For anyone that’s done ERP, what’s usually the goal and purpose of it? I start next week and I know I’ll get more answers then but just curious of anyone’s experience, and I know everyone’s situation is different but I don’t really fully understand the goal of ERP

Expose*

So exposing yourself to the thoughts overtime could make them be less intense or go away?

@pureolife And I know that everyone gets intrusive thoughts so we can’t fully stop them but I guess I’m just wondering if ERP helps your current theme be less intense or even possibly go away ?

@Anonymous Exposing yourself to them helps you learn how to handle them without compulsions. It helps you create a new relationship to your thoughts. And eventually it helps relieve the obsession over time. Everyone gets intrusive thoughts. But people with ocd tend to get more. The problem though is our response (ie physical and mental compulsions) that creates an obsessive cycle.

@Anonymous You kind of just stop caring about them slowly.

@NOCD Advocate - Sean D. Thanks for the info guys I understand it a bit more now

Does it depend on the theme of the OCD how the exposure therapy is done? I’ve heard that people with pure O since it’s mainly mental compulsions like rumination, or analyzing, figuring out the thoughts etc that it is more about the response prevention part of it more than exposure? For instance if it’s a thought/fear of harm ocd exposure to that could be more scary and doesn’t make sense to me to be exposed to that or “okay” with that.

@Anonymous We use a combination of both imaginal exposure and in vivo (ie in the world) exposures for most themes. Some themes might require more or less of imagined exposure depending on how difficult or realistic creating an in vivo exposure would be. Say for instance you have existential ocd: we can’t have you actually die as an exposure. So scripting imagined scenarios of dying will probably be used in part of your treatment. But there will also be in vivo ones. For harm ocd, you may sleep with a knife in your bedside table or carry a pocket knife around outside. There’s plenty of in vivo exposures you can do for harm ocd. But yes some scripts will also probably make sense along the way.

@pureolife Oh thanks for the info. I don’t think I could do that as it seems pretty scary to me. But I understand what you mean. I was wondering does it matter if it’s OCD or not? For instance if it’s not diagnosed OCD and it’s just because of basically one thought that was intrusive and disturbing and just kind of led to a week of similar thoughts and rumination about the thoughts and then I’ve been sort of stuck on it for like 4 weeks now until I just recently learned what it was. I am just wondering since it could have been triggered by anxiety or the medication I was on at the time... would ERP still be something to do since I am ruminating on it and it’s causing my stress? I guess what I mean is do some people just have like one event of these thoughts and not necessarily have OCD ? It’s all confusing to me

@Anonymous Everybody has intrusive thoughts but the compulsions are what is distinct about OCD. Every human could benefit from therapy but ERP has a narrow scope of applications including OCD. From your description it doesn’t sound like OCD, BUT only a medical professional can diagnose you. CBT sounds like it would be somewhere to start.

@Anonymous Many obsessions start with just one thought that sort of gets “stuck” and then turns into a cycle of being triggered around things that relate to that thought and doing compulsions in response. ERP is used with other anxiety disorders such as phobias and panic disorder. It’s a techniques that specifically benefits ocd sufferers, but it won’t be harmful to practice if you don’t have ocd. Get a proper diagnosis from a specialist and they can decide if erp is right for you. If it turns out you don’t have ocd, a regular therapist who does CBT will likely be able to help.

@pureolife Thank you. I have been doing CBT for months before this to help with anxiety and grief as well as just overall rumination over other things. The thing that changed was that 4 weeks ago I got an intrusive thought/image that scared me and it continued for a week or two maybe 3 and I spent the past 4 weeks worrying about those same sets of thoughts and images and worried about what kind of person it makes me, If that meant they were real or would happen, and just overall researching everything just trying to figure out why it started in the first place etc. so I guess the worrying and the figuring out and researching and listening to podcasts/videos about this issue like intrusive thoughts,OCD etc is the compulsion?

@Anonymous Yeah. Seems like internet research, rumination, mental reviewing, and reassurance seeking may be some common compulsions of yours.

@pureolife I had no clue that it was until recently. I just have been wanting to find the answers of how to help this all the best way possible so I can start being myself again that’s all. I spend most of my entire day while walking, or working listening to these to learn about it all but often ask myself maybe it isn’t even OCD ? Who knows. I hope the therapist can help

@Anonymous Obsessing about whether it’s ocd or not is also quite common. I definitely think it’s a strong possibility but get a proper diagnosis to be sure.