- Username
- Anonymous
- Date posted
- 4y ago
Hi!💗 me and my siblings have all suffered from this... but the others don't realize theirs is ocd as well. This is something we have all obsessed over our whole lives. Unfortunately reassurance has always been big for us. I think what helps is understanding you are safe in your environment and knowing that you're still there with him, even if he's not close to you. Reminding him you are there with him despite being a room away and protecting him.
Maybe gradual exposure! Rather than diving into scary images, try to find much smaller fears that he can encounter and face thus building his own confidence to face those ones and move forward!
I think definitely seeking guidance from a therapist to build it up! Sounds a bit like being thrown into ice water.. The build up is so so gradual of ERP. In the beginning it may seem that you aren't doing anything. But you are! It's training the brain to sit with little bits of discomfort or doing something a new way, which is uncomfortable in itself. Then building very very slowly. Are you in the US? If you are you can use this app for therapy! 😊
And probably asking if your child genuinely likes the therapist too.. I think that's important 😊. Children have a good innate sense of what fits for them and what doesn't, and when the right fit comes, you know when you know! 😊
I have this image that comes to my mind without a warning. In this Image, I touch a child inappropiately to an inappropiate area. Im not afraid of doing something bad to a child, but Im afraid of this image because it brings along the high anxiety as it makes me doubt if I d i d something bad. It feels almost true. Because of this I used to avoid changing nappies, washing our baby etc. My compulsion was, and somewhat still is, avoidance of certain situations+ rumination. Have noticed counting to be one as well (almost like keeping track of time, or mind busy when being in a situation that I know the image may pop in my head) Have learned to avoid both of these but after the image Im left with anxiety, which turns to sadness, feeling very low. I used to have these daily when our child was a baby and still when she was a toddler, now the image comes may be once in two weeks. Still every time Im left with this same lowness. I had this kind of moment yesterday and again it feels almost true- what if I did touch her. Does anybody have similar situation? Also, if there is professional on the line, I would like to start Erp. I don't know how to proceed without support. Thank you beforehand for any advice.
My almost 11 year old (in 1 1/2 weeks) son, has just started experiencing Moral OCD. Now that I’m understanding more and more about this type of OCD, I guess there might have been signs of other behaviors, but nothing that interferes with his day to day life. He is having deeply disturbing thoughts over and over! Then he feels the need to confess, I’ve asked him to stop confessing about 2 days ago, and the anxiety has gotten so bad, I’m on the verge of letting him confess them because it’s heartbreaking. He wants to same reassurance over and over and over. Asking the same questions as if we didn’t have a conversation 2 seconds prior! At this point, I need reassurance! Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Please comment from or advise me from personal experience if you’re currently seeing a therapist and undergoing ERP to treat existential thought OCD. I don’t understand how ERP could work on thoughts like ‘what if my own family or kids aren’t real’ I know with contamination ocd they expose you to your fears by making touch objects or things and with harm ocd they might get you to hold a knife but low does the same principle apply to Existential thought OCD? I’ve been on the ocdf website and couldn’t get any answers …. Please comment
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond