- Username
- Meof3
- Date posted
- 4y ago
Thanks for the three of you who checked in and encouraged me. I have not done the compulsion yet. 🙂 I have been anxious today but I am proud that I have been able to resist compulsions multiple times today. I am hopeful that I am on my way to master the skill of not over reacting to ocd thoughts.
I'm a Mom of three also, with all the kinds of OCD, for most of my life, but this one scares me the most. It's terrifying. I'm glad to talk to some other Mom's about it!
What type do you have? Pocd?
What is your theme?
I have had many different themes but for now my themes are mainly religious, safety around my children, and what people think of me.
@Sunflower 1234 The safety and well being of my children
@Sunflower 1234 I can relate. I think we’ve talked before about this actually. But yes, I can relate! If you don’t mind me asking, how is posting on social media an exposure for you? And good work! You got this!
@Freemeofocd Because of my OCD I usually over analyze people comments to my post. I would explain more but I don't want to trigger you. I remember talking to you too. Do you struggle with pocd?
@Freemeofocd Also thanks for the encouragement. I feel weak and vulnerable right now. But I am also stubborn and I don't want to let OCD win. 🙃
@Sunflower 1234 Yes I do struggle with that. Do you as well? If you don’t mind sharing, I would like to know. Maybe I can practice your ERP excercise as well. Are you in therapy? Or is this self-guided erp? How old are you? I’m sorry I’m just so excited when I find other moms like myself ❤️
@Freemeofocd I use loop tapes a lot, identify my compulsions and just do the opposite of what ocd tells me to do. I am happy to connect with other moms on here too.
I had pocd 10 years ago but I don't have it any more. I am 34 and I have 3 children. The oldest is 5. My OCD theme now is that people will use the pictures of my children I post on social media for bad purposes that is why I don't post pics of them on social media. I have other compulsions around this theme too. 😑 I don't have a therapist. I cannot find one so I have been doing therapy on my own.
I have struggled with that fear myself. Also the fear when my daughter goes to her fathers for his time with her. I always feel the need to inspect her once she gets home. I am 29, we are pretty close in age! Good job with practicing erp on your own. It is incredibly brave of you. Have you looked into NOCD therapy?
@Freemeofocd Wow I thought I was alone in this fear. I am always scared of people molesting my children too. I am doing this for my children. They need me to be strong. They are my motivations to get better. And the only way to get better is erp. I did schedule an appointment with a nocd therapist but he didn't show up. Turns out he is a fraud. 😑 You should seek nocd therapy if you can though. Other people on here have good experiences with them.
@Sunflower 1234 Oh yes! I remember you saying that happened. I’m so sorry. Did you ever get to speak to someone about that? Maybe they will reschedule you? Did you get your money back? I have an appointment with a therapist this month, and then also a NOCD therapist this month. I’m worried about opening up to a therapist that isn’t trained specifically in ocd.
@Freemeofocd I didnt pay them anything yet. Nocd is really nice about it. That therapist just happens to be a fraud. They don't have any other therapists that are licensed to do therapy in my State I saw a none ocd therapist 12 years ago and it as a bad experience. They told me to stop thinking bad thoughts which made my OCD worse. So be careful to see a non OCD therapist.
Really, most of them, but yeah, POCD, harm, counting and checking sometimes, scrupulosity, contamination I'm realizing, they tend to overlap a lot in my case.
Yes, same here! I deal with them all. How old are you and how old are your children?
I'm 44, kids are teenagers and an elementary student.
So glad I have other mothers on here that I can relate to ❤️ are you in therapy?
I've done therapy forever, but not really ERP, just cognitive behavioral therapy with a therapist who works with OCD bit not a specialist. I'm realizing it might be time for something different.
But that's super scary!
I think erp is the most effective for ocd. I have started doing erp on my own for almost 4 weeks now and I have seen some progress. No where near recovered though. My OCD themes overlap too. So glad to have other moms here on this app. We have to get better for our children. Erp is scary but it does get easier. The first two weeks I did it were horrible. I was so depressed and hopeless. Now when I do erp I am still anxious but at least not hopeless
I literally would die for my children. I feel like I am doing erp for them even though it is utterly so frightening. But I need to get better for them.
Hi, Sunflower! Jumping in late to the conversation. How did it go the rest of the day, not checking? As for being cautious with your kids' pics on social media, it's a wise choice. I am a facilitator for a curriculum on child sexual abuse prevention and intervention. One of the things participants learn is that protecting kids from this type of abuse should be as normal as protecting them from other things. Seat belts, bike helmets, no kid pics on social media...all normal things we do to protect our kids. And I think it's awesome that you're working through ERP on your own, too.
I have not done my compulsion yet. Yay! Thanks for checking in. Would you mind explaining why it is bad to post kids pictures on social medial? What is the risk of that? I always post my kids pictures when they are fully clothes and only my friends can see the pictures. My OCD fear is that someone will steal my children pictures on Facebook and post them to a porn website. Is that a rational fear? My husband thinks my fear is irrational.
I see what happened in my post that concerned you and I apologize. I deleted part of a sentence... no kid pics on social media without privacy settings in place. With the right privacy settings, photos are pretty safe. If only your friends can see the pictures, that's good. There are creeps out there. You have a rational concern. The hard part is not allowing that to become an irrational obsession/fear. Trust the privacy settings you have to work. They've always worked for me :) Yes, it makes it very hard for your family and friends to share the pictures. That's the point. You can go to Darkness to Light's website. D2L.org. They have a lot of practical advice for parents. It's sensible without being frightening.
Thanks so much for clarifying. You are so thoughtful and kind. I will check out the website you suggested. Ocd is tricky sometime. It is hard to know when to draw the line. For example, it is good to wash your hands. But it can be an ocd thing to wash your hand for 10 hours. So I find it hard to know how much to protect my kids and not going overboard in an ocd way.
This is an exposure for me. I’m terrified to comment. I only hit “share”, “submit”, etc. with sweaty palms and a racing heart. And, only when it’s unavoidable. I seek reassurance from family. I ask them to read my emails and proofread my essays. But I feel dependent on others and I hate that. Recently, I challenged myself to comment on a FB post. “That’s lovely” is all I wrote. It wasn’t a controversial statement, but it caused me to feel intense anxiety symptoms. So, believe it or not, this comment is a huge step forward for me. And, hopefully it isn’t the last!
I shared on Instagram about what it is like to have harm ocd yesterday for mental health awareness day, and now I cant stop thinking that this was a terrible thing to do....My mom told me that I shouldn’t have said anything on social media because a future employer or school could think I’m violent, so I took down the post. I can’t stop thinking that now all of my friends and family think I’m a terrible violent person because I shared some of the intrusive thoughts that go through my head in an effort to get people to understand... I’ve been repeating an exposure of saying how I’m going to be arrested, my family will disown me, Im going to end up homeless because everyone will think I’m a murderer, etc, but I’m still just so stressed about it, despite the ERP....
I'm starting to work on exposure and I find it frustrating. For context, I check my email constantly. So much so, it is my top used app on my phone. My therapist wants me to think about checking it but not check it. This sounds so simple yet my anxiety and discomfort gets so great I can't do it. It's so frustrating!
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