- Date posted
- 4y
- Date posted
- 4y
What they mean by “agreeing with the thought” is to agree with the fact that you’re thinking it, acknowledging the fact that you’re thinking about the fact. It doesn’t mean for example, “yes I am contaminated and will get AIDS”, “yes I will do a hit and run with my car” - that’s not the point of ERP, it’s mainly just accepting that the thought is there in your mind, and that you’re going to choose to not argue with it, to not do any compulsions. There are some CBT worksheets that can help with these types of OCD, but it would be better to see a OCD specialist for guidance and focus on doing a OCD self-help booklet (Mindfulness Workbook for OCD by Jon Hershfield is really good!)
- Date posted
- 4y
Okay that makes sense. Thank you so much! That’s helped:)
- Date posted
- 4y
@njjjjjj No problem! also to clarify on a typo earlier, I meant “acknowledging the fact that you’re thinking about the thought”
- Date posted
- 4y
I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND ITS SO CUNFUSING SOMETIMES
- Date posted
- 4y
You don’t necessarily agree with the thought in a sense, you more so acknowledge it. So the thought pops up and you would notice it’s there, but then not do any of the compulsions to rid yourself of it. When it comes to the challenging thoughts idea with agreeing however, I can see it being where the thought comes in of “what if I hurt my family”, you challenging it by agreeing “yup totally gonna do that” - the OCD expected you to go the other direction and say you would never do that, do other various compulsions, but instead you challenged it. Hopefully that makes some sense!
- Date posted
- 4y
Thank you so much! That’s made so much sense and helped me understand it now! Thank you:)
Related posts
- Date posted
- 19w
Hi this is my first time posting on here. I wasn't sure if I should because I want to make sure I'm not seeking reassurance because I heard that makes ocd worse. I don't want to talk about what my ocd problem was, but basically I was really upset about a religious ocd problem that I know isn't true. I'm feeling a lot better about it now, but when it was bad I decided to try and get better on my own. I read about ERP therapy and how you're supposed to make a list of your ocd problems, from least distressing to most. So I wrote them down on two pieces of paper. At first I started with the simple ones, like looking for spiders before leaving the room. I have a tendency to look for spiders before leaving a room but lately I've been trying not to anymore. Then I decided to try and do one of the hard things. It was a religious ocd problem. I decided to start simple, and just write the problem down on a piece of paper. So I went downstairs and got some paper. But then I thought, oh no, my ocd is probably not going to like this. What do I do with the paper once I write it down? If I think what I wrote down is bad and going to upset God and I will go to hell, (even though I know logically it's not), my ocd is probably going to freak out if I throw away the paper. It probably won't calm down unless I erase it. So I just decided to not write it down on a paper, and just type it on my phone instead. So I did, I typed it on my phone. So, even though I didn't write anything down on the paper, now it feels like that peice of paper is bad. I feel like it's connected to the problem I was having, and I was so upset I called my mom crying asking her what to do. Eventually I decided to just put the paper back with the rest of the paper downstairs, but I'm still upset. I feel like I have to throw away all the paper downstairs, the pencil I was going to use to write down the problem, and the eraser I was going to use in case I needed to erase anything. It feels like if I use any of those items I will make God angry and go to hell. I know I shouldn't do this though, so I'm not going to. I don't know what to do with the papers where I wrote down my ocd problems. They are on my desk and I'm too afraid to move them. And if I put them in my desk I'm afraid they will get mixed up with other papers. I guess I can do whatever I want with them. I think I'll put them in a folder or binder and if I make any more ocd papers I can just put them in there. I'm just really confused on how to move forward. Right now, I'm too afraid to use the papers, pencil, or eraser for anything. I feel like I can't write on them, draw on them, or anything. It's even making me feel like I can't make digital art. It's making me feel like I can't do a lot of things. I guess what I have to do is just do whatever I want to, because I know the ocd isn't true and doesn't make sense.
- Date posted
- 16w
I've been told a lot that in order to get better, we need to tolerate uncertainty, which yea I get that and I'm trying every day more and more to reach that point!! But I've also been told that we need to tolerate uncertainty AND "our worst fears becoming true". Like how does that work, especially with POCD, OCD about a///ault, SA and all of that? Like that is really difficult for me and I don't really understand how I'm supposed to just shrug stuff like that off
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- Date posted
- 15w
I read about ERP and have seen information about it on here. One of the goals is to say, "maybe I am this or that...ect." That terrified me. The thoughts and images that go in my head are disturbing and upsetting. I don't want to even think about saying, "maybe this or that." It's devasting to have these thoughts and question why you're having these thoughts. Doesn't the "maybe" make it worse? The one thing that helps me is that is to remind myself that these are just thoughts and I know I'm not a monster, even if I feel like one. Is ERP not for everyone? Has anyone else had a problem with the techniques used in this kind of therapy? I had cognitive therapy for years with an OCD specialist and that seemed to help a lot. Writing out the worst case scenarios would make me suicidal. Im having a difficult time not obsessing over the "maybe" after intrusive thoughts now. It doesn't make it better.
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