i’m at one of the lowest points i’ve ever been at and i don’t know what to do. it’s been 6 months since this started. 6 months of horrendous thoughts every single day. i don’t know what to do. i feel like life is passing by me and i’m wasting my precious time. i don’t know what to do for treatment. i’m still a teenager and what if i’m like this for the rest of my life? i feel so lost.

even the words ‘there’s hope’ helped me so much, thank you. there’s no ocd specialists around where i live and i’m from outside the US so i can’t get a NOCD coach unfortunately, i don’t know how to do erp myself and i’m just scared. i appreciate your words so so much. i’m going to stay strong as i hope there’s a time in the future where i’ll feel somewhat better. i wish you the best and thanks again

@emily_444 NOCD is working in getting therapy outside if the united states. Until then maybe you could find some self help erp books not sure what subtype u have but I got a book on harm ocd before I knew what erp was and it had some erp techniques in the book

i’ve not tried anything yet unfortunately. there’s no ocd specialists around where i’m from and i can’t get a NOCD coach either :/ thank you so much for replying btw it means a lot

@emily_444 So am I, you can try it yourself! Don't forget that those thoughts AREN'T REAL. Im not on a bad time currently, but what I do every time I have thoughts or ritual, is just don't do them. But it depends on how strong you are, its really hard on OCD times and those bad months..

wow that does seem like a great idea! the thoughts that make you feel the worst probably need to be dealt with the most. can i ask, do you do erp everyday? and is it different exposures each time you do it or are the exposures usually the same?

@emily_444 Yes 15 minutes everyday. My theme intersects with a lot of things so I tackle whatever I feel like doing that day while connecting it to my main

@Serio? do you feel like erp really helps? i do want to start it but i’m a bit scared that it won’t work or something and i’ll be left feeling like there will be no chance of me ever being back to ‘normal’. thanks so much for sharing with me btw.

@emily_444 No problem, yes it really is the only thing that has helped me as well as mindfulness. Noticing the rumination patterns and not going into them. It’s so scary at first and it will have ups and downs but you won’t regret it

@Serio? yeah, i’m definitely going to start ERP. thank you so much for replying i really do appreciate it :) i wish you the very best

@emily_444 Of course, you too. Good luck on your journey