- Date posted
- 6y
- Date posted
- 6y
It’s the worst thing you can do for your OCD. I’m telling you that from experience. Fire your therapist and find a new one.
- Date posted
- 6y
A therapist who suggests snapping a rubber band on their wrist doesn’t know what they are talking about
- Date posted
- 6y
Find an ERP specialist who understands OCD treatment
- Date posted
- 6y
Totally agree with mjs110160 I found that rubber band tip on some random forum. Did nothing but give me a sore wrist ?? you need some ERP and maybe medication
- Date posted
- 6y
Rubber band technique was quashed in the ‘80’s when they found it doesn’t work for any disorders. Total bullshit! Tells the brain it must be important if you using something to ‘ward it off’ I’d say practicing a minute or two of mindfulness when the urge to compulse arises would be far more beneficial. Observant, non blocking, but also not engaging. As hard as that is. Especially with sexual or harmful themes.
- Date posted
- 6y
Isai I have to agree with the others. That is a terrible idea and I am surprised your therapist would suggest it. One of the biggest challenges with the compulsive thoughts is managing it and the exposure to it. You have to understand it in order to control it. Associating those thoughts with something negative will in the long run only strengthen the compulsion. Eventually you develop anxiety by not using the rubberband and increase the compulsion. The rubberband itself with become a routine/compulsion for you. Not only will it not help but you will have a sore wrist like redmax said. You have to remember that the compulsion is in reaction to the thought. All you are doing is replacing the compulsion with the rubberband, not actually addressing the thoughts.
- Date posted
- 6y
This therapist does not understand ERP because they have just suggested you make a new compulsion to stop an old compulsion. Furthermore it is punitive and not self compassionate. If this therapist is not listed in IOCDF, I would *NOT* use them. Lastly the goal of therapy is not to erase thoughts but allow them to exist without being reactive to them. This is the definition of being reactive.
- Date posted
- 6y
I’m not 100% convinced that ERP is 100% effective. I may have less anxiety and have been very brave with the disgusting images I have had to bring to mind, but if it goes against your instincts and values then therapists are far too focussed on the logical outcome or statistical criteria. It does nothing for shame and guilt. I wonder if some thing like ACT OR DBT may be good for this. ERP is great for some themes, but ones about a persons sense of self and morality? Not so much.
- Date posted
- 6y
To resist compulsions? I’m not resisting the thoughts just the compulsions.
- Date posted
- 6y
I’ve talked to her and she seems to understand what erp is and I’m going to talk to her more about it. I was distracted while talking to her about it as I had to get my boyfriend to his interview but she was saying she knows it has a high drop out and I of course know that’s because of possibly starting at too high of exposures but I want to ask her more about it.
- Date posted
- 6y
I’m taking meds, 20mg Prozac and I plan to discuss erp with her more and if she doesn’t seem to want to then I’ll move on
- Date posted
- 6y
Man.. I feel so discouraged now.. I don’t know what to do I feel like my dad is going to be angry I’m changing so soon and ugh.
- Date posted
- 6y
Try not to worry about your dad. Focus on what's best for you, that's what he should want for you. He's not the one who has to deal with the ocd so do all that you can even if it means searching for the right therapist.
- Date posted
- 6y
Love the positive reinforcement guys. I’m kind of ashamed by this but I started therapy for OCD 10 years ago and totally bought the rubber band thing. I never knew it had been debunked, I just kind of assumed it didn’t work because something was wrong with me. I guess that’s why we have resources like this...
- Date posted
- 6y
Read the literature
- Date posted
- 6y
What literature are you referencing?? I’ve read over 50 papers!! Apart from ACT trying to combat this ERP does NOTHING about this.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 25w
When I was a child, before I knew this was OCD, I struggled with constant "magical thinking" compulsions (don't step on the crack or mom's back will actually break, etc). When I later learned this was OCD, it almost immediately solved it. Any time I got a magical thought, I would say to myself "that's just an OCD thought. ignore it." and it just stopped coming! Like seriously it fixed the magical thinking stuff forever. But of course the OCD has resurfaced in other ways. So naturally, I've tried to use the same strategy since I had so much success with it previously. But I wonder sometimes if telling myself "that's just OCD" is almost functioning as a reassurance compulsion? I hate how meta this gets. For example, I have ROCD that comes and goes. So sometimes I'll get a thought like "what if i'm still in love with my ex?" and then I'll tell myself "that's obviously just an ROCD thought" and will feel relief, almost like reassurance. But it comes back. So is telling myself that it's OCD a reassurance compulsion ?? It's just so weird because it worked so perfectly as a kid with the magical thinking thing.
- Date posted
- 10w
So I just started few weeks ago and my therapist told me that I should try doing the compulsions I do to relief the anxiety and stop the thought out of the love of doing the compulsion instead of the anxiety relief. Like sometimes I repeatdly say prayers when I get an intrusive sinful images to put them away so basically I should say them more out of general love of saying them. Sometimes I crochet and distract myself a lot out of my thoughts so I should do the distractions out of love and enjoyment of doing them instead of fixing the anxiety and making it go away. To basically rewire my brain to not relate the compulsions to the intrusive thoughts so they're less compulsive I think
- Date posted
- 7w
I few years ago, I did self-harm a few times, and then I got super into spirituality, and about a year ago, I remembered I did self-harm and ever since haven't been able to shake the guilt off... Constantly, every day, my mind would make me feel guilty about it and think about it all day. It's like my brain knew the thought that I could/ have cut myself scared me, so it kept bringing it up. My family had no idea I had ever done this, so my OCD told me I was a liar for not telling them about every day. I was afraid that they wouldn't love me anymore and send me to a mental hospital if I told them. About 2-3 months ago, I had gotten so fed up with having these thoughts every day and confessed to my mom what I had done, and her reaction was great. And I thought I'd never have thoughts about when I did self-harm again because I finally confessed. I was wrong. Even with people telling me that it's okay, I did that, I can't shake the guilt I had around this event, and even more so the fear/guilt around my own thoughts... My therapist and I talk about how the problem isn't the thoughts but what the OCD does to them. I try to create positive neural pathways, but that just makes me more stressed about it. There are things I'm supposed to tell myself when I feel negative, but I think I get that confused and tell myself those things every time I have thoughts about what I did. Which is feeding into a mental compulsion (replacing every "bad" thought with a "good" one. What works for me is (if I can) do nothing and have the thoughts... It's been hard to get better because I have had no idea what's been happening to me and felt like for the last year I was going crazy... I always thought OCD was cleaning stuff and physical compulsions . Everything that happened to me happened in my head. On the worst days when my OCD is really bad, every single time I was conscious and aware, I was thinking about the fact that I did self-harm. I would lie in bed all day trying to figure out my thoughts because I thought if I watched TV, I would be avoiding important things. I thought I had to figure out all my thoughts. I would ruminate, replay, and second-guess all. day. long. It was hard to recognize it was OCD because I thought I had done something seriously bad and wrong, and that I must deserve these thoughts. I think the trick is that you feel like you must have positive thoughts, and the most distressing thing wasn't necessarily the fact that I did self-harm, but the fact that I couldn't stop thinking about it. I find the best thing you can do is just have all your thoughts in your head and try not to separate them from good and bad, if you can. It's nice to have people who understand!!!! More to come, about the journey. My favorite thing to say when I'm stuck is "that sly devil... OCD. Silly OCD is getting to me right now, but it won't last forever. That sneaky guy tricked me again" Love you!!!
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