- Username
- feelinghopeless23
- Date posted
- 4y ago
It’s to increase the anxiety levels by going to an extreme to keep facing that fear, because OCD is a trickster. No one wants to do any of those things, even non OCD sufferers. But the fact is that the person with OCD is afraid of contamination, whereas the non OCD sufferer know there is a chance of contamination but arent going to ponder and wonder and ruminate if they were poisoned or contaminated etc or check their body symptoms whatever it may be. to defeat OCD you must go great lengths of feeling disgusting fear, it’s about exposing yourself to extremes so your brain stops bringing it up with anxiety. It’s literally to fix your brain.
It’s not to get you to “like” those things or be comfortable. It’s to get you to be comfortable with discomfort and knowing you can handle it.
@charleejadeg Then eventually the anixety will subside. It’s exactly why people with harm OCD keep knives in their house or next to them.
Okay, but where do you draw the line? That's what's confusing me. For example I have intrusive thoughts about losing my wallet when I go out & I'll check my pocket/around me to make sure my wallet is still there. So for exposure therapy I go to extremes and throw my wallet away? That doesn't make sense. Also, isn't it about uncertainty, maybe I did drop my wallet, maybe I didn't, but I'm not going to check. This is what I mean by things contradicting each other. Are intrusive thoughts really just intrusive thoughts or reality?
@feelinghopeless23 I don’t see where the contradiction is. Intrusive thoughts are just thoughts. Like literally just thoughts. For exposure therapy about your wallet, it would be about not doing a compulsion, like checking. Exposure therapy isn’t about having your fears happen to get over it , it’s about accepting the uncertainty of them. That you don’t know if fears could come true or not. For me, ERP would be going outside on a walk at night, I could have a panic attack, I also could just be chill. But I accept the uncertainty, and the possibility of it happening and I still go on a walk.
@feelinghopeless23 I mean you draw the line like any other person would with their actions. Why would you throw your wallet away? If the fear is losing it and not knowing. Because then you’d be certain that you lost your wallet.
@charleejadeg Then there is no uncertainty. It’s really simple.
@charleejadeg Yeah, I agree. I personally don't have contamination fears, but I would draw the line at licking a public toilet seat on regular basis. Some of the extreme exposures are beyond me I guess. I get facing the intrusive thought and not doing the compulsion, but then to go beyond that would start to make me feel not like myself & that's where I get confused.
@feelinghopeless23 Yeah I totally get that. I personally never would want to do that but for people who have it, it’s important. And they don’t do it regularly LOL! They just do it to get over the fear. Then it’s one and done :3
@charleejadeg Well not one and done but i mean once they get rid of the contamination fear.
@charleejadeg Certainly all therapists want clients to go further than what your average person would do but not all think you have to go to such extremes as licking a public toilet seat.
@Missy That’s true. But it does help.
@charleejadeg Agreed!
@Missy While I can sort of understand how it might help, I'm still confused about what ERP is. So each time I don't do a compulsion in response to an intrusive thought, is this ERP ?
@feelinghopeless23 Yes !! No compulsions and accepting anxiety. No ruminating or neutralizing thoughts. No nothing
@feelinghopeless23 ERP is one of those things that makes way more sense when you’re doing it. It is hard to wrap ones mind around it without experiencing it.
My NOCD therapist said he would ever recommend an exposure that was something he wouldn’t also recommend to someone who wasn’t going through therapy. For example, anything that would be unsafe, unhealthy (ie, licking a public toilet would be pretty unreasonable). But it should make you uncomfortable.
Yes! Someone might be asked to sit in a bathroom and eat a snack. Do most people do that? No but certainly people might use the bathroom as they’re eating a breakfast bar or something. So it pushes the boundaries somewhat but not to a ridiculous extent. That said, some therapists (Shala Nicely - an OCD therapist who has OCD herself) do push those boundaries. Ultimately, ERP requires creativity and flexibility and some pushing of boundaries.
@Missy Yes! And sometimes, it’s just *imaging* doing those things. Just imagining those types of scenarios was intense enough for me to be effective. (Combined with in-real-life exercises too.)
