her not to. And the first thing the psychiatrist does is asks my mother "Do you have a full family or are you divorced and who is she living with?" Like the first question, and then spent 10 minutes talking to my mother, I couldn't say anything and my mother said enough of weird stuff because of which I wasn't gonna be taken seriously, I almost started crying then i said that I don't want to continue the visit and left. Idk maybe I'm dramatic but it's the second time therapist/psychiatrist asks random questions about my family like "are your parents alcoholics?" when I haven't even mentioned my parents (spme therapists i went to a year ago), and this time the first ever question was about my parents marriage situation? Like I wanted to talk about my ocd I had since I was 4 it has fucking nothing to do with my parents divorce so I just got nervous and left So I'm wondering like is this a normal first question to ask or is it weird...?
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