- Date posted
- 4y
- Date posted
- 4y
I think you should write out a full script of your fear coming true (taking your writing example from sentences to a full story.) Write it in first person, present tense (ie “I see my ex from across the room and know immediately that I’m attracted to him, so I decide to...”) make it about one page hand written. Really go for the worst case scenario. Read it every day 10x a day for a week. If you’re still very anxious reading it, make it two weeks.
- Date posted
- 4y
Thank you! That really helps
- Date posted
- 4y
I have a really similar worry about my sort-of-ex (confusing friendship where we were both pretty clearly in love for years but pretended not to be because religion, recipe for toxicity). I keep thinking she’ll show up in my life somehow. Today at the farmer’s market I saw someone who looked like her and freaked out inside, and when I had a security breach on social media I couldn’t stop thinking it might have been her. It’s exhausting.
- Date posted
- 4y
Sorry, that wasn’t exactly a response to your request, I’m just really struggling with this and it spilt on your post!
- Date posted
- 4y
Exposures I’ve been trying to do for this is trying to remember past memories or write things down that are like “you’re actually super attracted to your ex and you want to actually be with him.” I also have been reading stuff about “hovering” without trying to find stuff to prevent it. If anyone else has had a similar obsession I would love to hear more ERP suggestions.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 20w
I'm struggling really hard with relationship obsessions. Do I really love my partner? How can I know? Am I really just faking it? That kind of thing. It's making my life and relationship a lot harder than they need to be. I could use a few helpful coping mechanisms, trying to move away from less helpful ones like chasing reassurance.
- Date posted
- 19w
So, I know my capacity to get fixated on things. And it's normally something that's relatively remote but, my latest issue is really getting to me and I was wondering if people have any advice. I'm avoiding getting too into specifics, as I don't want this to get reassurance-y but, in essence.. I came to the realisation recently that people who I'd been "friends" (feels like the wrong term now) when I was younger were not very nice people, and normalized a lot of very unpleasant behaviour towards other members of the group. They really normalized it, sold themselves as figures of authority, as older and more responsible and grown-up than others, and looking back, they acted horribly. And coming to this realisation, that I'd been manipulated into just accepting their behaviour has just... broken me. My OCD has latched onto it and I can't stop feeling irreversibly tainted by it. I've talked to others about it, and they've reassured me, told me it's not a big deal and that I hold myself to too high a standard, but none of that sticks. I feel better for a bit, then think 'Maybe when you told them you were skewing it to make yourself look better' or 'Did you leave out a crucial detail'. I keep ruminating over and over, trying to remember exactly how everything played out, trying to figure out if I fed into the behaviour, if I did something bad myself (because y'know, I feel like I was accepting of it at the time, so what does it say about my own values?). I know I need to stop doing all this if I want to improve, but then some part of me keeps saying 'So, you're just going to let yourself off the hook then?' Normally, I can rationalize my own fears to some degree, assure myself something won't happen, but the realness of the situation, and the fact I only came to understand the reality of it because the thought had been bothering me means it feels so much more all-encompassing. I know confessing in itself is a compulsion, but I keep feeling that if I'm not I'm somehow concealing what I 'really am' from others around me, and any positive interactions are me deceiving them in some way. I feel like I can't enjoy anything in life right now, and a good part of me feels I should not enjoy it ever again. If anybody has any advice on it, I'm all ears. Or even hearing if you relate to these feelings, I might appreciate the solidarity at least.
- Date posted
- 19w
Does anyone else struggle with this? It's been the main thing powering my POCD, and it's only been getting worse. Especially when I see posts online of people sharing their personal stories relating to CSA, specifically grooming. It's so triggering now, but before this theme developed, the most I'd feel while reading posts like that would be disgust targeted towards people who did those things. Now, my first thought is, "What if I do something like that one day? What if I've done it before and I don't remember or didn't know I was doing it?" I have many, many different intrusive thoughts or worries related to this theme, but it all circles back to this specific fear that I'll become like the people who hurt and took advantage of me. Does anyone have advice for this? I'm not sure if I've asked a similar question in the past or not, but is this something I need to deal with separately before beginning ERP for OCD? I'm just curious and also lost on where to begin with all of this. I'm just glad I'm able to begin working through all of these issues now, rather than later in life when I'd probably have a lot more responsibilities. Anyways, any feedback is appreciated! 🤍
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