I’m having a really hard time doing any exposures whatsoever. Does anyone have any tips? I have been living with ROCD for 20+ years and only recently got diagnosed and seeing a therapist - so my rituals are pretty deeply ingrained. I see how bad it’s screwing up my life but I feel powerless to stop myself.

I’ve been living with OCD about half my life — so I completely understand what you mean about your rituals being deeply ingrained. Mine are the same way. What motivates you to want to get better? Try to keep that in mind when you are doing exposures. I wish I could tell you that there was a way to make them easier, but I honestly don’t know that there is. You have to make a very conscious decision that you are not going to engage in the compulsion and then follow through. It is not easy by any means when you first start doing it; it is quite literally a fight. But you are a lot less powerless than you think. Also keep in mind that it WILL get easier.

Have you checked out the plan feature?

What are your rituals?

Like Mjs pointed out this app can also help you through it.

At the beginning I mostly did exposures with my therapist, and then worked on those same things at home. I only recently started doing exposures on my own. It’s going to take time. Give yourself some grace. You’ve had these rituals for years, and only just started getting help. Maybe ask your therapist for a few goals a week.

I tried the app but I don’t understand how to set up the exposures part. I mainly use the SOS feature. My rituals are calling/texting my BF to make sure he’s not cheating on me. So my exposure for the next two weeks is for us to cutoff communication after 9pm (we are in a long-distance relationship). I did that for two nights before I “relapsed”. I couldn’t do it. I tried other (easier) exposures (like flipping a coin everytime I want to call/text him) or only calling/texting x amount of times/day but I’ve never been able to stick to the exposures for more than a couple days at a time. I think my therapist is frustrated honestly because I won’t stick to my exposures.