My recovery for harm OCD is going extraordinary well. I hope the same for you guys. Im feeling the person i was again, but a better version, because OCD is a real torture but when you start leaving it behind it leaves real strenght and you learn how to leave a better life to enjoy it. Ill write down some tips that help me the most: - Do ERP ALWAYS! If your therapist tell you everyday, do it everyday or the days they tell you so. But this CANNOT become an obsession, if 1 day you dont do it, (or more days) thats ok if you continue with the therapy. - Try to not compulse everyday everyhour as hard as you can. I think this is what has make me reach this point. From the beggining I tried so hard to not compulse, everyday, and some time later it is just became automatic, it is so rare for me to compulse, and when I do it im like okay you are compulsing stop. -For pure OCD, is not about ignoring the thought or blocking it, when the thought comes, you think it, the thought has arrived, you feel scared, guilty sad... but you DONT answer the thought. You dont talk with it and you dont compulse in so many other ways. At least if you do it for some seconds, then it becomes minutes... then you wont compulse most of the times. Because compulsing is a conscius act. - Stay away from OCD videos, blogs... this just increase your obsessions. If you are feeling bad you can come here and leave a post, but dont use internet as a compulsion. -Recovery is not lineal, you will go up and down but there will be a moment when you fall that it wont hit you as hard as it used to do, because you feel stronger. -Be aware of that any new obsession can arrive at any moment but you will be stronger and you will know how to manage it if you continue with the therapy. -avoid things because you dont want to, not as a compulsion. For example in harm OCD, maybe you dont feel in the mood of cooking, thats ok, but in a way if you feel like thats avoiding it to not think about knifes, or something like that, go and cook. -The future is uncertain and unknown, we have to live life as happy as we can, take what we learnt from ocd and make our lifes a better one. I really hope this helps!! You can ask me anything you can :) ( i have never taken medicines because in Europe is less common, so I dont know anything about it).

Thank you! If you dont find and you are interested just tell me and i cand talk with my therapist he knows about some of them. He has a lot of recognition in the OCD world, and a lot of his patients have recovered, he's well known! I think thats something happy to hear, a lot of people has left this behind, maybe we can be next!!

2 months. My therapist say that getting to this point so fast is very rare. She says that is because i keep fighting everyday, and my pure ocd started 7 months before i found out it was ocd. People usually takes longer. Also in some countries in Europe recovery is faster but harder than in EEUU because ERP is a bit different.

@Irup Wow your story is inspiring. Do you still obsessive thoughts now? I have done erp for 3 months and I am a lot better. I don't do compulsions most of the time. But I still get triggered and a lot of anxiety sometime. Is that normal?

@Irup Also do you try to agree with the thoughts all the time? I am trying to do that. It brings a lot of anxiety but I hope it LL help over time.

@Sunflower 1234 That's completely normal, you have to stay strong and keep doing ERP and dont compulsioning. Of course i keep getting those thoughts (most of them dont come anymore) but im still on therapy. Before ERP i used to spend 24 hours with obsessions. Now i can be hours without them and when they come they dont get stuck in my head, maybe one day in one moment yes but as the time passes i have just a few bad moments. Those bad moments keep going down, this is what recovery is about. And i DONT agree with the thoughts, because if i do that im answering the thought. For example if you think i have to go to the bathroom you dont think next: okey i agree i have to go. You just think it and pass to another thought. Here is the same. You have an intrusive thought, okay, it is there, but i dont answer, i feel anxiety sometimes, other times no (with the time you wont feel it or feel less).

@Irup I dont know if your therapist have told you to do so, in that case do it, but mine told me the opposite, and im so much better. I dont know how to explain how to dont answer the thought and let is pass without ignoring it, i speak spanish is a bit hard

@Irup Your English is actually amazing. I should explain myself a little more. One of my obsessive thoughts is that I am ugly. When I have this thought I usually try to argue with it and think of evidences to prove that I am not ugly like thinking of the times when I am being hit on by men I am doing a compulsion when I try to argue with the thought. In my case, it might be best for me to agree with the thought "I am ugly" so that I wont argue with it. Hope that makes sense. Could you give an example of an obsessive thought you might have and how you deal with it?

@Sunflower 1234 Okay now i understand what you are saying. But let me explain something: if the thought comes into your mind and next you agree with it you are responding in a way. Let me explain you how I do ERP here in Spain and maybe you will understand what I say, also if you want info about this kind of ERP i think they do online in english also :). For example a thought that kept being obsessive for me was: i am going to murder. So what i do in ERP is i lay down for about 35 minutes with my eyes closed, then i have to repeat a situation: being in the kitchen with someone (for example, the therapist tells you the situation) and then suddenly that thought comes into your mind. THATS WHAT YOU HAVE TO IMAGINE. Okay whats next? DONT COMPULSE. After imagining that situation with that thought, dont compulse in ANY way, dont answer, dont argue. Sometimes it feels like your brain is empty dont doing anything, but what you are doing is not compulsioning and letting other not intrusive thoughts come into your mind. And you have to repeat this again again for 30 minutes. Is so hard, and sometimes you feel soooo much anxiety but by the end of the 30 minutes you start feeling so much better. In the begining for me it was so hard not to compulse (i started compulsioning in seconds, then in minutes and now 95% of the times i dont compulse doing erp) and doing erp correctly, but now what has happened is this: when i do erp i imagine me having an obsessive thought and not compulsioning, so when it happens in real life this is automatic, i dont compulse, is like going to the gym!! But a gym for your brain! You dont need to agree, is just an intrusive thought that keeps getting stuck in your brain because is so egodistonic for you. Just let it pass as other thoughts. If you have more questions just tell me!!