@sara235 Absolutely! It can be a great way to start!
me*
I think what confuses me is the E part of treatment. I get not doing the compulsions in response to the intrusive thoughts. But for example if my intrusive thought is "Have I just dropped $20 on the ground?" And my compulsion is to check, I get confused about what the exposure part is. Do I just let the thought be there, do I go above and beyond and start dropping a moderate amount of money on the ground.
No you just let the thought be there and don’t check at all.
@charleejadeg Okay, I'll try to do that. I keep comparing this money theme to a contamination theme and what one might do that's considered intense (licking a toilet) for example.
It might be more like putting your wallet in your pocket and finding a way to ensure you don’t check for it while you walk so you’re uncertain the wallet hasn’t fallen out. Maybe you place single dollar bills in all your pockets which could theoretically fall out. Maybe you carry something with your hands to make it harder to check to be sure.
@Missy That’s a great idea
@Missy Those are good exposure ideas too. I might try some of those. Thanks charleejadeg & Missy
@feelinghopeless23 Good luck 🤍
@feelinghopeless23 I think you're doing the same mistake as I have done many times, thinking about extreme exposures without being in therapy. You never start with this extreme overbending exercises and you dont need to know much about them before you have reached that level so to speak.
@Estrid Yes, I think you're right. I guess since I can't afford therapy right now, I wonder how far I need to go with this money worry, or if I just let the intrusive thoughts be there without reacting compulsively. It is hard to know how far to push myself and where to draw the line with "overcorrection" exposures.
@feelinghopeless23 with any theme really.
@feelinghopeless23 Yes, I definitely understand you. I want to figure out everything about where to draw the line...thats an obsession too. Have you tried to learn mindfulness? Its a great tool and helps you to be in the present moment and dont drift away too much into the future, and to make realistic plans for your own recovery.
I don't understand ERP. How is it logical? I can sit with my hand in a toilet all day & I refuse to habituate to it. I don't even have contamination fears & that's nasty. Making a picture hanging on the wall crooked on purpose? Why? I prefer my pictures to hang straight. I wouldn't habituate to a crooked picture.... Lick the bottom of your tennis shoe? Ew. Not gonna habituate to that either. Curse God out with curse words? Don't care to do that & I'm not even religious. So, how does ERP work? I don't get it.
Question about ERP. So, if the goal is to habituate to whatever we are exposed to, how does that work logically on some exposures. For example, put your hand in a toilet & habituate to the discomfort. Or even, lick the bottom of your shoe & habituate to the discomfort. Make a picture crooked on the wall & habituate to the discomfort. My concern arises because even outside of OCD, I wouldn't completely habituate to these things as a person. #1, i don't have contamination OCD & I think sticking my hand in a toilet is icky. Licking the bottom of my shoe is icky too. Yeah, I can handle a picture crooked on the wall, but I prefer my pictures to hang straight. Get what I'm saying? Sometimes I wonder if I went through ERP, it wouldn't work anyway because outside of it, I'm not going to 100% habituate to these things. Not sure alot of people would completely.
Skeptical about ERP? I found ERP really conflicts with some other theories, like the theories of Louise Hay (who wrote the book “you can heal your life). I will elaborate on my confusions. 1. ERP asks us to experience obsessions without thinking “no I won’t hurt myself” “no I won’t hurt others”. “No, I am safe and those thoughts are not real”. Thinking “i won’t do dangerous stuff and I am completely safe” is considered as compulsion to rid us of anxiety, but Louise Hay thinks it as positive affirmation. 2. Will ERP make us believe what we think even more? ERP asks you to write your fears into those stories and scripts and repeat them again and again until you habituate. But why would I say to myself “oh, maybe I will kill my parents and I will accept that and move on”? How does this make any sense? 3. I read the book of Shannon Shy who has recovered from OCD and he used his own strategies. I remembered that when he confronted his obsession of whether he left the pot on, he would say to himself that “do you think the pot will turn itself on”? to help him better move on to do things that he should do. But according to ERP, isn’t this a compulsion? Cuz ERP asks us to accept that ok the pot may be on and my house may be burned down and I accept that and I move on? I just find ERP theories weird.
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